Chris has played guitar, bass, whistles and flute. He started on classical guitar, played along to lots of rock, learnt some flute and cello, sang a bit, played in folk groups, got more seriously into folk clubs in Christchurch, went to some NZ folk festivals, and played guitar in the odd barn dance. He played and recorded with Lynn Clark, John & Paddy Harte in a band called Thunderhead in the 1980s, then headed overseas. He spent five years in Scotland, played in the Findhorn Foundation Sacred Dance band which recorded two albums of widely varied dance music, and another more rock & blues album with Michael Lee. Back in NZ Chris played guitar and helped put together an album of Sai Baba devotional songs with Mike Rowntree. After some years in the musical wilderness he joined the Puhoi sessions, then helped form the Slow Water Band. His early favourite folk interests included Martin Carthy and Planxty. More recently it’s been John McCusker and Treacherous Orchestra, with wider interest in Eva Cassidy, Joan Osborne, Norah Jones, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Mary Black and Leonard Cohen. Chris is interested in music that moves him to feel happy or sad, to dance or to sing. He’s fascinated by the adventurous and uncertain folk process of playing, experimenting and a group making music its own.

Alan joined his first band – a five piece, at aged 11; ‘The Musical Sputniks’. As he remembers it, they were rubbish but it was an introduction to guitar and ukulele and they performed on British TV. At age 15, he graduated to trad jazz played trumpet but was soon snared by the guitar styles of Hank Marvin and Bert Weedon and the sounds of pop. Jazz never had a chance! In a covers pop band called ‘The Deltic Sound’ he went back to the electric guitar, pub gigs, and Beatles’ covers, a band he still loves. At 17 he began to turn, like so many of his generation, to the moody, activist music of Bobby Dylan, “He was a vehicle for my own latent poeticism,”. Dylan’s music led Alan into the folk music revival that was at its U.K. height in the mid-sixties. He began to play solo Dylanesque spots at 17 and occasionally with others. The world of traditional English folk began to open up. At college he played in a duo covering traditional songs along with a fair bit of Simon and Garfunkel. In the final two years of college, Alan and three friends formed a traditional folk band called ‘The Baccy Pipes’ with renowned folkie Taffy. During this period Alan began to develop a special interest in Scottish and Irish folk music. Alan came to NZ in 1979 and shortly afterwards teamed up with Irish musicians in Auckland. He joined a pub band called ‘Blacksmith’ and shortly afterwards formed a Celtic band, together with his wife Ruth named after a mythical Irish city: Findrias. Findrias flourished during the Irish music renaissance of the ‘80s and ‘90s playing pub gigs and Irish festivals. At retirement, Alan and Ruth moved to Puhoi – and then the real musical career began! He started a gathering of Celtic musicians in the village hall which, at its height, had 35 members and sounded like a folk orchestra. This conclave continues to this day. A core of die-hards from the ‘big group’, who simply couldn’t get enough, formed a gigging band in July of 2018. The Slow Water Band.

Marika Balzat (age 20) is the 6th of 7 children the well known musical Balzat family. She started learning the violin and piano at age 4 and has been performing both with her family and solo since then. She and her 6 siblings were all home-schooled up until the age of about 15 and Marika finished her schooling at Westlake Girl’s High School. With her family band she has travelled through the USA, Europe, Australia and Fiji performing music as well as holding annual family concerts. Her family band had produced a CD, multiple DVD’s and performed on tv before becoming too busy to perform together. Since then Marika has performed in many productions, been a part of the ensemble for the AIMES Awards Gala for the last three years, performed with Jordan Luck both personally and in the tv show Why Does Love, performed for former Prime Minister John Key, Suzy Cato, Maggie Barrie and many others. She has had solo gigs at Hobbiton, for weddings and has regular pub gigs in Auckland. She currently teaches at Scherzo, Albany School of Music and privately as well as being a part of her church worship team and leading the Sunday School music. She loves performing all genres of music including Classical, Irish Fiddle, Gypsy Jazz, Latin Jazz and Baroque music (who she has been learning on a baroque instrument for the last year and a half under Graham McPhail). For the last decade (age 10-20) she has been learning violin under Elizabeth Holowell and has just completed her Bachelor of Music majoring in Violin Performance at the University of Auckland. Marika is the newest member of The Slow Water Band and she is excited to see what’s in store. 

Paul’s interest in music is how it sounds and feels and he plays ‘by-ear’ and chord charts. From pre-school age there was singing and music. His Mum and younger sister are excellent singers. Classical music produced an unexplained emotional response and some still does today. The first song that really stopped Paul in his tracks was Tubeway Army’s ‘Are friends electric?’. Unidentified sounds and a distinct, unusual vocal. New-wave post punk led to Mick Karn’s fretless bass playing - another strange individual sound. Paul was introduced to The Enid and ‘prog’ in the early 80s, which added the fascination with timing and arrangement. Possessed of an extraordinary vocal range, he was inspired by Sting to become a front man, lead vocalist and bass player. Sound, timing and arrangement led Paul to Clannad, which re-kindled folk music for him. He got to know the Brennan family well and spent a lot of time in Donegal, learning some Gaelic and the Bodhran. The 90s was live covers gigs, mainly rock, lots of them, too many. Folk rock from the Saw Doctors to Fairport kept the folk interest. However, by the end of the century he’d got bored with the grind of ‘pub covers’ and, gave up. Music doesn’t leave you though and the discovery and love of Radiohead (Paul’s vocal range is identical to Thom Yorke’s) along with continuing to play Bodhran led Paul to a Celtic session in Puhoi where he saw the potential to sound out some of the leading protagonists about forming a band. The result is The Slow Water Band – “they’re a funny lot, they keep looking at sheets of paper with lines and dots all over them…”. Giving in to the inevitable and the drive to compose again he has recently been lucky enough to begin learning music theory and keyboard “properly” with acclaimed Pianist Amy Cottingham.

Ruth was fortunate to be encouraged in the Arts throughout her early years. As well as developing a love of painting and drawing, she learnt to play recorder, clarinet and piano (even winning a scholarship at 12 for a year of free music lessons!). Singing in choirs gave way, inevitably, to frequenting Folk Clubs around the UK with the Folk revival coinciding with her teenage years. The holiday job in the summer before College earned her enough to buy her first guitar. Ruth was drawn to Celtic music (her DNA shows that she has a strong mix of Celtic and Viking ancestry that must have been calling her) and plays the whistles and bodhrán. In her teaching days Ruth passed on her love of the Arts to her students, incorporating folk music and dance, drama and art into the lessons she taught. Ruth has managed two bands, one in College days and the Celtic band, Findrias, that she and Alan formed and played together in. Findrias enjoyed a strong following in the Irish scene that burgeoned in Auckland and many special events and celebrations around New Zealand were delighted to host them. Ruth has enjoyed exploring Ireland and experiencing the traditional music seisúns there. Talented musicians that Ruth has played with include: Alan Wagstaff (guitar, mandolin and vocals), Chris Stone (keyboards), Jess Hindin (violin), Juliette Primrose (violin), Linda Willings (violin), Colin Kilmartin (banjo and mandola), Mark Fitzsimons (bass and mandolin), John McGowan (whistles, guitar and vocals), Alastair Riddell (guitar, mandolin and vocals), and still the list goes on!  Ruth now enjoys playing with fellow band members she considers to be amazingly talented and passionate musicians, Chris Power (guitar, flute and whistles), Paul King (bass guitar and bodhran), and Marika Balzat (violin). The future looks bright!