Getting together with Steve and Helen was probably a logical progression along our musical journey. We had known them for some years and always considered them friends. We would often have a drink together at festivals and talk about the songs we enjoyed and the fun in harmony singing. With both duo’s having such a big interest in maritime songs the inevitable happened and Four n Aft was born.
We call ourselves a maritime group (as opposed to a shanty group) as our songs cover a wider aspect. In our repertoire there are traditional ballads, love songs, humorous songs, songs about the ladies, even a ghost song and, of course, we also sing some of those wonderful shanties and forebitters. But whatever we sing, the group have gained a reputation for having a powerful rich sound with any of the four members having the strength to lead a song with the other three voices working intuitive harmonies around the melody.
We have appeared at most of the main maritime festivals in the UK and our growing reputation resulted in us being invited to our first festival in mainland Europe. Since that first visit to Germany we have appeared at festivals in the Netherlands and Germany, many as return invitations, and our diary for 2008 sees the addition of new festivals both at home and abroad.
