BELLOWHEAD

www.bellowhead.co.uk
http://www.myspace.com/thisisbellowhead

‘With the exception of the Who, Bellowhead are surely the best live act in the country’ The Independent
‘One of the country’s greatest live outfits: They should be a greater source of national pride‘ The Mirror
‘Best live band we have. No contest’ fRoots
‘Fresh, vibrant and cool’ The Sun
‘One of the most kick-ass live bands around’ Observer Music Monthly

Wild, joyous, perverse, bold, crazed, full-blooded, intricate, fearless, funny, epic and mostly BIG. The mighty 11-piece Bellowhead are quite possibly, the best thing to have happened to English music for a very long time.
Blending folk, jazz, classical, rock, disco and world music influences with English Music Hall and cabaret, they are Kurt Weill, Arcade Fire, Lotte Lenya and Tom Waits, all rolled into one. Between them, the 11 musicians play more than 20 instruments and six of them sing. The horn section includes a helicon, reeds and a bass clarinet. There's a frying pan amidst the percussion, and a cello in the strings. Add to that melodeon, fiddle and vocals and you have a heady brew that defies categorization.
Their new album Matachin (Ma`ta*shin) takes big, bold steps on from the extraordinary, groundbreaking debut album, Burlesque, which was widely heralded as one of the most important folk recordings ever made and resulted in an appearance on BBC TV’s ‘Later With Jools Holland’.
But best-selling recordings aside it is in their energetic, theatrical live shows that they truly shine, whipping audiences into a euphoric frenzy that has already been responsible for the destruction of two festival dance floors
Winners of numerous Awards, including an unparalleled 3 from the BBC for ‘Best Live Act’, Bellowhead recently raised the roof headlining the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall and then went on to entertain more than 40,000 people at Proms in the Park.
Bellowhead are currently band in residence at the Southbank Centre in London.

‘A party for old and young alike – rip-roaring, musically exuberant, gleefully anarchic, culturally criss-crossing brilliance.’ The Mirror
The Independent   5 ***** 
Songlines    5 ***** 
Mojo     5 *****  
Observer Music Monthly 5 ***** 
Financial Times   5 *****    
The Mirror    4 ****
Tha Guardian   4 ****
The Sun    4 ****
Q     4 **** 
Uncut    4 ****
The Times    4 ****

CAST:
Jon Boden     Vocals / Fiddle / Tambourine
John Spiers    Melodeon / Concertina / Vocals
Benji Kirkpatrick   Guitar / Bouzouki / Mandolin / Banjo / Vocals
Rachael McShane  Cello / Fiddle / Vocals
Paul Sartin   Fiddle / Oboe / Vocals
Sam Sweeney  Fiddle / Bagpipes
Pete Flood   Percussion  
Justin Thurgur  Trombone
Brendan Kelly  Saxophones / Bass Clarinet
Andy Mellon  Trumpet
Gideon Juckes   Helicon