Beginner's Guide to Devon Folk Duo Show of Hands
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
BEGINNER’S GUIDE Show of Hands As Steve Knightley and Phil Beer prepare for an extensive UK tour this autumn, Nathaniel Handy looks back at the humble beginnings of the Devonshire folk duo who are now at the forefront of the British folk scene istory likes to paint the 80s as all masher of late 70s punk rock. It produced folk revival.” He namechecks the late Tony synths, drum machines and plastic bands like The Pogues and The Waterboys Rose, an Exeter folk singer the pair both used Hfantastic outfits. It is remembered and, a little later, The Levellers, but it also to watch on the folk circuit. “They were ten as the era of fake – brash modernism for a brought together two West Country musicians. years older than us, so they were cool,” singer- disposable age. But for some of us, it had a very “There’s always been this undercurrent,” songwriter Steve Knightley adds. “They were different energy – earthier, rootsier and angrier. remembers Phil Beer, one half of Devon folk smoking, drinking, picking up women, had A crop of musicians came of age who had duo Show of Hands, when he spoke with long hair – and they were real role models.” tuned into the big late-60s, early-70s folk Songlines in 2015 backstage at the Hackney Whatever else may have changed, the long hair revival as kids – everything from The Empire. “We were listening to this stuff when hasn’t. Phil Beer and Steve Knightley remain Chieftains to Fairport Convention and Planxty we were 15 or 16. Local and quite traditional stubborn small-town rebels who took folk-rock to Steeleye Span – and then been through the folk singers – we were still on the cusp of the to the nation and ended up winning. 100 SONGLINES › ISSUE 142 WWW.SONGLINES.CO.UK 100_Beginners guide_SL142-v2.indd 100 19/09/2018 11:56 Knightley and Beer grew up on opposite BEST ALBUMS banks of the mouth of the River Exe, on a Show of Hands use Country Life spectacularly beautiful stretch of the south their strong sense of (Hands On Music, 2003) Devon coast referred to grandly as the The album that announced English Riviera. These are windswept, salty connection to the West their true arrival as folk-rock seaside towns that spend much of their year social commentators. The title-track has gone on to become a staple with a rather forgotten and mildewed feel, Country to explore the live anthem at their gigs and a rallying cry only to spring to life for a short, sharp tensions at the heart of for a neglected rural underclass in Britain. summer. This beachside melancholy permeates the sound of Show of Hands. rural life in England As You Were But this folk duo’s story is one of a train (Hands On Music, 2004) A mammoth 22-track double almost missed. Though they were together in live album that really gives a the Exeter pubs and clubs as teenagers, they political horizons, producing songs such as sense of the power of their went their separate ways. Knightley went to the pointed ‘Columbus (Didn’t Find America)’ live performance. Show of Hands are first university in Coventry and then to London, and the achingly beautiful ‘Santiago’. It was a and foremost a live act, and this is the best while Beer became a touring musician with cue to where Knightley’s songwriting would collection of their finest live tracks. Arizona Smoke Review and The Albion Band. be taking them next. Witness It was their returns to Exeter in the mid-80s The 21st century has brought with it (Hands On Music, 2006) that led to their reunion, and that return to increasingly anguished identity crises around Though this album was their roots has become a hallmark of their the developed world. Show of Hands use their defined by the track ‘Roots’ success ever since. rootedness, their strong sense of connection – a ‘Born in the USA’-style repost to a politician’s dismissal of country Herein lies the dichotomy that has served to their native West Country, to explore the folk singing – it’s equally memorable for the Show of Hands so well for what is now some tensions at the heart of rural life in England. moody ‘The Dive’ and the fabulous fiddle four decades. They are in fact a highly They released the album Country Life and a track ‘The Falmouth Packet’. Reviewed in #37. polished, fastidiously practised, meticulously few years later, Witness. These included the researched, beautifully considered and anthemic tracks ‘Country Life’ and ‘Roots’, Arrogance, Ignorance & Greed serious musical act. Beer is one of the greatest both tackling these questions head-on. (Hands On Music, 2009) multi-instrumental folk musicians of his The taut – sometimes uncomfortable In some senses the generation while Knightley is a singularly – energy that songs like these have brought to culminating album of a engaging frontman and songwriter. They are their shows have made Show of Hands into series of increasingly angry political a class act, and yet, whenever you see them one of those acts who have a die-hard releases, this one raved at the banking crisis, but also included quieter and more perform, the patter plays it all down. following. It is no longer simply about music, meditative songs on other, more complex Knightley will languidly thank the audience but something bigger – they represent ideas modern crises. Reviewed in #65. for coming to a “folk gig,” with a wry smile of identity, belonging, a shared sense of place. playing on his face. However big the As their canvas has grown, so has their duo. The Long Way Home auditorium – and this is a duo who have With the addition of double bass and (Hands On Music, 2016) Their latest album is a played London’s Royal Albert Hall four times beautiful vocals from Miranda Sykes since barnstormer in the true – there is always the sense of pint glasses 2004, they have in effect become a trio. Show of Hands tradition – clinking, some murmured chat at the back In recent years, this sense of community and it is now a tradition. There’s rousing between farmers and a West Country howler has broadened. Knightley and Beer now historical storytelling, traditional tunes and rattling the windows. Knightley will recall regularly champion young musicians, delicate contemporary tales of love and loss. A Top of the World in #115. their first forlorn gigs at rural pubs where the especially from the West Country, bringing audience was more interested in the fruit them exposure and recognition. Seth machines. They are willing you to discount it Lakeman, Phillip Henry & Hannah Martin IF YOU LIKE SHOW OF all, only to hit you with the sucker punch. and Jenna Witts, to name only a few, have all HANDS, THEN TRY: They let the music do the talking, and it has benefitted from this informal mentoring. Yet done. They combine the rich storytelling all the while, there is still the sense that Seth Lakeman tradition of English folk with the more nothing can better an Exmouth pub on a Ballads of the contemporary crafted social commentary of winter evening, and Steve Knightley’s bare Broken Few (Cooking Vinyl, 2016) the likes of Bruce Springsteen or Dick voice singing ‘Widecombe Fair’ to Phil Beer’s Fellow Devonian Seth Gaughan. The mix of atmosphere and anger lonely fiddle airs. Lakeman came out from is echoed in their versatile musicianship. beneath the wing of Show of Hands to Beer’s fiddle playing would be worth paying + DATE Show of Hands start an extensive tour become something of a poster boy for to watch all on its own. Here it is the summit of the UK in October, see Gig Guide for details English folk. He has since returned to some very rich and earthy roots, particularly on of a sound that includes banjo, guitar, + ONLINE www.showofhands.co.uk this album. Reviewed in #122. ukulele, double bass and the Chilean cuatro. + WIN We have three copies of Show of Hands’ The cuatro was an addition discovered latest album The Long Way Home to give during a collaboration the duo had with the away. To enter, answer: What is the name of exiled Chilean band Alianza in the early 90s. the double bassist that has turned the band The experience widened their musical and into a trio? See p25 for competition rules WWW.SONGLINES.CO.UK ISSUE 142 › SONGLINES 101 100_Beginners guide_SL142-v2.indd 101 19/09/2018 16:20.