Voltage To Violets
Ray Francis: Born and raised just east of the Mississippi, Ray played his first gigs in clubs overlooked by the St.Louis arch. After migrating to the Denver area, he gigged with the underground rockin’ blues band “The Trashhawks”. Ray’s original expeditions include the progressive rock band “Alien Chrome”, and the powerhouse trio “Yield” (the latter founded with Kelly Ireland respectively). Ray’s musical styles have been influenced by Jeff Buckley, The Cult, Love Spit Love, Tin Machine, R.H.C.P., The Mission U.K., Radiohead, Kings X, Fishbone, OVRS. Gigging highlights include opening shows for Robin Trower, and the Samples.
Kelly Ireland (aka Kdawg): Kelly started pounding on anything he could get his hands on at the age of 4. Once he discovered Sgt. Pepper he became serious about drumming and was recruited by his parents to play in their Honky Tonk band at the age of 12 on Colorado’s western slope. Kelly’s horizons broadened when he performed in concert and jazz bands from junior high through college and received an Associates of Arts degree. Through the years he’s been the rhythmic timekeeper for a wide variety of bands such as country, pop, jazz, metal, classic rock and blues and has opened for REO Speedwagon, Foreigner, Colin Raye, Wild Rose, Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown, Johnny Rodriguez and Pirates of the Mississippi.
Tom Klosowski (aka “TK”): Born on the banks of the Black Swamp in Toledo, Ohio, Tom was raised on a steady diet of the music of Motown and the early days of FM rock radio. It was the guitar solo in the Door’s “Light My Fire” that first turned him on to the power of music and got him hooked as a listener. However, it wasn’t until his mid-thirties that the idea of actually PLAYING music occurred to him. The big bottom of the bass guitar had its’ draw and from there he played bass in original rock bands Liquid Clown and Freak of Nature. Gigging highlights were with Freak of Nature opening for Head East and Jane Jensen.
