Bangers & Mash was founded in the early nineties.

The band is named after the English country meal that is easy to make and very nutritious. Bangers and Mash was the favorite dish of Tristan in the television series about dr James Herriot, of which Jeroen is a great fan.

Our great hobby is making music and we have all been doing this for centuries. We were members of different bands in the past. Although we play(ed) different kinds of music, we have one love in common: the Irish folk music. It's no wonder that Irish folk music covers a great deal of our repertoire.

Of course we play Irish smash hits like The Wild Rover, The Black Velvet Band and Whiskey In The Jar, but there is also room enough for beautiful ballads. Besides folk music we also play a number of "golden oldies", a few Dutch songs and last but not least, we also write our own music; you will here some when you come and see us play or listen to one of our cd's "Addiction" or "Dirty Dishes". For a complete review of our repertoire, please consult our repertoire.

The main reason why we make music is the audience to have a great time. The atmosphere leads our music: If you want to party. no problem. Do you prefer listening, that's alright with us as well. You mark the decibels, we'll do the rest.

In order to reach as many people as possible with our music, we decided in 1995 to become a non-profit organization and founded the Bangers & Mash Society. Through this society we are able to keep the cost of performing as low as possible.

BANDMEMBERS

Sjanneke van Herpen

Born: 1968 March 27
Place of birth: Heemskerk (NL)
Residence: Wijk aan Zee (NL)
Profession: Sculpter

Sjanneke is the only woman in the band (but she does not mind). She lives with her partner Willem in a small village down by the North Sea, called Wijk aan Zee. She loves to sleep late.
Sjanneke plays the violin, viola and cello and oh boy, can she torment her strings like hell! Her favorite instrumental is called Devil's Dream and that's exactly what it is!
On the other hand she can do magic with her violin when she plays ballads like A Addiction, l'Ombre Du Coeur De Ma Mie and One More Cup Of Coffee.

Jeroen Stam

Born: 1954 September 2
Place of birth: Amsterdam (NL)
Residence: Heemskerk (NL)
Profession: Teacher primary school

Jeroen is the senior band member. He has two daughters Amber and Brontë. He is a professional teacher to 12 year old children, but being a writer could become his new profession; his first book has been published, so ....
Jeroen loves karate, so watch out!
He plays the semi-acoustic bass guitar and triangle and lays down the solid foundation for the B&M-sound. Every now and then the turns to the Spanish guitar and occasionally to maracas. He is also our second lead singer and the bass background vocalist.

Peter Janssen

Born: 1955 May 24
Place of birth: IJmuiden (NL)
Residence: Koedijk (NL)
Profession: Controller

Peter is the treasurer of the band. He lives with his wife Pieta and their three sons Sean, Jeffrey and Brendan. He is a controller for a living but in his spare time you can find him behind his computer quite often as well.
Peter is the multi instrumentalist. He plays mandolin, accordion, guitar, a little bit of banjo, bodhrán, shaker, cymbals and train flute. Besides these he completes the backing vocals wherever needed (?).

Lowie van Herpen

Born: 1961 March 6
Place of birth: Heemskerk (NL)
Residence: Oudorp (NL)
Profession: Licensed victualler

Lowie is the band's lead singing engineer and the older brother of Sjanneke. He is married to Adrie and  father of son Thijs and daughter Anouk. He claims to be a licensed victualler during the day and a expert on wine the rest of the time. He owns his own wine and whisky shop in Heemskerk (NL) since September 2005.

Lowie is always able to fix our equipment when we (or some alien) demolished it. He has a nice voice so he has been chosen to be our first lead singer. Besides that he plays the sound system and guitar, bouzouki, blues harp, all kinds of flutes and he blows his brains out on studying the bagpipes. He also claims to be the best banjo player of the neighbourhood, but we really doubt that!