Bellowhead

“English Folk has never seen or heard anything like Bellowhead at full throttle…
it’s both rare & exhilarating to hear a band having so much fun.” Q

“One of the country’s greatest live outfits” Daily Mirror

There is nothing to compare with the excitement of experiencing Bellowhead live. From the wild, rousing dance tunes to the theatricality of their ballads & sea songs this is a band that are also funny, subtle and always engaging. Admire the sophisticated strings and elegant whirlwind of woodwind. Let yourself be uplifted by the powerful interplay of melodeon and mandolin. Be mesmerized by the deluge of deranged percussion, the beat at the heart of the band, while marvelling at the strange array of bent metal – the growling helicon and the euphoric horns. But mostly come prepared to dance like you have never danced before to the spectacular, show-stopping 22-legged groove machine that is Bellowhead.

An 11-piece collective of talented individuals, Bellowhead uniquely mix music from around the globe; from big band to soul, jazz-funk to classical strings, with more than a dash of Music Hall and yet retain, at their core, a passion for English traditional music. Winners of the Best Live Band accolade at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards an astonishing (and unparalleled) 5 times, Bellowhead appeal to a very broad demographic.

The band’s latest studio album, ‘Hedonism’, was released by Navigator in October 2010. It was recorded in Abbey Road Studios and produced by the legendary John Leckie. This highly acclaimed album has since gone on to sell a boundary-crossing 60,000 albums and they recently sold over 20,000 tickets on a sell-out UK tour.

Band-members, who are based all over the UK, include John Spiers (melodeon, concertina) and Jon Boden (lead vocals, fiddle), Pete Flood (percussion); Justin Thurgur (trombone); Brendan Kelly (saxophone, bass clarinet); Andy Mellon (trumpet); Paul Sartin (oboe, fiddle); Rachael McShane (cello, fiddle); Ed Neuhauser (helicon, tuba); Benji Kirkpatrick (guitar, mandolin, bouzouki) and Sam Sweeney (fiddle, pipes).