Music at No.5 Presents : Live Music - The Washboard Resonators

The Washboard Resonators hail from Leeds and Wales and can be described as sounding and looking like ‘a ragtime street band meets a Hollywood musical on a theatre stage somewhere in around 1932’. After the release of an EP and 3 albums of original music, they have completed several successful 20 date tours of the UK over the last few years with increasing ticket sales. The washboard player (Jack Amblin) is also the drummer for Postmodern Jukebox's European Tours, spending 4 months of the year on the road with them playing such venues as The London Palladium and L’Olympia in Paris.

Jack Amblin plays washboard, drums, percussion, jug, sings and tap-dances in The Washboard Resonators. His biggest inspirations are his first teacher Peter James, Gene Krupa, Buddy Rich and he has a deep love for 1920s jazz and the golden era entertainers especially Fred Astaire.

Martyn Roper plays guitar, banjo, ukulele, jug and sings in The Washboard Resonators. He loves pre-WW2 blues, comedy, music hall and jazz like Blind Willie McTell, Lonnie Johnson, George Formby and especially Blind Boy Fuller and Tampa Red whom he listens to on his gramophone.