It’s impossible to begin even contemplating an article about The Magpie Arc without jotting down the words: ‘folk-rock’, and ‘supergroup’ – which, along with ‘Raleigh Chopper’ and ‘clackers’, comprise the four phrases most redolent of the early 1970s in the entire English language. This, however, is no bunch of white-haired worthies, cranking out the trad-arr hits of yesteryear, but a veritable crack-squad of award-winners drawn from the current scene.
The idea of the band grew naturally out of the mutual admiration between singer-songwriters Adam Holmes and Nancy Kerr. The combination of Adam’s bass player Alex Hunter and Nancy’s producer/drummer/Albion band member Tom A. Wright resulted in the perfect folk-rock rhythm section, leaving just the position of lead electric guitarist to fill. Enter Martin Simpson…
“I had the pleasure of working with (veteran Fairport/Denny/Drake sound-engineer and producer) John Wood on Adam’s first album and I remember him saying that in Fairport’s early days, Richard Thompson was viewed as their secret weapon,” says Alex. “His opinion was that a strong guitarist was an essential part of any band, and as Martin is the guitar genius that all four of us look up to, we put it to him. The twist was that we were asking world-renowned acoustic guitarist Martin Simpson to play electric guitar, but he was right up for that challenge!” Nancy picks up the theme: “I shouldn’t speak for Martin, but I reckon a couple of albums ago he fell in love with some of those electric guitar sounds and he’s getting to do that now in a way that only he is ever going to do – in the same way that only Richard Thompson ever sounds like Richard Thompson.” Alex continues, “Being in the same room as Martin wielding a guitar is extraordinary. I’ve never played with anyone as perfectly connected to an instrument before, or someone who shows so much joy when a particular phrase or solo fits in perfectly to a song. A lot of people are going to love him on the electric guitar.”
So with the line-up finalised, what can we expect from the band sound-wise?
“If you look it up, the heyday of Folk-Rock is down as 1969-1976 and despite Fairport and Steeleye valiantly carrying the flag on to today, it has been a bit static since then,” muses Alex. “We wanted to form a new band with a “nod” to that time, as it was so innovative and exciting for electric folk music, and a loose reference point we talked about when we first got together, I remember, was the earlier “Holidays-era” Fairport, but only in the way that they flirted with the tradition in terms of the melodies and subjects on some of their own songs, whilst combining them with the influences of the day. Comparisons might be made, as people are wont to do, but we’re not the full-on “Trad-Arr”, or indeed looking to fly that flag. What we wanted to achieve was that rich stew of folk, country, blues and rock ‘n’ roll that bands were discovering and experimenting with, and which made it such a fondly remembered time, but mixed with our own voices, and we’re very, very excited to have done that in the music that we’re making”
Thinking about those classic Fairport Convention and Steeleye Span line-ups that included the likes of Sandy Denny, Richard Thompson and Iain Matthews, and Maddy Prior, Martin Carthy and Tim Hart, it’s easy to see The Magpie Arc as natural successors to groups in which, as Nancy puts it: “everyone was a monster at what they did”. Folk music with electric instruments I wonder, will surely invite comparisons with beloved bands of a half-century ago, so do the Magpie Arc risk being unfairly measured against ancient memories, rather than by current expectations?
“The comparison thing is always going to be an issue,” concedes Nancy, “but I’m not really in a space where that would bother me anymore. The reason I’m not in that space is that the album didn’t turn out to be what we first thought it was going to be – which was very much a homage to those Witchseason Productions albums that Joe Boyd and John Wood made. Because of us being the people we are, it didn’t end up being that at all.”
I suggest that it probably helps that she’s never been cast as one of ‘the next Sandy Dennys’. “No, and if anything, I feel more like a Maddy Prior acolyte”, she laughs. “Maddy’s my vocal heroine! We’ve done a version of The Gay Goshawk and I know I’m channelling Maddy on that!”
Perhaps the most striking aspect of The Magpie Arc – beyond even the outstanding vocals and virtuosic instrumental prowess, is the fact that they’re a group of truly exceptional songwriters. “The songwriting is split pretty much between Adam, Martin and me,” Nancy explains. “Martin and Tom wrote some together and Tom also worked with me on my songs, editing and re-jigging bits. Both Martin and Adam are really different songwriters to me and also to each other. It’s really fun singing with two male voices and exploring what happens when different voices take the lead”.
Their disparate and immediately-identifiable voices as writers appear to have bonded into a cohesive whole remarkably easily. “Adam’s a fiddle player too,” notes Nancy, “and I’m convinced there’s a particular thing about being a songwriter who’s been brought up in a tune tradition. There’s a something about construction of music that comes from having been hothoused as tunes player, and what you do melodically. Adam does that with his voice too – he writes for his own falsetto in a very particular way. Both Adam and Martin are particularly melodic. The same is true of Dave Swarbrick in Fairport. When he gets going on a song, you can really hear the fiddle player in it!”
Whilst their folk-rock forebears were able to pursue lifestyles of communal living and endless jamming in Farley Chamberlayne or Little Hadham, The Magpie Arc have had to develop a working method that suits their being based in both Edinburgh and Sheffield.
“We’ve all been writing and developing things individually” confirms Nancy, “but when we have got together we’ve just worked and worked and worked for hours and hours – so I think we’ve pretty much replicated the equivalent time if we’d been able to spend more time just noodling on stuff together! Having said that, Martin and Tom have an ongoing professional relationship and spend time together, and Tom and I do too. Perhaps we’re less nonplussed than some entities by the effects of the coronavirus lockdown in that we’ve become used to capitalising on the possibilities of working remotely.”
And, despite the current Covid-19 situation the band are swiftly finishing work on their debut recordings, started pre-lockdown, with the first fruits of this released on video for the Nancy Kerr written song, Greenswell, previewed exclusively on Folk Radio below.
With almost all gigs, venues and festivals on hold just now their emphasis is on releasing more material in phases over the next six months, and they’re planning a series of special edition EP’s this year with a live album launch in January, so keep tabs and follow them on their various social media sites for updates and news of pre-orders.
To finish, Alex provides the last words on being a “folk-rock” band in the modern era. “While many bands have mixed and matched folk music brilliantly over the years with indie, electronica or whatever, all we wanted to do was get in a rehearsal room with two guitars, fiddle, bass and drums, chuck in our influences and have a blast. We’re not trying to reinvent the folk-rock “wheel”, we’re just sticking our own brand of tyres on it!!
Or, as someone else once wisely said: “If you really mean it, it all comes round again…”
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For all booking enquiries contact Alan Bearman Music at info.abm@btinternet.com