To most, the Levellers require no introduction. Coming straight out of Brighton, the band have been part of the UK music scene for 25 years, racking up a chart-topping album and 15 Top 40 singles since their debut, 'A Weapon Called The Word' landed in 1990.
The band have long been festival favourites – once drawing a record crowd at Glastonbury in 1994 – and have been running Beautiful Days, their own shindig, since 2003. This year they'll headline the event alongside Primal Scream and Ocean Colour Scene, while they again stopped by the world famous Cambridge Folk Festival in July.
Our man on the ground, James Ball, sat down with the band's frontman, Mark Chadwick, to discuss their longevity, folk's ups and downs and toning down the punk rock for older audiences.
You guys have been around for 25 years, you’ve released 14 albums, and now you’re back at Cambridge Folk Festival for the fourth time. Bands quite often disappear into the ether, but you have been solid throughout. What is the secret to your longevity?
Older bands don’t really disappear. People die! They can often reform with new members but from our era I guess not many bands are still going. I think in our case we just are what we say we are, and I think that’s really important to people. We don’t bullshit anybody and we’ve never sold out in any substantial way. We all get on really well and we make sure we just get on with what we do.
It’s always really important to ensure everyone gets on. Have there been many troubles along the way?
Yeah, there’s been loads! But we’ve always learned to weather them down. That’s really important to make sure we all stay on the same page.
So when you got together all the way back in 1988, what was the original plan? What influences were you drawing from at the time?
The original plan was to just to write a bunch of meaningful songs with some real substance to the lyrics. We wanted to provide a bit more variety to what there was at the time, and what was popular at the time. We were into making a more folk-like sound that just wasn’t popular at all in the '80s. It really wasn’t. It was a very technological time for music and as such we ended up standing out. We always have, really. That was it, we just wanted to make music of substance. Proper good, old-fashioned songwriting.
Your most recent album, 'Static In The Airwaves' came out just over a year ago. How would you compare that you your previous efforts?
It kinda sounds a bit like an older record with the way it sounds. We’ve made it in a really analogue way. It’s all been recorded to tape and all recorded live. It’s not really the way that most people make records any more. Instead of doing it all on Protools individually, we decided to just say one, two, three, four, go. Rehearse the song and play it twenty times before picking the best and putting it on the record. That’s the way records used to get made.
It feels like it was more about the music than the production of the music.
Yeah. It helps to capture the spirit of the songs and the vibe of the musicians playing them. This is always much more exciting and lasts a lot longer to the ear. As a result this record will last longer and sound better to the record three albums previously that we did digitally, and may not stand the test of time.
For this album, and your previous album 'Letters From The Underground', you worked with Sean Lakeman. How did you find working with him as a producer on these two albums?
He’s a great musician and a great enthusiast. He’s a great interpreter of music, so you can work easily with him. He’s a great fan of music and bands in general. In fact you could go to his house and there are books everywhere or autobiographies of bands. He really understands how bands work. As a band, if you’re in one it’s sometimes hard to understand if it’s working, but he can take a bird's eye view over us and our songs and our personalities and he can get the best out of us, really. It’s what we’re looking for in a producer, really, or else why bother having one?
When it comes down to getting everybody into the studio, what becomes your favourite aspect of recording? Is it the songwriting process? The playing?
I think it’s the initial part when we’ve all got a few little ideas knocking about. We all tend to write around the kitchen table together or at least we have done for the last couple of albums anyway. We tend to find that really works. It then becomes that initial excitement when you come up with something that works, so we really like that. The rest of it is that process of taking something that works and just learning it and trying to get the best out of it, but it’s that original spark that is the best bit.
The other aspect of creating music is then to go out and perform it live. Which of the two sides do you prefer?
They are two completely different experiences. They’re both as valid as each other but they’re so different that in a way I look forward to them both equally. It’s very odd but they can’t be compared as they’re the two wings of being a musician – creative and performance. Some people are just performers. They don’t write the songs, they just record covers or get stuff written for them. Some people don’t play live. We’re lucky in that we get both aspects. A complete package.
So, to Cambridge. You’ve been back here four times. What is it that keeps bringing you back to perform at this festival?
It’s its history. This is the oldest folk festival in the country. There may be a few festivals that are older, but not many. When we first got invited to play here many moons ago we were very excited, then we loved playing it so we keep coming back when we’re asked.
What about your set? How have you tailored it?
We’ve tailored it slightly for the crowd. We’re quite punk rock at times, and recently, we’ve been playing a hard punk rock set, but there will be a few people over 60 in this audience so we’ve tempered it a little bit so everyone can enjoy what we do. We’ve softened the edges a little bit, but not too much because we still want to blast out and do what we do. Due to the dB [decibel] limit here I don’t think I’ll get much feedback on my guitar, so the noise limit forces us to strip back a little and take the foot off the gas a little bit. Not energy-wise though, just noise-wise.
One other festival I want to mention very briefly is Glastonbury 1994. You held the record from that year for the largest stage front crowd in that festival's history. How did it feel to walk out onto that stage and see that huge sea of people?
Yeah. That was awesome. That record was only broken this year by the Rolling Stones in fact. It was great. It was in all the papers. We weren’t there as we were touring elsewhere at the time, but I read in the papers “the Rolling Stones take the record set by the Levellers in 1994” or whatever year it was. We got a mention next to the Rolling Stones, so you’ve got to be happy with that.
What’s next for the band? What does the future hold for you guys?
Well, we’ve got a few more festivals to do throughout the summer. We’ve got our own festival to do as well [in Devon, August 16-18], which is into its 11th year. Then we head back into the studio and do some more recording.
So there’s just one more question I want to ask. Imagine there’s a cocktail called the “Levellers”. What would you put in it?
Oh, that’s interesting. You’ve got me there. Well, we’re a hard drinking band and always have been, so cocktails are a good thing. I’m trying to think, what’s a good base for a cocktail? Lemonade? It would probably be most like a Long Island Iced Tea. All the white spirits. A little hint of Jaegermeister, and maybe some acid at the bottom!
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