Phil Honsinger: Guitar, Mandolin, Bodhran, Keyboard, Backup Vocals

Guitarist-extraordinaire Phil Honsinger draws on his musical perspectives from a variety of styles ranging from Celtic and jazz, to gospel, classical, rock and country. Phil's 30+ years of performing experience blend into his own unique and personal style of playing - from aggressive, high-energy flat-picking to lyrical finger-picking - as is evident in his performances, music arrangements and original compositions!

Cutting his musical teeth performing in Ontario pubs, Phil has also been heard on numerous radio stations including BBC (Belfast, Ireland), CBC (Toronto, Ontario), CKWR (Waterloo), and various community, university and college radio stations across North America.  Phil has been interviewed on CKCO-TV (Kitchener) and seen on Rogers TV (Day Time Show) and CHCH-TV (Hamilton).  He has performed at many Celtic & folk festivals throughout Ontario including Fergus, Goderich, Sarnia & Haliburton and has recorded on four CDs with the Failte and Mystic Fyre bands.

Phil earned a Bachelor of Mathematics degree from the University of Waterloo with a Computer Science major and a business minor at Wilfrid Laurier University.  A published author for computer and woodcarving publications, he is also now building guitars, as seen at www.canadianluthier.com.

Phil and Slim share a common start to their passion for performing... the Beatles performances on Ed Sullivan's Variety TV show (we were really, really young, ok?).  The subsequent explosion of the incredible rock talents of the 60s has inspired Phil to keep a guitar in his hands ever since.  Other Celtic, country rock and folk influences include Chet Atkins, Doyle Dykes, Buster Jones, Great Big Sea, Spirit of the West, Gordon Lightfoot and Tony Rice.

Kirsty Hunsberger began playing the violin at the age of five, and started out as a student of the Kitchener-Waterloo Suzuki School. She played for two years with the K-W Symphony Youth Orchestra, and for five years with the Waterloo Collegiate Institute Senior String and Chamber String Orchestras. Kirsty attended Wilfrid Laurier University, graduating with an Honours Bachelor of Music, and the University of Western Ontario, where she received her Bachelor of Education.  While at WLU, Kirsty studied with Piotr Buczek, a founding member of the Penderecki String Quartet, and Eduard Minevich, the former concertmaster of the K-W Symphony.  Kirsty has taught for the last six years at Eastwood Collegiate in Kitchener, where she is the string specialist. She directs the Eastwood Chamber String orchestra, and the Eastwood Fiddle Group.

Even though she was primarily taught Classical music, Kirsty has always had an interest in fiddling. Since her graduation from WLU, Kirsty has fiddled at Scottish festivals in Fort Erie and Orillia, and has played with two other Celtic bands. In the summer of 2002, she attended Mark O'Connor's annual Fiddle Conference in San Diego, California, where she took classes with Natalie MacMaster, Donnell Leahy, and other world-class fiddlers.  The experience was absolutely incredible, and Kirsty hopes to attend the conference again in the future. She also had the opportunity to perform with Natalie at the conference's final concert. 

Shenanigan is Kirsty's first foray into Celtic rock music, and she is thrilled to be a part of the group!

Barb Brown, born in Charlottetown P.E.I., has a Bachelor of Music from Queen's University in Kingston and a Bachelor of Education degree from the University of Toronto. Barb began her teaching career in Toronto and Ottawa, and later moved to the Waterloo Region. She has taught in several schools in the area with her energy and enthusiasm centered on Kitchener's Eastwood Collegiate Institute for more than a decade. Barb teaches vocal music, and is Head of the Arts Department at ECI. She conducts numerous vocal groups at the school, and also directs the musical theatre productions.

Barb has sung in a wide variety of classical and non-classical performance situations including folk, country, jazz, blues and Celtic.  Her performance experience includes extensive choral singing, vocal jazz, musical theatre and solo pub gigs. 

She has written and produced a collection of Maritime-inspired folk songs on a CD entitled "Tales to Sunnybray".  

Celtic music is definitely in Barb's blood.  

'Slim' has been around since the days of rock and roll. He has aspired to be the bassist on the stage since watching McCartney on Ed Sullivan. So dedicated is he to the bottom end, his collection of basses now numbers eleven. Self-taught and influenced early on by such players as Chris Squire of Yes and Mike Rutherford of Genesis, Slim, was an early adopter of Moog Taurus bass pedals and now experiments with a wide variety of soft and hard synthesizers and sequencers. 

He played alongside singer, and more recently actor, Gloria Reuben of ER and The Agency in his second band, "Slipstream". In the early '80's he held down the low end for Kitchener based new wave band, "A Room Of Fools". Since then there has been Gospel, Jazz, a stint with Scottish influenced hard rockers "The Rockness Monsters", studio work and an attempt at a U2 tribute. He is currently collaborating with others on original music. 

With two Irish great grandfathers, the Celtic in him had to fight itself to the surface eventually, so he found himself making mischief with this happy lot. 

Current influences include Victor Wooten and Nathan East.  

Mike is truly the consummate drummer's drummer...... 

Passion, energy, a tight groove and tons of experience performing everything from rock and jazz to Celtic and Dixieland has blessed Shenanigan with The Man!