Biography

Rob Heron & The Tea Pad Orchestra have been gleefully trampling over genre boundaries for over a decade now, chucking Western Swing, Blues, Country, Rock & Roll, Soul and more into their musical gumbo, but always sounding mostly just like themselves. Based in Newcastle but hailing from across the UK, the Tea Pad have toured across the British Isles and Europe, playing everywhere from Glastonbury and Cambridge Folk Festival to village halls and barns, and all points in between. They’ve done tour supports for big-name Americana outfits such as Pokey LaFarge, The Dead South, and Sierra Ferrell, released music on German label Migraine Records, appeared three times on Radio 4’s Loose Ends, and had their music played by everyone from Marc Riley to Huey Morgan. Across their five studio albums – 2012’s “Money Isn’t Everything”, 2014’s “Talk About The Weather”, 2016’s “Something Blue”, 2019’s “Soul Of My City” and 2022's "The Party's Over" – the band have constantly added new flavours to their sound: Heron in particular is a vinyl obsessive, always fired up about some new passion – calypso or boogaloo or whatever this week brings – but mostly enthusing about obscure blues and country 45s, and that eclecticism and search for new sounds certainly feeds into their songs. Joining Rob Heron (vocals/guitar) are Tom Cronin (mandolin/harmonica/guitar), Colin Nicholson (accordion/organ/piano), Ted Harbot (double bass/electric bass) and Paul Archibald (drums).