YasYasYas are mainly a trio of four (occasionally more) musicians. The core group are:

Nina ‘Big Sista’ Stevens: Lead vocals and percussion
‘Wiley’ Paul Riley: Lead acoustic and electric guitar, vocals and mandolin
‘Doc Rackett‘: Resonator and 12 string guitar, vocals, woodwinds, melodeon, harp, etc.

‘Professor Jon’ Johnathan Seath (keyboards and mandolin) is also integral to the band although not always able to sit in.

All four have played together in different combinations in previous bands in the Colchester area. Paul is a well established regular solo artist and accompanist on the folk scene, Doc, a multi-media artist, specialises in historical music and runs Rackett Media, a media production organisation. The band have been together for about a couple of years playing folk clubs and events in Essex and Suffolk. They have recently supported Jamie Kirkpatrick at Colchester Folk Club and regularly play at Colchester’s annual ‘Big Sunday’ festival.

For more information about our year so far see our blog page