Tales of Bondage and Gimps | The Bellowhead Interview

Bellowhead2009Interview

Komedia Bath February 18th 2009
They've just finished their soundcheck and I head of somewhere quiet with Andy Mellon (trumpet), Paul Sartin (fiddler/oboist) and Jon Boden (fiddler/singer). The review of that gig appeared in ElectricGhost Issue 14. Here a little later than anticipated is the results of our pre-gig chat.

What’s the origin of the name Bellowhead
Jon: Well bellows as being in melodeon and John [Spiers] and I called our second album Bellow…
Paul: …and also a lot of English bands have the suffix on the them like Motorhead and Radiohead…
Jon: …and we’re somewhere between Motorhead and Radiohead, positioning ourselves like that
Um yeah OK [laughter].
Paul: Well that’s the most coherent response your going to get to that.

OK. I have always been interested in how you’ve named things like your album Burlesque which seems to reflect the theatrical part of your identity. It seems to me that almost from day one you had your musical approach sorted.
Jon: Well not really although I guess there elements of it from the first set. Material that me and John [Spiers] did that we arranged for the big band. Originally quite folky but then it expanded, we noticed what was working and what wasn’t.
Paul: Well I think also as we gelled as a group from a bunch of individual into a band we all felt more confident to bring elements of ourselves to the mix. We have such a wide variety of experience and players its inevitable we’ve bought in the brass band and jazzy stuff for example. As the music has become more varied it’s also become more Bellowhead.

Apparently you [Jon Boden] and John Spiers initiated this idea for a big band whilst stuck on the M25 motorway, or is that just an urban myth?
Jon: Well that’s where the controversy lies John thinks it’s the M25 but I think it’s the M1. [laughter]

Do you find an influence in other English ensembles like Bonzo Dog Doodah Band and Temperance Seven?
Jon: Well we’re certainly English and eccentric. This has arisen before. I’ve never heard of these bands and far as I know no one else is a big fan of theirs. It seem very interesting that we have referenced various bands, also like John Tam’s Home Service that we don’t know very well.

Well I can see that because both the Home Service and also The Albion Band have done stuff in the theatre and used brass. I‘ve also read that your fan base ranges from The Red Hot Chilli Peppers to Frank Skinner, which is pretty varied. [laughter]  On to the new album Matachin. The word is defined as traditional but dangerous, that kind of sums you up doesn’t it?
Andy: Well we had a girl pass out to the words of The Widows Curse recently. Or maybe it was it was too hot [laughter] we haven’t quite worked that out yet.

Mind you whole new array of folk music we’ve got like yourselves Mawkin Causley, Jim Moray and so on, there seems to be something quite full blooded as opposed to the old folk scene which seems to be a bit po-faced and proper and playing the tunes right. You guys seem to have fun.
Andy: Well we haven’t got an issue with playing the tunes right because it doesn’t matter [laughter].
Jon: And also as fiddlers we have quite different fiddle styles. We’ve tried to sit down and unify styles and I think that does give it a freer feel.
Paul: Also we’re the first generation of folkies that have felt secure about it. Previous generation have more concerned with keeping the music going and make sure it doesn’t die out. We feel everything’s been recorded that can be, everything is secure now lets take the ball and run with it and push the envelope a bit.
 
I’ve noticed that the arrangements on your albums are amazing and complex and yet at the same time you pull it off live, do you feel more at home live or on record?
Andy: It’s funny hearing the record because you don’t really hear yourself live apart from the mobile phone or YouTube piece. In a recorded situation its mixed and you don’t hear the whole piece. The whole record thing is strange, I don’t think we’ve been captured properly on record yet.
Jon: This is a basic problem with recording an 11 piece band which I guess answers your question. On stage that’s quite an impressive thing, that scale thing, which you kind of lose on CD. So in that sense I think we are really a live band.
Paul: I think it’s difficult because on a record you play everything carefully because it’s being captured for eternity but on stage it has more immediate impact.
Jon: The great thing about live is that it’s the only job where you get a round of applause every 5 minutes [laughter].
Morris Dancing
Paul: Moving on swiftly…[laughter]

I’m sticking with Morris Dancing you not getting away that easily [laughter]. There was some item on the news recently about not being able to recruit new young people into it.
Paul: Yeah that’s an absolute load of crap

But it does seem to have an image of just not being cool.
Jon: Well somebody is in a Morris team that has got a problem and the media has blown it out of all proportion. It’s not the case that it is a nationwide problem. There’s load’s of young people involved. Its just nonsense. It doesn’t matter if its trendy or not, people don’t do it to be cool its just what they do.
Paul: Also if young people see other young people doing it then they going to at least accept it. I don’t any of us would give a toss whether morris dancing or folk music is considered cool or not.

You seem to have has some success live in Canada have you ever thought, or even have plans for the States?
Paul: I think there are several problems with the States, one is getting Visas and the other is the exchange rate.

You seem to have built up quite a strong visual image by using photographers like David Angel who have a very creative and innovative approach to photographing bands, particularly folk bands.
Paul: Well many folk bands do it at home on a very low budget…
Andy: We did win an award for packaging on Burlesque didn’t we.
Jon: They were either awful or like Topic Records representational but not very exciting, but then Jim Moray’s albums came along and we all ran off and said me next [laughter]. He [David Angel] does go a bit far we have to rein him in sometimes [laughter].

We’ve just got your new solo album through Jon, Songs From A Floodplain, which we’ll be reviewing. Where the hell do you find time to do this with all your other stuff going on?
Jon: I had the idea actually years ago and I just thought I’d better get it bloody done because it could have easily not have happened. Finished writing over last summer and then went into a studio…
…And played all the instruments…
Jon: …yeah because that was essentially a lot quicker than getting a band together for it.

Do you plan get a band together when you tour it?
Jon: Yes I’ll be touring it in March with a four-piece band.

Actually you all seem to have your side projects. Do find that going of and doing those things brings a richness back to Bellowhead?
Jon: I think so; I think it stops me getting bored.

Plans for the future.
Andy: Bondage [laughter]
Jon: Well we’ve got to do a new album fairly soon. And you two [Jon points at Andy and Paul] should do something.
Andy: We have its called The Gimp [laughter]