Whapweasle - so good

Subject: Whapweasle - so good
From: Les in Chorlton
Date: 20 Nov 04 - 03:10 AM

1. More exciting tham Frost and Fire by the Watersons.
2. More inventive than Hark the Village Wait by Steeleye.
3. Breaking more ground than Leige and leif by Fairport
4. More musically competent than The Prospect before us by the Albions.
5. Not as rock n roll as Little Richard or chuck Berry

But........ Ashley Hutchings eat your heart out.

Subject: RE: Whapweasle - so good
From: GUEST,Suggs
Date: 20 Nov 04 - 05:50 AM

More inventive?
Breaking more ground than Leige and leif by Fairport?

Madness!...duh de dud ee duh der, Madness!
Not in 'Our 'ouse!'
One step beyond, my boy - Suggs

Subject: RE: Whapweasle - so good
From: The Borchester Echo
Date: 20 Nov 04 - 06:12 AM

I have always thought comparing apples and pears and bananas a particularly pointless exercise.

The band is Whapweasel btw, named after a Northumbrian stream. They are very, very good and most importantly, brilliant to dance to. Not that there aren't a few dozen other English dance bands equally as good...

(I like Madness too...)

Subject: RE: Whapweasle - so good
From: Les in Chorlton
Date: 20 Nov 04 - 06:15 AM

Which Suggs are you then Suggs?

Subject: RE: Whapweasle - so good
From: GUEST,Suggs
Date: 20 Nov 04 - 07:12 AM

re. I have always thought comparing apples and pears and bananas a particularly pointless exercise.

>>me too

re. They are very, very good and most importantly, brilliant to dance to. Not that there aren't a few dozen other English dance bands equally as good...

>>exactly - can't agree more Countess.
Which is why I made jocular (for it was merely thus) response to the opening gambit atop the thread.

re. (I like Madness too...)

>> I loved their cheery style - I love Whapweasel's output too - in much the same way.
But I can't see them as particularly inventive and groundbreaking.
I do applaud your enthusiasm for your favourites though Les.
Music is a wonderful thing.

Subject: RE: Whapweasle - so good
From: Les in Chorlton
Date: 20 Nov 04 - 07:16 AM

Ok maybe I should get out more. Their tunes are strong, the arrangements with changes of rhythm (sorry can't seem to spell that) and key (?) and the way instruments come in and go out is a bit good.

Has any other band done this so well?

Subject: RE: Whapweasle - so good
From: The Borchester Echo
Date: 20 Nov 04 - 07:54 AM

What's different about the Whaps is that their tunes are almost entirely self-written. But does the ethos and style vary or extend all that much that pioneered a quarter century by the Old Swans, New Victory, Tiger Moth and the rest of the (then) 'new wave'? I don't think so really but then, that's not the point.

Yes, get out more Les and catch new young bands like Hekety, the Gloworms, Rampant , Mawkin or Moor Music. The ground they are breaking is bringing new and younger people in their droves into English/e-ceilidh/country/barn/whatever-you-choose-to-call-it music which is a good thing.

Subject: RE: Whapweasle - so good
From: GUEST,Suggs
Date: 20 Nov 04 - 09:50 AM

Hear, hear! Well put CR.
My dancing days are gone - but it's great to see the likes of our melodeon player's 16 year old rushing
out to dance to them Whaps along with all her mates - many lads and lasses younger than her.

Suggs - over and out.
Will unlikely return with this nom de plume - which was only relevant to this thread due to Whaps sound
being SO like Madness - to these ears anyway.
(Bloomin' nuisance these cookies doing a disappearing act)

Subject: RE: Whapweasle - so good
From: MurkeyChris
Date: 20 Nov 04 - 10:07 AM

I know who you are Suggs! :)

And Les, you spelt 'rhythm' perfectly. Our school music teacher made everyone learn a rap which went, 'R-H-Y-T-H-M spells rhythm, that's cool, yeah!', so everyone in the school had it implanted in their brain!

The Whaps are great, hoping to see them again in February in Oxford.

Murk

You might just hear Whapweasel on Cool as Folk - the online folk radio show

Subject: RE: Whapweasle - so good
From: The Borchester Echo
Date: 20 Nov 04 - 10:13 AM

I know who you are Suggs

My guess is a ranting songbird soaring upwards, maybe up to the top of the church steeple...?

(Great links, Chris!)

Subject: RE: Whapweasle - so good
From: Les in Chorlton
Date: 20 Nov 04 - 10:21 AM

Old Swans, New Victory, Tiger Moth

Yes I really enjoyed this lot and have a NV album.
Thanks a lot for Hekety, the Gloworms, Rampant , Mawkin or Moor Music, I will go search.

I have been playing Whapweasel in the car and it is great to hear saxes chasing the melodeon across the dash board.

I was equally excited when I first heard The Waterson's, Steeleye and all those others. I have always looked forward to new Albion stuff but it has mostly been disappointing of late.

Saw Tickled Pink live and enjoyed them and Little JE on CD. All good stuff but nothing different. I guess E2K have been through the area of music that the Whaps inhabit and created great sounds.

But I find them exciting and I hope to see them live.

Subject: RE: Whapweasle - so good
From: The Borchester Echo
Date: 20 Nov 04 - 10:43 AM

Tickled Pink are fantastic though I didn't list them 'cos they are no longer exactly young (hehe). Interesting link of bands there, Les, the common factor being...Simon Care!

But you knew that, didn't you?   You might like to seek out his Box Set compilation to trace this musical evolution.

Subject: RE: Whapweasle - so good
From: Les in Chorlton
Date: 20 Nov 04 - 11:03 AM

True enough. I went to see Ashley Hutchings and Simon and the others in that Cecil Sharp 'As I cycled out'. It was good and interesting but not very exciting. They were selling CDs after the show and I had a chat with Simon and bought his compilation. I really enjoed that he is a bit good and partly what went missing from the Albions.

Subject: RE: Whapweasle - so good
From: GUEST
Date: 20 Nov 04 - 11:23 AM

From the experience of two Whapeasel ceilidhs I thought they were a great concert band.

For dancing it sounded like somebody had added drum n bass to a classic efdss band.

Subject: RE: Whapweasle - so good
From: Les in Chorlton
Date: 20 Nov 04 - 11:29 AM

Music to dance to needs to be just that. I think people in other threads have said they didn't find the Whaps always easy to dance to.

I saw Peeping Tom at Whitby. I have always enjoyed their music but found them a bit dead. Another band, sorry can't remember their name. Very straight 2 or 3 fiddles and no drums or bass and they really did lift the dances.
But the Whaps are something else

Subject: RE: Whapweasle - so good
From: *Laura*
Date: 20 Nov 04 - 05:47 PM

They're Relentless! ha.ha.ha.

Subject: RE: Whapweasle - so good
From: Pete_Standing
Date: 22 Nov 04 - 02:21 AM

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?

Subject: RE: Whapweasle - so good
From: Les in Chorlton
Date: 22 Nov 04 - 02:52 PM

I remain excited and think myself lucky. But Relentless is of a style and clearly does not have the range of material that appeared on those records listed by Peter.

Perhaps it is not possible to get far from the country dance tunes with out loosing the baby and the bath water. I think they have created high quality music that is sufficiently different to put them alongside the first folk rockers. Some early Fairport was good but not very innovative. God , I love Steeleye, especialy Storm Force Ten, but they found limits to innovation pretty quickly. The Albions seem to have had the same kind of problem.

Innovation isn't everything but it can be exciting. I bought The Old Hat Dance Band and really enjoyed it but........ some how the Whapps make you think again. We will have to see what the Whapps can sustain.