Select the size of font for this page [Large][Normal]
To return to the Biogs Main Page please [click here]
Artist: The Levellers (Acoustic)
Genre: Rock
Performing: 17th July 2004 / The Uncut Aladdin's Cave Stage Headline
Website Address: [www.levellers.co.uk]
The Levellers are one of the truly great bands around. To see them is an experience that you will not miss if you already now them. If you don't, then make sure you do not miss this opportunity.
The reason for their success? They are a band that have moved mountains in their actions musically and politically, redefining what musicians can achieve.
Their music evokes the body and mind into movement, their lyrics have the power to stir even the hardiest of individuals.They refuse to conform to the rules of the record industry or the corporations, preferring instead to let their actions and music speak for them.
Way back in 1988, the first ever Levellers press release stated: "The Levellers were formed in.....oh just listen to the tape." A no-nonsense approach to the music industry has served them well. Seen at the time as the missing link between the Clash and the Pogues and becoming champions of the alternative festival circuit en route, the band have lost none of their relevance - or fanbase - 15 years on.
The Levellers have always been a voracious touring band, often notching up over 200 shows per year throughout the world. Highlights have been the headline appearances at Glastonbury Festival in 1992 and 1994, some rousing appearances at Brixton Academy, as well as dates from Estonia to Japan.
The band have tackled issues such as the Criminal Justice Act and played Benefits for groups such as Miscarriages of Justice Organization and Liberty, and give free office space to Justice, an organization that produces the Schnews letter, to help them do their valuable work.
The Levellers' versatility is underlined by the fact that they also have an "alter-ego" band, Drunk in Public. Essentially an acoustic Levellers, this line-up allows them to reach the parts of the country (and the world) other bands cannot reach, and reach them they do - for example, playing the Shetland, Orkney and Scilly Isles!
On record the band have released six studio albums, including the platinum-selling "Levelling the Land" and number one album "Zeitgeist", one Live Album and a "Best Of." The band's consistency is underlined by the fact that they had more platinum, gold and silver albums in the 90s than any other act in the UK.
With songs like "One Way", "Just the One", "Hope Street," and "What a Beautiful Day", the Levellers have had more hits than many people realize.
And the Levellers have always done things differently from most other bands. In 1994 they purchased a 10,000 square-foot building in Brighton called the Metway. This has been their creative base ever since, not only providing their own offices, studio and base for their excellent Fanclub "On the Fiddle" but becoming a base for creative music in Brighton. Other bands such as Orbital are based there, as well as other producers, managers and promoters.
2 years ago the Levellers founded the Metway Sessions, giving a day's free studio time away every week to emerging Brighton and Sussex bands, to record radio sessions for Brighton's Juice FM. Over the last 2 years, Electrelane, Electric Soft Parade, British Sea Power and Clearlake have all recorded Metway Sessions, among other emerging bands in what has become the UK's most creative city. Despite being a musical generation older than these bands, the Levellers have become a strong part of this music community.
2002 saw the release of the band's 7th Studio album "Green Blade Rising", produced by Alan Scott. It is a return to the up-tempo optimism of the band's mid-period. Already, songs like "Pretty Target", "Come On" and "Wild as Angels" have become live favourites. In fact, "Wild as Angels" was the second single from the album, released at the beginning 2003, reaching Number 34 in the UK charts so the band could celebrate a Top 40 single in their 15th Anniversary year!
A new addition to the live entourage, in the shape of keyboard-player and backing vocalist Matt Savage, joined the band on stage at a few summer festivals last year, and has now officially become the 6th member of the band on the road. The new 6-strong band completed another successful tour in Holland and Belgium in January 2003, a tour of the UK in March, the first full-band electric tour of the USA and Canada in May and festival dates around Europe and in the UK over the summer.
The band held their own hugely successful summer festival in August this year, "Beautiful Days" at Escot in the stunning Devon countryside, which will now become an annual event.
