One-third of exciting folk-roots trio ‘The Queensberry Rules’, Phil Hulse has become an effective guitarist and vocalist with over 14 years live experience under his belt.
Phil’s musical journey began in 1994 at the tender age of 15 in his home city of Stoke-on-Trent, when he joined friends Gary and Duncan Wilcox in their first band. For years they played around Britain on the Indie guitar scene until in 2001, the three of them decided to change musical direction and The Queensberry Rules were born! They quickly found their feet on the folk scene, making many friends and landing high-profile support slots to the likes of Fairport Convention, Jez Lowe and The Levellers. The release of their third album, ‘Heritage and History’, won them critical acclaim and excellent reviews from the likes of ‘Folk Roots’ and ‘Sing Out USA’, who described Phil’s guitar playing as reminiscent of a young Richard Thompson. However, it was the bands fourth release in 2006 entitled ‘The Black Dog and Other Stories’ that made real waves on the scene with half of the album penned by Phil. They signed to major folk record label Fellside, and became an established act in folk clubs and festivals throughout the land. Phil’s song ‘Sinking Town’ has particularly received air-play, including several plays on Mike Harding's BBC Radio 2 programme, who described it as ‘A great modern folk song’. The bands new album – ‘Landlocked’ provides further evidence of the maturity in song writing and again includes many of Phil’s compositions that have received national airplay such as, ‘I still believe in England’, ‘The Minnie Pit Disaster’, ‘Goldrush’ and ‘Have a go Hero’ which has been featured on the Bob Harris Saturday night Radio 2 show. Indeed Bob described it as ‘A great song’ with ‘superb lyrics’.
Phil has now decided to fulfil an ambition of performing as a solo artist alongside his work in The Queensberry Rules. His debut album - 'Unpredicted Storm' will be released on Fellside and is scheduled for release in September 2008. He has written a new collection of songs that are already winning praise and have been described as ‘Poignant, topical and heart-felt’. Armed with his guitar and vocal chords, Phil is ready and rearing to make his mark on the scene as an individual.
This years festival is headlined by Billy Bragg (Friday), Seth Lakeman (Sunday) and Peatbog Faeries (Saturday) with many more top artists also performing.
hey phil, sorry to take so long to reply! was really nice to meet you at irvine folk club. look forward to playing with you again sometime maybe! all the best, erin
ello phil, and cheers for the add. hope you had a chance to listen to my tunes. sounds great here, beautiful fingerpickery! and who can question the brilliant Bob Harris! Brilliant ...keep up the good work take care Emily x
Hi Phil, Thank you for the request. I enjoyed listening to your songs, especially, "Not in My Name". I also checked out 'The Queensberry Rules' by way of your page and enjoyed the music there too! Good luck with all of your musical endeavours!
If you get a chance, please check out my latest musical work, it's a Byron poem called, 'The Dream' on www. imeem. com/elizabethbryson. It is a little over half an hour long, but hopefully you'll get some time to listen. Best wishes, Elizabeth
