THE LEVELLERS - Preston Guildhall, 1992

(Taken from the band's website) Mark Chadwick and Jeremy Cunningham met in The Eagle, a public house in Brighton known for attracting the more bohemian element of Brighton's residents, in 1988. Mark had just left local glam-rock act The Soup Dragons (not the 1990s Scottish band The Soup Dragons of the same name) and Jeremy was trying to sell his bass guitar in the pub, having become disillusioned with the music world.

Discovering that they had a lot in common, including a left wing view of politics and a love of being drunk, they decided to try and reinvigorate their interest in music by forming a new band. Jeremy knew Charlie Heather through their previous band, The Fence, where he had proved himself a skilled but not too showy drummer. He was promptly recruited to this new band.

With Mark on guitar and lead vocals, Jeremy on bass guitar and Charlie on drums, it was decided that something extra was needed to make for a more interesting sound. Jeremy was keen to have a violin player on board as he was impressed by the sound of local angry-folk favourites McDermott's 2 Hours. Jon Sevink, the brother of Mark's girlfriend, was brought in to play the violin, adding a more melodic element to the band's Sex Pistols-esque sound. Mark's flatmate "Bucky" was also brought in to play the guitar, but lost interest in the band fairly quickly and left after a few months.

Mark and Jeremy penned the songs that would become part of their first recordings (the audio-cassettes "An Agreement of the People" and "All the Free Commons of England" sold at gigs throughout 1988/89) and the band set off touring Brighton and beyond. They soon built up a large and dedicated live following with their raucous shows; a group of fans known as the "happy hitchers" would hitch-hike around the country, following the band from gig to gig and busking or begging for ticket money.

The first EP recording by the band was put out in 1989. Carry Me which contained the fan favourites Carry Me and England My Home was a comparatively big hit, even getting Radio 2 airplay for the title track (despite the swearing in Carry Me which apparently went unnoticed). In order to play Carry Me live, the band realised they needed to bring in an extra person to play the harmonica as Mark couldn't play the guitar and harmonica parts simultaneously. They recruited Alan Miles to the band to play harmonica as well as guitar and mandolin. Alan also provided backing vocals for the band, being an able singer unlike Jeremy and Jon. The lineup of the Levellers solidified as Mark, Jeremy, Jon, Charlie and Alan, releasing the next EP Outside/Inside and touring with this roster throughout 1989 and most of 1990.

After successfully releasing the two previous EPs on their own Hag label in 1989, a short lived contract was signed with French record label Musidisc. Their debut album "A Weapon Called the Word" was released on Musidisc in 1990 and has since become one of the few albums to go platinum without ever charting. Unfortunately, the first single from the album, World Freak Show had too few copies pressed by Musidisc; the record selling out but without sufficient copies existing for the song to chart.

After an acrimonious split with Musidisc, the Levellers were discovered by Derek Green (the man responsible for signing the Sex Pistols) and signed to China Records.

At this point, Alan became disenchanted by the Levellers' communist approach to money - all of the band's earnings being put together in a fund from which the members were paid the same amount every day. After being refused more money to buy food one day (having spend his day's allowance elsewhere) Alan quit the band. Finding themselves suddenly short of one member, the Levellers' manager called Simon Friend, a young singer-songwriter and at that time a roadie for New Model Army, who had played some acoustic support slots for the band in the past. Simon accepted the invitation to join the band, despite it meaning turning down a chance to be the guitarist for New Model Army.

Around this time Simon and Mark played a number of low key shows as The Levellers 2 mostly performing songs that had been in Simon's repertoire as a solo singer songwriter.

1991 saw the release of their second album, Levelling The Land, which was a massive success, entering the charts at number 14. The anthemic single One Way despite not bothering the Top 40, became a popular song and live favourite for years to come among the travelling and indie community. Levelling The Land is often cited as an all time classic amongst people who were students or travellers in the early 1990s. The Levellers' began to sound more of a well-rounded folk-rock band with the addition of Simon's multi-instrumental skill and the improvements in musicianship amongst all of the band. Whereas All The Free Commons of England sounded like the Sex Pistols with a fiddle player, and A Weapon Called the Word sounded more like gentle indie-rock, Levelling the Land had a well-rounded sound including punk-rock tracks Liberty Song and Battle of the Beanfield (about the 1985 police repression against the Peace Convoy which was attempting to set up the 14th Stonehenge free festival), folk ballads The Boatman and The Road and folk-rock crossover tracks like The Riverflow and Another Man's Cause. Simon's distinctively gravelly voice added depth and volume in backing up Mark's vocals and he began the tradition of taking lead vocals on a couple of tracks per album. Mark's singing also improved from the gruff shouted vocals of their early EPs to a fine melodic singing voice. The band also landed a U.S. deal with Electra, although they have since failed to make much impression in the USA. A disastrous tour of the USA in the early 1990s left the band disillusioned with America and the long haul journeys and lukewarm local receptions endured by touring bands.

Throughout 1992 the band enjoyed a series of successful tours, particularly their debut on one of the main stages of the Glastonbury Festival (although they'd played the travellers' area previously). Mixing tracks from their first two LPs with a couple of more obscure songs (like the rock/spoken word crossover Dance Before the Storm) and a storming high speed cover of Charlie Daniels' The Devil Went Down to Georgia, the Levellers popular performance secured their place on the large Pyramid Stage for their famous 1994 set (despite jokingly calling Glastonbury owner Michael Eavis a "cunt" over the PA system when they heard he didn't like swearing). The band also scored a chart hit with the "15 Years EP", a track which was added to later repressings of Levelling the Land due to its popularity.

DOWNLOAD:

http://www.mediafire.com/?jldwmfyylxw (Part I)

http://www.mediafire.com/?q0mjzggxen2 (Part II)