The Band

Jonty Finn – drums & vocals: Recording, live performance & TV credits: Weekend Wogan, F1Rocks event in Milan supporting Stereophonics, Radio 2 airplay – record of the week with Ben Montague album ‘Overcome’. Jonty has been a professional drummer, session player and percussion teacher since leaving school, and a committed musician since childhood. His natural grooviness complements Rory’s bass playing superbly and is a key reason why the band work so well with the dancefloor.
Rory Harvey – bass guitar & vocals: With a thorough musical training and education in guitar and bass, Rory plays and teaches both instruments professionally. He graduated from the prestigious Academy of Contemparay Music with a first class honours degree, and was named Guitarist of the Year by the academy in 2008. His technical mastery and strong instincts for bass guitar open up a whole repertoire of dance groove oriented material that might not be feasible for a rock band with a less proficient player.
Ben Gunnery violin, Irish flute, Irish fiddle: Album & live credits include touring and recording with Shane Macgowan and the Popes, going around the world at least twice with the acclaimed Riverdance show and many TV appearances. Ben is half French and half Irish, speaks both languages fluently, and can also get by in English. As well as rock gigs with Cheesecake he freelances as a classical session player.
Alexis Ashford – guitar & vocals: Live work includes festivals, product launches, parties and other celebratory events playing to a wide variety of clients, in front of diverse celebrities such as Chris Evans, Billie Piper, Jordan, Roger Taylor and Damian Hirst! Alexis has developed a vast array of solidly arranged material from years of playing rocking parties, mellow restaurants, crazy Irish pubs, glitsy corporate events and top flight weddings.

Other players in the band:

There are times when the regular line up of the band are not all available for certain dates. To maximise flexibility for you and us, we have a selection of great players who can join us for certain bookings. For example, Jonty is off on a national tour this February and Andy Baker is stepping in on drums for some of the gigs we have during that period.

If you are booking us to play, we can normally talk through this with you and let you know of any changes of personnel. You are also very welcome to check with us about this at any time.

Here are the details of other musicians who join the line up on occasion:

Carly Frey – violin: Classical player and bluegrass folk fiddler since childhood, Carly has held leading positions in symphony orchestras and on festival stages, and featured in the world wide tour of the hit theatre music show ‘Barrage’, where she sang and danced as well as playing violin. She also has a natural gift for Irish traditional fiddle playing, which obviously comes in handy with Cheesecake.

Chris Haigh – violin: Actually Chris gigs with us more than any other fiddle player. Previous work includes playing a Burns Night in Iceland, Russian music for the Mafia in Beiruit, Princess Anne’s birthday party, playing Italian mandolin for a marriage proposal in Rome, fiddling with cossack dancers in Elton John’s back garden, playing for a line-dance in the French Alps, and doing a Jewish wedding in a pine forest in Athens. Early in 2010 he appeared in an episode of the sitcom My Family as a Mariachi musician. And he also gigs with Cheesecake every Thursday night. A rich and chequered background.

Andy Baker – drums: Groovy drummer And generally cool guy, focused and alert, which he needs to be when dealing with the chaos of a Cheesecake gig, Andy is a friend and colleague of Rory’s from another band and from theatre productions, works closely with him musically, and has gigged with us on several occasions. He’s a great graphic designer as well if you need a website.

Holley Gray – bass guitar: Colleague of Jonty’s from touring with singer / songwriter Ben Montague, Holley composes film scores and television music, including the soundtrack for the feature film Zebra Crossings, which won the audience award at the Raindance film festival. Holley stood in for Rory at very short notice for some crazy gigs just before Christmas, and is now able to cope with any song we throw at him.

Danny Cross – bass guitar: Danny writes music, works as a bass guitar player in various bands, and teaches bass guitar. He first gigged with us last year while Rory was off on an epic road trip round the USA, and is another colleague of Jonty’s. He has now played a load of gigs with us, including the surreal and wonderful night we played a birthday party and Jordan (Katie Price) turned up as a guest.