One dreich night in April 1999 Tom, Aileen, Arthur, Pete and Chris, having nothing better to do, went out for a wee song.
They were having so much fun that the obvious question didn't arise that night, but come the next day, the word went around, "we must do it again ! Why aren't we a group ?" Well, now they are.
Obviously their favourite singer, Maureen couldn't be left out, so a quick twist of the arm made a group of six singers, with Pete's box, Arthur's whistles and Tom's fiddle thrown in for good measure.
That flashy sort of line-up needed a flashy name, so they're calling themselves
"Flash Company".
Tom Spiers
Tom says he was just a bairn when he started going to Aberdeen Folk Song Club, sitting at the feet of the greats, taking it all in. It's obvious from Tom's singing and his versions of well known songs that he absorbed a great deal. He was a founder member of "The Gaugers" along with Peter Hall way back in the mid 1960s. His songs are often performed unaccompanied or enriched with sometimes lively, sometimes haunting fiddle.
Aileen Carr
Aileen has surprised and enthralled audiences all over the country with the power and richness of her voice. In recent years, like a good wine, she has mellowed. She has learned how to harness that power and is equally at home with a sensitive love song or a raucous ballad. She is also the only group member with a frock for every occasion and consequently gets invited to more parties than the others.
Arthur Watson
Arthur's long term interest in songs of North East Scotland ( he says he doesn't sing any others) and his consequent involvement with Aberdeen Folk Song Club led to his joining "The Gaugers" in 1973. Arthur's strong energetic singing style is at it's best on unaccompanied ballads. When not singing he plays whistle, mostly because it's not possible to do both at the same time.
Maureen Jelks
Born and brought up in Dundee in the 1940s, Maureen's family worked in the Jute Mills. Her love of singing, and some of her songs, were inherited from her mother and others learned through listening to source singers like Belle Stewart and Mary Brooksbank. She is undoubtedly one of Scotland's finest exponents of traditional songs and ballads. Add to this the fact that she is barking mad and you have the basis of a very entertaining experience.
Pete Shepheard
Pete has had a tremendous influence on traditional music and singing over the years - collecting, recording, organising and generally making it possible for source singers to be heard. His involvement began in the early sixties when he was a founder member of the renowned St Andrews Folk Club and his interest was so strong that he started his own record label (Springthyme), which has featured many of the traditional singers who were considered 'uncommercial' by other labels. Pete is himself a very fine singer of Scottish, English and Irish songs, and it is ironic that he is the only member of Flash Company not to have featured on a recording.
