Born 1972 Bruce has been in music from an early age starting with singing in the School Choir as Lead Tenor, eventually been accepted to sing for 2 years with the Johannesburg Regional Choir. It was on one of the Choirs tours that he discovered his passion for percussion and drums.

In 1993 he traveled to England where he honed percussion skills under the watchful eye of well-known UK percussionist Jessica Palin. On his return to SA, he became a founding member of Karoo who had 3 Top Ten hits on Sfm: 'Mission Impossible', 'The Sky is Crying' and 'Money'. These are also on the soundtrack of UK's Channel 4 movie production of 'Jump the Gun'. Karoo recorded 2 albums 'Sticks and Stones' and 'Serendipity', signed to Gallo. Bruce also sang and recorded with Zamo Mubato, Miriam Makeba's principle vocalist, on Amaryoni' (The Lions) released through Digital Cupboard. In 1998 he recorded Acoustic Kitchen with Cliff Armstrong, which inspired him to shift his focus to a more acoustic sound and style. In 2000 he joined Henry Ate for 2 years travelling up and down South Africa and overseas recording -96-02 The Singles' and 'Seven Singles'. In 2001 Bruce teamed up with Marc Buckingham to form Fermats Last Band' a quirky acoustic bubble of joy. Bruce is a qualified Sound Engineer with many years of studio time under his belt recording McCoy, Amaryoni, Yvonne Chaka Chaka, Redeem and many more. He is currently signed to Whoop Records in London with a single called 'Train Coming' remixed by DJ Nelson.

Lawrence Goss

Lawrence started his musical journey at age 14 and has been playing bass and guitar for the past 10 years now. He bas performed with various different rock and acoustic bands over the years and is currently performing and recording with the band 'The Chronicles'. Lawrence is equally adept at guitar and bass and brings a whole array of interesting colours and textures to the music of Fig Tree. He has also recently been collaborating with singer songwriter Jervis Pennington of the Soft Shoes and Lindani Nkosi on their latest folk project.

 

Cliff Armstrong

Born in 1966, Cliff has been teaching guitar for over a decade and has played in numerous bands in venues throughout South Africa. He was a founding member of Rain birds, subsequently Rainland and main songwriter for the band Acoustic Kitchen, who toured throughout the country taking in live radio and televised gigs along the way, whilst enjoying critical acclaim in S.A. press. He has done session work for other artists, the latest being an acoustic guitar session for the project 'Blomkrag', a collaborative effort currently enjoying airplay. He enjoys the ability to express himself in various musical settings, from folk to rock, jazz-blues, African and fingerstyle, all of which are the many branches that make up the new exciting band FigTree

Greg Blanshard

Born in 1972, Greg discovered his passion for the guitar in 1994 when he met renowned guitarist Tony Cox. After studying intensely with Tony for over 7 years he embarked on his own teaching career. After 3 years of teaching on his own, including a freelance teaching post at Pridwin Primary School, Tony and Greg decided to open the Westdene School of the Acoustic guitar, which has now been operating successfully since 2001. The school offers tuition to all levels of acoustic guitarist from beginners through to Master classes, with the emphasis on creating original music.

In addition to his solo playing, Greg and Cliff have teamed up to write and perform various duo gigs as well as the latest collaboration with drummer Bruce McLarren Lyall and bassist Lawrence Goss, to form the band FigTree.