The Levellers (band)

The Levellers are an English folk rock band formed in Brighton, England in 1988, consisting of Mark Chadwick (guitar and vocals), Jeremy Cunningham (bass guitar), Charlie Heather (drums), Jon Sevink (violin), Simon Friend (guitar and vocals), Matt Savage (keyboards) and Dan Donnelly (guitar and vocals). Taking their name from the Levellers political movement, the band released their first EP in 1989 and LP in 1990, with international success following upon signing to China Records and the release of their second album '' Levelling the Land''. The band were among the most popular indie bands in Britain in the early 1990s, and headlined at the Glastonbury Festival in 1994, where they performed on The Pyramid Stage to a record crowd of 300,000 people. They continue to record and tour.

History

1988–1990

The band was formed with Mark Chadwick on guitar and lead vocals, Jeremy Cunningham on bass guitar, and Charlie Heather on drums. Jon Sevink, the brother of Chadwick's girlfriend, was brought in to play the fiddle. Chadwick's flatmate "Bucky" was brought in to play the guitar, but lost interest after a few months.

Chadwick and Cunningham composed their first recordings for the compact cassettes ''An Agreement of the People'' and ''All the Free Commons of England''. A group of fans known as the "happy hitchers" would hitch-hike around the country, following the band while they were on tour.

Their first EP, ''Carry Me'', was released in 1989 and contained the songs "Carry Me" and "England My Home", which received Radio 2 airplay. At that time the band recruited Alan Miles to play harmonica, guitar, and mandolin and to perform backing vocals. This lineup produced the EP ''Outside/Inside'' and toured throughout 1989 and most of 1990.

After re-releasing two EPs on their own Hag label, in 1989, the Levellers signed a contract with French record label Musidisc. Their first album '' A Weapon Called the Word'' was released in 1990 and went platinum. The first single from the album was "World Freak Show".

1990–1994

After an acrimonious split with Musidisc, the Levellers were discovered by Derek Green and signed to China Records.

At this point Miles became disenchanted with touring and left the band. The Levellers recruited Simon Friend who had played some acoustic support slots for the band in the past. Around this time Friend and Chadwick played a number of low-key shows as "The Levellers 2", mostly performing songs that had been in Friend's repertoire as a solo singer-songwriter.

1991 saw the release of the Levellers' second album, '' Levelling the Land'', which entered the charts at number 14. The anthemic single "One Way", despite not reaching the Top 40, became a popular song and live favourite for years to come among the travelling and indie music community, as well as "The Boatman" and the telling of the story of "Battle of the Beanfield".

Throughout 1992 the band enjoyed a series of successful tours, particularly their debut on one of the main stages of the Glastonbury Festival. Mixing tracks from their first two LPs with a couple of more obscure songs and a cover of Charlie Daniels' "The Devil Went Down to Georgia", the Levellers' performance secured their place on the large Pyramid Stage for the following year. The band also scored a chart hit with the ''15 Years EP''.

The generally gloomy atmosphere that surrounded the band is reflected in the darker tone of the resulting ''Levellers'' album. Despite the band's dislike of the album, it reached No. 2 in the album charts. It included "This Garden", which reached No. 12 on the UK Singles Chart. In June 1993 they released the ''Belaruse EP'' which included a live cover of "Subvert", the first single from the anarchist punk band Zounds.

1994–1998

1994 saw the Levellers reach the peak of their popularity with a headlining appearance at Glastonbury Festival and a record breaking set on the main stage when they performed to around 300,000 people, speculated to be the largest ever at the festival. They also became involved in the campaign against the Criminal Justice Act.

In 1994 the band purchased a derelict factory in Brighton, named the "Metway" after the factory's original owners, and created a self-contained headquarters. The buildings housed their offices, fan club, rehearsal area, a bar and a recording studio that was initially equipped with gear bought from Tom Robinson. The move enabled the band to operate on their own terms as far as possible. The spare space that remained was given over to other Brighton musicians and small craft businesses. Weekly anarchist newspaper SchNEWS also set up their office in the building.

"Hope Street", the lead single from the ''Zeitgeist'' album, was the first recording to come out of Metway. The album was released in September 1995 and charted at No. 2 in the week of its release. Buoyed by the initial success, manager Phil Nelson persuaded China Records to advertise the album on television and, unusually, the album reached No. 1 in its second week on the chart. The third single released from this album took the Levellers to their first Top of the Pops appearance, playing the tongue-in-cheek drinking anthem "Just the One" whilst dressed in tuxedos. "Just the One" was specially re-recorded for the single release, with The Clash's frontman and long-time Levellers hero Joe Strummer guesting on honky tonk piano. It reached No. 12 in the UK.

The Levellers embarked on another tour of Europe and the UK towards the end of 1995, culminating in a one-off "Christmas Freakshow" at Sheffield Arena on 18 December. This was recorded by the BBC
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