Atrax Records: The Swarb Archive: Whippersnapper
ENGLISH DANCE & SONG July/August ‘86
By Dave Arthur
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“Hello
mate, Swarb here. How're you doing? You know that interview you wanted to do
with the band? Well, next week we’re down at the Magritte Studios in
Harmondsworth why don’t you come along and do the interview there?”
The
Magritte Studio, brainchild and high-tech toy of Dan Priest, is a 48 track
set-up built into a couple of ground floor rooms of his rambling Victorian
farmhouse on the edge of Heathrow Airport: luckily, it’s well insulated.
I arrived around
mid-day, just before the band ambled in munching a late breakfast of hamburgers,
except, that is, for Kevin, who is vegetarian, and was enjoying a carrot.
Between mouthfuls they explained that Whippersnapper had been formed a couple of
years ago when Swarb, after casual gigging with Simon Nicol and Beryl Marriott,
had felt the need to get back into playing with a regular group.
This time it was to be an acoustic band, not just because of his damaged hearing - which admittedly hadn't been improved by the high-decibel Fairports - but because he wanted to explore new musical avenues that required the subtlety of acoustic instruments. First he got together with an old mate, Martin Jenkins, who had just spent five years working with Bert Jansch; they then recruited Chris Leslie, fresh from the Newark School of Violin making, and, finally, Kevin Dempsey who had played with Martin in Dando Shaft back in the 60s and more recently with the Midlands jazz-funk band Pzazz.
Listening
to them laughing and joking over their brunch it was difficult to imagine a
happier, more tightly knit band. They obviously share a mutual respect for each
others undoubted musicianship and genuinely enjoy each others company. They are
enthusiastic about their gigs; Martin said that he couldn’t imagine a time
when he won’t want to go touring, and Swarb, putting on his philosopher’s
hat, pointed out that ‘everyone’s only got so many gigs they can do and the
older you get the fewer you have left.’ They say they are never happier than
when they are on the road or working, sometimes for
weeks on end, on a complex arrangement for four instruments and voices.
There’s
no particular musical policy, they play whatever they like, just so long as it
fits happily within their instrumental and vocal framework. Consequently the
range is wide and includes: Pachelbel’s ‘Canon in D’; traditional pieces
such as ‘Lizzie Wan’ (with newly written tune) or ‘Farewell Lovely
Nancy’ (courtesy of Bert Lloyd); Stevie Winwood’s ‘There’s A
River’ (given an impressive Crosby, Stills and Nash-type treatment) and a
growing number of self-penned songs and tunes, reflecting their various musical
roots.
Whippersnapper’s
stage presentation has changed considerably over the last couple of years. In
the early days they adopted a classical string-quartet approach, seated sedately
around their microphones, but recently they have opted for more mobility and showmanship.
This was made possible by abandoning the stand-mikes and fitting each instrument
with its own miniature microphone, suspended on a small bracket a couple of
inches above the soundboard. They found that this was the best way to achieve a
truly acoustic sound coupled with the freedom of movement.
Everyone
agrees that there is no ‘star’, no leader and no prima-donna behaviour; all
decisions, whether musical or business, are shared, as is the money - when it
comes in! It is the necessity of earning enough money to keep four households in
the style to which they would like to become accustomed that has encouraged
Whippersnapper to handle their own business affairs. They now organise their own
bookings and produce and market their own albums through WPS (Whippersnapper)
Records. This, of course, gives them complete artistic control, a higher share
of whatever profits accrue and it means that they don't have to go cap-in-hand
knocking on record company doors.
Their
initiative is obviously paying off because here they are, half-way through their
second album, with good distribution deals set up all over Europe and with
Rounder Records in the United States. And they’ve already got over sixty
concerts lined up later in the year, both here and abroad, to promote the new
album, due out in the Summer and provisionally entitled Tsubo.
Three
of their British dates not to be missed are their one day appearances at
Sidmouth and Cambridge Festivals and the Whippersnapper Christmas Party at Cecil
Sharp House on December the fifth.
As
I packed up to leave the studio, the lads were studiously rolling cigarettes and
attentively listening to the first take of ‘Romanitza’ a song and
instrumental piece by Martin, based on ankle-breaking, finger-busting, 7/16 time
Bulgarian dance rhythms, and although written about Romanies and travellers it
seemed to say a lot about the band as well:
If
I’m one of the roaming kind,
My
life could be no other;
There’s
many a friendship I’ve left behind
And
many more to discover.
I’ve
got no home and no fixed abode,
I
follow the good life-bringer;
I
owe my soul to the open road,
And
I owe my song to the singer.
(Romanitza)
Last updated on 26 September 2002