The original Extones were formed in 2009 by Lance Eames, Mark, Neil Duerden on guitar / vocals and our original lead singer / guitarist / harmonica player James Goodman. For the first three months we were desperately short of gear and practiced with everything going through a 1964 vintage Vox AC30 guitar amp (that's two guitars, bass, keyboard and two vocals!). Gradually we pieced together some better individual kit and a decent PA but struggled to find a drummer. After enjoying a single session each with two drummers, both called Dave, we hit on the precocious talent of 15 year old Simon Birch (aka Dave 3) and the band came to life at last! Gigs followed at Extonbury and at various Rutland pubs & parties. Eventually the need to concentrate on exams and just getting older generally took its toll and Simon found he couldn't give us enough time. A brief flirtation with Daves 4 and 5 followed until we finally found Jules who became Mr Six. This line up took us to late 2012 when James had to return to his native Australia. We spent a few fruitless months trying to find our new vocalist, and went down a few blind alleys, but on the way we found Kevin to provide the second guitar part. That leads us to early 2013 when fate intervened and Livi joined the band bringing us a whole new opportunity to do some great songs that we'd had to shelve in the past. The Extones Mark 2 had a great 18 months or so with a whole new musical direction, and some great gigs notably at The Hole In The Wall Stamford and the Black Horse Greetham, including our best Extonbury set ever. But life moves on and Livi left us to channel her energies towards her career (or so she thought - see later). That brings us to The Extones Mark 3, with Abi Yardley and Kate Anderson, formerly with Stamford band Blue Soul Express, bringing a bit of soul into the set list. Unfortunately this was only for a few months as Kate & Abi needed to concentrate on their other band and remain true to their love of soul.
2015 was a real year of change for the band with Lance, Mike and Jules leaving, Gary joining us on bass, finding Des on drums and Livi bringing her magic back - the Extones Mark 4 were born. We had a great 2016, with the best Extonbury performance ever - just check out the video! And then all change again as Livi moved to Cambridge & joined another band. Would we ever be so lucky again? Answer was a resounding yes with Laura joining the band in September to create The Extones Mark 5 . Look out 2017 it will be awesome! - and so it was with a great new set list featuring punky pop songs from the likes of Green Day and Blink 182, and passionate anthems like Zombie relayed with fantastic clarity through a new Turbosound / RCF PA system. An evolving sound and a still evolving band - with increasing work pressures Gary found he couldn't commit to gig dates, paving the way for Nick to join and the formation in December of The Extones Mark 6. 2018 marked the onward rise of the band with the recruitment in August of Ben as our new lead guitarist coming from a metal background, joined by Ady in 2019 as Nick left to concentrate of punk / metal band Noose. We finished 2019 with a search for a new vocalist as Laura relocated to Ireland with her career. Once again we were fabulously lucky to quickly find the marvellous Kyle Newman, gigging with us from 2020. We never stand still!
2015 was a real year of change for the band with Lance, Mike and Jules leaving, Gary joining us on bass, finding Des on drums and Livi bringing her magic back - the Extones Mark 4 were born. We had a great 2016, with the best Extonbury performance ever - just check out the video! And then all change again as Livi moved to Cambridge & joined another band. Would we ever be so lucky again? Answer was a resounding yes with Laura joining the band in September to create The Extones Mark 5 . Look out 2017 it will be awesome! - and so it was with a great new set list featuring punky pop songs from the likes of Green Day and Blink 182, and passionate anthems like Zombie relayed with fantastic clarity through a new Turbosound / RCF PA system. An evolving sound and a still evolving band - with increasing work pressures Gary found he couldn't commit to gig dates, paving the way for Nick to join and the formation in December of The Extones Mark 6. 2018 marked the onward rise of the band with the recruitment in August of Ben as our new lead guitarist coming from a metal background, joined by Ady in 2019 as Nick left to concentrate of punk / metal band Noose. We finished 2019 with a search for a new vocalist as Laura relocated to Ireland with her career. Once again we were fabulously lucky to quickly find the marvellous Kyle Newman, gigging with us from 2020. We never stand still!