People

Mark Yates - Lead Vocals / Percussion

Purveyor of throaty noises in the band is Mark, who apparently comes from a family of grave robbers - historically speaking of course! Mark played drums in various bands before assuming the lead vocalist role in Ministry Of Beaver, which is handy when it comes to adding that all-important percussion to the songs... he paid a lot of money for that tambourine, you know! Mark sprinkles expletives liberally and can swear with the best of them, so just watch it, alright! Comfortable with a wide range of vocal styles, Mark is capable of turning his voice from the demands of Muse to the screams of AC/DC and is perfectly comfortable dealing with those insolent hecklers that crop up from gig to gig.

Andi Kalczewski - Guitars / Backing Vox

Having been in several short-lived band projects in Liverpool and Manchester, Andi returned to Coventry and promptly joined MOB in late 2000, after answering an ad in that prestigious music publication ‘Why?’ (yes, that freebie bargain hunting mag found at petrol stations and rubbish newsagents!) Affectionately known as ‘cloth ears’, don’t expect to find him fine tuning the out front sound, although he’s not bad at coaxing a pant-soiling tone out of his rig. His playing is strictly old-school and way too loud, with Les Pauls the instrument of choice. Gary Moore, Ritchie Blackmore and EVH are amongst his heroes and playing live is and always will be the pinnacle, whether it’s a festival or the smallest local pub.

Rod Goodwin - Bass Guitars / Backing Vox

Rod is the man behind the bass guitars in the band, joining in 2002. He has played bass for longer than he cares to remember. His first proper band being Flackoff, a local punk band of some repute. He was also a founder member of 80’s Coventry band European Sun who were managed by the now defunct Horizon Studios. Since then he has played in various musical offerings, including a spell in local band V8 from 1996-1999 in what is generally considered to be “the classic line up”. Nowadays, when he is not playing with the Beaver or tinkering with the band P.A. he rides motorcycles and plays the odd show with Black Country band Goats Don’t Shave and Non Doctor Feelgood, a tribute in the real sense of the word, who perform only the songs played when Wilko Johnson was in the band!

John Chivers - Drums / Backing Vox

John started playing drums in 1981 as a means of getting out of piano lessons. Initially, he found hitting drums as dull as hitting ivories, but soon developed a liking for the drums after seeing the late, great jazz drummer, Buddy Rich in concert. John is the band's token northern monkey (a Bradfordian by birth) and rather fancies adopting the stage name 'Edgar Uttershite'. Prior to joining Ministry of Beaver, he played with Coventry originals band, BAiT from 1996 to 2007, and in the BAiT cover band spin-off, Kill Clouseau for its brief existence between 2006 and 2007. He shouldn't enjoy playing some of Beaver's material, as it is the antithesis of his favourite music, Progressive Rock... but in fact he loves it. After all, it's only rock'n'roll!