levellers – Page 3 – Ferocious Blog

Geddon moi laaaaand…

Wow. Farmer Phil’s you were a bloody spectacularly good festival – I have no idea how many words, edits, or sittings this is going to take (edit – did it in one, sorry in advance for the typos), but felt the need to make a start on trying to document five days and nights of great fun, company, music and just general soul nourishment. Dean has been telling me to go to Farmer Phil’s for about three years now, I’m glad I finally listened to him. The festival proper starts on the Friday, but camping passes enable you to get on site from Monday, which many did – I opted to travel on Wednesday.

First order of business for me was to nip and pick up Tina before we headed over to Shropshire in the sunshine – I’ve subsequently found the setting to quell my sat nav’s desire to take me down the bloody M6 toll road at every opportunity it gets – but last week I was lucky that Tina knew the best way to go without having to pay to drive on a road. Once on the site we drove into the ‘noisy’ field and found a suitable sized area next to Naomi, Joe and family and set about plotting tent and car positioning to try to save space for others arriving later.

It was pretty warm so by the time we’d put up mine and Snotty’s tent, one for Simon, and Tina and Tim’s teepee we’d tired ourselves out pretty well. There was time to leisurely settle by the campfire to spend time with the Deerstock collective next door – one of the best things about the weekend was getting the chance to get to know Naomi and Joe’s awesome kids Jake, Kezzi and Rohan a bit better, whilst Ant provided a pretty non-ceasing stream of comedy as only he knows how as the ciders started flowing perhaps a little too freely.

(more…)

Freeborn Al / 18th August 2015 / Band, Gigs, Hell Hounds, Music, Other Bands, Photos

Last of the Summer Levellers..

The Levellers are my first musical love, and you supposedly never really get over first loves – so it’s odd I’d almost forgotten that I’d got a ticket for tonight’s gig in Holmfirth until Tim reminded me at Deerstock over the weekend. As such I’d managed to not book today off work, nor book anywhere to stay, or basically do anything sensible at all except wangle working in our Leeds office the day before for a shorter schlep down to the gig. Since I’ve exponentially grown my gig-going the Levs don’t make up quite such a big proportion of my musical life these days.

However, t’was exciting nonetheless. Driving through the stunning Yorkshire countryside down to Holmfirth – famous as the location for Last of the Summer Wine – was lovely in the sunshine, less so in the early hours on the way home with a 20mph-slower-than-the-speed-limit numpty in front of me and a full-beam-wanker behind me… but anyway, that’s a moan for another day! Holmfirth is a lovely picturesque place, at the Picturedrome is a cracking venue comprising of a former cinema with the seats removed and a couple of balconies.

Outside at the nearby Old Bridge I found a partial mini Deerstock reunion in the form of Tim, Tina and Kev – alas no Simon or Snotty (who has elected rather than to summarise Deestock in detail on her blog start a campaign of making lots of people get dust in their eye. In fact, on the subject of Snotty you should check out her photos from Deerstock too – in numerous and edited form). But there were plenty of other familiar faces milling around. Not least much of the band and Gaz Brookfield enjoying a few pre-gig drinks before heading off the soundcheck.

(more…)

Freeborn Al / 31st July 2015 / Gigs, Music, Other Bands, Photos / 0 Comments

The Splendour of the weekend to come..

Whilst I’ve been still basking a bit in the warm fuzziness of last weekend at Wistful, it will be good to get a bit of full-on Ferocious Dog this weekend at Nottingham’s Splendour Festival. I’m not generally a huge fan of Splendour, it’s pretty pricey (although I guess if you divide the ticket price by the number of acts you want to see it does work out good value this year). FD played it last year but an early slot on a small stage so I didn’t indulge, although I did go to it when the Levellers played a couple of years back.

The list of terms and conditions are potentially entertaining too depending on how many Hell Hounds descend for the 5:15 showtime. We shall see! Definitely this year I won’t be attempting to smuggle in a litre and a half of rum (successfully) like I did on my previous visit… after consuming that I found myself practically asleep against the crash barrier for much of the Levellers set. Mercifully this rendered me unable to ‘appreciate’ the headline act of Dizzee Rascal too so perhaps it wasn’t such a bad plan!

This year though with Roots Manuva, The Specials and James on the bill too there’s more to look forward to than just Ferocious Dog which is always a bonus, and there’s sure to be new acts to discover. The other drawback to Splendour is the lack of camping option – on account of the potentially vicious deer in the park – although whilst not my current home Nottingham is a place I can find places to stay pretty easily – and I’m sure there’ll be a few folk out and about to make it into a suitably fun party!

(more…)

Freeborn Al / 16th July 2015 / Band, Gigs, Hell Hounds, Music, Other Bands / 0 Comments

Warsop Carnival fun..

Warsop is a place I’ve become more familiar with than I was (which was not at all) before Ferocious Dog entered my life. It’s a really nice north Nottinghamshire village – that would’ve been developed to support the colliery sunk there and obviously subsequently closed. The carnival there is one of many years standing and held on the first or second sunday of July, on The Carrs, nestled between Market and Church Warsop. It’s a cracking community day out in its own right – although of course there was the obvious lure for me of a certain band closing it off in their three piece acoustic guise.

Upon parking up in the middle of Warsop I wandered over just ahead of the procession to find the field set up with an assortment of stalls, a funfair and a central arena, with the music stage in the far corner of the field. With events like jousting and falconry on offer as well as music there was plenty to entertain. I bumped into Ken who was talking with a chap from Warsop Remembers, an organisation that he’d painted a picture for that might potentially end up as a raffle prize to raise money for the cause – so look out for that for a bit of unique Ferocious Dog related memorabilia.

However, it was the music that was my main motivation for going – so I soon found myself settled in front of the stage where Ellie Keegan was up first. I’ve seen Ellie play a few times now and she’s a cracking performer – although not to my knowledge with the addition of a loop pedal (remember spare batteries next time!). She played a mixture of covers and a couple of original ones – with things ranging from Crazy by Gnarls Barclay, a mash-up of Come Together by the Beatles and Lose Yourself by Eminem (I think – that’s not my genre!) with plenty of use of the loop pedal on both guitar and vocal layers.

(more…)

Freeborn Al / 5th July 2015 / Band, Gigs, Hell Hounds, Lee Bonsall, Music, Other Bands, Photos / 0 Comments

Gaz Brookfield – True and Fast album review..

I’d be amazed if anyone vaguely into Ferocious Dog hasn’t encountered Gaz Brookfield too – he’s been support a few times to the band as well as making starring appearances at the last couple of Dogfests. I first saw Gaz as the early support act for the Levellers and immediately rushed off to buy an EP – that was obviously a striking occasion as it features in Land Pirate’s Life subsequently.

On that day as a competition prize I was due to collect some merchandise from the Levs backstage so even had the chance to meet him briefly behind the stage at Rock City and congratulate him on a cracking performance – not that I imagine that has stuck in the memory. I hope not anyway, I was in the midst of a particularly ridiculous Movember effort at the time – but ever since then I’d decided to keep an eye out for him.

Lucky for me then that he subsequently seemed to forge a relationship with the other main band in my life – so as well as taking in as many of his own gigs as I’ve been able to I also benefit from his support slots with FD as well. The autumn tour will be doubly a treat on this score since he features on the bill for the vast majority of these! So anyway, background aside, Gaz’s new album True and Fast dropped in my mailbox yesterday much to my excitement.

(more…)

Freeborn Al / 6th June 2015 / Music, Other Bands / 0 Comments

On this day..

My first Ferocious Dog gig on this day in 2011!

I loaded up Timehop this morning, as I do most mornings. Timehop is an app you can install on your phone and it will trawl through your photos, Facebook and Twitter accounts to find out what you’d been up to on a particular day in previous years. For a maudlin nostalgia-junkie like me it’s a fun way to peruse things and see how things have changed over years gone, or just jog your memory of things you might’ve been up to.

So, on 19th May four years ago today I excitedly finished up my working day then headed up to the Black Market Venue in Warsop to see Mark Chadwick play a solo gig supported by, of course Ferocious Dog. Because when picking up the ticket from Dan a couple of weeks prior I was given an EP I already knew four tracks – Quiet Paddy, Criminal Justice, Mairi’s Wedding Part II and On the Rocks. They’d been on somewhat of a heavy playing cycle in the run-up to this gig.

I remember Ken and Dave both looked at me a bit funny as I was singing along to them despite never having seen them before.

Back then the set opened – I think – with Burford Stomp, a cover version of the song the Levellers recorded for Rev Hammer‘s Freeborn John album – it involved a bandana-clad Ellis taking the stage first with an energetic solo that the band joined in with. I have no real memory of the set list but there were a fair few cover versions – certainly River O’Joe and What You Know featured along with Burford Stomp. I have been able to dredge a video out of my archives of that first gig for me along with the photo.

(more…)

Freeborn Al / 19th May 2015 / Band, Gigs, Hell Hounds, Music, Thoughts / 0 Comments

No debate: Putney’s the place to be this Friday..

I guess you can’t really get away from politics at the moment, and let’s face it – the songs Ferocious Dog regale us with are full of political past, present and maybe just the promise of a brighter future (if you listen to Freethinker right the way through at least!). When you finally get your mits on the new album – or if you’re especially keen at picking out lyrics at live gigs – then the second album has an almost certainly more overt political theme.

This isn’t really an appropriate vessel for current political commentary, not least because I’m not really qualified to provide it, but it is quite timely that the band happen to be playing in Putney this coming weekend (c’mon – is it Friday yet already?) given the role this once small town nestled by the river outside the capital once played in shaping modern British democracy (if you can call it that.. hang on, I said I wasn’t going to get political, didn’t I? I do apologise).

Putney is a political landmark for the development of British democracy – in 1647 in played host to a series of discussions (the Putney Debates) between Oliver Cromwell’s New Model Army to attempt to resolve the constitution and future of England. Matters like whether to come to terms with the defeated Charles I, should we even have a King or Lords? Should it really only be owners of property who have the right to cast a vote on those who should govern them? Would giving such power to the common-man lead to destructive anarchy?

(more…)

Freeborn Al / 12th May 2015 / Band, Gigs, Thoughts / 0 Comments

Newbury not bypassed..

Huh, see what I did there?

Newbury was going to be the point where I did bypass an opportunity for a tour date – but my willpower caved in. Having spent a chilled out day with Simon and Ella before the latter had to go to work, we hit the road, Simon not taking much convincing that a trip to Newbury was most definitely the order of the day.

To be more accurate, the venue was the fairly remote Arlington Arts Centre nestling a mile or two out of town in the grounds of a school. Hmm. Arts Centre. Reminiscent of Stamford, and fears of another difficult venue or crowd. There was a slight navigational cock up that made for a quick trip up and down the A34 near the venue but other than that it was easy to find – had I looked at the map rather than listened to the sat nav I imagine it would’ve been right first time!

Nerves around suitability didn’t subside upon arrival – a modern venue that had the look of a leisure centre in the reception area, I was expecting Gordon Brittas to come out to make a kerfuffle of giving me my ticket. Fortunately it wasn’t like that at all, so tickets duly collected we grabbed a drink and waited – there were no food options unfortunately so we people-watched the folk already milling around, mostly they looked like theatre-goers.. it could yet all go a bit Stamford after all!

We’d noted Cere-bus outside and it wasn’t long before Bev and Tina had appeared from inside the actual venue, and a few more Ferocious Dog t-shirt wearing people arrived to offer a bit of reassurance. John had posted a photo on Facebook earlier of the venue, again it was seated – but this time they’d retracted the lower level of seats to leave a decent sized floor area with a high bank of seats behind – the perfect venue really to leave an arena for a moshpit but a safe area of seating for those who just wanted to watch from on high.

(more…)

Freeborn Al / 26th April 2015 / Band, Gigs, Hell Hounds, Music, Other Bands, Photos / 0 Comments

The south-west? We shall exit ‘er in Exeter..

Well, now the dust has settled and I’ve grabbed a few hours of kip in my own bed it brings us to the Exeter leg of the tour. Having surfaced and written yesterday’s blog I got the call from Dan on loading times from the venue, so I checked out and staggered that way to find John and Scott had pretty much got everything out of The Hub and we just had to wait for the bus (or ‘the buzz’ if you’re John) to load up. It’s worth considering at this point how much stuff it takes to make a Ferocious Dog gig. Just some of it is pictured below.

It’s fairly obvious really – there’s six of ’em, Ellis plays about eight million instruments, there’s a drum kit – there’s amps, there’s merchandise, there’s the stage backdrop and assorted maintenance kit, there’s a few spare guitars for quick changes in case of string snappage. Then of course there’s up to ten people in the bus too along with their travelling gear (in our case we only had six of us for most of our journeying). It’s a logistical challenge for sure – and Waggy and Ken are masters of the game of 3D Tetris involved in getting everything in the back section of the dog bus.

When you see a band playing to a group of people going crazy, people eulogising about them on Facebook (not least me) and clamouring to get photos or just talk after gigs it’s easy to forget after that it’s the same people – admittedly with some help from venue staff or folk they might have on tour with them – who will be packing everything up and getting it either in the bus or ready to collect in the morning. It makes Ken’s mingling with the crowd after gigs all the more charming – and it’s not an act either, he turns heads and starts conversations wherever he goes!

(more…)

Freeborn Al / 19th April 2015 / Band, Gigs, Hell Hounds, Music, Other Bands, Photos, Videos / 0 Comments

Epiphany..

forest_pic It’s probably not really an epiphany at all.

An epiphany is a sudden realising of a truth, a revelation. What I’m about to describe is probably a slow acceptance of the bleeding obvious, but well, with the next tour date looming on the horizon it prompted the thought process – so now you have to put up with it, ha ha!

In another part of my life I’m a pretty avid football fan – I support Nottingham Forest for my sins – and have a season ticket. A few times in the last few years Ferocious Dog has come into conflict with this other life passion of mine. This passion is one I don’t regret – it’s if nothing else a chance to spend time with my brother and a number of my closest friends – many of whom I met through this shared interest.

Of course, it also allows me to fund millionnaire footballers which sits less easily in the justification stakes!

(more…)

Freeborn Al / 7th April 2015 / Band, Gigs, Music, Other Bands, Thoughts / 0 Comments