Alright, I'm a teeny bit biased here. Toyboat let me join them onstage recently and I had the best fun going, rocking out with their version of a song I'd not been enjoying in some time.

Well, they made me fall back in love with it. Let me tell you what you'll see and hear from the outside of a Toyboat concert:

There'll be a lot going on, musically. There's David Stowell aka Raven over on the keys - Hammond, Rhodes, synth. He's underpinning everything, and his Serious Musical Face belies the warmth of the man. There's Michael Nixon, putting twisty lead guitar lines around the rest of the music, and if you get a compliment to stick to him, you're doing well. Rules are: we all know Michael IS that good, but he won't have it said... then there's Cathy McManamon, who'll be at the drums or guitar, and I wish I had as clean a guitar style as she does. She has a superbly clear and warm voice as well. Daniel 'gundo' Gunderson will be on the electric guitar, or possibly the harmonica, drums, piano or mandolin... and if he's not wearing his top hat, then ask him why not. Yes, do. Then there's Jason Neerenberg, and he's holding the bass line, and singing harmonies and lead as well (and so do gundo and Mike).

That's what you'll see from the outside. What you'll hear is a combination of the band's own songs and covers from within and without filk, played and sung with talent and joy.

From the inside, I can tell you that this band is a tight, good-natured, confident and flexible act, who are comfortable enough in their skills and their communication to allow the most extraordinary joys to rise out of the music they make. I have seldom played with a more generous and welcoming group of musicians, and I commend them to you, to listen to, to meet, to talk with and swap tunes and tales with.

Grab your seat early and be prepared to leap out of it and dance.

— Talis Kimberley, November 2014