Levellers and Bellowhead collaborate for Just The One

Levellers and Bellowhead collaborate for Just The One

Veteran Folk-Rockers the Levellers have teamed up multi-BBC Folk Award winners Bellowhead, to record a fantastic new version of their cautionary tale of all things alcoholic, Just The One.

As part of their recent Greatest Hits Collaborations project, Levellers offered Bellowhead completely free reign to rearrange their 1995 hit in any way they saw fit. They accordingly transformed Just The One to into raucous, bombastic hoedown where Bellowhead frontman Jon Boden sings the lead vocals, accompanied by no less than thirteen backing musicians from both bands.

Recorded 'live' at the Levellers own Metway Studios in just one day, the performance was a huge challenge for producer Sean Lakeman just to fit everyone into the same studio, let alone record them. 

Jeremy Cunningham, Levellers Bass player describes the recording as, "Organised chaos...Just to get about thirteen people - all of us and all of them - in our studio and playing live all at the same time. It was a logistical nightmare but we managed to pull it off."

Jon Boden says, Bellowhead frontman says, "As a Levellers fan myself from way back it's a thrill that we've have been asked to do this. Levellers and Bellowhead collaborating on a song about drinking. Who would have thought it!?"

A strictly limited edition Blue coloured 7" vinyl version is being released, alongside a CD single, a digital download bundle and a Spotify EP.

The original version of Just The One appeared on the Levellers' fourth and most successful album Zeitgeist, which debuted at Number One on the UK album chart in September 1995. Released as a single featuring the legendary Joe Strummer on piano, it earned Levellers two appearances on Top Of The Pops and reached Number 12, making it the Levellers highest charting single to date. 

Just The One is the fourth and final track in a series of collaborations to be released by the Levellers as part of their Top 40 charting Greatest Hits album, which was released on September 29th. The album includes every single and video ever released by the band. Both the newly recorded collaborations and the original versions appear on the album.

Levellers are on an major UK tour during November, supported by The Selecter and She Makes War. They have also announced an extensive UK 2015 where they will screen their documentary film, A Curious Life (directed by Chumbawumba's Dunstan Bruce), followed by a full band acoustic performance.

Watchet Festival 2014 - Bellowhead, Dub Pistols and Boney M announced

WATCHET LIVE C.I.C, the organisers of WATCHET LIVE FESTIVAL have announced details of the three further main stage acts; Bellowhead, Boney M and Dub Pistols that complete their 2014 main stage line-up.

They join previously announced main stage headliners Toploader, Bad Manners, Eric Faulkner’s Bay City Rollers and Geno Washington and The Ram Jam Band, festival ‘house band’, The Wurzels and more, in what is the festival’s strongest and most diverse bill in its eight year history.

Bellowhead are 5-times winner of ‘Best Live Band’ at the Radio 2 Awards. They have transported folk music into hitherto unknown territory and spearheaded the new folk boom. They are “the greatest live act in Britain” says BBC Radio 2’s Simon Mayo, and the blistering 11-piece band fuse folk, funk, rock, world, jazz, music hall and classical, placing themselves at the cutting edge of the contemporary music scene.

Dub Pistols, Barry Ashworth’s high energy 7-piece live dance act will undoubtedly get the Saturday night crowd jumping with their unique blend of dub, hiphop, techno, ska & punk.

Sunday headliner Boney M need little in the way of introduction. Founder member Maizie will be providing the ultimate sing-a-long finale to WATCHET LIVE by performing their incredible back catalogue of hits, including “Brown Girl In The Ring”, “Daddy Cool”, “Ra-Ra-Rasputin and of course, the UK’s 7th biggest selling single of all time, “Rivers Of Babylon”.

Once again taking place on the August Bank Holiday Weekend, Friday 22nd - Sunday 24th August, Watchet LIVE Festival will showcase the very best music, food and entertainment from the Westcountry and beyond.

Watchet LIVE is a not-for-profit family-friendly festival with amazing views of the stunning West Somerset coastline and beyond. Three live stages will host more than 50 live acts, bringing a wide range of high-calibre musical acts not normally found performing in West Somerset, at a very affordable price. 

Following the success of last year's sold out event, Watchet LIVE Festival has made financial donations to local groups including The Children's Hospice South West, West Somerset Brass band, and the local "Stand Against Speed" young driver's awareness campaign. 

2014 will see more emphasis on youth-oriented daytime and evening entertainment & workshops; a shuttle bus from the main town to the festival site in the afternoon and evenings on each day has been introduced, plus more walk about street entertainers, more showers in the camping area and an extended family camping area.

Alongside a wide variety of high quality food stalls, the extensive in-house Cider and Real Ale Bar prices are always kept as low as possible, providing one of the best-value refreshments offerings to be found at any event in the UK.

WATCHET LIVE FESTIVAL 2014 

Advance Ticket Prices

Weekend Tickets (includes camping)

£60 (Adults 16+), £45 (Youths 13-15),

A Family Weekend Ticket for 2 Adults and 2 Youths is just £150. Campervans £20, Cars £5

Weekend Tickets (no camping)

£45 (Adults 16+), £30 (Youths 13-15),

A Family Weekend Ticket for 2 Adults and 2 Youths is just £120

Day tickets (no camping)

£20 (Adults 16+), £17 (Youths 13-15),

A Family Day Ticket for 2 Adults and 2 Youths is just £60

Accompanied Children aged 12 and under can attend for free. No advance ticket required. 

Tickets subject to booking fees. Buy online and full T&C’s at

www.watchetfestival.co.uk 

First acts announced for BoomTown 2014

Having already announced a brand new main stage celebrating folk and world music, as well as the theme of Carnival, BoomTown have issued some pretty exciting news so far this year and now to add to the ever mounting anticipation for one of the summer’s most immersive and theatrical events, BoomTown has revealed the initial wave of artists for the sixth instalment of the Fair!! First up, is the welcome return to the UK festival circuit after a seven year hiatus, The Cat Empire! Other headliners of this incredibly diverse festival include one of the biggest names in Californian ska-punk NOFX, the most well-known band in the history of reggae The Wailers, another reggae legend Jimmy Cliff, Grammy Award winning Mali musicians Tinariwen, eight-time winners at the BBC Folk awards Bellowhead and at the other end of the musical spectrum; queen of the dancehall Lady Saw, French ragga supremoes Raggasonic, the world debut outing of the UK Allstars, electronic mastermind Tipper and the raw electronic sounds of Boddika. This is one seriously hot initial line-up looking to set the summer on fire! BoomTown Fair is held over 7th – 10th August at the Matterly Estate, Winchester and caters for a huge amount of musical tastes from folk and world music, all the way through to the soul penetrating bass of ragga and jungle.

Accompanying the headliners The Cat Empire and NOFX on the ska, swing and punk stages are:  New Orleans Hot 8 Brass Band, bringing their version of the traditional marching band right up-to-date with bass, funk and hip-hop sounds.There will also be cheeky cockney chappies Chas n Dave with their special blend of ‘Rockney’; Hayseed Dixie will be bringing a unique take on AC/DC classics with their very own genre of ‘Rockgrass’.  The irrepressible [dunkelbunt] and the Secret Swing Society, five piece folk-punk outfit The Dreadnoughts; lost legend of Ska Freddie Notes, along with; Tape Five, Phoenix City Allstars feat Rhoda Dakar, Russkaja, Woohoo Revue, The Destroyers, The Trojans, Molotov Jukebox,  La Selva Sur, Babyhead and Horace Panter's Uptown Ska Collective.

In addition to very welcome return of Jimmy Cliff, the inaugural appearance at BoomTown of French trio Raggasonic and the first-lady of dancehall and GRAMMY winner Lady Saw, the reggae, dub and jungle stages are going to be shacking to the sound of some of the meatiest basslines in the world of reggae and dub! One of the most exciting acts to venture into the Lion’s Den, is the world debut of the UK Allstars, as the name suggests, this line up consists of the ultimate selection of originators from UK dancehall; Congo Natty, Congo Dubz, Tippa Irie, Top Cat, General Levy, Daddy Freddy, Sweetie, Irie, Tenor Fly and Nanci & Pheobe!!!  Also bringing the full force of their bass to the incredible Lion’s Den temple stage will be Warrior King, Easy Star All Stars performing the entirety of ‘Dub Side of the Moon’, Chronixx & Zinc Fence Redemption, Dawn Penn, The Skints, Mungo’s Hi-Fi Full Sound System, Macka B & The Roots Ragga Band, Benny Page, Raging Fyah, The Heatwave, Robbo Ranx & Stylo G & Sister Nancy.

With folk and world music a key focus for BoomTown this year and a dedicated brand new stage to host it all, there is set to be a huge influx of live acts to the festival with much more acoustic music available to soak up and chill out in one place; with international big hitters such as Tinariwen and Bellowhead the first announced headliners, along with global music movement Playing For Change Band, created to inspire and connect the world through music and with some of the most recognisable names in world music involved this is one collective of musicians not to miss! Mercury Award nominee Sam Lee and Friends, the incredible Joe Driscoll & Sekou Kouyate, the whirling dervishes of English folk 3 Daft Monkeys, BoomTown favourite Dub FX, along with Johnny Flynn and the Sussex Wit, Eliza Carthy, The Bad Shepherds, Treacherous Orchestra, Dizraeli & The Small Gods, Skinny Lister, La Chiva Gantiva and Beans On Toast.

Meanwhile, down in the depths of DownTown, amongst the Arcadia Spider BoomBox and the BodyShop is where the bassiest of bass and the most broken of beats can be found!! Confirmed so far are: Tipper, Boddika, Special Request, Hannah Wants, Dub Phizix & Strategy, Ms Dynamite, Mele’ & Slick Don, Friend Within, Rockwell, Stanton Warriors, Kahn & Neek, Proxy, Optiv & Btk, Black Sun Empire, Aphrodite, Bong Ra, Kry Wolf, Zed Bias, My Nu Leng, Swindle & Royal T, Altern8, Machine Code, Panachea, DJ Champion, Mouse Outfit, Jus Now,.

This is just the first of the confirmed acts, more acts will be announced in the coming weeks, to keep up with all new news sign up to the BoomTown newsletter via the website (www.boomtownfair.co.uk/) or follow BoomTown on Facebook (www.facebook.com/boomtownfair1).

FULL LINE UP SO FAR:

SKA, SWING AND PUNK STAGES:

The Cat Empire / NOFX / Hot 8 Brass Band / Chas and Dave / Hayseed Dixie
/ [dunkelbunt] and the Secret Swing Society / The Dreadnoughts / Freddie Notes / Tape Five / Phoenix City / Allstars feat Rhoda Dakar / Russkaja / Woohoo Revue / The Destroyers / The Trojans / Molotov Jukebox / La Selva Sur / Babyhead / Horace Panter's Upown Ska Collective

REGGAE, DUB AND JUNGLE STAGES:

Jimmy Cliff / Raggasonic / Lady Saw / UK Allstars – feat: Congo Natty, Congo Dubz, Tippa Irie, Top Cat, General Levy, Daddy Freddy, Sweetie Irie, Tenor Fly, Nanci and Pheobe / Warrior King / Easy Star All Stars  / Chronixx / Dawn Penn / The Skints / Mungo’s Hi-Fi full Sound System / Raging Fyah / The Heatwave / Robbo Ranx and Stylo G / Jus Now

FOLK AND WORLD STAGES:

Tinariwen / Bellowhead / Playing For Change Band / Dub FX / Johnny Flynn and the Sussex Wit / Eliza Carthy / The Bad Shepherds / Treacherous Orchestra / Sam Lee and Friends / Joe Driscoll and Sekou Kouyate / 3 Daft Monkeys / Dizraeli and The Small Gods / Skinny Lister / La Chiva Gantiva / Beans On Toast

BREAK AND BASS STAGES:

Tipper / Boddika /  Special Request / Hannah Wants / Dub Phizix and Strategy / Ms Dynamite / Mele’ and Slick Don / Friend Within / Stanton Warriors / Kahn and Neek / Proxy / Optiv and Btk / Black Sun Empire / Aphrodite / Altern8 / Kry Wolf / Zed Bias / My Nu Leng / Rockwell / Swindle and Royal T / Bong Ra / Machine Code / Panachea / DJ Champion / Mouse Outfit feat. Dr Syntax and Sparkz

Bellowhead announce November UK tour and Christmas single

To crown a hugely successful 12 months following the release of their award-winning fourth album, Broadside, Bellowhead will be embarking on a major tour of the UK throughout November. The 17-date run, already selling-out fast, provides audiences up and down the land with the opportunity to catch a band voted ‘Best Live Group’ at the BBC Folk Awards an unparalleled five times, and described by the Independent as “surely the best live act in the country”.

And to coincide with the tour, Bellowhead will be releasing a proper old-fashioned sort of Christmas single, ‘Christmas Bells / Jingle Bells’, but with the customary Bellowhead twist.

Renowned for the intense drama and theatricality of their live performances, since their formation in 2004 Bellowhead have occupied a unique place in Britain’s musical landscape: a blistering 11-piece band fusing English folk, funk, rock, world, jazz, music hall and classical music which has also succeeded in placing themselves at the cutting edge of the contemporary music scene.

Released in October 2012, Broadside was the best-selling independent folk album of 2012, reaching the Top 20 and being voted Best Album at the 2013 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. The second Bellowhead album to be produced by the legendary John Leckie (Stone Roses/Radiohead/Muse), Broadside is poised to achieve silver status, emulating the success of its predecessor, 2010’s Hedonism, which topped fRoots Critics’ Poll for Best Album of 2010 and won Bellowhead Best Group in Songlines 2011 Music Awards.

While their recorded exploits continue to go from strength-to-strength, on stage Bellowhead remain dedicated to producing special occasions full of drama and spectacle. Artists-in-Residence at the Southbank Centre and veterans of the BBC Proms, Radio 2’s 2Day and Live in Hyde Park, they have become justly famed for curating a host of unforgettable live events.

Following a hectic and highly enjoyable summer of horticulturally-themed festival performances (including Sheffield Botanical Gardens, Shrewsbury Flower Show & Kew Gardens) as well as Cambridge Folk Festival and Wickerman amongst others, the 2013 autumn tour marks the beginning of another busy and exciting period for the band.

At the end of December they will continue their custom of seeing in the New Year in riotous style, this time the end of year revelry will be held at Colston Hall in Bristol, with the promise of live performance, as well as a host of sundry delights and surprises for the lucky partygoers.

The excitement continues into 2014 with the publication of a beautiful Bellowhead songbook by the prestigious Faber Music publishing house, and the band will also be celebrating their 10th anniversary with two very special concerts at Manchester Bridgewater Hall and London’s favourite village hall, The Royal Albert.

A fitting finale to a remarkable decade for an unbeatable band.


November 2013
.
Thu    7    Nov    BURY ST EDMUNDS    The Apex am – SOLD OUT
Thu    7    Nov    BURY ST EDMUNDS    The Apex pm – SOLD OUT
Fri    8    Nov    WARRINGTON    Parr Hall – SOLD OUT
Sat    9    Nov    CHELTENHAM    Town Hall – SOLD OUT
Sun    10    Nov    BLACKBURN                King George's Hall
Mon    11    Nov    AYLESBURY           Waterside Theatre
Tue    12    Nov    BIRMINGHAM               Symphony Hall – LAST FEW TICKETS
Wed    13    Nov    GUILDFORD              G Live
Thu    14    Nov    BEDFORD        Corn Exchange – LAST FEW TICKETS
Fri    15    Nov    WREXHAM        William Aston Hall
Sat    16    Nov    PORTSMOUTH          Guildhall
Sun    17    Nov    EXETER                       Great Hall
Mon    18    Nov    TRURO                          Hall for Cornwall
Tue    19    Nov    FROME                     Cheese and Grain – SOLD OUT
Wed    20    Nov    LEICESTER                 Montfort Hall
Thu    21    Nov    ABERYSTWYTH        Arts Centre
Fri    22    Nov    CHESTERFIELD          Winding Wheel – SOLD OUT
Sat    23    Nov    FOLKESTONE              Leas Cliff Hall

December 2013

Tue    31    Dec    BRISTOL        Colston Hall

January 2014

Fri    24    Jan    DUBLIN         The Button Factory

Cambridge Folk Festival - Fri and Sat headliners announced

Europe’s most acclaimed folk festival, now in its 49th year, has revealed a number of artists confirmed for 2013’s characteristically eclectic bill.

 Performances include recently reformed and hugely popular The Mavericks, whose infectious blend of rock, Americana and Tex-Mex is sure to have the Festival on its feet; intoxicating,  critically acclaimed, English folk big-band Bellowhead; Brit and Ivor Novello Award winning,  multi-platinum selling singer-songwriter KT Tunstall; Festival favourites, folk-punk band  Levellers; new Irish folk supergroup Liam O’Flynn, Andy Irvine, Paddy Glackin and Dónal  Lunny aka LAPD; leading Scottish folk rock band Capercaillie, celebrating their 30th anniversary; Heritage Blues Orchestra; Lucy Rose, heralded by the Sunday Times as “One of the country’s most promising new voices”; 

English folk guitar virtuoso and singer-songwriter Martin Simpson, launching his brand new album ‘Vagrant Stanzas’; dynamic Quebecois folk band Le Vent du Nord; Mud Morganfield Band, the eldest son of Muddy Waters and his band delivering charismatic Chicago blues of the highest order; Mercury Prize nominated Sam Lee and Friends, performing contemporary and challenging interpretations of traditional folk; stunning Irish vocalist and writer Heidi Talbot; high energy Orkney band The Chair; Mokoomba,  playing an electrifying blend of Afro-fusion and tantalizing traditional Tonga rhythms; 

American singer-songwriter Willy Mason, fresh from a winter tour, including support slots with Mumford and Sons and Ben Howard; 11-piece Australian Bollywood style band The Bombay Royale ;  rising star of the UK folk scene Bella Hardy and The Midnight Watch, showcasing her much-anticipated new album battleplan; Kathryn Roberts and Sean Lakeman, lynchpins of the burgeoning UK folk-acoustic revival and winners of best duo at the 2013 BBC Folk Awards; young international fiddle septet Frigg, playing their own unique Nordgrass, a mix of Nordic folk and American bluegrass; back by popular demand Jim Moray’s Silent Ceilidh; Brian McNeill, leading the Festival session; award-winning Irish and bluegrass tenor banjo band We Banjo 3; folk rock band Larkin Poe, fronted by sisters Rebecca and Megan Lovell; cross-genre Monster Ceilidh Band injecting traditional music of the British Isles with drum ‘n’ bass; local contemporary folk roots band The Willows; BBC Young Folk Award winners 2013 Greg Russell and Ciaran Algar.

 The Cambridge Folk Festival showcases both international headline artists and young, emerging talent across four different stages and continues to enjoy sell-out success year on year. Renowned for its unique parkland setting, great facilities and family friendliness, the Festival offers something for everyone with street theatre, music workshops and sessions, raucous ceilidhs, open stages, a youth area, internet café, kids’ ceilidh, storytelling, free creche,

 paddling pool and playground, real ale bars.

 SUNDAY HEADLINERS AND MORE MAJOR NAMES TO BE ANNOUNCED

 Online booking and information: www.cambridgefolkfestival.co.uk

 Phone booking: 01223 357851

 Tickets: Full Festival £126; Thursday £20; Friday £45; Saturday £55; Sunday £55. Camping:

 (Full Festival tickets only, per 2-3 berth tent) Cherry Hinton £54, Coldhams Common (second

 site) £37. Online bookings subject to booking fee.

Bellowhead announce new album - Broadside

Bellowhead – Broadside

15th October 2012

Navigator Records via Proper Records 

http://www.bellowhead.co.uk/ 

Bigger, bolder, brassier and more brazen than ever, Bellowhead blaze back with their mighty new album, Broadside. 

While all things Bellowhead tend to be an event, Broadside is a positive spectacular, taking some of the wildest, most joyous and iconic songs in the richly colourful canon of the folk song tradition… and turning them upside down and inside out with the unique sense of drama and theatre, instrumental virtuosity, verve, humour and blind cheek that has seen them spearhead the new folk boom. 

Their third album Hedonism was the highest-selling independently released traditional folk album of all time, yet the new one Broadside (a title that rather cunningly melds an early form of printed song sharing with an appropriate nautical reference to firepower) is surely set to eclipse it with its thrilling arrangements and non-stop party spirit. 

Like Hedonism, Broadside is produced by the great John Leckie, who has previously done wonderful things with the Stone Roses and Radiohead; and he’s now effectively captured all the explosiveness that has established Bellowhead’s undisputed reputation as one of the planet’s most exciting live bands and replicated it in the studio. In this case that studio is Rockfield, where Freddie Mercury once held court. Indeed, at one point the massed vocals even evoke Bohemian Rhapsody and Freddie would surely have identified with the electrifying dynamism and sense of fun conjured up by this very special band. 

A couple of the tracks are based on songs that initially found common currency in the form of those printed broadsides – the gruesome romp Black Beetle Pies for one and the spooky ballad The Wife Of Usher’s Well - all death, ghosts and “earthly flesh and blood” – for another. 

Weirdness also abounds with Betsy Baker, a vigorous tale of unrequited love, while some of the most venerated songs of the folk revival – Northumbrian mining song Byker Hill, the Copper Family classic Thousands Or More, the rocking sea shanty Go My Way and The Old Dun Cow - the knockabout tale of being trapped inside a burning pub – are revived in startling ways. They may be familiar, but they’ve never sounded like this before. There’s even an irresistibly bonkers take on Lillibulero, a satirical song set to a tune attributed to Henry Purcell, on which the band flex their considerable muscles and gleefully explore their seemingly bottomless box of magic tricks, emerging with storming vocals, blitzing percussion, rampaging strings and mad, bad brass. 

Broadside, their fourth album, writes another extraordinary chapter in the story of Bellowhead, which began in 2004 when a disparate group of characters who initially knew one another from informal pub sessions thought it might be a good wheeze to pool their widely varied backgrounds, influences and talents and form a big band… just to see what happened. Even they couldn’t have imagined the results as their funny little enterprise -incorporating top-notch jazz, world, folk and classical musicians in a swathe of brass, strings, squeezebox, percussion and anything else that seemed like a good idea at the time - swiftly expanded into a gung-ho 11-piece line-up. Four albums, a glut of awards, sell-out tours and a long trail of thunderous festival appearances down the line, they’ve transported folk music into hitherto unknown territory, introducing a whole new audience to it with them.

“The greatest live act in Britain,” says BBC Radio 2’s Simon Mayo. “One of the best live bands in the UK…or anywhere,” says Jeremy Vine. And the hordes of dancing fans grinning and singing along and treating every gig as a party clearly agree. 

That party gains even more momentum with Broadside for, while some of the songs may appear graphic and brutal, this is above all, an album driven by a lust for life. And that’s a subject close to the heart of Bellowhead. 

The album will be accompanied by the band's biggest ever UK tour (6th - 24th Nov). The 19 dates include Bellowhead's first show at Roundhouse, Camden's world-renowned venue (7th Nov). 

Bellowhead’s Broadside Tour November 2012  

Tue     6th       Nov    Wolverhampton, Wulfrun Hall

Wed   7th       Nov    London, Roundhouse

Thur   8th       Nov    St Albans, Arena

Fri      9th       Nov    Norwich, Open

Sat      10th     Nov    Cambridge, Corn Exchange

Sun     11th      Nov    Southampton, Guildhall

Mon   12th     Nov    Cardiff, Coal Exchange

Tue     13th     Nov    Brighton, Dome

Wed   14th     Nov    Reading, The Hexagon

Thur   15th     Nov    Leamington, The Assembly

Fri      16th     Nov    York, Barbican

Sat      17th      Nov    Bristol, Colston Hall

Sun     18th     Nov    Salford, The Lowry

Mon   19th     Nov    Gateshead, The Sage

Tue     20th    Nov    Inverness, The Ironworks

Wed   21st      Nov    Edinburgh, The Queen’s Hall

Thu     22nd    Nov    Bradford, St George’s Hall

Fri      23rd     Nov    Lincoln, Engine Shed

Sat      24th     Nov    Derby, Assembly Rooms