Billy In The Lowground(initially called the Brew Band) were formed in 1991, since when we’ve played literally hundreds of gigs all over the country as well as a handful in Europe.
Playing what could loosely be termed Folk-Rock (think ‘Weapon called the Word’ era Levellers rather than ‘All around my Hat’ era Steeleye Span!), with an Irish influence courtesy of fiddle player Ruth Behan, the sound is continuously evolving, veering into alt.country territory and even out-and-out Rock.
Or, as Venue magazine put it:
"...a very tight, rocky band, with only the tattered remnants of Irish and Old Timey fiddle tunes hanging out of the back of it (definitely no classicised folky pretty stuff). It's old and tough and dirty and rough."
Can't argue with that!
We don’t play covers, on the basis that nobody else plays our stuff, so why should we play theirs?
Over the years, we’ve played festivals as diverse as: Glastonbury, Ashton Court, Trowbridge Pump, Bath festival, Respect in the West, Pontardawe International Folk, Larmer Tree and Off the Tracks, as well as supporting acts such as John Otway, the Popes, Rock Salt & Nails, Norma Waterson & Martin Carthy, Oysterband, the Wurzels and Fairport Convention.
THE LINEUP
All our songs are penned by long suffering, weather-beaten singer/guitarist Chris Hibberd, who claims he finds them under hedges. He pins them to the ground with a forked stick, wrestles them into a sack & brings them to an old cowshed, where the rest of the band kick them around until they’ve had enough. Once they’ve had all the rough edges knocked off, they’re left to hang for a while until they’re good and ready.
Chris takes very good care of his trademark gravelly voice, treating it to forty rollups a day and regularly gargling with whisky (which he usually forgets to spit out).
Legend has it that fiddle-player Ruth Behanmet with the Devil at a crossroads one dark & stormy night, where she sold her soul in return for her fearsome fiddle-playing ability. It's also rumoured that the great Irish champion Cuchulain presented her personally with a bow strung with the hair from his horse’s mane after enjoying her ‘Waxy’s Dargle’...
She gives fiddle lessons too, but if she asks you to sign anything in blood, back away quickly.
Bassplayer Ian Simpsontried to make the same deal, but the Devil refused, as close inspection revealed his soul to be in a sorry state of repair & covered in nasty stains. Ian took up the bass guitar thinking it would be easier than a six-string and would get him more attention from girls. He was wrong on both counts. Luckily, his huge reserves of raw natural talent, charisma and physical beauty more than compensate. And yes, he’s the one who wrote this…
The other, much larger half of the rhythm section is Nick Wood, who bears an uncanny resemblance to Desperate Dan, and sits on a specially lowered drum stool so as not to make the rest of us look like Munchkins. His drumsticks were originally the logs used as rollers to transport the mighty sarsens of Stonehenge into their final positions.
And last but not least our latest recruit Mick Stanger,who apparently has no trouble working his way through a series of locks and claims not to have lived on 'dry land' for years... so as well as being a mean guitar, mandolin & mandola player he's the go-to guy for that difficult-to-open drinks cabinet.
ANCIENT HISTORY
Just to prove we didn't always look this old, here's a few samples from our dusty archive; please don the white gloves provided, and try not to breath on the parchment:
Here we are in 1993 or thereabouts, just after a gig in Pusey, when we were still called the Brew Band & top hats were still in fashion... [L to R: Tim Blake (mandolin), Lenny Nelson (whistle), Ian, Ruth, Pete (the original drummer), Martin Cooper (banjo & heavy drinking) & Chris]
This one was taken in about 1994, just before our tour of Germany, and features Jon Hill (whistle) looking like a pirate in the background. And a huge pint of beer, obviously. You can clearly see how poor we all are, as Ian has no tread left on his boots...
This line-up from about 1997 features Mark Rodgers, the Loudest Drummer in the World, at the back.
Around 1997 again, this one has Pat Knock (mandolin) sitting at the front.
If that's given you a taste for more, there's an ever-growing archive of pics on this Flickr page!
We’d like to thank all of the people who helped us out over the years; some have moved abroad, some have changed their names, two or three have disappeared under mysterious circumstances, and there’s at least four living in Chris & Ruth’s cellar:
Step forward and take a bow Pete, Sid, Phil, Steve, Simon, Tony, Mike, Lenny Nelson, Jon Hill, Martyn Cooper, Tim Blake, Pat Knock, Jake (the man they couldn’t hang), Ali Cross, Mark Rodgers, Nick Sorensen & Nige Lloyd.
