The Players

A Story Steeped in Sound

As the band’s front-man, lead vocalist Rob Reid provides a powerful and smooth singing style combined with a nice crowd-friendly interaction. On the instrumental side he also supports the band’s sound with acoustic guitar, harmonica, and occasional ukulele. Rob is also lead vocalist for another popular Wellington covers band, Short Term Memory.

Garrett Evans is a multi-instrumentalist and music aficionado whose roots go back many years on the Wellington music scene. He was an original founder of the Harvest Moon band and provides the signature, unique pedal steel sound that is so often heard in American country music He also plays dobro and acoustic guitars and provides backing vocals. He has strong links to and supports country and bluegrass music across the region He founded the popular Dixie Lix bluegrass band that played many venues in the 1990s.

He also played dobro with the Jim Perkins bluegrass band.

Dave Allen is Harvest Moon’s lead guitarist and banjo player. Like others in the band, Dave has been on the Wellington music scene for many years having performed in several well-known pub and café bands. He plays several styles. Currently he is a member of Salty Hearts, and the hugely popular Hogsnort Bulldogs Goodtime Show. In Harvest Moon, he adds to his guitar skills with lead vocals for a number of songs performed by the band. Dave’s guitar artistry combines great feel with spectacular technical skill to deliver solos and riffs that speak to the soul.

Upright bass and mandolin player, George Packard, has a jazz background and is hugely well-known in the Wellington region, having played bass with a wide variety of bands and orchestras both locally and nationally over the years. He’s also a gifted music educator, having tutored at Whitireia School of Music in the 2000’s alongside other great Wellington musical stalwarts. Mandolin playing is a more recent pursuit evolving with the Jim Perkins bluegrass band. George’s archtop mandolin provides great rhythm and solos for the band’s repertoire.

Keys player and bassist Wayne Mills was also an original member of Harvest Moon, helping to carve out the Americana / country music genre that is central to the band’s style. He is a multi-instrumentalist who plays piano, fretless bass and accordion in the band. He also provides backing vocals to support the band’s focus on smooth harmonies. Wayne ‘s been around the music scene for several decades too, and has more recently played with bands including Dixie Lix, Jim Perkins Bluegrass Band, and Hogsnort Bulldogs Goodtime Band.

Harvest Moon’s percussionist, Robert Antonio, is another well-known personality in the close-knit Wellington musical scene. With an early background in jazz drumming, Robert is frequently called upon to provide percussion to a range of musical acts and backing bands locally and nationally. He’s also the drummer for Short Term Memory in which both Garrett and Rob play. Aside from backing vocals Robert provides Harvest Moon’s essential pulse combining his tasteful touch with dynamic rhythm.