The Bad Shepherds

The Album has arrived! Buy it here: Album sales

ALBUM REVIEWS:

ROCK 'N' REEL

****

Any preconceptions I might have held regarding the ‘seriousness’ of this project helmed by Adrian Edmondson, comedian, actor and now frontman of The Bad Shepherds were quickly dispelled upon hearing the respectful yet authoritative, inventive and witty approach to much of the material on their debut disc, Yan, Tyan, Tethera, Methera! (Cumbrian dialect for ‘One, Two, Three, Four’, fact fans: Ed).

Recording the album live in the studio was a good move – especially as the Shepherds are essentially a live band, with a busy gig schedule ahead of them. Consequently what you see is what you’ll get, and what you do get is a series of classics from the punk and new wave past interpreted, Shepherds-style, through the use of instruments more readily associated with folk music.

That it works so well is in no small part due to the hand-picked ‘dream team’ of multi-instrumentalist Troy Donockley (on uillean pipes, cittern and whistles), ex-Fairport man Maartin Allcock (on twelve-string guitar and acoustic bass), ace Celtic fiddler Andy Dinan, and Mark Woolley on percussion. Edmondson is no slouch, either, despite describing his contribution rather self-deprecatingly as "vocals and ‘thrash’ mandolin".

Songs such as ‘I Fought The Law’, ‘Down In The Tube Station At Midnight’, ‘Whole Wide World’, ‘London Calling’, ‘Teenage Kicks’, ‘Up The Junction’ and ‘God Save The Queen’ neatly segue into traditional tunes such as ‘Hag With No Money’, ‘Humours Of Tullah’ and ‘Pinch Of Snuff’, an inspired choice and approach that fuses the best of both musical traditions and produces consistently satisfying results.

Steve Caseman

fROOTS

It really shouldn’t work, but this has quickly become one of my favourite albums of the moment. Adrian Edmondson, famed TV comedian of this parish, teams up with a gang of Celtic folk rockers of a certain age to rework songs of the post-punk/new wave era in their style. Oh yeah? It’s a piss-take, right? Or dead embarrassing, as blokes old enough to know better have a mid-life crisis, mutton dressed as spam...

Well actually, no. Three essential nuggets of truth that Edmondson spotted are: that there are some very good songs hidden behind the fairly unlistenable vocals of Wreckless Eric (Whole Wide World), the pompousness of Kraftwerk (The Model) and the pretentious stylings of Talking Heads (Once In A Lifetime); that there was contemporary storytelling as good as found in many a folk song in Squeeze’s Up The Junction (sung, inexplicably, in a fake American accent on the original) or, the stand out track here, the Jam’s Down In The Tube Station At Midnight; and that freed from the stylistic straitjacket of expectation, putting completely new clothes on PiL’s ultra-catchy Rise and unassailable classics like God Save The Queen, Teenage Kicks or London Calling rather than attempting straight ‘covers’ might just allow them to breathe in a different way. And since he’d become a born-again folk fan, why shouldn’t he pair two of his enthusiasms?

Still, none of that would have worked if he hadn’t then assembled such a skilful band of co-conspirators as Troy Donockley (pipes, cittern, whistle), Maartin Allcock (12 string, bass), Andy Dinan (fiddle) and Mark Woolley (bodhran, percussion), or turned out to be a rather good singer and "thrash" mandolin player himself. Now, not only do those guys have bucketfuls of chops, but I have a secret suspicion that the originals of these songs may not have been as central to their youth culture as they clearly were to Edmondson’s. Could this be one of the secrets as to why the arrangements and playing here are so fresh, newly appropriate and energetic rather than reverend? Another, of course, could just be that they get off on playing such a great set of material.

After Jim Moray’s fab reworking of XTC’s All You Pretty Girls into a new folk classic got a Folk Award nomination, there’s now clearly a precedent. If the Bad Shepherds’ new treatment of Down In The Tube Station At Midnight isn’t up for a similar gong next year, there’s no justice. A song is a song is a song...

Ian Anderson

Other Album reviews:

"A work of stunning genius" Mrs D. 'Mummy' Edmondson (no relation)

"Allcock has a God-like talent" Mrs 'Mam' Allcock (no relation)

"Dinan plays fiddle better than Yehudi McManaman" Mrs 'Ma' Dinan (no relation)

"He's no son of mine, the little shit" Mrs Donockley (Troy's mum)

Click here for details of Chagstock 2009 It's Ade's local festival!

Squeeze, Seth Lakeman, The Bad Shepherds, stunning Dartmoor views, O'Hanlons ales...

With the Homepage revamp GIGS have moved to here

Assembly Rooms, Derby 5/6/09 - photos by Graham Whitmore

LIVE REVIEWS:

MANCHESTER EVENING NEWS

****

"AND you thought you didn't like folk music" states musician and comedian Adrian Edmondson after the crowd have lapped up several of his and his bands interpretations of punk classics filtered through the medium of folk.

...at the top of the show you're wondering just how The Bad Shepherds are going to pull this off - the answer is beautifully. (Full review)

Taunton Brewhouse May 15 2009:

"Edmondson, looking uncannily like archetypal punk Vyvyan Barsterd's father, is an enthusiastic and cheeky front-man, striking just the right balance between fun and musicianship" (full review)

Exeter Phoenix May 16 2009:

"The Exeter Phoenix was packed and expectations were high – we wanted songs we knew the words to, great musicianship and for Ade to make us laugh too. They delivered on all counts." (full review)

Nottingham 'Seven' May 23 2009:

"...four proper musicians performing their versions of the top tunes of that time with wit and artistry." (full review)

Seven, Nottingham 23/6/09 - photos by Steve Fisher

You would imagine that there could be a sense of tongue-in-cheek when covering well known songs in this way, but you don't sense that with The Bad Shepherds. They just seem to be a bloody good folk band playing songs that they love in a way that they love, and it makes for a fun and enjoyable gig. (full review)

DINGWALLS - DATE CHANGED

Apologies to all ticket holders for the Dingwalls gig on 18th June. This has been moved to 13th October. Sometimes life is just shit.

Tickets for DIngwalls. (This is an external site not run by us etc...)

Where's Mark? See the blog

WHAT ARE THE BAD SHEPHERDS?

The Bad Shepherds play punk songs on folk instruments. Not as a gag, but because we really like the noise. We think the songs are better than people remember. We love folk instruments. It works. We do songs by The Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Stranglers The Jam, Sham 69, The Undertones, Talking Heads, Squeeze and others, even Kraftwerk! Alright, they're not all punk, but they come from roughly the same era. We've mostly given the songs a kind of Celtic feel, and we've stuck in the odd reel and jig here and there. But occassionally we just thrash! I've always thought the excitement of a reel taking off is the nearest thing to the excitement of watching punk live in the 70's.

SOME OLDER REVIEWS:

This from Ian Anderson (editor of fRoots - not the one-legged flautist from Tull!) about The Half Moon, Putney, Dec 15th 2008

I went all the way over to the Half Moon, Putney tonight, for the first time in about 20 years. The Bad Shepherds made the trip well worthwhile. Could have been an easily failing gimmick but he's a good singer (reminds me of Robb Johnson) and mandolin player and he's surrounded himself with excellent musos. They hit the right balance between fun and musicianship, very much involving the audience who seemed to mostly be au fait with the lyrics, reliving their distant youth and well up for it. It's all presented with humour and much welly - energy with finesse rather than thrash. Some of the songs from that era turn out to be better songs than I thought: others that were iconic favourites that you couldn't imagine revisited in any other way actually survived the remodelling with ease. I'd half joked to Adrian a few months back that they'd stand or fall on how they did London Calling and it worked really well - I can imagine Joe Strummer (who after all had his spell in the Pogues) liking it a lot. Oh, and they've reworked All Around My Hat in the opposite direction!

Bad Shepherds at Cox's Yard, Stratford 22/12/08

Cox's Yard, Stratford (Click for full review)

"The audience loves the songs, he [Ade] really loves the songs, and he also has the good sense to surround himself with some of the best folk musicians around; not that Mr Edmondson is any slouch on the mandolin himself in spite of what he might say."

Baby Blue, Liverpool (Click for full review)

"...it worked brilliantly. The music is serious - versions of punk standards like I Fought the Law and No More Heroes, often veering off into accomplished folk jams, and it all sounds sublime ...the enthusiasm - from the crowd and from the stage - is the real deal.

Needless to say, like any good comedy/ folk/ punk combo the Bad Shepherds are up for a drink and a laugh and the odd re-write of a psalm ("Ade is my shepherd, I shall not wank"). He is as good as a frontman and a host as you'd expect from the character you see on TV, easygoing and cheeky with a crowd, funny between songs..."

Pocklington Arts Centre (Click for full review))

"...a fun-filled evening of quality music-making spiced with a couple of satirical swipes at the sheep parables of Jesus Christ. Edmondson proved an able front man. He has a fine singing voice and he’s no slouch on the mandolin. He described his style as "thrash mandolin", playing with such exuberance that he broke two strings during one number."

Intake Club, Mansfield (Click for full review)

"... a very entertaining gig given that a lot were wondering what to expect. The Bad Shepherds don't come across as overly serious despite the wealth of experience in the line-up. The comedy aspect had to be in there. If Edmondson hadn't bantered with the crowd then many would have thought something was wrong and have been disappointed. An excellent show from an excellent set of musicians at an excellent venue."

The Brook, Southampton (Click for full review)

'This was a brilliant gig with an atmosphere that left me as high as a kite'

If you still don't know what The Bad Shepherds are about, here's me yakking on about it:

BBC Interview

'Crazy Girl' has redrawn her weird videos to use the latest recordings and to include Andy. Obviously I cannot condone the use of hard drugs, but I find a stiff sherry before watching aids enjoyment:

Time for another sherry? (She is American, you know...)

Old promo I Fought The Law (Real live people) (Real old line up too)

AND HERE'S WHAT I THINK:

I love the songs of 76 - 82. I was 19 in 76 when punk arrived.

Those songs were the soundtrack to my life as I went through Uni and started pretending to be a comedian. I loved the noise, the faces and the attitude.

I love making music. Got my first guitar when I was 13 and along the way I've picked up ten other guitars, a banjo, a ukelele, two trumpets, a banjolele, a mandolin, an autoharp, a charanga, two pianos, a tenor guitar, a triangle and even made myself some Coconuts (strangely enough - from a coconut).

I also love folk music, I love the noise - at its live best its the most exciting music to be in the same room with. It occured to me that punk was the folk music of its day.

I decided to form a band to reflect all of the above. It would be great if you came along for the ride.

Cheers, Adrian

Recent 'two pints in' pic of me:

Photo by Jeremy Rata

Old pic of one of my ancestors (probably):

The Bad Shepherd by Pieter Brueghel the Younger