The Levellers
From headline performances at Glastonbury and festivals throughout the world to intimate acoustic shows, the Levellers have long been one of the best live bands around.
With a keen political eye and uncompromising attitudes they've always led from the front but yet have the sureness of touch to write pop gems like "What a Beautiful Day". 2007 will see a new studio album.
The songs, sound as fresh as the day they were written; a rich catalogue is plundered night after night as Mark Chadwick and Simon Friend belt out classics such as "Riverflow", "Liberty", "Sell Out" and "England My Home"
Home England may be but 2006 has also seen the Levellers play far & wide: Croatia, Poland, France, Belgium, Germany, Czech Republic, Norway, Sweden and Denmark. Drawn to playing live, like moths to a flame, they've also developed a lively acoustic set which has seen them win over new audiences. With headline slots at the Cambridge folk festival and playing at prestigious venues such as Buxton Opera House with guests like Maddy Prior the band have easily re-discovered their folk roots.
"Get the f*** out of our dressing room" Damon Albarn.
It's not all been a bed of roses, mutual suspicion and preconceptions have long seen the Levellers and the media occupying parallel but non-communicating universes. That "crusty" tag has long hung around their necks, blinding the reality of a band that for right or wrong have always done it their way. Logic and longevity suggests that the Levellers have proved themselves as a great British band that is now firmly steeped into the public's consciousness.
As the 20th anniversary approaches in 2008, it's time to think anew. Those old perceptions, like the noise, died a death when the punks grew up.
