Levellers

In our first non-recording podcast, I had promised Sally that I would do an article on a relatively obscure British band. I was thinking along the line of Heavy Stereo (a band that Oasis and Elastica had tried to promote incessantly, but ultimately doomed to obscurity), The Wonder Stuff (I hated the singer's hair), and Inspiral Carpets (ooh yes, we'll have to get to them much later). When I brought up Levellers, Sally dismissed them immediately saying that she heard one of their song on the Help album, and it put her off on the Levellers for good.

The Help album (incidentally the complete title is Help: A Charity Project for the Children of Bosnia) had some awesome artists at the time: Sinead O'Connor covering "Ode to Billie Joe", Massive Attack's "Fake the Aroma", Suede's "Shipbuiding" (for a time, this was the only place where Suede fans could get this song), Manic Street Preachers' covering "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head", and Salad/Terry Hall's covering the standard "Dream a Little Dream".

The said Levellers song that forever turned Sally off, is "Search Lights". I think the song may be about something else, but I've always thought it was about Stonehenge. Particularly when the line comes up, "I see fences where there was no fences before... The man around is paid a weekly wage just to turn you back/Oh how they keep their petty kingdom well in view."

Anyway, Help remained one of my favorite compilation, actually, because many of these songs are exclusive to this release. In fact, "Search Lights" was exclusive until the 2007 reissue of Zeitgeist, as one of four bonus tracks.

While I'm no huge expert on the Levellers, I know enough about them to get by. I first came to know about them through one of my first UK pen pal, Charlotte. This was very early 1991, or so, and piercing and tattoos were a new thing (or at least gaining popularity), and Char was all pierced up. Charlotte describes herself as a 'crusty' and the music she listened to was 'crusty' music, including her fave, New Model Army and Levellers (both of these bands stole their name from the Oliver Cromwell). To this day, I have come to the conclusion that the term 'crusty' is more or less land-lovers/hippies.

I think by 1992, Levellers had a real major hit with "One Way" from their break-through album sophomore album, Levelling The Land. I distinctively remember seeing the video played only twice (both times on 120 Minutes), but I loved it. The song really is a protest against the establishment, telling you that "there's only one way of life, and that's your own.

That's pretty much where I left the Levellers. So, fast forward some fifteen years later, the band is still going strong - mostly building up their audience through constant touring. They released an original album last year called Letters From The Underground.

My favorite song on the album is "A Life Less Ordinary", which takes me back a little to that indie-protest 1992 song that made them so famous. I love how the song sounds like a fighting Irish song, complete with angry fiddles. I wish the rest of the album was more like "A Life Less Ordinary", but I suppose the band's grown since those early 90s days.

Oh, one thing that's kind of cool is that the band maintain a fanclub called "On the Fiddle" for £15 fee, members received a Levellers freebie CD of early demos and unreleased tracks from Letters From The Underground. There are very few bands that does that anymore, let alone staying together for over twenty years.

PS, I wanted to mention this time-pressing matter: Brody's Brit Rock at the Top show at the 400 Bar tonight (January 17^th). I doubt we have any readers in Minneapolis, but I thought I'd mention it anyway. The three bands playing are local Minnesotans, Victory Ship, Joey Ryan and the Inks, and Sika. The show is cheap, only $5. Pretty much the price of a glass of beer.

I may show up for moral support, but don't count on it since I rarely go out in the Winter time. It's cold here, brrr.