David Halliday is a self-taught guitarist and has been playing the electric guitar for over 17 years with a finger-picking style similar to the man who inspired him to learn the instrument, Mark Knopfler. At school his skills with the piano were promising and the guitar was not a source of interest, but when he heard Sultans of Swing shortly after leaving school he bought a guitar and learned the studio version by ear. Knopfler continues to be a strong influence in both his playing style and musical tastes, and he still relies on playing by ear when developing new material.

Tom Kater has many years of musical experience and is a multi-instrumentalist. As well as the 12-string acoustic guitar (his main performance instrument), he plays the mouth organ and mandolin. Musically he was influenced by many artists and the classics of rock when they were first released, but never settled on one genre to the exclusion of others. The most prolific and long-lasting influence turned out to be folk music, however. He has been part of several line-ups and has performed in innumerable pub sessions.

Forming Eclectic Guitar

David and Tom worked beside each other as English teachers for several years prior to Eclectic Guitar forming in the spring of 2011. In 2009, a talent show was organised by the school. By this time David and Tom were aware of each other's musical tastes and talents; and so with the help of the talent show's mastermind on drums (Gary O'Rourke) and another English teacher on bass (George McDaid, former bassist with the Trashcan Sinatras), a live performance was organised under the name of Dire Lizzy. The group performed Whisky in the Jar and Sultans of Swing.

Although this was a one-off performance, David and Tom continued to meet up casually to play music. Based on their shared tastes an extended repertoire of songs eventually emerged, and early in 2011 they decided to form a musical duo and begin performing live in public. David designed a logo and Tom came up with the band name, a name which neatly captures several things about their identity: the combination of 12-string acoustic and Fender Stratocaster, the various artists whom they cover, the various influences shaping their music including original material, and other things besides.

They delivered their debut live performance as Eclectic Guitar at Room in Largs on April 29th 2011.

They will shortly be recording their current original repertoire.