Ben and Tixia have been organising events for over a decade. Ben is a qualified sound engineer and has lectured on the subject of film, music and photography at various colleges and universities in and around London. He is the former guitarist of internationally successful UK band Bôa.
Ben and Tixi are involved in several music projects. They organised Harpsfest music festival at Redhill, co-ordinate the Music Cafe stage at the annual Carshalton EcoFair, and organise numerous Steampunk events including the quarterly Surrey Steampunk Convivial as well as running regular open mic nights in and around London.
They are also musicians in their own right, in their steampunk acoustic trip-hop group Moth. Tixia is the singer songwriter and vocalist for Moth, and Ben is a multi-instrumentalist, and music producer, and often plays guitar, cajon or bayan when Moth perform live. Moth's music has been featured in film festivals in the USA, the Mayor's New Year's Day parade and the award winning film, Cathedrals of Steam.
They try to operate the night as fairly as possible – musicians regularly pre-book their performance slots at their sessions, and stylistically: Anything Goes! They like to give each performer a chance to sing three songs – backing tracks are allowed provided you bring something that can play them. They like to create a positive, inclusive atmosphere that is welcoming and encouraging, and support original music as well as covers. Ben and Tixi's open mic nights have been featured by the BBC and they have been awarded for running one of The Top 10 South London Open Mic Nights by Open Mic UK.