With instruments ranging from ukuleles to yoghurt pots, Lulu and the Lampshades are a passionately ramshackle, upbeat and harmonic folk-pop foursome. With songs about drinking summer wine and old nautical handbooks, their quintessentially English sound has been branded as jolly and jaunty ‘good mood’ music. Their recent single ‘Feet to the Sky’ (2009) was described as “so cheery they could use it to advertise fun” (the Guardian).
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Brixton-based nine-piece Alabama 3 bring their eclectic brand of chaos to Port Eliot, in a new unplugged form. Flirting with an array of unique sounds from acid house to delta blues, the band are perhaps best known for their song ‘Woke Up This Morning’, which featured as the title track for cult US show The Sopranos. Their most recent album Revolver Soul (2010), is described as “soul music with a gun against your head”.
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Antony Elvin is a singer/songwriter whose songs promise to take you “on a spree through a London of your dreams! Gaslit yet modern – pastoral yet subliminally violent…” He’s appeared (albeit briefly!) in The Mighty Boosh, gigged at The Big Chill and is also a member of Princes in the Tower and Circulus.
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The prolific John Moore brings his musical talents to the Idler’s Academy with his Rock and Roll Trio, teaming up with Phil King and Loz Colbert to produce “back-to-basics rock 'n' roll of the righteously dirty, low-down kind” (Time Out). A co-founder of Black Box Recorder with fellow Port Eliot performer Luke Haines, John is also a contributor to The Guardian and The Idler, and writer of the novel Bad Light (2010).
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Danny and The Champions of The World is not so much a band as a loose collective of artists who come together to create a unique country/soul/folk sound, blending spirited, pedal steel-scored Appalachian folk with gospel-tinged choruses, sun-drenched West Coast harmonies, deep soul and deft touches of psychedelia. Their latest album, Streets of Our Time was released in January.
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The Tailors are a critically acclaimed five-piece band that blend together elements of power-pop with edgy tones and weirded-out lyrics. Their recent second album, Come Dig Me Up (2009), released under their own label Trash Aesthetics, was proclaimed as containing "exquisitely crafted songs that can't fail to impress even the most critical of listeners" (The Morning Star). – bringing together a sound comparable to the likes of Big Star and Teenage Fanclub.
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Trevor Moss and Hannah Lou are a humble young husband and wife folk duo. Having toured the country supporting Gorillaz with their previous indie band Indigo Moss, they split from the scene to go it alone because, in Trevor’s words, "being in a hip band wasn't as much fun as we thought”. Their current sound is a blend of folk and bluegrass that is “rooted in England” (Drowned in Sound).
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Treecreeper blends what could be described as poetic, heartfelt country rock with gritty songwriting and a romanticised ‘bar room hope’ sound. Their debut album Grain (2007) released on Clubhouse Records, gained much critical praise, described as "a banjo and harmonica fuelled mix of moody balladry and ferocious rock" (Time Out).
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Wilko Johnson is the guitarist from 1970s band Dr Feelgood, whose fierce stage performances became the classic image of rock and roll and inspired countless imitators. We’ll be showing Oil City Confidential, Julien Temple's film about Dr Feelgood, followed by a Q&A; with Wilko. Also, don’t miss the rare opportunity to hear Wilko giving an Astronomy lecture in the Idler's Academy.
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There are not many singers whose intense performances can evoke a proposal of marriage but that's just what happened to singer-songwriter Tom Baxter, when he played a gig in Ireland. This year the folk singer returns to his Cornish roots to play for us at Port Eliot and we can't wait to see what happens…
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