tag:bellowhead.co.uk,2005:/blogs/amAM2017-02-05T08:30:48+00:00Bellowheadfalsetag:bellowhead.co.uk,2005:Post/39880012016-01-14T16:34:15+00:002017-01-16T03:00:11+00:00Pete Flood - Percussion<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/190421/28a3e0c23974e3bc7451a69e4037e2a98fe5f6be/small/bellowhead-020414-380.jpg?1452787708" class="size_s justify_left border_none" alt="" /><p><span class="font_large">Broadcaster, Charles Hazlewood once described Pete as being ‘a bit like Keith Moon. He’s all across everything, all of the time’. Pete, who recently moved from a Watercress mill in Hampshire, combines free jazz and Beefheartian clatter and plays everything from frying pans to rusty metal and bells. Along with Brendan Kelly and other Bellowhead band members, Pete’s also in trad Japanese Space Funk band, Setsubun Bean Unit as well as, experimental Jazz outfit, Farmyard Animals Trio.</span></p>Bellowheadtag:bellowhead.co.uk,2005:Post/39880002016-01-14T16:33:21+00:002017-01-16T03:00:10+00:00Sam Sweeney - Fiddle, Bagpipes<a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.samsweeneymusic.com" target="_blank"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/190421/00191079029577be3d0a2fe05622378a18b81627/small/bellowhead-020414-233.jpg?1452787706" class="size_s justify_left border_none" alt="" /></a>
<p><span class="font_large">Voted Musician Of The Year at the BBC Folk Awards 2015, Sam has one of the most impressive CVs on the folk scene, and he is still in his twenties. To simply call him a fiddle player is to do him something of an injustice. He’s been playing violin since he was six and is now a highly respected multi-instrumentalist, most notably with </span><span class="font_large">multi-award</span><span class="font_large"> winning cultural sensation Bellowhead. Sam is one of the key players in the current resurgence of English instrumental music and has recently been appointed the inaugural Artistic Director of the National Youth Folk Ensemble. Sam has also performed with The Full English, Eliza Carthy, Jon Boden & The Remnant Kings, Fay Hield & The Hurricane Party as well his own critically acclaimed show Made In The Great War.<br><a contents="WEBSITE" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.samsweeneymusic.com" target="_blank">WEBSITE</a><span style="font-size: 12px;"> </span></span></p>Bellowheadtag:bellowhead.co.uk,2005:Post/39879992016-01-14T16:32:31+00:002017-01-16T03:00:10+00:00John Spiers - Melodeon, Concertina<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/190421/93a2b1e5993db135cfa44b3913300817a3376ba5/small/bellowhead-020414-450.jpg?1452787708" class="size_s justify_left border_none" alt="" /><p><span class="font_large">John was born in Birmingham but grew up near Oxford and moved back 20 years ago where he now lives with family and his vegetable plot. He studied Genetics at King’s College Cambridge and was a contestant on the Young Krypton Factor. When not touring and recording with Bellowhead or the award winning duo, Spiers & Boden, John likes all sorts of gadgets, especially ones associated with coffee making, home brewing and Oxford United. Formerly a busker on the streets of Oxfordshire, he even spent a brief time in a busking band with Stephen Gately. John’s father was a Morris Dancer.</span></p>Bellowheadtag:bellowhead.co.uk,2005:Post/39879982016-01-14T16:31:30+00:002017-01-16T03:00:10+00:00Justin Thurgur - Trombone<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/190421/59d5648a2d8ed20c81a241e94deffa378245d8f1/small/bellowhead-020414-362.jpg?1452787708" class="size_s justify_left border_none" alt="" /><p><span class="font_large"><a contents="Wikipedia" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justin_Thurgur%E2%80%8B">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justin_Thurgur</a></span><br><br><span class="font_large">Justin’s main projects outside Bellowhead are collaborations with ex-Fela and Femi Kuti keyboardist Dele Sosimi and the pianist/composer Kishon Khan. The former playing Afro-beat, the latter a variety of projects mixing African and Cuban music with Jazz, Funk and, most recently, Bengali folk songs. Sessions have included The Selecter, Tony Allen and the National Theatre’s production of ‘Fela’.</span></p>Bellowheadtag:bellowhead.co.uk,2005:Post/39879972016-01-14T16:30:21+00:002023-10-16T15:49:20+01:00Paul Sartin - Oboe, Fiddle<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/190421/ed6be3ff572370a31bd64396c411accd83a42e6d/small/bellowhead-020414-172.jpg?1452787706" class="size_s justify_left border_" alt="" /></p><p><span class="text-big">Paul Sartin MA, MMus, LRSM (b. 1971, d.2022) </span><br><span class="text-big"> </span><br><span class="text-big">As a singer, oboist, violinist, composer and arranger Paul performed and recorded extensively with BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards winners and nominees Bellowhead, Belshazzar’s Feast and Faustus. </span><br><span class="text-big"> </span><br><span class="text-big">Editor of the Bellowhead Songbook, and Hampshire Dance Tunes, Paul's composition commissions include numerous works for theatre; The Seven Joys of Mary for the Choir of Somerville College, Oxford; and The Hartlepool Monkey for Streetwise Opera, nominated for a BASCA award. </span><br><span class="text-big"> </span><br><span class="text-big">From 2001 Paul directed the Andover Museum Loft Singers, a non-auditioning community choir specialising in traditional music of the south and south-west of England. The Singers frequently perform at local events and festivals, have appeared on a number of recordings, and featured on BBC Radio broadcasts. </span><br><span class="text-big"> </span><br><span class="text-big">Having gained an Honours Degree and Choral Scholarship at Oxford, Paul was awarded a First for his Masters in Traditional Music, and in 2007 received a 75th Anniversary Award from the English Folk Dance and Song Society. </span><br><br><span class="text-big">Paul’s book, ‘The Community Choir Collection: Folk, 50 Traditional Songs from the British Isles’ is published by Faber Music.</span></p><p><span class="text-big">In September 2022, weeks before the start of the Bellowhead reunion tour, the band were devastated by the sudden loss of Paul. The English folk scene was left immeasurably poorer by his untimely death and his many, many friends are still struggling to come to terms with his absence.</span></p><p><span class="text-big">Paul's enormous contribution to the English folk scene was celebrated in an obituary in the Guardian www.theguardian.com/music/2022/oct/02/paul-sartin-obituary</span></p><p><br><a class="no-pjax" href="http://%E2%80%8Bwww.paulsartin.co.uk" target="_blank" data-link-type="url" contents="www.paulsartin.co.uk"><span class="text-big">www.paulsartin.co.uk</span></a></p>Bellowheadtag:bellowhead.co.uk,2005:Post/39879962016-01-14T16:29:24+00:002017-01-16T03:00:10+00:00Benji Kirkpatrick - Bouzouki, Guitar, Mandolin, Banjo<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/190421/624f067ff9740ca48c24ac51a1b218ea414b81f0/small/bellowhead-020414-201.jpg?1452787705" class="size_s justify_left border_none" alt="" /><p><span class="font_large">Another multi-instrumentalist – of the stringed variety – Benji has folk pedigree as one of the offspring of John Kirkpatrick and Sue Harris. Benji has toured extensively with many musicians. He currently divides recording & touring between Bellowhead and the Seth Lakeman Band and occasionally does solo gigs</span></p>Bellowheadtag:bellowhead.co.uk,2005:Post/39879952016-01-14T16:27:39+00:002017-01-16T03:00:10+00:00Brendan Kelly - Saxophones, Bass Clarinet<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/190421/c41aad269c9c52ee7d54a07e62e7198d4ac036f9/small/bellowhead-020414-494.jpg?1452787710" class="size_s justify_left border_none" alt="" /><p><span class="font_large">Brendan is a surf instructor about which he is passionate, based in Brighton. Very little is known about him otherwise.</span></p>Bellowheadtag:bellowhead.co.uk,2005:Post/39879942016-01-14T16:22:07+00:002017-01-16T03:00:10+00:00Jon Boden - Lead Vocals, Fiddle<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/190421/044e52a0834b5c9eab8a33fdc5b6fee9acf10038/small/bellowhead-020414-266.jpg?1452787707" class="size_s justify_left border_none" alt="" /><p><span class="font_large">Jon was born in Chicago but grew up in Winchester, studied Medieval History and later, Composition for Theatre. He’s lived with in rural moorlands near Sheffield for past 6 years. In between times, Jon also tours with Jon Boden & The Remnant Kings and Spiers & Boden, composes for theatre (RSC amongst others) and in 2010 undertook an ambitious, ongoing solo project called A Folk Song A Day.</span></p>Bellowheadtag:bellowhead.co.uk,2005:Post/39879932016-01-14T16:20:30+00:002017-01-16T03:00:10+00:00Rachael McShane - Cello, Fiddle<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/190421/a5ab479ef926ebc39f88726d957732343d833f19/small/bellowhead-020414-335.jpg?1452787706" class="size_s justify_left border_none" alt="" /><p><span class="font_large">The only female member of the band, Yorkshire born Rachael is now a resident of Newcastle where she became one of the first people to graduate with a degree in Folk & Traditional Music in England back in 2005. She recently embarked on a solo career, infusing trad folk with jazz and released her first solo album 'No Man's Fool' in 2010. She is also a teacher and workshop leader.</span></p>Bellowheadtag:bellowhead.co.uk,2005:Post/39879922016-01-14T16:18:45+00:002017-01-16T03:00:10+00:00Andy Mellon - Trumpet<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/190421/ca220c1fcc0222816e06e751883dec71c9557e66/small/bellowhead-020414-414.jpg?1452787707" class="size_s justify_left border_none" alt="" /><p><span class="font_large">The only member of the band based in London, Andy has played with a huge array of musicians from Bad Manners to Damon Albarn. Andy is MD of British Council led Anglo-Gulf music project, which has led him to perform on collaborative projects in several countries in the Middle East.</span></p>Bellowheadtag:bellowhead.co.uk,2005:Post/39879912016-01-14T16:15:22+00:002017-01-16T03:00:10+00:00Ed Neuhauser - Helicon<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/190421/9bda512c5389717310d4ccff167672dc23cc4f4e/small/bellowhead-020414-532.jpg?1452787711" class="size_s justify_left border_none" alt="" /><p><span class="font_large">Ed started his musical life playing in a local brass band in Yorkshire, picking up the biggest instrument he could find. He went on to study at the Guildhall School of Music. Classically trained he has played with a number of orchestras including the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the Welsh National Opera.</span></p>Bellowhead