Johnny Red Tips followed in fellow Scouser (Liverpudlian) Ringo Starr’s footsteps by seeking his fortune far from the shores of the River Mersey. He backpacked to Oz along with his wife in 1972, and has lived in Sydney ever since, although he returns to Liverpool regularly to brush up on his accent. On one such visit he stumbled on Ringo’s old Beatle Jacket from the early days of Beatlemania and sometimes wears it on stage in a vain attempt to channel the previous owner’s percussive dexterity.

JRT drummed for the Wheeze & Suck Band, The Sydney Morris Men and Albion Fair Clog Morris for over 20 years. When he’s not trying to keep up with the Pump’s mercurial, and often unannounced, changes to set lists and tune structures he spends his time planning holidays and football trips to support his beloved Reds and England’s Three Lions. A confirmed Dylan ‘nut’, he is also one of the presenters of Focus on Folk on 102.5FM under his nom de radio of “Whispering Johnny Red Tips”. His vocal skills are in inverse proportion to his well renowned appetite for pedantry.