Michael Manring was a student of bass legend Jaco Pastorius. In 1982 he became the house bassist at Windham Hill records which led to a solo deal with Windham Hill in 1984 and a move to the San Francisco Bay Area where he still lives. In addition to a number of solo albums, he as appeared on hundreds of albums as a session musician.

Kevin Kastning has composed over 200 works for various solo and chamber group instrumentations and  has recorded albums with Alex De Grassi, Michael Manring, Mark Wingfield (UK), Siegfried, Sandor Szabo (Hungary), Gilbert Isbin (Belgium), and Carl Clements. Kevin is an artist endorser for Santa Cruz Guitars, and is the inventor of the DKK extended baritone guitar, the DKK-12 12-string extended baritone guitar, the double-course alto guitar in A, and his main instrument: the 14-string Contraguitar.