Author - Thom Craigen
Thom has played guitar and bass in bands since the age of seventeen, mainly playing tiny venues and parties for friends whilst at school and university. In his twenties he played bass with rock four-piece, Colour of Fire, and enjoyed a few years recording and promoting their album 'Pearl Necklace' across the UK, Europe and Japan - supporting the likes of Placebo, Biffy Clyro, Idlewild and Silverchair along the way. Thom now lives in York, UK with his wife and two children. Writing Ballistic Kids was a way for Thom to share the magical experience he had playing in bands and hopefully inspire the next generation of rock stars to experience it for themselves.
School visits / Personal appearances
Thom is available for school visits, speaking events, book signings and personal appearances. Workshops can be developed on request to support specific areas of learning, or selected from a range of topics including writing in rhyme, story arcs and planning, character development, idea-generation and band logo creation.
Please use the contact form to submit a request or to request more details.
Illustrator - Matt Riste
Whilst at school, Matt formed a band with friends (including Scott), called Midasuno. Their chaotic live shows created a buzz on the UK music scene, winning them best unsigned act at the Welsh Music Awards. Signings with Frontline, Lockjaw and Sugarshack records during their 7-year career saw Midasuno record a number of singles, EPs and albums with a relentless touring schedule to promote their various releases. Midasuno decided to call it a day, despite rave reviews from rock press titles including Rocksound, Metal Hammer, and Kerrang, although at the request of their fans, they briefly reunited three years later for one almighty last show. Matt went on to pursue a career in illustration and recent projects have included album cover art for (ex-Motorhead guitarist) Phil Campbell and the Bastard Sons, re-imagined illustrations for "The Twits" for The Roald Dahl centenary as well as exhibition pieces for the Royal Horticultural Society. Matt lives with his wife and son in the Valleys in South Wales.
Songwriter - Scott Lee Andrews
Despite being huge local heroes, Scott was never quite satisfied with the level of success achieved with Midasuno. He formed Exit_International, a 3 piece bass-guitars-and-screaming noise pop machine, using crowdfunding platforms to finance the recording of two critically acclaimed albums during their nine year career. More recently Scott has also collaborated and toured with Ginger Wildheart on the Mutation III - Dark Black project and now lives with his wife in Australia from where he has released material under his solo monikers Jaws of Deaf and Strange Unit, as well as writing the catchiest punk rock songs in the world for Ballistic Kids.