Music

Seth Lakeman returns to Plymouth for intimate show (audio interview)

19th March 2009

It's almost a year since home-grown folk high-flyer Seth Lakeman last played a gig in Plymouth, so it’s fantastic to have him back in the city.

It’s for an up-close-and-personal show at the White Rabbit in Bretonside Bus Station, which promises to be an especially stomping, sweaty, thrilling affair.

But, as nowadays he’s to be found playing far larger venues – the following night he’ll be joining the folk line-up at the Royal Albert Hall, no less – why the need to go back to basics?

“It was an idea I came up with because I’ve been working on about 10 to 15 new songs and I just wanted to play them without any pressure, without being in a big environment.

“We have a tour of larger shows coming up in May but this is a great opportunity to get out and play them in a rocky, sweaty atmosphere to see what the reaction is. You never know how songs turn out until you play them live.

“The reason for the White Rabbit is because when we last needed a place to rehearse ahead of the last tour, Adam (Maughan, tour manager) and Oli (James, promoter) recommended it.

“It’s a solid, gritty, great little venue that we thought it’d be great to go back to. They seem to present all sorts of different music there. I remember having to pack up early because there was this psychobilly band coming in to soundcheck right after us!”

As for the new material – some of which will form the basis of the next album and follow up to his top 10 latest offering, Race To Be King – a common idea has started to emerge in the lyric.

“This time there isn’t an obvious theme as there has been in the past.

“So far there’s all sorts of stuff: a song about the Mermaid of Zennor, near St Ives, one about a guy who sold his soul to the devil, but there are quite a few songs running on from an idea on Poor Man’s Heaven about this working-class utopia, people dreaming of something better.”

As Seth points out, the eternal fight for survival down the years is all the more poignant in the current climate.

“Quite a few of my mates have been laid off and have been really struggling to find work and that’s something that has certainly inspired me to write over the past four or five months.”

The chances are that when he plays the Royal Albert Hall the following night, Seth will stick to the tried and tested favourite songs, such as the Poor Man’s Heaven title track and set-closer, Race to Be King, with its thumping four-to-the-floor rhythm which never fails to get the crowd jumping.

The show is one of a series of charity gigs for the Teenage Cancer Trust. “There are five shows there during the week all featuring different musical genres.

“There’s a rock night with Kasabian and Stereophonics, another with Antony and the Johnsons and a folk night with Fairport Convention.

“Roger Daltrey (patron of the Teenage Cancer Trust) rang my manager Dave Farrow and asked him if I’d like to do it and I feel very flattered.

“Without doubt, it’s an honour to be asked to play the Royal Albert Hall.”

Naturally Seth will take it in his stride as usual; after all, he seems to play a more diverse selection of venues than most, with previous album launches at Dartmoor Prison, the Brewery at Princetown and, most recently, the Watering Hole on Perranporth Beach in aid of the RNLI.

Ask him to name his most memorable shows and he’ll tell you: “Playing on the edge of Lake Malawi which we did last October, to be followed by Radio One DJ Mary Anne Hobbs; that was pretty amazing – but two and a half years ago me and my brother Sean were the first act for over 2,000 years to play in the ruins of Leptis Magna, an ancient Roman forum in Libya; that was something I shall never forget.”

And festivals vary, too; you’re just as likely to see Seth and his band headlining some intimate village folk affair as playing alongside the hippest pop and rock names at the major summer fests.

This year as well as playing Glasto, the V Festival and the Electric Picnic in Ireland, they’ll be storming the likes of Trowbridge Village Folk Festival.

And the continent also beckons: “We were lucky enough to do a showcase at the Midem Music Industry Convention in Cannes, with Jamie Cullum.

“It was just a half-hour showcase, but it went very well; we certainly made loads of contacts and it’s hopefully opened the floodgates to Europe.

“Freedom Fields did well in Italy, but we haven’t quite cracked Europe yet in terms of annual tours. That’s very much what we’re hoping to be able to do next.”

Tickets for the White Rabbit show on Tuesday, March 24, which also features the amazing Head Of Programmes on support duties, are available from www.seetickets.com

You can also catch Seth in action at Barnstaple's Queen's Theatre on May 28.

CLARE ROBINSON

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