Tag: Simon Swarbrick

A new Merry Hell album is something always eagerly anticipated at Folking Towers, and Rising Of The Bold, the latest from our semi-regular “Best Live Band” winners, is no different. The first new since 2020, there has been one tweak to the then line-up, as will become apparent, but the most important thing remains unsullied, that being the overall strength of these twelve compositions. Songwriting remaining predominantly the province of brothers, Bob and John Kettle, and of Virginia, John’s wife. But, rather than work together, which they can and sometimes do, largely they compose separately, bringing their differing features then to the table. This ensures variety and this record perhaps displays more of that than ever before.

The biggest change in the band sees erstwhile fiddle man, Neil McCartney, stand down, although I see he was responsible for the cover artwork. His replacement, as anyone who has seen the band recently will know, comes from folk-rock royalty, with the newcomer’s late Uncle Dave having performed, as a guest, on the band’s sophomore release, back in 2013. Having a Swarbrick in the band makes for quite a statement and puts no little pressure on Simon of that name to deliver. But deliver he can, his bowing a thing of joy and celebration that infuses the band, infecting all with his youthful zest.

The set opens with typical Merry Hell instruction, ‘Pick Yourself Up And Dance’. Never ones to encourage a sedentary gig experience, it starts with some brisk strumming of intent, before the boy Swarbrick comes sawing in. There is already a brisk backbeat before Virginia Kettle chimes in, exhorting all to their feet. With piano providing some additional scaffolding, I confess never quite to have picked up on this aspect of their ensemble play. The production is tight, from John Kettle, and the mix is sufficiently clear to delineate each individual contributing texture. One of Virginia’s own songs, it is difficult to see it as anything other than an exuberant beginning also to any future live show.

Bro-in-law Andrew is the other lead vocalist for the band, taking up the helm for brother Bob’s song, ‘Vagabond Army’. With a grainy vocal, perfect for the more Celtic punky side of their repertoire, it rattles along merrily, with some searing is it electric guitar or electric violin soloing that seems perhaps to be a bit of both. Virginia adds a complementary vocal at the halfway point, ahead a breakdown into jig territory, emboldened by the drive of the rhythm section. Folk-rock with a capital R.

Lee Goulding, the keyboard player teams up with, again, Bob, for the Kinksy ‘Only Love’, replete with a bounding descending bassline and organ fills to cover any gaps, as Swarbrick now affects some Hot Jazz de Wigan affectations. John K now sneaks in a song of his, with lyrical support from Virginia, for the uber-folkie title track, which, to my ears, smacks very much of the Strawbs, in their hit single ‘Lay Down’ mode, as Andrew channels Dave Cousins. The electric guitar is clearly guitar this time, but, as Swarbrick slots in alongside John, again they both have you wondering.

‘Changing Times’ pairs Virginia’s smooth vocals with the rigid strut of guitars, bass and drums, for something that could come out the Curved Air songbook but is actually from hers. This is a side of the band that has had little overt display previously, the debt to a past including so much more than the usual electric folk mafia. And I like it. Although, for the sole instrumental here, they are right back in Uncle Dave territory. Written by his nephew, ‘Lizard On A Log’ was seemingly inspired by an afternoon in charge of a pet reptile. Colin Foster, bass, and Andy Jones, drums, invoke the full Pegg and, particularly, Mattacks, with it seeming that some of Swarb’s ‘Sloth’ foot pedals have been passed down to his relative.

‘Changing Just The Same’ is a Bob Kettle song around the acceptance of change, if set to a fully orthodox arrangement, awash with acoustic guitars, with the writer’s bouzouki higher in the mix than it has been. The listener is then side-stepped by a choral assault of massed vocals. Remember the Key Workers Chorus and the Social Isolation Choir from last album, ‘Emergency Lullabies’? This is a similar concept, The 1000 Voice Choir, convened and recorded in the same way, remotely and on-line, after a social media request of the band to send in contributions. Their New Year single, issued as a taster, surely hit a chord, attaining the lofty peaks of the American folk Radio Airplay Charts, breaching their top thirty. Such singalongs are not everybody’s cup of tea, but I’d be surprised if you don’t find yourself singing along. And Lord help any stage adjacent to the one Merry Hell are playing at this summer’s packed programme of festivals, who may as well suspend their own performance, once the crowd chorale wafts over.

‘Join Hands’ is another throwback to simpler times, the message saying it all, a jovial ode that skiffles delightfully, Swarbrick playing the part of a harmonica, over an oom pah style backing. From this Bob song, it is back to Virginia for’ Don’t Say I, Say Us’. Although she has dialled back any drift to sentimentality for this record, this one probably is, courtesy the slightly hokey melody. But what do I know, it’s guaranteed to be a live favourite; these ones always are!

These titles give away probably as much as you need to know about the Kettle philosophy, and John and Virginia come together for the 60’s pop of ‘Not Everything Is Wrong’’, with vocal o-o-o-ohs and chugging instrumental duh-duh-duh-dums. If Andrew was earlier channelling Dave Cousins, here he is fully Gerry Marsden. You can’t but smile, that lingering into the closer, ‘Singing in the Morning’, Virginia’s bucolic paean to community singing. I guarantee the rousing chorus will still be stuck in your ear long after you have put the disc back in the sleeve. It is still stuck in mine, and days have gone by.

Shock horror, these guys just get better and better, and this can only add to their burgeoning reputation. Catch them when you can, and Rising Of The Bold in the meantime.

Seuras Og 

Artist’s website: www.merryhell.co.uk

Let’s recall that New Year smash, ‘Peace Can Be Louder Than War’: