The group’s size is in no way their only notable point either, and their unique burlesque disco/folk/funk/jazz take on traditional English tunes has brought them unexpected recognition in some quarters and vilification from folk purists as band co-founder, John Spiers, told Fly’s Wyl Menmuir.

‘Folk has often been sidelined and considered by those on the inside to be much maligned’, he said of the backlash against folk bands who make it into the media spotlight, although he was quick to admit if he was on the other side of the fence he might have been the person taking potshots at Bellowhead: ‘The thing is I’m one of them. If I wasn’t in the band I would probably be slagging us off.’

‘Folk has often been sidelined and considered by those on the inside to be much maligned’

Having debuted at the first Oxford Folk Festival in April 2004 the band’s rise, in folk terms, has been meteoric and, as Spiers said, there aren’t enough days to play all the gigs have been offered.

After the storming release of debut album Burlesque Bellowhead were - unsurprisingly - put up for a glut of awards in 2007 with three nominations in the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, a nomination for the BBC Radio 3 Planet Awards for World Music and the fRoots Critic’s poll. And that’s not including the awards Spiers and Jon Bowden - the duo who created Bellowhead - have been put up for separately.

‘Burlesque was like a snapshot of Bellowhead,’ Spiers said. ‘That’s what we do live - it’s what we like to play at the moment. An album should capture how a band is in time’.

And what the album captured was folk as it has rarely been heard before, with braying, often discordant brass and string sections creating a ‘theatrical and sinister’ atmosphere. In Spier’s words: ‘It’s like going to a fair when you’re little: it’s a bit scary but it’s exciting at the same time.’

However the band has a hard folk core and the songs are undeniably rooted in the English tradition. Spiers said: ‘You would have to do quite a lot to a traditional folk song to remove the heart of it’.

He continued: ‘There has to be something in the song that grabs you. The best ones tend to be the ones with all the rough edges knocked off through a process of being sung by many generations. What you’re left with is the essence of the song.’

Jon Bowden, Bellowhead’s driving force and singer, and the other band members Spiers said, took ‘the cream of the crop’ and added their own big band arrangements and theatricals to create a spectacle. What sets them apart is a Bellowhead concert is an event. ‘It’s a big thing to put a show on - each member is involved in other bands. ‘The main benefit of playing with Bellowhead is it’s such an awesome line-up, that and it’s so much fun’.

Lots of people on the folk scene, he added, find songs in books, for example the famous Broadside Ballads. ‘If you get them in that form, straight from the horse’s mouth, they can be pretty awful,’ Spiers said. ‘Then there are the sea shanties, in which the stories are a lot less important. There tends to be more “haul away boys”, as they were songs for working to, which transform well into songs to dance to’.

‘The thing is I’m one of them. If I wasn’t in the band I would probably be slagging us off.’

Bellowhead have a hectic Spring touring schedule taking in venues as wide-ranging as Brighton’s Komedia, London’s Royal Opera House and the pick of the summer festivals. Definitely to be added to your ‘do not miss’ list.

Tour dates:
Mon 29 January - Komedia, Brighton
Wed 31 January Aberystwth Arts Centre
Thu 1 February - Theatr Hafren, Newtown
Fri 2 February - Theatr Mwldan, Cardigan
Sat 3 February - Pontadawe Arts Centre
Thu 22 February - Buxton Opera House
Fri 23 February - Mick Jagger Centre, Dartford
Sat 24 February Bury Met Arts Centre
Sun 25 February Royal Opera House, London

Links:
www.bellowhead.co.uk/
www.spiersandboden.com/
www.myspace.com/spiersandboden
Bellowhead’s MySpace
The Ratcatchers with John Spiers and Jon Bowden
www.jonboden.com
John Spier’s MySpace
Broadside Ballads Project