For so many years a keystone of the bands of Nick Lowe, Van Morrison, Bill Wyman’s Rhythm Kings, Dave Edmunds and countless more, Geraint Watkins is also a revered creator of his own sublime music.  Throughout his career as an accompanist, he has released just a handful of highly acclaimed solo albums showcasing his own material.  These days he regularly performs a good selection from this repertoire with his band – the Mosquitoes.

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Watkins left his native Wales to attend art college in Portsmouth where he befriended fellow student (and future Balham Alligator) Gary Rickard. Upon finishing college, he followed Rickard back to Cardiff where he was recruited by Tommy Riley into one of the hottest outfits of the time, Red Beans and Rice. The band were firm favourites on the London pub-rock scene in the ‘70s and Watkins soon found himself living in Balham, south London where he joined Juice on the Loose. Towards the end of the decade, he took off on the Be Stiff Route 78 tour as part of Micky Jupp’s band and shortly afterwards, Andy Fairweather Low produced Watkins’ first album “Geraint Watkins and The Dominators” for the Vertigo label. Session work for producer Stuart Coleman followed which led to a regular spot for Geraint in Shakin’ Stevens’ band for a few years. Throughout the years until the Covid pandemic lockdown, Watkins would go on to record and play live with Dave Edmunds, Nick Lowe, Van Morrison, Bill Wyman’s Rhythm Kings, Eric Clapton, Paul McCartney, Mark Knopfler, Dr. Feelgood, Rory Gallagher, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, The Stray Cats, Carl Perkins, Tom Jones, John Martyn and countless others.

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Sustained by this kind of work, in the 1980s Geraint, Robin McKidd, Gary Rickard, Arthur Kitchener and Kieron O’Connor formed the infamous Balham Alligators. With Watkins’ eye-popping vocals and accordion at the front, the nucleus of this pioneering outfit somehow held together for fifteen years between other commitments, keeping the music of Louisiana alive in London's pubs and setting the bar impossibly high for those in their wake, as is evidenced on their five albums.

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As of 2026, the Mosquitoes features Geraint on lead vocals, keyboards and accordion with:

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Little George Sueref: vocals/harmonica/guitar.

Little George was born and brought up in Cardiff of Greek parents.  He was deeply inspired by the classic down-home roots-blues of the likes of Jimmy Reed, Snooky Pryor, J.B. Hutto and Muddy Waters.  He moved to London joining Big Joe Louis & His Blues Kings as vocalist and harp player.  

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Oliver Darling: guitar/vocals.

Oliver got his first buzz from playing live at the age of fifteen and was further inspired by Mike Sanchez when he saw the Big Town Playboys.  While guesting with Al Gare’s band Electric Leg, he was jokingly introduced as Oliver Darling…and the nickname stuck.  His association with Al led to the formation of instrumental band - Palookaville!  Mike Sanchez became a fan of that band, and it wasn’t long before Oliver landed his dream job of playing guitar for Mike.  Imelda May was the singer in Mike’s band and when she left to pursue a solo career, Oliver got a call in 2015 to be Imelda’s permanent guitarist.  

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Paul Riley: bass.

‍In the early 1970s, Pub Rock was a back-to-basics reaction against the level of musical and lyrical pretension to which mainstream Rock had by then risen. It was amongst this movement’s vanguard that Riley began a career in music as 'Bassman' with Pub Rock favourites, Chilli Willi and The Red-Hot Peppers.  An enduring association with their manager and Stiff Records founder, Jake Riviera, and fellow Pub-Rocker, Nick Lowe, led to album credits as a bassist with Dave Edmunds, Nick Lowe, Elvis Costello and (indirectly) Van Morrison.

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Malcolm Mills:  Drums.

Malcolm inherited the disorder of beating inanimate objects with bits of wood when he joyfully discovered his father’s drums in the attic at home as a young teenager in 1963.   Since then, the second-hand drum kit he bought in 1969 has been regularly mistreated while he has had fun making a racket as a semi-professional with artists including Screaming Lord Sutch, Sonny Burgess and Bill Kirchen among others. He retired from the mainstream of the music business and formed The Last Music Company in 2015.

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