Chris “Thumbs” Kirwan

Bass Guitar and Piano

After narrowly missing out on a career as a tennis star look-a-like, I turned my attention to playing music! A six year stint at university allowed me to perfect the guitar, bass and piano when I could have been found playing in various Indie oufits in the east end of London such as The Elephent Men,
Retrovirus, Pulse and the Smoker House Band. After a chance reunion with the son of a Chinese chip shop owner from Swindon, I was introduced to Montoya and never looked back - though I have kept a healthy interest in my day job!

John “The Voice” Cooke

Lead Vocals and Acoustic Guitar

Ultra-talented, John was a founder member of Montoya. Credited with writing many of the songs, including the all time classic Whiskey Man, John divides his time between band practices and the long train ride to Southend.

Nick “Lynyrd Skynyrd” Allen

Lead Guitar

Peter “Sticks” Haworth

Drums and Percussion

After realising I had a talent for making noise I decided to become a drummer to channel my energy! A founder member of Astronomic Phobia, I played my first gig at the tender age of 16 (the band only lasted one gig!). I have since had a 5 year stint in The Funky Knob Cheeses and The Funky Santas, whilst at University, playing venues all over the South East of England, usually for the princely sum of a hot meal and a few beers. I was drafted into Montoya as a replacement for a drummer who apparently spontaneously combusted during a sound check.

I maintain the Thisismontoya.com website so if you have any suggestions click on my picture to e-mail me.

From my humble musical roots playing the spoons to great effect, it was decided that I wasn’t going to do very well on the music scene, so I decided to turn my attention to the violin, before finally settling on the guitar in hope of improvement. A 4-year stint with Birmingham-based indie outfit Fahrenheit / Dr Moreau as lead guitarist then followed, but it just wasn’t meant to be. Undaunted, I came to London and, after some searching through phone books for contacts and meeting up with the original Montoya bass guitarist (big shout-out to Joey for the early days - cheers mate!), a plan for global domination was hatched in a pub off Oxford Street - current status: still working on it, we'll let you know....!