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05 Apr 01 - 09:13 AM (#433684) Subject: Show of Hands news From: GUEST,Roger the skiffler From the London Evening StandardRtS Hands up at the Albert Hall
Show Of Hands "There's not some big promoter booking us to play at the Albert Hall," says Knightley, the band's songwriter and vocalist. "We're saying there's music in the countryside - in festivals, clubs and art centres, and which isn't being played on the radio - which can fill the most famous venue in the world. We're going to turn it into a village hall. It will be full of people who know each other. We'll have a raffle and tell anecdotes and stories in between songs." It's what Show of Hands did five years ago. They booked the Albert Hall, sent flyers to 15,000 people on the mailing list and played a sellout. Most of Knightley's songs are set in seemingly blissful villages, but, for him, their beauty is only skin-deep. "People come to Cornwall but the interior is basically a post-industrial landscape," he says. "Everywhere there are the ruins of mines. Thousands of families connected with those industries are scattered throughout the world. If you live in a small West Country town like I do and they're opening a Co-op super-store or a Tesco, you know the names and the faces of every family firm that will close down." Knightley's songs reflect his passion for rural England and his concerns about globalisation, from the catchy folk song Cousin Jack, about Cornish tin mines, to The Flood, about the chalk mines of southern England being saturated by rain. "There are places in the world with not enough rain and people there are struggling to get into Europe to find work. We're putting up barriers to prevent them coming in," he says, "when we're refreshed by people who come here. It all adds to what we are." Multi-instrumentalist and backing vocalist Phil Beer started his musical career in The Albion Band while Knightley threw himself into the post-punk scene in London in the early Eighties. After meeting Knight-ley in their home town of Exeter, Beer left The Albion Band in 1991 and Show of Hands was born. Knightley is philosophical that it has taken until his forties to be successful. "If you achieve a certain type of success in your twenties, it can destroy you as a person, unless you stay around long enough and re-invent yourself as a troubadour. "We wish at times that younger people got to hear our stuff. If only local BBC radio would play one song in 10 by a local artist, otherwise the music industry is this cosy little stitch-up between boy bands, distributors, record companies and the media, which ultimately will destroy them." They play a village hall again the week after the Albert Hall gig. "Then we can never be perceived as being out of touch. That always confounds the whole music biz preconceptions." PLAYING AT Royal Albert Hall Apr 7, 7.30pm |
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05 Apr 01 - 10:48 AM (#433731) Subject: RE: Show of Hands news From: Liz the Squeak Hey, hang on, Manitas is booked at the Albert hall this Sat..... Please don't tell me that for all these years he's been Phil Beer in disguise....... Bugger, what an opportunity missed!!! LTS |
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05 Apr 01 - 11:25 AM (#433761) Subject: RE: Show of Hands news From: Noreen Thanks, Rog, good article. I'd love to be there... |
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05 Apr 01 - 12:38 PM (#433820) Subject: RE: Show of Hands news From: GUEST,JohnB I saw Show of Hands a couple of years ago at Toronto's Harbourfont. They played to a sparse UNfolky crowd, I only recognized about two people. All the crowd seemed very appreciative of them. I personaly thought that they were ^%*^%*&%* brilliant. Really liked their style which is not Trad but is mostly written or performed in a Trad style. They seemed to me to be a really good Live Band as well. I plug them over here every chance that I get. Only had one negative reaction from a real Trad Nazi. If you can get to see them, do so. They also have a great website, which if I could do the blue clicky things would appear now. (must read that bit again) JohnB |
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05 Apr 01 - 01:17 PM (#433868) Subject: RE: Show of Hands news From: Noreen Good idea, JohnB: it's one of the best artistes' websites I've seen, well worth a visit. |
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05 Apr 01 - 10:51 PM (#434346) Subject: RE: Show of Hands news From: alison there was a rumour that they were coming back over to Oz..... unfortunately they haven't appeared yet.... saw them last time and they were fantastic..... not to mention Steve Knightley being extremely easy on the eye.... *grin* slainte alison |
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06 Apr 01 - 04:43 AM (#434453) Subject: RE: Show of Hands news From: Kernow John Us down here in the west are real proud of 'em. Listen to Cousin Jack to know what I mean. They also put the chords over the words on the CD booklet for strugglers like me! KJ |