Six Bearded Fish or “The Fish” are a four-piece function band who specialise in performing floor-filling pop and rock music from the last seven decades. As a group containing vocals, guitar, bass and drums, we lean towards music we can reproduce well, which is anything from the rock 'n' roll hits of the fifties and psychedelic sounds of the sixties to the Britpop of the nineties and festival bands of the noughties.
It's a question we get asked a lot, but the truth is that nobody seems to know! The four “known” Fish are frontman Tim Slater, guitarist Paul Thomas, bassist Aidan Hampson and drummer Boyd Hayward.
Six Bearded Fish played their first gig on Friday 26th November 1999. However, all of the members have been musically active and performing since an early age.
Please contact us first with the details of your event so we can check our availability and provide you with a quote for our services. Included with the quote will be more information about the band and a link to the booking form. When you are ready to secure your booking, simply submit the form and we will approve your booking by sending you a confirmation email. Please be aware that we operate on a first-come, first-served basis, so until we receive your booking form the date is still available to other clients. You are welcome to inform us that you will be submitting the form in due course and in which case, we will hold the date for up to a maximum of two weeks to allow you to gather the details required. If we haven't received the form after two weeks, the date will be released and open to be booked by another client. To avoid disappointment, we also recommend that you check with us that the date of your event is still available prior to completing the booking form.
Yes. You can visit the videos page to view our live film clips or there is a showreel compilation which can be found on the homepage. Alternatively, we occasionally play a public date, so please contact us for details.
Please visit our testimonials page to view the feedback we've received from past events. If you wish to contact any of our previous clients directly, then email us and we will provide you with their details.
As we are based in Southampton, we typically cover the southern counties, but will consider taking on bookings further afield. Please contact us to discuss your event if this is the case.
If you are able to arrange a suitable time and place in the Southampton area, then it may be possible for you to meet with one of the band members for an informal discussion prior to the event. However, we are easily contactable in other ways, so in most cases, arrangements can be organised as quickly via email or over the phone.
Our quoted fee includes us being available up to three hours before the start of our performance for loading in, setting up and a soundcheck.
If we are available to do so, then yes. However, an extra “early arrival” fee will be applicable as our arrival time will be more than three hours before the start of our performance.
We require at least 1½ hours to unload, set up and check all of our equipment. In addition, we prefer to run through a few numbers to fully balance the sound to the venue. Therefore, it is important that you account for this in your schedule and that we can have access to the venue at an appropriate time. Failure to do this could lead to unavoidable delays to our performance and disrupt the programme of the event.
We require an absolute minimum area of 16ft (5m) wide by 12ft (3.5m) deep for the band to assemble in, although we appreciate as much space as possible if it is available. Please do not place the band in the corner of a room as a triangular space restricts the preferred layout of our equipment.
The band's power draw, including the supplied lighting, is no more than six kilowatts (6kW or 6kVA). A minimum of two separate 13A sockets or generator feeds should be available in the band area. These should be the standard UK 3-pin type, rated at 230V and single-phase. In order to prevent overloading, it is important that the sockets provided are not supplied from a solitary 13A source, i.e. an extension cable run from a single wall outlet is not sufficient.
Although a soundcheck is advantageous for many reasons, we have the experience to tweak our sound on the fly if absolutely necessary. However, we encourage you to account for this in your schedule to ensure the best possible sound quality for your event.
Apart from a power generating device, we provide all of the equipment required for our performance. This includes the band's instruments and “backline”, as well as a full PA sound-reinforcement system. A dedicated sound engineer to operate the equipment attends all of our bookings to ensure that we provide a consistent and professional sound throughout our performance.
A comprehensive lighting package is included as standard with all of our bookings. This allows us to enhance both the band and dance floor with colour and movement throughout the duration of your event. All of our lighting is professional theatre-grade equipment and consequently, we provide an experienced engineer to install and operate the rig on the day. Further details can be found on our lighting page.
Provided that the band has set up in advance, our sound system may be used under our supervision for spoken word. Our sound engineer will assist you should you need to use our equipment for this purpose.
Yes. We can arrange and be responsible for additional music of your choice to be played via our laptop system, which is connected directly to our sound equipment. This service is included as standard with every booking and is free of charge before midnight. We encourage you to advise us of the content prior to the event so that we can produce a bespoke music selection for your occasion. If you have no suggestions, we have a large database of music from which we will generate a suitable playlist for you.
In the event that we have completed our setup before your meal takes place, then dining music can be provided via our sound equipment. As with the additional music, we encourage you to advise us of the content or if you wish, we can compile a music selection on your behalf.
Yes. As long as the device has a standard 3.5mm headphone or line out socket, we can connect it directly to our sound system. It is advisable that any appliance used in this way is run on mains power rather than by battery.
For insurance purposes, we claim no responsibility for the setup and/or operation of external equipment not owned by Six Bearded Fish.
In most cases, no, unless the limiter is particularly sensitive. However, to save any inconvenience, we would advise that venues with sound limiters are avoided unless it is absolutely essential as they can be extremely frustrating to work around. If choosing a venue with a limiter is unavoidable, we recommend that you contact the venue and ask for the limiter's trip level in decibels. This information will help us to minimise any disruption by taking the necessary precautions with our equipment.
Our volume level will vary depending on the venue, but ultimately, we can control it within a certain range. With the natural acoustic level of a drum kit controlling our minimum volume, it is impractical to reduce our volume to a whisper, but any reasonable guideline enforced by a venue should be attainable. A typical level in a medium-sized room at 20ft (6m) from the band would be in the region of 97dB(A).
All of our equipment is checked and maintained on a regular basis following PAT guidelines to ensure that it is safe to operate under normal conditions. If any faults are found, the items are immediately removed from our rig and sent away for professional repair. PAT certificates are available for all of the band's standard equipment.
Our live performance consists of two sets of up to one hour each, but a number of combinations are possible within that framework. Other popular alternatives are a single one-hour slot or two 45-minute sets.
We typically find that 30 minutes of playing equates to about 8 songs, so a one-hour set would include roughly 15 to 16 songs and a 45-minute set about 11 or 12.
Our quotations are based on performances before midnight. If you would like us to play later than that, please discuss it with us at the booking stage, as an additional “late finish” charge will be payable.
We appreciate that all events may slip behind schedule and we are willing to adapt to any situation as it presents itself. However, unless a supplementary fee has been paid in advance for a late finish, our midnight curfew will still apply. If your event is delayed by more than an hour, we ask that you discuss the circumstances with us so that we can agree on a revised programme.
Absolutely. You can make up to 15 requests from our list or you can leave it entirely up to us. The simplest way to let us know your selection is to complete the relevant section on our booking form.
If you would like the band to perform a song that doesn't feature on our song list, then please contact us with the details and we will endeavour to accommodate it into our set list for your event.
If the track is featured on our song list, then yes. As the first dance is arguably the most important song of the evening, we will only play a song not on our list if it is concurrent with our instrumentation and style. If, for any reason, we can't perform the song live, we will arrange for the original version to be played over our sound system at the appropriate time.
For insurance purposes, we regret that we cannot invite guest musicians up to play with us, even if a guest provides their own equipment.
Although we can't deny that it is our intention to cover the rockier side of popular music, we value ourselves on being musically appropriate for the functions that we are booked for. What we mean by this is that we will take into account our audience and react accordingly. As well as adhering to your requests from our song list as closely as possible, it also means that we will adjust our performance intensity to fit the situation. As a result, our music is suitable for all age groups and in many cases, the younger guests are often shown up by the stamina and smokin' moves of the older generation!
We usually charge between £1,000 and £1,500 for our hire depending on the details of the event, but discounts are available for registered charities and off-peak bookings. Please contact us for an accurate quote for your occasion.
Yes. In order to secure a booking, a 25% non-refundable deposit must be paid within seven days of submitting the booking form.
Yes – we do not accept payment on the day of the event. The outstanding balance must be paid no later than seven days prior to the event date.
Payments should be made by bank transfer. We will provide our bank details when we confirm receipt of your booking form. Any payment received will be promptly acknowledged with a receipt for your records.
Our quoted fees are “all inclusive” and incorporate all of our expenses. The only time we may inform you of a change to your quoted fee is if your initial enquiry does not accurately reflect the service we need to provide.
In order to mitigate our loss by a cancellation, any payment made to us is non-refundable. If a booking is cancelled within the seven days leading up to the event date, any outstanding balance will still be payable.
In the case of outdoor events, we request that the organiser takes all reasonable steps to ensure that any disruption as a result of the weather is kept to a minimum. Should weather conditions affect our performance or safety, we reserve the right to terminate the engagement at any point, either temporarily or permanently. If you are using a marquee for your event, please make sure that the structure is safe, stable and completely water-tight.
In the unfortunate event of an accident, the band is protected by a £5 million Public Liability Insurance policy which covers all of the band's entourage and equipment. The certificate of insurance can be produced upon request should the venue or organiser require proof.
If you're having a special occasion with a dress code, please inform us of what you would class as suitable attire for the band. If no advice is given, we would typically dress smart, i.e. a formal shirt and black trousers.
We don't insist on it, but are always grateful if the band can be accounted for in the catering arrangements. Whether this means us having access to the evening buffet or having some packed lunches put aside, we are not fussy.
Although it's not strictly essential, we appreciate having some space (i.e. a back room) put aside for our use. As well as being a waiting and changing area, it can help keep the stage area tidy by providing us with somewhere to store cases and boxes out of sight while we're playing.
Absolutely not. In the unlikely event that a member of the band cannot attend a confirmed booking, we have a bank of backup musicians and crew that we can call on to cover at short notice. Any substitute we use will have been selected by us as a worthy replacement and be able to seamlessly integrate with the band, ensuring the quality of our performance is unaffected.