Tag: gigspanner

REVIEW – Peter Knight’s Gigspanner @ Pound Arts Centre, Corsham – Friday 3rd May 2024

A Knight To Remember

Andy Fawthrop

Gigspanner are in the middle of their UK Spring Tour 2024, and the Pound in Corsham has become one of their regular stopping points….

I last saw them here in November 2022, but I also caught them several times over the last twelve months at other venues and festivals around the country.  And  plenty of musical water has flowed under the bridge during that time.  Apart from forays with their GBB (Gigspanner Big Band) format, which includes the Edgelarks duo of Philip Henry and Hannah Martin, and the wonderful Saltlines tour, Peter Knight has been fully occupied with a wide range of solo and duo side projects with other artists.  The man never seems to stop working.

But, last night, we were back in the old familiar and original trio format.  Gigspanner, if you weren’t already aware, is the full-time musical project of ex-Steeleye Span’s violin genius, Peter Knight.  Having gradually become slightly exasperated with the repetitive nature of Steeleye’s musical repertoire, despite the occasional new album, Peter left in order to pursue his own musical interests.  His trio, which includes guitar and technical wizard Roger Flack, and percussionist Sacha Trochet, can now only be described as being at the very top of their game.  The trio format gives the three musicians the time and the space to explore the themes in their music more deeply, to extemporise with flowing solos, and to make even the regular material sound fresh every time they deliver it.

Last night was no exception.  I was perched right at the front, almost on the stage itself, in front of more than a hundred fans, and it was more than obvious that there has developed between these three guys a deep personal harmony, and an almost telepathic musical understanding.  Their two sets were based deep, deep in the heart of the most traditional of folk music standards, and yet developed and explored in a way that took you a very long way indeed from the “originals”.  There’s an almost jazz-like feel to the way the three guys take these songs and tunes, and move them along into an almost completely different genre.

We had the folkie-based classics of their repertoire like “She Moved Through The Fair”, “The Bows of London”, “The Bonnie Birdie” and (as a grand and sweeping finale) “The King Of The Fairies”, but leavened and interleaved with other old favourites such as “Seagull”, “The Butterfly”, the spell-binding “Sharp Goes Walkabout” and the stunning party-piece of “Louisiana Flack”.  

The latter has to be seen to be believed: whilst Peter plays the basic tune on his violin, Roger simultaneously plays a fast staccato rhythm on the frets of the same instrument using drumsticks. The two guys have to absolutely trust each other in terms of timing and movement in order to carry out this difficult trick, and their joint concentration, staring into each other’s eyes as they knock out the rapid tune, is really something to behold.  I’ve seen them do this a dozen times or more over the years, but it never ceases to capture the imagination, and (as always) elicited a huge cheer from the audience as they finished it. It’s a breath-holding moment, and watching them carry it off from just a few metres away was even more amazing.

Peter interspersed the tunes with his usual laconic, comical style, talking to the audience as if they were old friends.  And I guess a lot of them were.  There was a lot of love in the room, and just the same warmth later as the three guys manned the merch table and chatted away to the fans.

They’re a band, and a grouping of superb individual musicians, who are continuing to explore the boundaries of their music, developing even standard numbers in their repertoire with every new performance.  They never seem to stand still, and they never seem to stop working.  They’ve reached a stage now where I’d say that they are very difficult to categorise or to pigeon-hole.  Their musical interpretations continue to evolve, and long may it be so.  If you’ve never seen or heard them, I’d urge you to rectify that omission as soon as possible.

Absolutely top night of entertainment.

Their future gigs are listed on www.gigspanner.com/.  Next chance to catch them locally, in the Saltlines format, would be in Marlborough on 30th May.  Definitely worth the trip up the A4 I’d say.

And, finally, just a word about Corsham’s The Pound Arts Centre.  It’s a small, but beautifully-formed venue with a complete programme of events across drama, film, music, comedy, children’s activities, art exhibitions, workshops, and classes.  It also has an excellent café & bar just off the foyer.  Look on their website for future music artists and online ticket information.

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REVIEW – Gigspanner @ Pound Arts Centre, Corsham – Tuesday 29th November 2022

A Night Of Extreme Violins

Andy Fawthrop

Yes, I know it’s not in Devizes, but it’s pretty darned close.  And it was definitely worth the trip out on a grim Tuesday night when nothing else was happening.  Folk or football?  Well, as Bill Shankly never actually said, this gig was far more important than mere life-or-death on a soccer field.

Gigspanner, if you don’t know, is now the full-time musical project of ex-Steeleye Span’s violin genius, Peter Knight.  Having gradually become slightly exasperated with the repetitive nature of Steeleye’s musical repertoire, despite the occasional new album, Peter left in order to pursue his own musical interests.  And boy has he done that in spades over the past ten years or so.  His trio, including guitar and technical wizard Roger Flack, and percussionist Sacha Trochet, has become legendary in folk (and other) circles for their ground-breaking exploration of musical forms, pushing the basics of folk way, way beyond previous known limits.

The Pound Arts Centre was absolutely packed last night, with every ticket having sold some time ago.  They’d managed to squeeze in two extra rows of seats at the front, and so it was that 120 of us welcomed these wonderful musicians to the stage.  Given the depth of applause, I’d guess that most of them were already big fans of the band and knew what was coming up.  And what came up was absolutely superb.  Building on the basic building blocks of a few “traditional” folk songs and tunes (She Moved Through The Fair, The Constant Lovers, The Bows of London and The Hard Times of Old England), the band built these foundations into something quite spectacular.  They moved these pieces far beyond the normal, extemporising and exploring as they went, and produced some spell-binding passages of music.  It was fascinating, it was beautiful, and it was utterly captivating.  Using violin, guitars, pedals, effects, and a range of percussion, the three of them wove some amazing musical patterns.  It’s absolutely unlike stuff you’ll hear anywhere else, and played live on stage right in front of you, it’s completely gob-smackingly good.  But there was even more.  Not content with re-defining what constitutes live “folk” music, there were some new musical journeys based on Peter’s own contemporary song/ tune-writing skills such as Seagull, Butterfly and (a collaboration with the late Terry Pratchett) I Will Wear Midnight.

And, as ever, there was laconic commentary and dry humour from Peter as he introduced each piece, followed by one of my favourite pieces of live musical “theatre” in a piece they’ve been playing from the earliest days called Louisiana Flack.  In this party piece, and without the aid of a safety net, Peter plays a very fast fiddle piece, whilst Roger takes up a pair of drumsticks and simultaneously taps out a complementary beat/ tune across the neck and fingerboard, hopefully avoiding Peter’s fingers.  Just watching these two consummate musicians pull this trick off is one of those breath-holding moments where you’re not quite sure what you’re seeing.  And it came off superbly, demonstrating the complete level of trust that these two musicians have for each other.  Truly amazing.

Altogether we got two good hour-long sets, which seemed to pass in but a few moments, and an outstanding ten-minute long encore of The Faerie King.  With only occasional lyrics (Peter’s singing voice isn’t why you go to see him), it was one very, very large helping of superbly played and presented music. It might have been based on “folk”, but what we heard would actually defy genre or mere pigeon-holing.  What you need to know is that it was very, very, very good.

Last night was, as it happened, the last night of the trio’s current UK tour, but it’s not all over.  The never-resting Peter Knight is starting a two-week tour on Saturday with John Spiers, then next year it’ll be back to all the other projects in his life – The Gigspanner Big Band (with Philip Henry and Hannah Martin aka Edgelarks), collaborations with other musicians, Feast of Fiddles, as well as his teaching master-classes, composing and recording.  The man never stops.  No wonder he continues to draw plaudits from the musical press and to win so many music awards.  This man is definitely not, as he self-deprecatingly describes himself, “a fool with a fiddle”.

Chatting with a clearly delighted band after the gig, they told me how much they loved playing The Pound.  CDs were selling like hot cakes, the audience had been great, and it’s such a lovely, friendly venue. They always get treated like royalty (not you Andrew!), so I’m pretty sure they’ll be pencilling in another date sometime next year.  And if they do, then you owe it to yourself to get a ticket and go – I promise you won’t be disappointed.

Their future gigs are listed on www.gigspanner.com/ which includes dates in Swindon and Bristol next February.  And there’s lots of info on their other projects, such as Saltlines, too.

And, finally, just a word about The Pound Arts Centre.  It’s a cracking little venue, now back in full action, with a complete programme of events across drama, film, music, comedy, children’s activities, art exhibitions, workshops, and classes.  It also has an excellent café & bar just off the foyer.  You’ll have to look on their website for future music artists and online ticket information at www.poundarts.org.uk but (for example), they’ve got Jonny Coppin’s Christmas Show, Bowjangles, Sandi Thom, and John Kirkpatrick, all of them before Christmas.  They show modern films and often carry live telecasts of live performances from London venues.  If you’ve not been over there, it’s definitely worth checking out.

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Looking Forward to the Trades’ Road of Solid Gold

Scrub the headline as ‘news,’ here at Devizine Towers, as we look forward to any update The Lost Trades trio throw at us, especially a nice pint in a pub with those guys playing. Which is what we’re building to, fingers crossed, as they pencil in HoneyFest at the Honeystreet Barge on their growing confirmed gig list.

Among them, Frome’s Cheese & Grain, Salisbury’s Winchester Gate, the Couch in Bracknell, Schtum in Box and WeyFest. Proof their exceptional and convivial brand of folk is resounding far and wide. Another validation for the Lost Trade’s reputation is news today the second single from the highly anticipated debut album, out on 7th May, features the violin mastery of the incredible Peter Knight.

A legend of folk, Peter learned his trade at Royal Academy of Music, and not only was a founding member of Steeleye Span, undoubtedly the most renowned group of the British folk revival alongside Fairport Convention, but secretly was Uncle Bulgaria of the Wombles band too! He’s worked with blues legend Alexis Korner and Mary Hopkin to namedrop out of many, and today his occasional big band, Peter Knight’s Gigspanner Band are a unique force in British folk music with high-energy, virtuosic performances appealing equally to traditionalists and to those looking for something experimental.

Peter Knight; by Heritage Focus Photography

See, I love a mean fiddler garnish on my folk, and as the Trades say, “as collaborations go, it doesn’t get much more mouth-watering than this.”

Road of Solid Gold – The Lost Trades (featuring Peter Knight) will be released on 7th May, another appetiser for the foresaid album. “When we were recording the song, we knew we had the seeds of something a bit special, but we felt it needed some extra magic. We were thrilled when Peter agreed to add that magic and we can’t wait for you to hear it.” Umm, yes indeedy, and we can’t wait to hear it!

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