At the start of January 2004, John Lynch and original drummer Suzie Lambert sat down and decided to form a band. It was a logical step to ask bassist Kevin Hingley to join the group with his experience in bands and great ingenuity. The final addition to the line up was guitarist Alex Lane who along with John was the songwriter of the four. A change to the line up came when Kirsty Hodgson joined on drums forming a more complex rhythm section. For several months songs were practiced, evolved but, even with members eager to perform and record, progress was slow. Joey Walter joined in the summer of 2004 to add another dimension and a jazzier feel to the groups’ music with her talents on saxophones and flute. With enough songs to perform, Alex and John decided to venture a viewing of their music to people and performed some intimate acoustic gigs to the public. These went well, with a live performance bootleg made available. After a decision from Kevin to leave in the November because of other commitments, John Clewes was drafted in on bass, with his own, more heavy rock style.

With difficulties arising and the group still not melding properly Leigh Stallard was invited to join on the bass, his exciting style, pulsing soloing and rhythm tightened up the bass frequency. New bass lines started to evolve widening the scope for stronger songs. Kirsty departed from behind the drums in early December and Jared McGivern took her place, with past experience in a ska band and extremely constructive input from the drums, songs really started pulling together.

After taking much of a back seat in the past few months, Joeys’ talents were being put to more use with newer jazz/funk numbers being put together with the prominent saxophone licks and solos boosting its appeal. The group we’re now at full steam, building new ideas every week, suggestions came from every corner. After a few gigs as a full group it was decided to put the strongest tracks onto CD. A lot of hard work and commitment went into these songs ready for recording, making them sound tight and clean. So in April 2005 Akwila went to Blue Whale Studios at the Custard Factory in Birmingham and recorded six tracks for their first E.P ‘Lucky Man Lost’. After going on sale later in the year, interest spread and performance opportunities arose.

As 2005 came to a close so did Jared’s time with the group as opportunities up north drew him away and Keri Davis took over on percussion bringing a new flavour of his own from experience with jazz, reggae bands and as a DJ in alternative clubs. With him he brings a wealth of experience and a new perspective on the groups music and with large venue gigs on the horizon the group are working on fresh, exciting material. With this strong line up along with steady progress, a new E.P or full length album is being planned before the end of 2006.

Our influences include: Incubus, The Zutons, Eels, Jamiroquai, Dr John, Zero 7, Professor Longhair, RHCP, Mr Scruff, The Verve, Mac Rebennack, The Coral, Oasis, Dave Brubeck, Maroon5 and a lot of other Indie, Rock, Blues, Jazz and Funk artists.