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....It's not about farming! Lisa Birkett reviews Suntrap at the Brewtown Folk Club 20/09/02 As a particularly parsimonious Northerner, it's not often I can be
persuaded to splash out on CDs by bands I've never heard of.
It would almost certainly be unprecedented for me to rush to the CD
stall at the end of a gig, chequebook in hand and ask for "one of
everything." Unprecedented, that is, until I saw Suntrap in concert. Halfway through the first song ("This is on our first
album...") I thought, "I'm going to have to buy this."
During the third song ("And this is on our new album...") I
thought, "Oh bugger! Not going to be able to choose between them -
will have to buy both." A complete shock to both my system and my
bank balance. Now, I'm by no means naive when it comes to music; I spent a couple of
years as the Artistic Director of a festival, responsible for sifting
through the demo tapes (a particularly painful job at times. I'm sure some
of the things I've been forced to listen to as part of my job would give
me a good case for compensation under the Human Rights Act), booking bands
and sorting out the programming. I'm not known for being impulsive, or
easily impressed. I've knocked
back bookings for artists who have been "professionals" since
before I was born, and negotiated deals worth thousands with barely a
whimper (well, obviously. It
wasn't really my money). Suntrap completely poleaxed me. Musically, they play fairly traditional folk stuff, with their own
compositions written along similar lines.
It's hard to say what makes them stand out from other bands playing
similar material, but stand out they certainly do. I
don’t “do” the really traditional “finger in the ear” folk –
it just does nothing for me. Suntrap
put their own innovative interpretations on old favourites, interspersing
well-performed tunes with the verses (was it a strathspey, Nicola?),
mixing exciting vocal harmonies to produce a sound that is uniquely
Suntrap. The resulting
performance is incredible, especially when you think that there are only
actually four people on stage. Combining two fiddles, a couple of guitars,
a whistle, an accordion, a harmonica and a bodhran (yes, four people) with
quite possibly the best vocal harmonies I've heard in my life, a Suntrap
concert is an event of almost orgasmic proportions.
They also deliver harmony workshops at festivals and other venues,
and would certainly appear well qualified for the job. Again,
this is something which has tended to leave me cold in the past, but not
this time. "..and out off his knapsack he pulled a fine fiddle." He
did not get out a musical instrument. "I think that she will ride with me, all the long way home, I think
that she will ride with me, all the way”.
Although, in this case, the young man in question did
actually arrive on a horse, it's unlikely that he is suggesting the young
woman in question joins the Pony Club with him. The mile high club is far
more likely. Then from a Suntrap composition, my personal favourite:
"She took my fingers and bade me to wander through the fields
and the hedgerows of all of her lands. And
she wandered with me all of the evening, at daybreak she said "Now
you're more of a man." Needless to say - IT'S NOT ABOUT FARMING! Or
rambling. Or fishing. Oh, and the song about flowers, where the bloke wants to give the girl a
rose - he's isn't talking about something he got from Interflora. Roses,
in folk songs where young maidens are concerned, are variously babies or
nasty little bugs necessitating a particularly unpleasant visit to your
local clinic. Much as I like to educate, I also like to be educated, and I came out of
the concert feeling much more knowledgeable. ‘Red
Red Shoes’ is a song about "involuntary adultery," which is
apparently where you don't know you've done anything wrong at the time
because you don't find out someone is married until it's too late to worry
about it (a phenomenon closely linked to "alcohol related involuntary
adultery." Allegedly.) I
can almost see my parish priest going for that excuse. Maybe
not, but it is such a very nice song....despite the actual meaning of the
lyrics. Paul Hoad, author of both songs claims that, although many of his songs
are autobiographical, the songs in his "adultery trio" are not
based on personal experience. Hmmm.
I'm sure I wasn't the only woman in the audience to think
"shame!" when that was announced. I was also pleased (if that's the appropriate sentiment?) to hear, from
other autobiographical songs, that there is someone else in the world with
a romantic track record almost as disastrous as my own. Sorry, Sara, but
if "Stars" and "Grass is Greener" are based on
personal experience, you and I should probably be sharing a therapist. Or
a man. Another thing about Suntrap is that they seem really, very,
genuinely.....nice. There's no
escaping the word. Usually,
when a band arrives at a folk club where that old staple "The Floor
Act" is on the agenda, they can be seen making themselves scarce,
racing for the bar straight after their sound check and not appearing
until their introduction. I've
got to admit, through past experience, I tend to hover fairly near the
door myself, in case of dire need for an escape route. In
this instance, I would think the sound check would have been minimal, if
not non-existent, as Suntrap did a totally acoustic set.
Not only that, but they were conspicuous throughout the evening,
chatting to fans about, well, anything really, signing autographs and,
above all, joining in on choruses (a brave attempt at times, chaps. Was it
just me, or was the bloke with the accordion playing one tune with his
right hand and a completely different one with his left? Maybe I'm being a
little bit cruel, but it was definitely a case of "name that tune in
367." Sorry!) Suntrap fully demonstrated their instrumental and vocal virtuosity at
this gig – it takes a lot of courage to do a gig without a P.A., and
they didn’t embarrass themselves at all! For those of you that read magazines like this for facts, not waffle and
spurious gossip (God forbid!) Suntrap are: Paul Hoad on vocals, guitar and harmonica Sarah Byers on vocals, guitar, accordion (it's not that bad,
really), whistle and bodhran (honestly, that's okay, too. I know, I know I
sometimes feel five hundred bodhans at the bottom of the sea would be a
good start, but it's much better when it's actually played in time with
the music.) Mary Wilson on vocals and violin; and, the most recent addition, Nicola Davies, also on vocals and violin. In addition to their solo gigs, Suntrap have supported, amongst others,
Kate Rusby (Mike Harding's Barnsley Nightingale, for those of you who have
been experimenting with self-cryogenics or living in a cave for the past
few years), The Oyster Band, Vin Garbutt, The Albion Band and Waterson
Carthy. Given that, I was
almost embarrassed to admit that...mmm... I hadn't actually heard of them.
Right, the secret's out. I've
said it now. After all this,
I've admitted that until very recently, I hadn't even heard of
Suntrap. And now I'm here with
the sheer gall to try and convince you to go and see them or visit the
website or buy a CD. How
humiliating! Excusable,
however. Suntrap have been
touring, almost exclusively, in the south of the country, near their For anyone out there with the power to do anything to change that, they
have now expressed a tentative interest in visiting the frozen north (yes,
there is life, of a sort, above If you fancy sampling them in the meantime (but not Paul, sorry ladies!)
they have two albums currently available - Long Winter Coat and Red Red
Shoes. I was right, I couldn't have chosen between them. You
can contact them at 8 Kingsmead Close, West Ewell, Go on then! What are you waiting for? Lisa Birkett (lizzieannie2@yahoo.co.uk)
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