Bellowhead have just announced that they are reuniting for a special ONE-OFF TOUR in November 2022 to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of Broadside.
Supporting on all 18 dates will be Sam Sweeney with his band (read our review of his Unearth Repeat album here). Tickets go on sale on Friday 26 November 10am.
They told fans: “The reaction to the online concert last year was overwhelming and we really did enjoy playing together again. The 10th anniversary of Broadside presented an opportunity for us to take things one step further and get back out on the road. We couldn’t say no!”
Bellowhead release Broadside, their fourth album, in 2012, by which point, they had amassed 18 BBC Radio 2 Folk Award nominations. Speaking to band member Paul Sartin back then, he spoke of the pressure the band were feeling in follow-up to 2010’s Hedonism – the biggest selling independent traditional folk album ever!
We turn back the clock to just before its release:
“Yes, there is some pressure. We’ve got the places we didn’t expect, and the album got to places we also didn’t expect too. It’s all been a pleasure, a delight, but following up Hedonism has been a tall order, we’ve done a lot of thinking on how to make it different. The pressure is on, but all we can do … is the best we can do.”
Needless to say, they remained positive. Though Leckie was back at the controls for this release, the group opted for a very different, yet still legendary, studio, Rockfield, the Monmouthshire venue favoured by such luminaries as Hawkwind, Queen, Oasis, Robert Plant and Coldplay.
“It was a different experience with John [Leckie] at Rockfield from last time. Rather than being in the middle of a city, we were surrounded by fields, and sheep and horses. John’s a very calming influence, very wise, we refer to his judgement, [and] he’s good at keeping 11 individuals happy. The studios were residential too, so we all put on weight as being starving musicians, we weren’t used to three meals a day.
“Being in that rural setting didn’t influence the songs as we’d got them sorted previous to that, so we were well rehearsed – probably more so that the last album. But it was nice to go for a walk in the woods, up to the castle ruins, it keeps you sane.”
“Broadside is slightly more full on, slightly more rocky,” clarifies Paul. “The last album was a party album; this is a lot darker on the whole, it has a harder edge. It was also done slightly less live. The last one was about capturing a live performance; this one is more ‘studio’, more of a recording, if you know what I mean, but we’ve still kept that live feel, that live atmosphere.”
Energetic and theatrical, with a good dose of “anarchy” and “chaos”, it includes such songs as The Copper Family’s Thousands Or More, sea shanty Go My Way, and Northumbrian mining song Byker Hill.
Paul’s highlights include: “Black Beetle Pies, we all like, it’s quite off the wall, a bit gruesome, theatrical. And I do like Betsy Baker, which is a bit like Britpop, has that old Britpop feel, in a post-Beatles sense, and Roll The Woodpile Down, which is in an ‘80s rock style, we all enjoy.”
The double meaning of the album title wasn’t lost on many…In the traditional folk music world, the term ‘Broadside’ often refers to the ballads that were printed on cheap paper between the 16th and 19th Century, an early form of newspaper that were sold at public alehouses and big events (such as public hangings). Those ballads were often horrific tales and the band made use of some on this release (The Wife of Usher’s Well, Black Beetle Pies).
The other definition refers to the firing of all guns from one side of a warship…the most deadly and most powerful form of attack. An apt title as they returned all guns blazing…as they will do again in November 2022!
Bellowhead Broadside Anniversary Tour
NOVEMBER 2022
10 – PORTSMOUTH Guildhall
11 – OXFORD New Theatre
12 – LECEISTER De Montfort Hall
13 – CAMBRIDGE Corn Exchange
14 – LONDON Royal Albert Hall
15 – BRIGHTON Dome
16 – SOUTHEND Cliffs Pavilion
17 – IPSWICH Regent Theatre
18 – BATH Forum
20 – PLYMOUTH Pavilions
21 – CARDIFF St David’s Hall
21 – BIRMINGHAM Symphony Hall
22 – NEWCASTLE o2 City Hall
23 – NOTTINGHAM Royal Concert Hall
25 – HARROGATE Convention Centre
26 – LIVERPOOL Philharmonic
27 – SHEFFIELD City Hall
28 – MANCHESTER Bridgewater Hall
Tickets go on sale on Friday 26 November 10am.