Worcester based Andy Hiseman first started performing with bands on a regular basis at the age of 14 as a guitarist and vocalist. Even at that age his voice had already matured and he soon developed the powerful vocal technique with which he is now associated.

It was also at this age that he started to write his own material and, strange as it may seem, it was this that lead him to play rhythm rather than lead guitar.

"It's all to do with structure. Just as an artist "blocks in"colours on a canvas, a songwriter uses chords to give the piece form. I had to keep playing the chords to keep the song in shape while everyone else was doing their own thing."

The fact that everyone else was doing their own thing very loudly, forced Andy to develop an aggressive style of rhythm playing that would cut through, which has evolved over the years into his very distinctive rhythm sound.

In 1988 Andy teamed up with Pat Allen, a guitarist that he had known for some years, to join The Nightrippers. This R&B and soul band was instantly popular due to the dynamics brought by Andy's punch vocals and Pat's explosive guitar work.

Both were accomplished performers, musically and visually, and as a result The Nightrippers were in great demand over the next five years.

During the mid 80's Andy had made his first trip to the States and "Discovered" the Country Blues and Jazz Blues scenes - Musical styles that grew directly from the Delta Blues of the Southern States. This musical pilgrimage, that Andy still makes as often as possible, resulted in a definite shift in the style of his compositions and arrangements, creating songs with a traditional feel but interwoven with modern attitude.

By 1993 Andy and Pat decided that they wanted to break away from the pub rock scene, feeling that musically they were in a rut, and create a new sound. “Unplugged" music was starting to become fashionable around this time, but both Andy and Pat felt that the concept of arranging Blues and R&B songs for acoustic instruments was not the route to follow, far better to play their acoustic guitars like electric guitars, so the Barfly's and their incredible sound were born.

The result was a sound with such incredible depth that promoters and audiences alike couldn't believe that the wall of sound and energy that they were hearing came from just two people on stage; no drums, no bass, and no backing tapes.

Andy usually plays rhythm on a 1970s Martin D28 acoustic guitar, strung with .012 strings, because he prefers the rounded tone and depth that the larger guitar body gives. Amplification is from an under saddle piezo pick-up connected to a Trace Elliot acoustic guitar pre-amp/shaper. When in the band he plays an eighties Fender Telecaster or a 1959 Reissue Gibson 335 with 0.11 gauge strings through a Fender Blues-De-Ville amp.

Over the years, Pat Allen has become one of the most respected guitarists around, though his first semi-professional involvement with the music business was as a bass player at the age of 13.

As he grew up, Pat found himself fulfilling many different roles in various bands - bass, rhythm, lead, and vocalist and often doing more than one at a time.

He believes that his arpeggio style of playing came from these days. When he played lead and rhythm while singing, the arpeggios made up for the lack of other instruments, thickening up the sound during the lead breaks.

In 1988, after forming and fronting the successful band Blues Alley, Pat teamed up with Andy Hiseman to join The Nightrippers, an R&B band that soon generated a large following in the Midlands.

By then, Pat had become well known for both his searing solos and his antics on stage - As the tempo quickened he would close his eyes and then the audience knew that there was a "storm-a-comin!" He would just get into the groove and off he would go stomping his way across the stage playing the most amazing licks, breaking all the rules and using all the tricks.

Pat and Andy used to practice regularly together, and found that they tended towards a common taste in music; arrangements that broke the mould of 12 bar blues, and in particular for the acoustic guitar and Country Blues, this is considered to be the genesis of the Barfly's.

For the acoustic set-up Pat plays a Takamine acoustic guitar for flat-picking, which looks and sounds very similar to the Martin 0016 "New Yorker", featuring a small body and wide, 12 fret neck with a fairly flat profile.

His style of playing the acoustic guitar makes extensive use of arpeggios and harmonics along with Jazz style chord progressions, but believes the real key to his style is that he uses a lot of electric guitar techniques rather than acoustic.

For slide playing, Pat uses a National Resophonic Jazz/Blues guitar with a Highlander pickup fitted between the biscuit and the resonator cone, giving the distinctive and powerful mid-range punch that is associated with these instruments.

The National is strung with .013 strings but the 1st string is replaced by a 0.15, and the action is set high to reduce "fretting" whilst playing with the bottleneck.

Pat only uses custom made glass bottlenecks, which have a different tonality from steel or brass slides, and are closer to the original Delta blues sound. He has a very distinctive slide style, with the bottleneck on his middle finger and using very little damping on the strings behind. This, along with an aggressive style gives a slightly harsh, brittle quality to the sound. Both of Pat’s guitars are played through a Trace Elliot acoustic guitar pre-amp/shaper.

Despite the move to acoustic instruments, Pat has not lost any of his speed or dynamism. When the Barfly's move into overdrive, Pats eyes start to close - you know it's time to tie the furniture down.

When playing electric guitars Pat uses his Gibson 335, Gibson Les Paul or Musicman with 0.11 gauge strings played through his monster Mesa Boogie Roadster.