Julie July Band

“Flight of Fancy Album Tour 2024”

Music inspired by the folk, rock & blues movements of 60’s & 70’s with a 21^st Century Twist. 6 artists, 5 part harmonies - evocative of The Eagles & Crosby, Stills & Nash.

Julie July Band have been performing in Theatres, Art Centres & festivals across the UK & Europe for over 10 years. They have built a substantial reputation with reinterpretations of the work of singer-songwriter Sandy Denny with their debut album 'Who Knows Where the Time Goes?'. They have since gone on to create their own original blend of folk & rock music with 2 critically acclaimed albums 'Lady of the First Light' and 'Wonderland' with a 4th Album 'Flight of Fancy' launching in Spring 2024.

Julie July

Singer and songwriter

The face and the name of the band, Julie July’s powerful vocals captivate audiences and her raw talent for lyrical storytelling is helping to shine a spotlight on the British folk rock music scene again.

Julie has been performing in theatres and festivals around the UK and Europe for over 10 years. With three Albums under her belt and a new one planned for Spring 2024, it doesn’t sound like she’s ready to stop.

“Who knows where the time goes? I can’t believe its flown by so fast … hundreds of shows, rehearsals, recording studios, hotels, late nights on the road, even climbing mountains and shooting videos in the desert! But I wouldn’t change it for the world! I’ve enjoyed every minute of it. We’ve created a fantastic line-up of incredible artists, we write, arrange and perform songs together. I pinch myself every night that I’m part of this team of such talented individuals ... we’re like a family!

“I’m so excited about our forthcoming album. We’re going to take you on a journey – a ‘Flight of Fancy’. Watch this space “

Steve Rezillo

Lead guitarist

Having been influenced by so many types of music from an early age, Steve brings to the band an eclectic mix of styles essential ingredients of the folk rock sound.

Steve spent his early years playing the piano and violin, making a debut public performance in BirminghamTown Hall with the Birmingham Schools’ Youth Orchestra.

However, the guitar soon became his instrument of choice, paving the way for an extraordinary music career.

Over the years, Steve played in many bands and shared the stage with acts like ‘Thin Lizzy’ and ‘AztecCamera’. In 2003, he turned professional as a solo guitarist and singer, touring the pub circuit.

Steve now splits his musical interests between the Julie July Band and a Fleetwood Mac tribute show, Fleetwood Machine. He has a particular interest in writing and recording and has produced all the Julie July Band’s albums.

Caley Groves

Acoustic guitarist

Hailing from Melbourne, Australia, Caley was born into a family with folk rock at its heart; his father, Steve, playing for the legendary purveyors of Australiana and folk, ‘TheBushwackers’.

Although formally educated in jazz and popular music, Caley considers his father –guitarist, singer and songwriter – to be his greatest teacher.

He began his career in folk, rock, punk, and indie in the early 2000’s touring Australia and New Zealand with ‘Heartfelt Self’, ‘Manmade Lake’, and ‘Colditz Glider’ and recording 4original EP’s. Alongside these projects Caley continued playing folk, country, finger style, swing and jazz with this father, which eventually led to them co-founding a vintage jazz band ‘Duck Musique’, playing at festivals and venues all over Australia. He’s also composed and played on sessions for film and television.

Since moving to England in 2014, Caley’s been busy playing jazz, swing and gypsy jazz. He was rhythm guitarist for gypsy jazz/blues guitar virtuoso Remi Harris, plays regularly with violin maestro Ben Holder andBilly Thompson, and is a member of the world/jazz/gypsy group ‘Dynamo Quartet’.

Dik Cadbury

Bass guitarist

Dik Cadbury is Julie JulyBand’s bass guitarist and the heartbeat of the group. His love of music, knowledge and multi-instrumentalist skills are integral to the band’s powerful sound.

Dik was the only boy in the school choir at the age of 5, took up violin at 9 and discovered the Beatles at 13!

As school bands developed, he moved from guitar to drums and finally settled on bass. He played first violin in the Reading Youth Orchestra, studied as a ‘countertenor’ and chose his universities by cathedral to sing the wealth of church music on offer.

Arriving in Norwich, he joined his first ‘folk-jug’ band Totem on bass and fiddle before moving to Cheltenham to join ‘prog-folk’ band Decameron in 1973. When they disbanded in 1976, he joined The Steve Ashley Band and Pekoe Orange, builtMillstream Recording Studio in Cheltenham, before being recruited by ex-Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett on bass to form his first touring band, recording 2albums - ‘Spectral Mornings’ and ‘Defector’ - before disbanding in 1980. He then formed a retro ‘60s band ‘The Teenage Idols’ with Decameron’s Dave Bell, formed The Mighty Quintet with Mike D’Abo and then moved on to play guitar with international party band Top Catz.

He joins Decameron’s Johnny Coppin as guitarist for an annual Christmas show ‘All On A Winter’s Night’ alongside Paul Burgess and plays bass in ‘The Retros’ with D’Abo guitarist Steve Degutis. Now on bass with The Julie July Band, he’s thrilled to be back on the road with such a talented group of musicians and isa contributor to the growing repertoire of original material featured on their album ‘Wonderland’ and the follow up ‘Flight Of Fancy’.

Dik has recorded two solo albums: ‘About Time’ and ‘Winds of Change’ plus a duo album ‘C-H’ (Cadbury-Hicks) with former Hackett vocalist Pete Hicks.

dikcadbury.com

Mick Candler

Drummer

As the drummer of Julie July Band, Mick provides the pulse and lays the foundations for the other band members to be creative. He’s previously supported music royalty like Pink Floyd and Jimmy Cliff.

Mick Candler began playing drums in the local beat groups of his home city of York in the 1960s, supporting leading music luminaries Pink Floyd, Soft Machine, Jimmy Cliff and Procol Harum. He joined The Roll Movement, a four piece group led by Cliff Wade,( who later became a composer of hit songs for Tina Turner and Pat Benatar) before flying off to Mexico with acid-pop band Angel Pavement.

Mick has an extensive list of album and TV credits for drums and percussion performing in bands including Decameron, Phil Beer, Johnny Coppin, Steve Knightly, and Magna Carta. In recent years, he has recorded two critically acclaimed albums with slide guitarist Kevin Brown and is a current member of his band “The Shackdusters”.

Carol Lee Sampson

Keyboard

Carol joined the band at the end of 2019, adding melodic keyboards and backing vocals to the mix. She also contributes to the band’s original material with her storytelling, romantic & catchy songs.

A gifted singer/songwriter herself, who has had many of her songs played on local BBC Radio, and has also been their ‘Artist of the week’ on several occasions!

Carol’s no stranger to being in the studio, having sung on many albums for different projects over the last 30 years, one of which was for the esteemed folk guitarist Gordon Giltrap on his 2015 album ‘Peace WillFall’.

With 6 solo albums to date, 3 of which were recorded live at her home duringLockdown, she’s also helped raise a significant amount of funds for CancerResearch & St. Richard’s Hospice through the sale of her Christmas Charity EP’s.

She loves to try & make a difference through the medium of music, so you’ll find her regularly playing in old folks homes &dementia units, as well as gigging around the locality with her trio.

‘I’m loving being part of this wonderful band of troubadours…each of us bringing our own unique gifting to the table. We are stronger together!’

carolleesampson.co.uk