Ant’s first musical experience was at seven years old, singing with the church choir.   A gift from his Dad to the family of an early Toshiba three-in-one record player/tape player-recorder/radio saw Ant begin his lifelong love of music and stage performance.

It was Sherbet, Richard Clapton, The Angels, Cold Chisel and Skyhooks that initially caught Ant’s ear.  During the 80s, Ant further developed his musical interests, listening to The Church, The Divinyls, Flowers (Icehouse), Midnight Oil and David Bowie.

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The early to mid-90s saw Ant train in stage theatre and performance with the Darlinghurst Theatre in Kings Cross, NSW and The Actor’s Centre in Surry Hills, NSW.  In 1995, Ant formed the four-piece band The Prairie Dogs.  The band recorded a self-titled demo tape before disbanding in mid-1996.

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In 1998, Ant formed an acoustic duo with Jason Minney, named Catweasel, which saw them travel to Los Angeles USA and Toronto, Canada to ‘road test’ twelve original songs they had written and recorded for a demo CD, 'Catweasel Acoustically'.

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On return from Canada, Catweasel became a four- and five-piece band at various times over the next two years.  This grouping ended in March 2002, after recording the demo CDs 'The Shoestring Mix', 'Chase the Cat', and 'Live at Infidel Studios'.

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In 2003, Ant formed four-piece act The James Jessie Band. The band recorded and performed over 2 years and produced two demo CDs, 'Sky Gone Green' and 'Radiating Blue' before disbanding in 2005.

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Carnival Road symbolises Ant's official return to music, following his fortuitous meeting with Andrew in 2014.

Andrew has been playing bass and guitar for 40 years and has been in several bands, starting with swing/rock pub band Cruize Control in the early 80s and more recently with pub rockers Obsessions and Vendetta. 

He grew up in Canberra, hanging around the music scene and in particular the old Boot and Flogger, consuming a steady musical diet of hard rock and blues. His favourite recorded influences come from the king bands: Zep, Floyd and Purple!

Andrew is now a professional audio-visual supplier and entertainment booking agent, running Soundshop & Funnell Entertainment and mixing for bands on the weekend.

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In his spare time (oh yeah?!), he loves performing and recording with Carnival Road, playing with Metropolis band and occasionally filling in with various cover acts on bass. 

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Andrew has a very broad play list and is most often seen with his favourite bass, the Purple Levinson Blade 5 string!  

Steve Deakin brings over 20 years experience as a drummer and is also an excellent backing vocalist. His breathtaking drum rolls and insanely tight beats are the pulsating heart of the group.

Ole Nielsen is the guitarist in the band. With a background in the Danish music scene dating back to the eighties punk scene, he supports Carnival Road with driving riffs, melodic lead breaks, pumping rhythms and subtle backing vocals.