FOLLOWING former Bellowhead lead singer Jon Boden’s recent gig at the Wyeside Arts Centre, Builth Wells, two more former Bellowhead members appear there as part of the folk trio Faustus next Thursday, October 24.

“I lived for many years in Presteigne, a town nearby, and frequented the Wyeside Arts Centre many times. My first band, The Hedgerows, supported Michael McGoldrick there in 1996," said Benji Kirkpatrick who went on to Bellowhead with Paul Sartin.

Benji and Paul team up with Saul Rose in the Faustus trio, with their latest EP 'Cotton Lords: Five Songs of the Lancashire Cotton Famine’.

Faustus are known for captivating audiences with their sheer room-shaking power, vocal precision and instrumental mastery. Setting the band apart are the distinctive individual voices while their close harmonies are faultless and well-crafted and all three members trade lead vocals to great effect.

Driving rhythms on bouzouki and guitar are reinforced by the melodeon, fiddle, oboe and cor anglais, creating arrangements that are intriguing and subtle, boisterous or punchy. Not content to cover the same ground twice, song after song surprises and entertains.

Tickets for Thursday’s show are £15, from the box office on 01982 552555 or online at: www.wyeside.co.uk.

The feast of folk shows continue with award winning songwriter Rowan Rheingans, half of the Rhiengans Sisters and a third of Lady Maisery, bringing her intimate and courageous new show 'Dispatches on the Red Dress' on Wednesday, October 30; Peter Knight’s Gigspanner is there on Thursday, November 7; Blazin’ Fiddles return on Thursday, November 24; and a Celtic Christmas with Calan celebration is on Friday, December 6.