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| Dan Haywood’s New Hawks |
The pairing of Trembling Bells and Lancaster’s Dan Haywood’s New Hawks at Manchester’s Band on the Wall venue last week got the local cognoscenti salivating, with one Manc music blogger referring to it as an ‘unmissable psych-folk double-bill‘.
Well, if you did miss that one you can still make the Yorkshire House in Lancaster this Bank Holiday Monday (27th), where both these groundbreaking acts will be on offer, with the addition of two opening acts in the shape of Ponies and Mikey Kenney.
At the vanguard of contemporary, psychedelicised folk-rock, this visit from Glasgow’s Trembling Bells is part of a full UK tour. The four piece, led by drummer and writer-in-chief Alex Neilson, has an extraordinary, high-powered lead singer in Lavinia Blackwall.
Over the course of four albums they’ve explored, experimented with and blended early music, folk tunes and acid rock and roll. Sometimes redolent of the best late sixties/early seventies Brit folk-rockers, they soon attracted the admiration of Joe Boyd (producer of Fairport Convention, Nick Drake and many more), and have recorded and performed with Mike Heron, founder member of The Incredible String Band.
Trembling Bells current album, The Marble Downs is a strong set featuring duets from Kentuckian indie-folk behemoth Will Oldham, AKA Bonnie Prince Billy. The TB/BPB collaboration continued with a UK and European tour earlier this year.
http://www.myspace.com/tremblingbells
Dan and half of his fellow New Hawks players are local to Lancaster and as such Dan Haywood’s New Hawks is one of the region’s most exotic musical exports – this will be their first ‘hometown’ show in over twelve months. Their 32-song triple vinyl LP has received international critical acclaim and taken them all over Britain and Europe, with headline tours and teamings with New Mexico’s A Hawk and A Hacksaw and Stereolab’s Laetitia Sadier.
http://www.myspace.com/newhawks
They’ve also opened for The Unthanks, Frank Fairfield and a tour of major European cities begins in Madrid in October. Their stage performances are so rich and dynamic that illustrious label Static Caravan approached them for a live album, due for release later this year. For this show expect an uncompromising, free-spirited set of ensemble rocking featuring lap steel, synths, gongs, fiddles and mandolins and DH’s inimitable sourmash vocals.
Ponies (or, as it is sometimes spelt Po)))nies) sets are often few and far between, so this is a great chance to catch a solo performer who eschews cliches and delivers his sharp heat-seeking lyrics with integrity. Check out the sound at:
http://soundcloud.com/effpeedump/po-nies-cemetery-guard
Liverpool’s Mikey Kenney is a vocal and instrumental powerhouse and writer and leader of folk-pop-art project Ottersgear. His eagerly anticipated new album is to be released next month.
http://www.mikeykenney.co.uk/
See a 2005 review of Dan Haywood’s New Hawks on Virtual-Lancaster at:
http://www.virtual-lancaster.net/reviews/bands/newhawks.htm
and Tom Bramhall’s interview with Dan in 2010 at:
http://virtual-lancaster.blogspot.co.uk/2010/08/flying-with-new-hawks-interview-with.html
It’ll be interesting to see what they have brought home from their travels.
The gig starts at 7.30pm
Tickets are £5 online and £6 on the door.