Ben Campbell has been perfomming in Folk Clubs since the 60's. The first club he sang in was run by Johnny Collins out in Singapore whilst he was serving with the Royal Marines! He is Tyneside born and bred, but for the last 25 years has lived in South Devon.
He is genuinely interested in the traditional side of our musical heritage and performs a wealth of material from his home county, including stories that are wryly evocative of the North.
Ben has been resident singer and bookings organiser for many years with Folk on the Moor (Fommerly the Who'd Have Thought it Folk Club) on the edge of South Dartmoor. He regularly performs at South West festivals and Folk Clubs.
Ben now has a CD available - 'Songs of Lost Skies' - many of the lyrics written in conjunction with Graham Searle the South Hams Poet. The album features many local musicians, including the Lakeman Brothers (Equation & Cara Dillon Trio) with Val Lobb and also Geoffrey Lakeman providing some fine vocal backing. The songs are all original and cover a variety of topics from Dartmoor legends to Lighthouses.
He has a quiet, yet compelling stage presence and with his strong guitar playing and earthy voice - he is a performer you simply should not miss.
| "Ben is a fine singer and guitarist and the quality of his performance is wonderfully consistent" (Bill Murray - Dartmoor Folk Festival)
"An album of songs no local singer should be without"
"Welding together the nostalgic and sometimes thought provoking from a poet's pen and the mature performance of a polished singer/guitarist" |
John Spiers and Jon Boden are rapidly becoming two of the most popular young performers on the English folk circuit. Both in their twenties they give a refreshingly energetic twist to the traditional songs and tunes on melodeon and fiddle.
STOP PRESS: John Spiers and Jon Boden nominated for the 2004 BBC Radio 2 folk awards " Best Duo" and "Best Traditional Track" ( Prickle Eye Bush) Also Nominated for the Radio 3 World Music Critics award.
John Spiers plays melodeon and sings. Jon Boden also sings and plays fiddle. Their musical partnership was forged in the vibrant heat of the Oxford Folk Session Scene. Regarded by those who first heard them as a musical match made in heaven, their shockingly original slant on the best of the English tradition rapidly attracted recognition and excitement.
Quickest off the mark to spot their potential was Martin Carthy ("Norma and I saw this lad called Jon Boden playing at the Lewes folk club down in Sussex and we were completely blown away by him. This lad was wonderful" Adhoc Magazine). Fellside Records soon snapped them up and just two days in the studio saw them produce Through & Through, followed by stunning reviews:
"Folk with attitude...I can honestly say I haven't been this impressed with a debut recording from a duo since I first heard Robin & Barry Dransfield" Folking.com
"English music with heart & soul - and a blazing belief in its inherent virtues." Stirrings
Technically they stand head to head with the best of their generation: "Jon Boden plays fiddle with an earthy vigour that's utterly compelling and sings in a frantic breathless manner as if the hounds of hell are taking lumps out of his backside, while John Spiers harmonises and plays urgent driving melodeon to a very high standard indeed." "halfway to reinventing the style without even realising it a significant new act has landed" fRoots magazine.
The originality, conviction, energy and technical ability of this young duo have already won them the coveted 2003 BBC Radio 2 Horizon Award. Citylife magazine has awarded them the "2003 Folk Gig of the Year" award, and they were short listed in the BBC Radio 3 World Music Album of the Year. Festival organisers at Sidmouth Towersea and Cambridge among others have snapped them up and the European festival circuit too is latching on to this incredible talented twosome, with their appearance at the world famous Tonder festival.
With front cover and extensive editorial in the April 2003 issue of fRoots and their second album "Bellow" receiving stunning reviews in fRoots and Mojo, John and Jon are certainly not resting on their laurels. Plans are already in place for "BELLOWhead" the Spires & Boden Big Band due on the festival and larger venue circuits, kicking off at the Oxford festival on 10 April 2004. Between their duo gigs they are also touring as members of the Eliza Carthy Trad. Band so there is little doubt that Spiers and Boden are moving into the highest echelons of the folk music industry.
More of what the Press and Media have to say:
Pete Fyfe from folking.com speculated that "John & Jon perform so well in the studio I can imagine they'd be dynamite live." With Tim Van Eyken commenting "he was quite right - superb musicianship, compelling vocal performances, in short "a foot-stomping, ball-breaking class act."
"There hasn't really been anything very exciting in folk music for a while. The old guard do their thing and the new tend to be rather gimmicky. Boden and Spiers are about to change that. They play with all the finesse and delicacy of Wood and Cutting but with an energy and passion, which breathes life back into the music and engages the audience, something that many great musicians consistently fail to do. If there were ever to be a coherent English Music movement, these guys would be in the forefront. Simply the best thing I've seen for ages!" (Phil Beer - Show of Hands) and the Phil Beer Band - Brampton Live July '02
The energy and vitality jump out at you and it is this which makes them one of the most inspirational live acts around." Mike Harding - BBC Radio 2 Mike Harding Show.
"the award winning Spiers and Boden could become England's most exciting duo since the Dransfields" Colin Irwin Mojo July 2003.
Woolston Folk Club joint promotion. DIRECTIONS to Concert Venue:-
SS SHIELDHALL is moored (temporarily) at BERTH 110 next to the mouth of King George V Dry Dock (Western Docks). From the City via West Quay Road, Western Esplanade, or Central Station Bridge, take Southern Road towards DOCK GATE 10 (in front of Rank Flour Mills), go through Security, turn right (off roundabout), go along West Bay Road (nearly a mile), over some railway lines, run into Western Avenue (for short distance) and turn LEFT opposite Testbank Engineering just past the landward end of the Dry Dock. Go towards the water keeping the Dry Dock fence on your left - the Shieldhall is out of sight until you go round behind the Pump House on the single track (gravel with potholes) leading to 110 Berth, where there is Parking for 12-15 cars, but you can park before the Pump House (leaving the roadway clear) and we are asked to please park prettily. MAP download available - or just ask at the Clubs.
BERTH 110 can also be reached from the west via DOCK GATE 20 off Redbridge/Millbrook Roads (A36), turning right (using slip road) underneath the Millbrook Flyover to Gate 20. If approaching down the M271 to the Docks, turn LEFT at the Redbridge Flyover (at the end of the MW) and turn RIGHT (using slip road) underneath the next (Millbrook) Flyover to Dock Gate 20. Go through Security and turn left at the roundabout, going past the Freightliner Terminal (on your left) going left at the Southampton Container Terminal and keep going until you see Testbank Engineering (on your left) - turn right directly opposite and go down the western edge of the Dry Dock as previously described above.
Please respect the requirements of Dock Security. We are told the road leading to the Pump House and Berth 110 is very uneven and advised to be careful driving on it and to look out for materials lying about which could be tripped over.
The Captain of the Shieldhall apologies to Concert-goers - the Ship is having some work done (courtesy of a Lottery Grant) and will be back on her regular Berth 48 soon.
Sue and Paul will be well-known to Fo'c'sle audiences as well as at The Broadside and other Portsmouth venues, often with additional highly talented group members who have come and gone over the years. We look forward to their extended and equally talented line-up tonight and to their varied selection of folk, blues and other material. Look forward to Sue's lavish voice and Paul's enviably skilled guitar technique.
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