My dear Countess, from opinions I have expresssed both here and in another place, your suspicions would be well founded, but on this occasion, I plead not guilty. My prejudice is based on the one tune that the radio stations relentlessly play; surely Whapweasel play other tunes too, or are dancers expected to be dumb enough to dance to one tune all night and not know the difference? So, I blame the radio stations (and my inability to obtain child minders for whenever the band plays in my area) for not playing a broader sample of music of any artist and therefore giving people like me the wrong idea, but alas, I'm so narrow minded that I, like guest Suggs, will forever think that the Whaps have ripped off the sound of an eighties two-tone combo.

The irony is that I was originally going to steer clear of posting to this thread to give the band a fair chance and also because I have only stopped choking on my toast from two days ago. Fairport broke the mould with Liege and LIEF, and Steeleye and the Albion Country Dance Band consolidated this with Hark! The Village Wait and the early Morris On albums, especially with No Roses. There will be very few bands or musicians who will make that sort of contribution to music and despite Whapweasel being a very fine band and fun to dance to, I suspect they will not be joining these ranks.

Personally, I prefer to dance and listen to bands such as The Larkrise Ranters, which have a very boring accordion/harp, fiddles, hammered dulcimer, mandolin, bouzouki, guitar and pathetic bass a repertoire of mainly trad tunes and sound just like all the other ninety thousand bands that wind out the tunes for dances, parties and weddings week in, week out all over the UK.

Apples and pears eh? That would be a good name for a band, tune or dance doanchyathink?