Of course you all know Merry Hell, the band who make more sense and sing more sense than most. If you don’t then where have you been since 2010? when rising from the ashes of the best unsung punk folk band ever The Tansads, the core musicians relaunched with subtle changes as the ultimate people’s band, playing good time folk’n’roll material with a purpose. That purpose was always to better matters and situations, through the medium of a tumbling, northern melodic strain of music which spoke of the hills, moors, industrial heritage and streets of terraced houses as much as some bucolic yesterday, music for the here and now. Here and now though most of us go as far as our backyard or the garden gate, times are unprecedented, expect Merry Hell to have a take on it.
If the band can’t play gigs, then they’ll come to you! Well, not all of them, that’s against the rules as there’s eight of them normally, but John and Virginia Kettle, writer/guitarist and vocalist are doing their bit to lift the collective gloom. On Saturday April 18th they’re online from 12pm presenting Camping With The Kettles. In the immortal words of band manager Damian Liptrot, “direct from the tent in their back garden – weather permitting of course – otherwise it will be from a blanket draped over their clothes airer in the front room! We are hoping that others will join in from their own tent, camper van, caravan or clothes airer. The event will include John and Virginia giving some workshops on songwriting and playing as a concert to round this off. All these shenanigans will be streamed on the Merry Hell Facebook page and everyone is invited.”
The Spiral Earth collective is preparing the sandwiches and drinks as you read this, as well as preparing the tent for outdoor, clothes airer/upside down table for indoor use. Come along, there’s fun and high jinks as well as toe tapping tunes and all together melodies guaranteed.
Check their Facebook page or www.merryhell.co.uk for more.
