John McDermott; drums

John joined Mark's commercial groups in late 1996. He has since been a key member of the Marmalade projects, playing in every Marmalade gig except for the Marmalade Trio which he left in 2003 when he took a lucrative job with cabaret group Lucifer's Lounge. He appears on all of the Marmalade recordings.

John McDermott graduated with a First Class Honours degree in jazz performance in 1997 at the University of Adelaide after being awarded an Honours scholarship and receiving awards for Most Outstanding Undergraduate and Postgraduate. In the same year he was a finalist in two national competitions - runner-up for "Best Up & Coming Drummer" at the Ultimate Drummers weekend in Melbourne and also one of ten finalists at the Wangaratta Jazz Festival.

As well as being one of the original members of Marmalade Circus, John has demonstrated his versatility as a musician in a variety of scenarios. He has performed, toured and recorded with many Adelaide artists and was a member of such bands as Hammond Eggs and Lucifer's Lounge. He has had extensive experience with big bands and jazz choirs, and in 1998 toured the U.S. with the Adelaide Connection (their most notable performance at the I.A.J.E. convention in New York) John has also performed with The Adelaide Symphony Orchestra's "Symphony Under the Stars" at the 2004 Adelaide Festival and is a regular in the "Carols by Candlelight" Orchestra. He has played with an impressive number of visiting artists such as James Morrison, James Muller, Todd McKenney, Marina Prior, Goose, Lillian Boutte, Ann Hampton-Calloway, Grace Knight, Rachael Beck, John St. Peeters, Rhonda Burchmore to name a few and was recently asked to provide the drum track for the short animated film "Sweet and Sour" recently premiered at the Adelaide Film Festival.

John is currently based in Brisbane working as a freelance musician and will be making several return trips to Adelaide for projects with Mark Ferguson and commitments with the school music education program "Musica Viva".