Trembling Bells with Bonnie 'Prince' Billy
Support from Muldoon's Picnic
Doors 7.30pm
Tickets £12 adv + bf *SOLD OUT*
Here Gallery - 0117 9422 222
Bristol Ticket Shop - 0117 929 9008
Trembling Bells
Based in Glasgow, Trembling Bells are a group of 21stcentury troubadours who know their history,joyously attempting to synthesise traditional folk forms with the bathetic romanticism of country music, the deceptive complexity of medieval music and the swagger of classic Rock. Medieval ballads, Frank Sinatra, Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen are the guiding lights in a music that embraces British folk-rock, American roots and electric psychedelia. The band are at ease with such an open set of influences, effortlessly combining and personalising these superficially disparate musical forms, generating a sound that is saturated in the myths and mysteries of their native terrain but also startlingly original.
Trembling Bells have enjoyed much success since their inception in 2008. The band have gained favour with such musical titans as Joe Boyd, Paul Weller, The Unthanksand Mike Heron (Incredible String Band)as well as unanimous critical acclaim for their three albums, Carbethand Abandoned Love, The Constant Pageant(all on Honest Jons records). They featured heavily in the Wire cover story alongsideAlasdair Robertsdocumenting the emerging adventurous folk scene in Scotland (Caledonia Dreaming, March 2010), while also being mentioned in Rob Young'sbook, Electric Eden.
"Trembling Bells are my kind of band." Joe Boyd (Legendary producer of Nick Drake, Fairport Convention, John Martyn etc)
“Brilliant… concise, deeply romantic, totally original” - Mojo
“Freewheeling and delightfully quirky” - The Guardian
“The group do cast their net wider than British folk. The pounding punk-prog number Otley Rock Oracle, channelling Mountain's Nantucket Sleighride, belongs by virtue of its hallucinatory folkloric narrative. Cold Heart Of Mine's blues harp connects Americana with its European roots and Hastings' raga like licks look East. In the 21st century nothing can exist in splendid isolation. The Constant Pageant offers a poetic incantation of British identity far brighter than Michael Gove's proposed GCSE history syllabus.” - Stewart Lee
www.myspace.com/tremblingbells
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Trembling-Bells/256466514334
http://www.honestjons.com/label.php?pid=36066&LabelID=14815&g=1
Bonnie 'Prince' Billy
The singer/song writer and actor Will Oldham is best known for his songs written and performed as Bonnie 'Prince' Billy. He has released over 20 albums and numerous other music formats, predominantly on Drag City and Domino records. He is a popular and cult figure who, through his mix of honesty and enigma, has created a canon of work that is regarded very highly throughout the world. He cleverly twists American (and other) folk/roots heritage into new shapes and forms, all presented via his uncompromising indie ethics. His songs and sound can be sweet and open-hearted or oddly detached and cracked. He has an ability to sound ancient and modern, poetic and carefree.
He has worked numerous musicians including his brothers as well as David Pajo (Papa M), Bjork, Sean O'Haganand Matt Sweeneyof Chavez and Zwan, Faun Fables' Dawn McCarthy, Jim O'Rourkeand the Dirty Three's Jim White. He picks his collaborations and counterpoints extremely well.
Defining career releases include Ease Down The Road,Viva Last Blues,Lie Down In The Lightand his 1993 debut There Is No-One What Will Take Care Of You.
The Independent newspaper described him as“the underground artist most likely to work his way into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.” The New Yorker said“Although he has never signed with a major label, and has never risen higher than No. 194 on Billboard’s album chart, his concerts sell out all over the world. If he remains a spectral figure, that is no coincidence. In an online tour diary from a few years ago, he wrote, “It is more rewarding to be complicit with scarcity than excess.”
http://www.bonnieprincebilly.com
http://www.dragcity.com/artists/will-oldham
Muldoon's Picnic are a harmony singing group based in Glasgow. Their repertoire ranges from folk-songs to world music to shanties to spirituals to Victorian parlour music. Singing in Bulgarian, Croatian, Georgian, French, Welsh, Cornish, Manx, Breton, Scots Gaelic, Luganda and Sotho. They are a small unit with a big sound.
The show is part of a tour supported by ROUTES SOUTH WEST
