Who are these guys?
The Lizards are a New England based dance band featuring a trio of musicians fervent with the desire and talent to ignite flames under dancing feet. With a wide ranging and hopelessly eclectic repertoire including everything from Irish and Scottish traditional jigs and reels to Balkan, blues and swing tunes (often juxtaposed next to each other) the Latter Day Lizards bring excellent musicianship, playfulness, drama and unrelentingly infectious rhythm to their dance performances. With Kate Barnes on piano, guitar and flute, Bill Tomczak on clarinet, sax and drum and Dave Langford on guitar and fiddle, they blend swing, rock-and-roll and jazz influences with traditional foot-stomping dance music to make an innovative, spontaneous and rhythmically inflammatory sound.
The members of the Lizards come from diverse backgrounds within the traditional dance world and have been hired for dance events, festivals and concerts from California to the British Isles. Kate Barnes has been playing piano, flute and assorted other instruments for dancers for an embarassingly large number of years, and has been invited to most major contra, square, English and vintage dance events throughout the United States. She currently works with the bands The Lizards, Bare Necessities, and Yankee Ingenuity. Bill Tomczak has been playing clarinet for folk dance of one kind or another since 1979. He has recorded with BLT, Wild Asparagus and Yankee Ingenuity and appears on the recordings Cascade of Tears and Gypsy Wine with Mary Lea and friends. Dave Langford is an experienced and versatile fiddler and guitarist and fiddle teacher from the Boston area. A veteran of 30+ years of playing for public dances, weddings, parties and late night sessions, Dave combines multiple styles of fiddling with fierce energy and drive. He has been a staff member for music and dance weeks at Pinewoods, Ogontz, Mendocino, Augusta and Christmas Country Dance School at Berea KY as well as hundreds of weekend dance events around the US and beyond.
Shared among all the Lizards are decades of experience in getting people's pulses racing and feet moving.
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