THE LEVELLERS!! No, no…….not the radical group who followed Oliver Cromwell, the band. I seem to bang on about this group whenever the subject of music is raised, so I thought I’d jot down a bit about them and get it out me system. Lets start with a lil’ potted history… Cast your mind back to 1988. On the South coast of England sits Brighton, a picturesque seaside town that still clutches to the atmosphere of it’s Victorian heyday. Except that in the arse end of the 20th century Brighton has become a kind of Mecca for Hippies, stoners, new age travellers, buskers, punks, political activists and other ne’er do wells. Inside a grotty pub called The Eagle, four young men, disillusioned by the music scene, were considering quitting the game. Only by chance they caught a performance by McDermotts Two Hours, a local folk-punk group who’s aim was not to reach the altitudes of chart success, but to get drunk, jump on stage and have as much fun as possible. The four lads felt their passion for music rekindled by this carefree atmosphere, and thus became The Levellers. They quickly garnered a reputation at local gigs for being a band “worth going to see” and in early 1989 they recorded their first EP on the indie label Hag. The initial run of a thousand copies sold in a week and the band enlisted mandolin /guitarist Allen Miles as they toured throughout the UK and over the water into Holland. A second EP was released in the October of that year, again selling at a surprising rate. (the music scene seemingly not being willing to touch anything that even resembled folk-punk with even a grubby finger at that time). With two successful EP’s tucked into their guitar case, the band soon caught the attention of bigger Indie labels. Hag, being dutiful and supportive were skint, and the band had simply outgrown them. 1990 Enter French music label Musidisc and along with producer Phil Tennant the Levellers toddled off into the studio to record their first album A Weapon Called the Word. A truly frantic, ferocious album full of punk classics with the Lev’s own folk twist thrown in. This, is one angry album. The lads had voices to sing with and they wanted to be heard, and by the Gods, they were. The first single release from the album “World Freak Show” also saw the departure of Allen Miles, exhausted from constant touring he quit the band and was replaced by the multi-talented Simon Friend, a fantastic musician (who can turn his hand to any instrument put in front of him) and later to prove to be an excellent songwriter). Armed with Simon’s fresh energy and input, they once again turned to the grind of endless touring culminating in a sellout show at London’s famous Astoria buildings, quite remarkable for a band who were not signed to a domestic label and had little in the way of promotional support from their record company. China Records snagged the band later that year. Affairs with Musidisc were settled out of court. Although Musidisc did attempt to stab them in the back releasing, without the band’s consent, a remix of the single World Freak Show (despite the recording Musidisc owned being a little, shall we say…..shite. The singer forgot the lyrics half way through the song and simply continued with “la la la’s”) But, such is the way of the music industry. Soon after they released their second studio album, Levelling the Land. It boomed into the charts at #14, the single from the album One Way of Life entered the indie charts at #1. That was it, they had arrived. A little later they played the pyramid stage at Glastonbury Festival, drawing the [then] biggest crowd the event had ever seen……the rest, musically, is diverse, delightful and diligent. Even today they tour relentlessly, good music hasn’t escaped them yet! There is of course much more to their story……..documented far better than I can here. I’ll add linkage to the bottom of the post. So What Do They Play? Simple answer, everything. Boxed by the music press as Folk-Punk (or punk-folk if you prefer) musically they have tackled subject ranging from war, politics, the environment, the criminal justice act, apartheid, religious persecution, social issues, love, friendship……you name it and you’ll find it in their back catalogue somewhere. Their album “fillers”, for want of a better term, are good plain fun, music to get up an dance your arse off to. Unafraid to tackle serious issues, the band are not egotistical about it and they know that their listeners also want to have damn good fun as well. They don’t preach, they publicly support a number of causes, but you need a keen ear to find specific one’s picked out in their songs. The message is there, but only if you want to listen, if not, then stamp your feet to a damn good tune, and don’t worry about it. In their music you will find shades of The Pogues, Billy Bragg, The Clash, and many others. Attitude and the public The Levellers share a kind of love-hate relationship with the music press. Mainly, I suspect, because the Lev’s don’t really give a shiny shite what others think of them. The press, seem reluctant to either give praise or over criticise them. The Lev’s last two studio albums have been received as “more of the same, the Lev’s have lost their sparkle” in the main, yet live performances continue gain rave reviews across the board. The Lev’s really don’t care. After months of promotional work for the Album Mouth to Mouth the bass player argued with his record label that “all this photo shooting, interviewing, miming on telly is shit, it doesn’t make a bit of difference” and, in true levellers style, the band backed him and pointedly refused to do even a single photo shoot for the next album Hello Pig…..the bass player was right, the album still sold by the bucketful and show’s sold out all across Europe. They point out, with some humour, that one of their biggest chart successes Just the One, was hammered out in their studio on the spur of the moment, during a particularly heavy drinking session. They play what they want to play. If you love it, great, they’ll love you back (they are seriously devoted to their fans, without kissing arse about it) if you don’t like it, that’s great too, go listen to something you do like. Live Performance. I’ve seen the Lev’s live mebbe seven or eight times. Just go see them, their fanbase is everyone from the most raggyarsed new aged traveller to suited businesswomen. Their live shows are one hundred percent fun. I guarantee you’ll leave deaf, throat too raw to speak, dehydrated, exhausted but smiling. A better atmosphere I have yet to find. OK, but who the fuck are they? The Levellers are – Mark Chadwick - lead vocals, guitar Simon Friend - vocals, guitar, mandolin, harmonica Jon Sevink - violin Jeremy Cunningham - bass, artwork Charlie Heather - drums Matt Savage - keyboards, backing vocals Sounds good, what should I buy? One Way of Life – Best of – is an excellent place to start. Well that’s your opinion of them, what do others say? (and what do they say about themselves?) Fantastic! Where can I find out more? (and mebbe find some samples of their stuff) It’s all here Disclaimer: Most of this is written from memory or stolen from various places on the web, I claim no accuracy of facts and wotnot from either source