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This band are from wigan, originally the tansads but now merry hell, I was going to have fiddle lessons from their fiddle player at one point, the tune is their own they have several albums out and have played at a lot of festivals including glastonbury a few years back, the accent of the singer is wigan, they are in the mold of the pogues and the levellers.
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@stringy That was fun! Fun to listen to and watch.
It is funny how some voices work together. The lead male and lead female voices really work well together.
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They have mellowed a bit now, I was actually at that gig right in the middle of the madness
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Cool. It was fun to watch and listen to.
Thanks for that post.
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@stringy -
Thought I had not heard of them, but there is something really familiar about their songs, like 'She's Not Gone'. Can't tell if I'm feeling some Bee Gees, or Beatles influence, both - or some other band! I don't think Tansads had anything hit the charts... did they?
Interesting... the OP video is also Tansads playing before the breakup & long hiatus. When some regrouped to form Merry Hell, seems (to me) they became more Folk-like.
AND, it's when fiddle was added!
Wiki listed Neil McCartney as 'Merry Hell's' first fiddler - Simon Swarbrick as the current fiddler.
Neil McCartney also played fiddle with the smaller sub-group, 'Virginia Kettle and the Dreamkeepers' (all were Merry Hell members). They sounded a little more retro. Didn't find any solo videos or albums by Neil.
Simon Swarbrick has 2 albums - 1 trad, 1 not (like them both).
From Simon Swarbrick's 'Oyster Girl' album - Princess Margaret’s Fancy and The Mucking o’ Geordie’s Byre.
Example track from her 2023 'Traits' album - Sienna.
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Correct Emily, the first fiddler though was a girl her nickname was fluff, (in merry hell that is)I was going to have lessons off her, but she is a 2 hour drive from were I live so I didnt bother in the end, they have gone a bit too folky for me too be honest. They played some big gigs and ahould have become very famous, they even played the mean fiddler in London, which is a big step to stardom but it didnt happen, dont think it helped that they came out at the same time as the levellers. All the music is written by John kettle the guitarist, his missus janet and his brother Andrew were the original singers but he split up with her and is now with the new one, the oters were bob his other brother on mandolin and ed the bass player. They are all from Wigan, just up the road from us, My missus is very good friends with their manager damian, they are the best band I have ever seen live, and I have seen a lot from the likes of Bowie to oasis.
The name Tansad, in Northern language were I come from means perambulator, or in the states I think it would be a baby buggy
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