Paddy Garrigan And The Stroller Priests are a three piece band from Ulverston and Lancaster, featuring songwriter Paddy on guitar, mandolin, banjo, harmonium and piano; Ben McCabe on drums, french horn and backing vocals: and Darren Leadsom on bass and backing vocals.
The band’s music is best described as alt-folk/rock. Story songs with great melodies, occasional wig outs and pleasant squawks. Sea monsters, James Joyce, the afterlife, Dad’s Army, the stoned freaks in the town centre and the universe blues are just some of what awaits the listener, set to a deftly musical soundtrack of runaway grunge, barreling (or barrelhousing) rock’n’roll, mandolin dub, melodious folk and epic guitar heroics.
Their debut album I Jumped Ship was self-produced by the band over a two year period, recorded and mixed by Darren. In addition to the band themselves, the songs feature Ben’s extra-curricular wind quartet Burst Horns, who add parping and pumping horns arranged by Ben to four songs. The all male singing group It’s A Man Thing appear on ‘Sea Monsters’, adding boozy bar-room harmonies to the song’s call and response lyrics. A unique 100 year old harmonium emerges in two songs, the epic narrative of an avaricious man ‘Now I Want More’ and the delicately atmospheric ‘The Honey Mead’, linking the modern and witty tone of the band’s songs to the traditional folk of Paddy’s deep musical roots.
Footnote: What is a Stroller Priest? According to the respected historians of Horrible Histories, a stroller priest was a disreputable man of God who roamed the roads of medieval Britain and could be called upon to perform various religious duties for cash. By contrast, the band’s record for random roadside religiosity is so far unmarked.
Artists’ website: www.strollerpriests.com
‘Where Do The Dead Go When They Die?’ – live and raucous:
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