I didn’t join Red Shift until a few months after the group had started – to replace keyboard player Pat Knowles (later Chandler) who had to drop out. It was both a concert and a dance band and as the name might suggest, looked leftwards for its repertoire. I suppose we’d class it as ‘industrial folk’.
The first gigging line-up featured Paul Roberts on border pipes and this provided a powerful sound whilst forcing the band into the keys of Eflat and Bflat – a problem for melodeons! Paul and cello player Colin Wood left after the first year and ace Northumbrian piper Dave Shaw joined in time to do the first and only album Back In The Red. The first line up did leave behind a demo recording which might see the light of day sometime.

Chris Coe joined up after a while, playing hammer dulcimer and concertina. There are no studio recordings of this last line-up but some live recordings have survived. Again, these may see the light of day in time.

Hear Red Shift sing The Waves of Tory on YouTube