SETH LAKEMAN
BIOG MAY 08
Heard the one about the mad Danish pirate who lured ships to disaster on treacherous
rocks so he could plunder their treasure? Or the Bodmin bad boys who went to play
hurling instead of going to church and were turned into stone by a vengeful priest? Or
Lady Howard, whose ghost still rides through Tavistock in a coach of bones drawn by
headless horses to re-visit her old haunts?
This is the strange, exciting, often dark world inhabited by the dynamic Seth Lakeman,
who – armed with raging fiddle, rampant imagination and energetic voice has given fiery new life and contemporary relevance to the rich heritage of legends
that lurk in the shadows of the English west country. Born and bred in the desolate
beauty of Dartmoor, Lakeman was raised on such ghostly tales and, in a sensational
rise since his shock Mercury Music Award nomination in 2005, has created a unique,
highly original niche both as a dramatic storyteller and a thrilling live performer.
Lakeman spent just £300 recording Kitty Jay, the album that first bought him to the
nation’s attention, in brother Sean’s kitchen and a few more bob launching it in front
of a captive audience at Dartmoor Prison. But he was more amazed than anybody
when it was shortlisted for the Mercury Music Prize next to the likes of the Kaiser
Chiefs, Coldplay, Magic Numbers and K T Tunstall. The country was transfixed by
his performance of the title track - the tragic story of a hanged servant girl whose
unconsecrated grave can still be found in the spooky surrounds of Hound Tor - and
Seth was signed to Relentless as more demonic legends were unveiled on his gold
selling 2006 album, Freedom Fields, which went on to be voted best album, while
Seth was also named singer of the year at the 2007 BBC Folk Awards.
Last year was spent touring and working on the follow up to Freedom Fields, his
major label debut, the result of which is Poor Man’s Heaven. Entirely recorded in
Cornwall, it represents a significant stylistic shift with heavy emphasis on the
percussive fireworks provided by drummer Andy Tween and brilliant Irish bodhran
player Cormac Byrne, while brother Sean Lakeman complements Seth’s explosive
fiddle playing with fluid acoustic guitar runs and Ben Nicholls adds further textures
on double bass.
Lyrically, the album sees Seth expanding on his trademark story telling:
“It even surprises me how dark it is – I think I must have been in a very dark place
when I started writing it,” laughs Lakeman, pondering the impressive catalogue of
death, destruction and dastardly deeds to be found on the new album. Shipwrecks and
coastal themes abound as Seth re-shapes the spirit of the folk tradition in a passionate,
modern context with a fired-up band, big choruses and rocking rhythms. Colourfully
flavoured by the evocative countryside which has always inspired him and in which
he still lives, it’s also an album driven by courage and heroism.
Seth – who’s now 31 - was barely five when a coaster called the Union Star sent out
distress signals in a terrible storm south of Cornwall just before Christmas in 1981.
His dad, the west country correspondent on a national paper, went to report the story
and Seth remembers every detail. Eight volunteers from the village of Mousehole set
out on the Penlee lifeboat, the Solomon Browne that night trying to save the eight
people on board the stricken Union Star. Shockwaves resonated throughout the
country when news came back that all 16 people involved had perished that night.
On the 25th anniversary of the Penlee disaster, Seth decided to write his own tribute to
the courage of the lifeboat crew in a truly modern take on the folk music tradition,
marking a significant leap in his own songwriting, from ancient legends to the rawer
territory of a recent, painful disaster that still hangs heavy over the local communities
involved. “I just wanted to honour them. That disaster hit a lot of people hard and had
a massive effect in the west country - I ended up writing Solomon Browne to bring
attention to their courage.” It worked, too. It not only inspired an old schoolfriend
who’d lost his father in the disaster to get in touch and thank Seth after seeing him
sing it on a TV documentary, the song triggered Seth into a frenzy of creativity,
researching and writing about other heroic acts in Devon and Cornwall’s eventful
coastal history to provide the emotional heartbeat of Poor Man’s Heaven.
The title track of the album is based on a traditional American song from the
Depression. “I liked the attitude of it – it’s like a working class rant. I knocked around
with it on banjo and reworked it. It’s about people striving for something better and
seems to encompass the coastal themes quite nicely, so I thought it was a good title
for the album. I’m really pleased with it. I think it’s by far the best thing I’ve done.
It’s very bold and powerful and quite rocky, yet still acoustic.” The album also
includes choice musical oddities like the Jake Walton hurdy gurdy drones that give
Blood Red Sky an oddly Indian flavour and the jews harp that suddenly enlightens
Race To Be King. He’s also collaborated with Steve Knightley of Show of Hands on a
couple of songs, including his own favourite track, the haunting Greed & Gold.
It’s been quite a journey for Lakeman, whose parents ran a folk club and whose
friends just happened to include some of Brit folk’s finest. Seth is always quick to
acknowledge the debt he owes to early mentors like the great fiddle player Tom
McConville and acoustic guitar maestro Chris Newman.
Other seminal influences include jazz legend Stephane Grappelli, Irish fiddle gods
Tommy Peoples and Frankie Gavin and, significantly, the pounding house dance
beats he believes moulded his unusually rhythmic style of songwriting.
Seth’s feet have scarcely touched the ground since the Mercury nomination, hit
singles with White Hare and Lady of the Sea, major festival appearances, tours all
over the world, appearances on every TV show in the western world, the admiration
of celebrity fans like Ricky Gervais, and a strange encounter with Sharon Osbourne,
who - for reasons best known to herself – licked his face on live television. Such is
life in the weird, unpredictable, enthralling world of Seth Lakeman…