English country dance music, sessions and old fashioned songs

The Tonic came together in 2012 through a shared love of English traditional song and dance music.

Julie plays piano and Ollie percussion. Malcolm plays melodeon and although Gavin plays just about anything he can get his hands on, when playing with The Tonic he focuses on fiddle and melodeon.

All four of us have been involved in the song, music and dance scene for many years, and we have each developed a large and rich repertoire of tunes and songs, some of which can be heard on this CD.

We aim to keep our performances direct and uncluttered: we like tunes to be driving, crisp and lifting, and prefer songs that tell human stories without distractions, and if they have refrains or choruses so much the better.