Hello, dear readers! We are very pleased to present you with a topic that’s so close to our hearts. Of course, we are talking about our favourite folk band – The Bad Shepherds. The English folk band has forever captivated us and we feel like it’s our duty to give back to them.
On this website, you will able to find out more about The Bad Shepherds such as the story about them becoming a band. We will also tell you about their career these last few years and we will attempt to bring you some lesser-known facts that might interest you.
Stay tuned and read our page to learn everything about The Bad Shepherds and more!
Formation of The Bad Shepherds
First things first. So, how exactly did The Bad Shepherds became The Bad Shepherds? As devoted fans may already know, the band started off as a joke. This should not surprise anyone considering the fact that comedy is just as integral to the band as their musical instruments.
Anyway, going back to 2008, Adrian Edmondson said that he jokingly bought a mandolin and started teaching himself how to play. Of course, he thought that the most appropriate music to play on the mandolin would be punk. Luckily, his friend Troy Donockley, who plays multiple instruments, liked the vibe, and after playing together for two days, they essentially covered eight songs.
Soon thereafter, Edmondson and Donockley decided to look for a bandmember. Their choice was the fiddler Andy Dinan who had just won the All-Ireland Fiddle Championship. All in all, this is how the band was formed. It’s a short story, that’s true, but we think it really suits the mood of The Bad Shepherds.
Now to the name. Obviously, there is religious symbolism involved. The bad shepherd in Christian theology is the Anti-Christ, and Edmondson confirmed this association in an interview with Leftlion. He also said he wanted to have some fun and that he sometimes preaches atheism, especially to missionaries who go from door to door.
A Little More About Each Bad Shepherd
Before we get into details about the band’s journey, we thought it would be appropriate to give you some more information about the main bandmates.
Adrian Edmondson
Starting with the man himself, Adrian Edmondson was born in Bradford, England, on 24 January 1957. He was famous way before he started The Bad Shepherds. He started his career in 1980’s comedy clubs like The Comedy Star and The Comic Strip together with his comedic partner Rik Mayall.
Edmondson then went on to star in many television series over the years. His first prominent role was in The Young Ones (1982-1984) where he played Vyvyan “Vyv” Basterd, a punkhead with sociopathic tendencies.
Together with co-star Rik Mayall they also made the act The Dangerous Brothers (both for stage and TV), along with the slapstick black comedy Bottom (1991-1995), which told the story of two broke friends living in London and being up to no good. The feature was very successful and it spawned five stage plays, which were live recorded.
Edmondson continued to star in various TV and film productions over the years. He would sometimes also work as a TV presenter. And let us not forget that he joined the iconic British band Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band or the fact that he directed multiple music videos for bands like Bad News and The Pogues. Edmondson has truly proven to be a man of many talents when he also won Celebrity MasterChef in 2013.He’s a big football fan and a long-time supporter Exeter City FC.
Troy Donockley
Troy Donockley was born on 30 May 1964 in Workington, England. He is an English musician and composer. As already mentioned, he can play on multiple instruments such as Uilleann pipes, tin whistle, guitar, bass guitar, keyboards, pump organ, mandola, bouzouki, cittern, bodhrán, harmonium, and aerophone. Truly impressive, huh?
Donockley is perhaps more famous for his part in the successful Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish. He initially provided instrumentals on a casual basis, but he officially joined the band as a member in 2013. However, his musical career started way earlier.
Donockley’s parents had a band called Travelling Country and he joined them in their tours when he turned 16. Later, in 1987 he formed his own Celtic Rock band You Slosh. At the same time, he also recorded music with another Celtic folk band, Iona, during the so-called boom of the genre.
Let us also not forget about his contributions to classical music. Donockley is thought to have popularised the uilleann pipes (that you can hear in many songs by The Bad Shepherds) in the UK and they illuminate his gorgeous scores The Unseen Stream (1998) and The Pursuit of Illusion (2003).
The Other Shepherds
The last lineup of the band before their eventual dissolution, included Adrian Edmondson, Troy Donockley and Tim Harries (a talented British bass player). Edmondson and Donockley were the original band members, but there were many others who at some point made up the lineup of The Bad Shepherds. Here are the members that we have not mention yet:
- Terl Bryant
- Carol Dawson
- Eimear Bradley
- Keith Angel
- Mark Woolley
- Martin Allcock
- Brad Lang
History of The Bad Shepherds
It seems like the band immediately started touring to a great success. It could be because of Edmondson’s and Donockley’s popularity among the British audience. In an unearthed interview with Edmondson from 2008 (the year he created the band), we find out that one of his motivations for getting into music was touring itself.
Donockley shares his passion for touring with a band. Still, Edmondson notes that he had already been on tours with the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, as well as Bad News. Soon after the band was created in 2008, a 27-date tour was announced and according to Edmondson, it sold pretty well. Edmondson again makes it clear that what he wants do to is have fun, similarly to his answer on the question about what motivated him to do comedy.
Then in May of 2019, The Bad Shepherds released their first album called Yan, Tyan, Tethera, Methera! This is an ancient Cumbrian phrase for ‘one, two, three, four’ used for counting sheep, which fitted the theme. The cover depicts a bunch of white sheep being serenaded by Edmondson, Donockley and Dinan wearing black clothes.
The album featured covers of songs belonging a wide range of British performers, giving them a folk treatment. Although they didn’t change the lyrics of any of the songs, they sound way different, not only because of the folk instruments, but also because of Edmondson’s singing, which gave them an ironic and funny edge.
Surprisingly, these songs hold up to the rendition which speaks volumes about their agelessness and of course, the mastery of The Bad Shepherds. Apart from the covers, The Bad Shepherds also included an original song sharing a name with the album’s title. If you are a shepherd having trouble counting your sheep, this is the song to help you!
Overall, The Bad Shepherd’s first feature was widely successful. The band received even more invitations to perform around the country. They didn’t let their popularity get to their heads and they soon started working on their second album.
By Hook or By Crook came out on 15 November 2010 under the same label as their first album – Monsoon Music. Their track list included hits by punk bands such as Sex Pistols (a main inspiration for the band, as evidenced by their stylised title resembling that of the 1970’s punk sensation) and The Clash, as well as rock bands like XTC.
The Bad Shepherds again brought their Celtic sound to these absolute classics and they received much deserved praise for their work of re-interpreting the original songs. How can you listen to their version of ‘Anarchy in the UK’ and not like what they did with it? They took this punk anthem and gave it a magical folk makeover without losing the song’s original edginess.
By Hook or By Crook also featured Tim Harries for the first time whereas he provided vocals and double bass. The band’s second studio album was another great success and according to articles from the time, The Bad Shepherds toured left and right around the UK and took part in many festivals including Looe Music Festival in 2011, which they also headlined.
Despite the speed in which all the venues they performed at were booked, The Bad Shepherds decided to take a break in 2012. They had no intention to stop creating music though and they announced at the beginning of 2013, that they were going on a national tour with 24 scheduled performances. Along with that, they also undertook an Australian tour with 6 concerts.
Their 2013 tour was titled Mud, Blood and Beer, and fans found out why when it was announced that their third studio album bearing the same name was going to come out in August. Mud, Blood and Beer was released on 19 August 2013 again to critical appraisal and to commercial success.
The third album featured eight covers by punk groups like The Adverts and new wave bands such as Fun Boy Three. The folk rendition of The Adverts’ infamous song ‘Gary Gilmore’s eyes’ (a song about a convicted American criminal who donated his eyes upon execution) is as funny as it is disturbing; a reminder of Edmondson’s dabbling in black comedy.
PS: If you didn’t get this message, Edmondson decided to remind you even more explicitly in the cover of the song ‘What A Waste’ in which he changes a line of the original song to “I chose to play the fool in a three-piece band.” Talking about subtlety.
The album also included two original songs, namely ‘Mud, Blood and Beer’ and ‘Off To The Beer Tent’ written by Edmondson and Donockley. The first song is a love-song to music festivals (which is also the theme of the whole album). Edmondson decries “It’s the reason why we’re here – mud, blood and beer.”
This hearkens the argument back to one of his first interviews after creating bad – the lad wanted to go to touring and to have fun. It seems like his wish came true and he made it pretty explicit in the song’s lyrics. The second song ‘Off To The Beer Tent’ has no lyrics, but it’s uplifting tune and self-explanatory title makes us crave a pint in the hot summer day at a festival.
2014 proved to be another busy year for the lovable Celtic punk band. Looking at articles from the time, it appeared their shows were booked in no time. Perhaps Mud, Blood and Beer sent the message across that the Bad Shepherds love festivals and they sure did play a lot of them in the summer of 2014.
August of 2014 was definitely their peak as they played in numerous festivals across the UK, as well as one in Belgium:
- 2 August: Dranouter Festival, Belgium
- 8 August: Belladrum Tartan Heart Festival, Scotland
- 9 August: Lakefest Official, England
- 10 August: Boomtown Fair, England
- 14 August: CAMRA’s Great British Beer Festival, England (very fittingly we might say)
- 15 August: Beautiful Days Festival, England
Combine this with various other gigs all around the UK and you make up for a very busy summer. Despite the love for festivals, the bandmates must have been totally exhausted afterwards. Perhaps that’s why they announced a hiatus merely a month after their last show.
Fans might not have expected their hiatus to continue for so long. There weren’t any significant updates between October 2014 and October 2016, which made the fans wonder whatever happened to their favourite Celtic band.
Then on 7 October, Adrian posted this: “The Bad Shepherds are back out performing in 2017. The plan is to do festivals. We like festivals. A handful are already booked, and we’ll announce them here when the festivals announce their line ups.” The fans were ecstatic and they impatiently awaited more information.
However, not even a month after this announcement, another one came on 31 October. We quote:
Well Hello, As regular visitors to this site may know, we haven’t performed for over two years. There were plans to start again next summer, but after much thought Troy and I have decided to call it a day. Although we dearly loved doing what we did, we think we’d just be repeating ourselves if we went out again. We’d prefer to leave the whole project as a brilliant memory, rather than flog it to death, and end up being a bit shit. I’d like to thank all of you who came along for the ride, you were brilliant. With love and some sadness Ade x
And that’s how we found out that The Bad Shepherds were no more. This surprised everyone as the previous statement sounded quite cheerful and everyone imagined going back to their fully-packed shows. Still, we suppose that Troy and Ade might have ultimately done the right thing by calling it quits before the public lost interest and before they lost their original spirit.
We can’t say that we are not sad with the way things turned out to be, but we will always have their three brilliant albums, which will definitely stand the test of time.
The Bad Shepherds’ Discography
In this last section, we wanted to give you The Bad Shepherds’ detailed discography. We will include all songs and we will put the names of the original artists in brackets, so you know which performers the group covered.
Yan, Tyan, Tethera, Methera!
Released in 2008, their first album contains 11 tracks (comprised of one or more songs). Here they are:
- I Fought the Law (Bobby Fuller Four)/ Cockers at Pockers
- Down in the Tube Station at Midnight (The Jam)
- Rise (P.I.L.)
- Whole Wide World (Wreckless Eric)/ Hag With the Money (traditional song)
- The Model (Kraftwerk)
- Humours of Tullah/ Teenage Kicks (The Undertones)/ Whisky in the Jar / The Merry Blacksmith
- Once in a Lifetime (Talking Heads) / Pinch of Snuff
- London Calling (The Clash) / Manchester Calling
- Up the Junction (Squeeze)
- Yan Tyan Tethera Methera: Fraher’s jig (original song)/ Coppers & Brass/ The Old Bush/ Rip the Calico
- God Save the Queen (Sex Pistols)/ Mountain Road
By Hook or By Crook
By Hook or By Crook (2010) is The Bad Shepherds’ second studio album, consisting of 9 tracks (comprised of one or more songs). Here they are:
- Anarchy In The UK (Sex Pistols)
- Sound of The Suburbs (The Members)
- Making Plans For Nigel (XTC)
- Friday Night, Saturday Morning Medley, 4a: Friday Night/ Saturday Morning (The Specials), 4b: Albion Street (original song), 4c: Humours of Ballyloughlin (traditional song), 4d: Castle Kelly (traditional song)
- Ramones Medley, 5a: Now I Want To Sniff Glue (The Ramones), 5b: Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment (The Ramones), 5c: Trip To Athlone (traditional song), 5d: Spike Island Lasses (traditional song), 5e: Blitzkrieg Bop (The Ramones)
- Panic (The Smiths)
- Ace of Spades (Motorhead)
- Ever Fallen In Love With Someone (The Buzzcocks)
- White Riot Medley, 9a: Humours of Drinagh (traditional song), 9b: White Riot (The Clash), 9c: O’Rourkes (traditional song), 9d: The Boyne Hunt (traditional song)
Mud, Blood and Beer
The third and final album of The Bad Shepherds Mud, Blood and Beer came out in 2013 and includes 10 tracks. Here they are:
- Our House (Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young)
- No More Heroes (The Stranglers)
- The Lunatics Have Taken Over The Asylum (Fun Boy Three)
- Going Underground (The Jam)
- What A Waste (Ian Dury)
- Gary Gilmore’s Eyes (The Adverts)
- Shipbuilding (Robert Wyatt)
- Road To Nowhere (Talking Heads)
- Mud, Blood & Beer (original song)
- 1Off To The Beer Tent (original song)