Starting on the snare drum as a youngster, Matt soon expanded his interests to playing the Drum Kit and dove headlong in to the world of Classic Rock.
Enjoying the music of Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, The Doors and Cream, He found a large Jazz influence in the drummers of those bands which led to listening to all sorts of Jazz, Blues, Funk, Latin, fusion and progressive rock music.
Over the years Matt has played in many different groups and genres of music, including developing a keen interest in playing the Bass guitar and dabbling in a bit of banjo. influences and inspiration have come from listening to lots of Indian music, Celtic, Folk and other World music styles across the decades.
The exciting thing about playing in Spiral Dance is the ability to be able to draw upon all the styles and influences he has absorbed in over 30 plus years of immersion in the music world.
Simon started learning violin as a young child, later studying at the Australian National University in Canberra and The Sir Zelman Cowen School of Music and Performance in Melbourne.
Simon has played violin and viola in orchestras as far afield as Ontario, Canada and Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Wanting to branch out from the world of classical music, Simon performed violin, guitar and vocals in punk, rock and country bands in Canberra and Melbourne, most notably The Orphanage and Patches, selling out iconic Melbourne rock venues like the Workers Club and the Old Bar.
After moving to Adelaide, Simon joined Spiral Dance in 2022, where his alter ego the Scrubwren feels at home with the band’s strong connection to the earth and its stories.
Residing in Naarm/Melbourne, Rena has been involved in musical performance on stage and behind the scenes for over 40 years. Her styles have mostly centred around rock, pop, folk and blues styles.
Her first public performance was playing bagpipes in Adelaide’s Christmas Pageant aged 10 which launched her lifelong addiction to entertaining audiences. Rena’s teenage holiday job was to go busking in Adelaide's Rundle Mall every chance she got.
Rena has recorded and toured nationally and overseas with Spiral Dance contributing to bass and drums previously. Over the years, Rena has collaborated in projects with members of F.A.B., Seven Stories, Colcannon and the Steve Brown Band. She was a founding member of the long running live-to-air radio show The Hillbilly Hoot (Three D Radio) and also made musical guest appearances on AM Adelaide and children’s TV show The Music Shop (including some with Spiral Dance!).
“I love playing live! You pour your energy into the performance, the audience amplifies that back and you keep lifting each other until it hits them – they are part of the band.”