Dr Dave Amos (local historian - Lawrence County) interviews Skiffle Show
INTERVIEW - DH Lawrence Vaudeville Skiffle Show tell all …. To Dr Dave Amos!
Local historian and mining chronicler, Dr Dave Amos, asked the band about their music and connection to local history and folk-lore.
- Tell us about yourselves and what you do?
“Well we consider ourselves more of an event than a band! We are made up from a raggle-taggle collective of folk from various musical associations . . . The nucleus personnel are Misky (Misk Hills Mountain Rambler III), Minin Bill Kerry III, The Reverend Daniel Wright and Sister Stevie Leigh-Goodison. We originate from what is known locally as the ‘Bagthorpe Delta’ … A dangerous hinterland on the Nott’s/Derby’s borderlands, where bandits, mavericks and troubadours still roam freely amongst the swamps. Expect banjos, chainsaws, lumberjacks, washboards, drinking and musical mayhem with lots of fun!”
- So what is the DH Lawrence connection?
“We often play our tunes outside the Dixies Arms in Bagthorpe and when it gets chilly we sometimes go inside too, cos’ the beer is good. There’s a rather scary portrait of DH Lawrence inside the pub and his eyes follow you when you go to the bar. One day subliminally, he started to feed us prose and songs and we got to learn about local folk-lore. He told us the story of the baptisms used to be performed in the local brook and the scary tale of the ghostly girl who walks down the lane … It’s a magical place full of myth and legend. We reckon it is our job to capture it all and tell the stories in song”.
- What is your current release?
“On the day that the World was widely tipped to end, we released (somewhat ironically) our debut EP ‘Escape This Wicked Life’ It is a collection of original songs written by the band members. The album is inspired by American mountain and country sounds, as well as English traditional folk. Lyrically, the album provides stories of life, loss, lonesomeness and death. It has just been described by the web-based magazine ‘No Depression’ as … “Quality Folk enriched Americana from the British heartlands … a remarkable debut”
- What is the best part of being in a band/singer/song writer?
“I guess the knowledge that you are doing your own thing and not following the benign X – Factor or cover bands route”, as the legendary Lincolnshire lumberjack ‘Acer Cummerband’ once said, in front of a live audience “I’m going to do a few of my own songs tonight . . . and if you don’t like them . . . I don’t give a Fu*K”
- What is your most significant moment yet?
‘The Reverend Daniel Wright’ wrote a poetic stanza of prose for this one! . . . “The moment we realised that we had to take this seriously was on a moonlit night in the middle of Derbyshire. Bats were circling overhead and we were standing in a cow-shed at an impromptu gig (The Ashover Musicale Festival), which nobody had asked for or knew about. We looked out at the 50 or 60 people, dancing and grooving to our filthy blend of country/blues/skiffle and knew it was the life we wanted. The ceiling was thick with years of cobwebs and we could smell the rotting asbestos. Our shadows danced on the walls as the single dim red light cast a spell over the room and the people in it. In that cow-shed we found our salvation, we played longer than the fellas on the main stage. It was the closest thing to heaven or hell, we have ever experienced. What a life!”
- We’ve heard the live show is quite a spectacle?
“Well it certainly can be! … A lot depends on the audience cos’ we rely very much on our interaction with the crowd and that can make the difference between a brilliant night or and average show. Crowd members will organically become band members on a night when we connect properly, so the show is very different night to night. Often we play acoustically (unplugged) and this seems to go down really well.
We have some big plans for the CD launch. Expect something a little different… perhaps a little artistic! Watch this space … we just put an order in for some chicken-wire!!”
- Who has influenced you?
“Probably too many to mention, but it turns out we’ve all been separately listening to Lonnie Donegan recently. Certainly Tom Waits, the Felice Brothers, Bonnie Prince Billy and Old Crow Medicine Show. Basically, anyone who has some fun with the music and who brings something new to the table. From a literary perspective we all read widely and of course DH Lawrence and Byron figure prominently, but Cohen, Bukowski and Walt Whitman are in there too.”
- Who is your favorite emerging UK artist/s
Co-Co & The Butterfields and the Keston Cobblers Club both really float our boat, they’re having fun, fun, fun! We are trying to organise to play some dates with the Co-Co’s in the near future
- What venue/gig do you most want to play?
Well we are all pretty happy here in the local, but I guess locally we’d love to do the Maze. Though if we are thinking really big . . . then a little slot at SXSW would be for winners!
- We have heard you described variously as Americana, folk and skiffle
Yeah, but we termed the description ‘UpNoirthicana’ that’s dark (UK based) folksy Americana from North of Watford Gap!
- What are your plans for the difficult second album
Ha, ha! (Laughter all round) … Well we have a plan to do a CD of mining songs! For some reason all and sundry keep sending us examples from all around the World, plus we have written a few ourselves… So it seems like momentum to just follow the lead!
- What about the local Heritage Events that you support?
Yeah, we will be playing as many of those as we can… It allows us to do a little story-telling via the medium of song. For sure we will be playing the ‘Falling Leaves Folk Festival’ at Annesley Old Church on Sept 14th … There’ll be Morris Dancing and mummers play and fun for all the family
Bring y’ picnic basket and groove your Sunday to some sweet folksy ‘UpNoirthicana’
Links
Live Shows
www.reverbnation.com/dhlawrenceandthevaudevilleskiffleshow
https://twitter.com/skiffleshow
Bookings; skiffleshow@gmail.com
CD Sales; www.mininbillkerry.co.uk/
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/escape-this-wicked-life-ep/id589415281
