Al Catton (mandolin/guitar/harmonica/flute) - finally, The Cat finds a vehicle through which he is able to bestow his full range of talents onto a grateful world, and he does this by virtue of the folky/celtic stamp he leaves on every song that is fortunate enough fall into his hands. The down-side is that he finds himself having to revive songs by the likes of Britney Spears and Mary Hopkins. You can't have everything, Al.
Dave "Spud" Jordan (drums) - Spud does some astonishing things with a minimal kit and his octopus-like technique provides the band with their reknowned energy and drive. He once featured in the Guiness Book of World Records for being a member of 137 bands simultaneously, although he has recently wound down his workload, rationing himself these days to just 12 gigs per week.
Mark Pollard (vocals/crap jokes/really crap jokes/choreography) - currently struggling to master the art of "playing" a tambourine and singing at the same time, this ambitious project may soon be abandoned in favour of some basic dance moves. For a very long time Mark laboured under the misunderstanding that Spinal Tap were a real band, liking them enough to spend almost 15 years seeking out their seminal "Smell The Glove" album. Finding it difficult to accept that they never really existed, he still refers to any piece of technical equipment as "the Dobly switch".
Gus Ridley (bass/vocals) - a seemingly reasonable, decent man, it's obvious that something aint right here. While Gus looks the youngest, least ravaged member of the band, he is actually the oldest: we can only assume that he made some kind of pact with Old Nick at a crossroads somewhere, for the man has spent time in the company of some of the music industry's most notoriously excessive individuals, such as Jimi Hendrix, who - if he were alive today - would no doubt still be reminiscing about the time he shared a dressing room with our Gus. (All information by kind permission of The Natural History Museum).
Paul Stephenson (guitar/vocals/keyboards) - Paul’s career has charted a strange trajectory. Playing the working men’s clubs of Hull at the age of 14, spreading his fledgling wings as far as Doncaster with Atlantic Stax soul star Mike Watts, then reinventing himself as a rock guitar god in bands such as Albert, The Park and Bang, before securing a songwriting deal in London. A collaboration with former Beautiful South man Dave Hemingway followed, but album royalties could never compete with the impressive remunerations package offered by The Peasants, even if it means him throwing in his lot with a bunch of ageing nonentities and conspiring to swindle perfectly decent pub landlords out of their hard-earned money.
Do you ever get the feeling that decent cover bands are being swamped in a sea of karaoke, with the same old songs being delivered in the same old way by the same old bands, with the same old instruments?
If so, treat yourself to something a little different by getting along to a gig by The Peasants, a unique five-piece, part-acoustic/part-electric group who cover a range of memorable rock and pop tunes using various combinations of guitars, mandolin, keyboards, bass, drums, harmonica, flute, penny whistle and three-part harmony vocals.
With a combined experience of performing rock and pop music of over a century, their repertoire covers songs from the last five decades, including memorable pop tunes by Duran Duran, The Levellers and REM, rock classics from such as Nirvana, The Rolling Stones and Thin Lizzy, and more recent numbers from the likes of Britney Spears (which goes to show that any song can sound good when played on the right instruments!).
However, it's not just the unusual combination of instruments that mark The Peasants out as being more than just your average covers band; most of the songs chosen by these musical mavericks are given a real makeover, rather than played "straight", and it makes for a heady brew. For example, it's almost obligatory for a covers band to do a Beatles number, but you will have to go a long way to hear one re-worked as radically and as successfully as The Peasants have managed!
Few bands leave their personality on a song like The Peasants do: throw in some irreverent between-songs banter and you have the ingredients for a great night's entertainment.
Below are some video clips which give you an idea of what the band are about musically:
May I presume to bung a plug for HOWDEN RiBFEST II on to your comments please?
Its Friday, Saturday and Sunday October 9th, 10th & 11th with free stuff and paying stuff and drinking stuff and eating stuff and errrmmmm....other stuff.
Find the link to the Howden Live website on me myspace......I thank you.
Shame we'll miss yis Sat night, Otway at the Shire Hall you know.
By way of compensation stop press news for the autumn ...... June Tabor in November and...and...December 5th....Its only Three Bonzos and a Piano.....Yup the real deal, sans Neil Innes, but, hey, yer can't have everything.
Hessian are excited to announce it's next night on 9th January featuring an awesome double bill! Indiepunk band violet violet, favourites of Artrocker, will be bringing their riotous live show to basement with local support (to be confirmed). Following this Eskimo Twins, fresh from live sets supporting Evil Nine and at Bad Sneakers, will DJ the Hessian clubnight along with Grim Beeper.
Tickets are available from City Screen basement at £4otd/£3. 50adv (£2 clubnight only)
May I presume to bung a plug on your comments for the wonderful thing that is THE HOWDEN RiBFEST this coming weekend Saturday and Sunday 22nd/23rd November please?
A veritable smorgasbord of music at four venues, we’ve got the lot, rock, blues, soul, folk, indie, acoustic, Americana and one or two things we are not sure about….please check out the Howden Live website for comprehensive details.
Please feel free to blog, bulletin,telegraph, scream from the rooftops about this…..its what matters!
The Square on Spring Bank is relaunching its open mic night next Thursday 23rd Oct.
There's a free buffet for everyone and a free drink for all the performers. This is a really cool venue and could become a favourite for local musicians, comedians and poets.
