LEVELLERS BIOGRAPHY
LEVELLERS
1988 - 2012
Musicians Mark Chadwick and Jeremy Cunningham met in The Eagle, a pub in Brighton, in 1988. Discovering that they had
a fair bit in common, including a left wing view of politics, they decided to form a band. They soon added Charlie Heather on
drums and Jon Sevink on fiddle and, after a short while, Alan Miles to play harmonica, guitar and mandolin.
The band released two EPs on their own Hag label in 1989, which led to a contract with Musidisc. They released their first
album, A Weapon Called the Word, in 1990 which is one of the few albums known to have gone gold without ever charting.
After its release Miles quit the band and was quickly replaced by Simon Friend and that Levellers line-up of Mark, Jeremy,
Jon, Simon and Charlie continues to this day (with Matt Savage who joined later on keyboards). The Levellers were
discovered that year by Derek Green (the man responsible for signing the Sex Pistols) and signed to China Records. The
following year they released Levelling the Land which was a massive success, entering the charts at number 14 and
eventually going platinum. The single One Way, despite not bothering the Top 40, became a live favourite for years to come.
Levelling The Land is often cited as an all time classic amongst people who were students or travellers in the early 1990s.
The band celebrated the 20th anniversary of the album’s release in 2011 with a 30,000 capacity sell out tour of the UK with
The Wonder Stuff.
The Levellers’ success continued throughout 1992, with sell out tours and their debut on one of the main stages of the
Glastonbury Festival (although they'd played the travellers' field previously). Mixing tracks from their first two LPs in the set
with a couple of more obscure songs (like the rock/spoken word crossover Dance Before the Storm) and a high speed cover
of Charlie Daniels' The Devil Went Down to Georgia, the Levellers popular performance secured their place on the large
Pyramid Stage for their famous 1994 set. The band scored a chart hit with the "15 Years EP" in 1992, a track which was
added to later repressings of Levelling the Land due to its popularity. Throughout 1993, the band worked on their second
album ‘Levellers’ which reached number 2 in the album charts. It contained "This Garden", which peaked at number 12 in the
UK Singles Chart.
1994 saw the Levellers really hit the big time when their appearance at Glastonbury Festival attracted the biggest stagefront
crowd that the event had ever seen. The band and their friends had spent the morning flyering the crowds at Glastonbury to
advertise their later show and, having already become favourites with independent music fans and travellers across the
country, this tactic paid off when the crowds surged to the Pyramid stage to see the band. Their performance, which finished
with festival favourite One Way, was a massive hit with the crowd and is constantly referred to as a high point of the band's
career. The performance of ‘One Way’ was included on a ‘Glastonbury Anthems’ DVD released in 2005. The band also
featured on Julien Temple’s film about the history of the Glastonbury festival which was released in 2006.
In 1994 the band purchased a derelict factory in Brighton, “The Metway", and created a self contained headquarters which
they still own to this day. The buildings housed their offices, fan club, rehearsal area, a bar and a recording studio (initially
equipped with gear bought from Tom Robinson). The move to The Metway (the name of the clock manufacturer who
originally built the factory) enabled the band to operate on their own terms as far as possible and they still use offices in the
building and have recently refurbished the studio. They are strong supporters of the Brighton music scene giving local, young
and upcoming bands use of the studio and rehearsal facilities. Other acts including Orbital, Nick Cave and Electric Soft
Parade have recorded at the studio in the past.
Number one and gold-selling album ‘Zeitgeist’ followed in 1995. The third single released from this album took 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' legendary frontman and long time Levellers
hero, Joe Strummer guesting on honky tonk piano.
Another extensive tour of Europe and the UK in the later part of 1995 culminated in a one-off "Christmas Freakshow" at
Sheffield Arena in December which was recorded by the BBC. The 1995 ‘Total Chaos’ tour came to an end in February 1996
at Blackpool's Empress Ballroom with a show that was filmed for the video release, Best Live: Headlights White Lines And
Black Tar Rivers which came out as an album and video later that year. It was a compilation rather than a "greatest hits"
package. The album reached a respectable number 13 in the UK album charts.
The band explored alternative guitar pop on 1997's Mouth to Mouth, which featured the single ‘What A Beautiful Day’. This
catchy slice of pop rock has since become a firm live favourite, reaching out far beyond the Levellers' traditional fanbase and
helping to form the name of their festival in the years to follow. The album entered the UK album chart at number 5 and
spawned several more singles including ‘Celebrate’, ’Dog Train’ and ‘Too Real’. Greatest hits collection ‘One Way Of Life:
The Very Best Of The Levellers’ hit the shelves in September 1998, a year which had been fairly inactive until that point. A
long and successful tour journeyed the length and breadth of the UK in November and December.
Save for a handful of live dates, 1999 was essentially a year-off. During this time out of the limelight there was a significant
change at their record company as China Records was bought by major label Warner Brothers. Work however did eventually
begin on a new studio album ‘Hello Pig’. This was a change in direction for the band, and the resulting work confirmed this to
listening ears. ‘Hello Pig’ was released in September 2000 and went to number 28 on the chart. ‘Happy Birthday Revolution’
was released as a single, reaching number 57 in the charts. The album received critical acclaim, however the band's fans
didn't particularly like the change in direction. With the relative commercial failure of Hello Pig, both the band and the record
company had their excuses to sever their relationship. By mutual agreement, the Levellers and Warner Brothers parted
company.
2000 and 2001 saw lengthy schedules of UK and American tours but in early 2002 the focus returned once again to making
new music, with Al Scott returning as producer and the band signed a new deal with Eagle Records. Around this time the
band added new member and keyboard player Matt Savage to the line-up. After the recording of ‘Green Blade Rising’ was
completed, the band played a short UK tour of smaller venues to preview the new songs, and they were well received by the
fans and heralded as a "return to form". The album was released in September 2002 but failed to enter the UK Top 40 Album
Chart.
In 2002 the band, growing weary of the ever more commercial UK festival scene, decided to put on a festival of their own.
After a change of venue the band started ‘Beautiful Days’ (originally called Green Blade Fayre) at Escot Park in Devon in
2003 with new partners and organisers DMF Music, who also became and still are their live agents. The festival has become
an enormous success story for the band and is now in its tenth year, consistently selling out in advance. Headliners over the
subsequent years have included Levellers (of course), The Pogues, James, Gogol Bordello, Carter USM and Public Image
Limited. The festival has become one of the most popular and talked about festival on the UK summer scene winning ‘Best
Family Festival’ and ‘Grass Roots Festival’ at the UK Festival Awards.
In February 2004, Levellers played a sell-out acoustic show at the Buxton Opera House. Although they had played a couple
of shows in a similar format, this particular show saw the full band being joined onstage by Maddy Prior, Nick Harper, Nick
Burbridge and Rev Hammer. The show set the tone for the rest of the year, with the band appearing at many festivals
through the summer as ‘Levellers Acoustic’. These festival dates included their first visit to Glastonbury since 1997, where
they captured another audience record on the Avalon Stage where the field had to be closed due to the number of people
trying to watch them. The year was rounded off with a successful acoustic tour of UK theatres.
The band released ‘Truth & Lies’, the similarly rousing follow up to ‘Green Blade Rising’, in 2005. The album, released on
Eagle Records catches the band in an upbeat mood, highlighted by the first single ‘Make You Happy’. The album didn’t
achieve chart success but was well received by fans. Following the previous year's acoustic live work, 2005 saw the band
tour extensively around the UK and Europe as a full electric band once again, continuing through 2006. Festival success
continued and in 2005 when, despite the continued lack of attention by the media, the band set another stagefront audience
record at Glastonbury, this time on the Jazzworld stage.
Levellers' Chaos Theory live DVD was released in December 2006. The 2 disc set features a full electric live show from
Reading Hexagon and a disc of extras including the 1993 tour diary/concert Part Time Punks, an acoustic gig at Buxton
Opera house and more. The band’s five Warner-era studio albums were remixed, given new packaging and re-issued on the
Rhino label in July 2007. That summer saw a busy schedule of nearly 30 festival appearances in the UK and Europe
including Bestival, Wychwood and Rock Ness.
Levellers celebrated their 20th anniversary in 2008 and released ‘Letters From The Underground’ which debuted at 24 in the
UK Album Charts. The album was released on their own label ‘On the Fiddle Recordings’ and produced by Sean Lakeman
(who is renowned for producing his brother’s Mercury-nominated and gold-selling albums). The album received critical
acclaim with Mojo describing it as ‘an impressive return to the fray’ and the Daily Mirror as ‘one of the most politically
committed and musically incisive albums of their career...’. A Life Less Ordinary, The Cholera Well, Burn America Burn and
Before The End were all released as download singles from the album.
In May 2008 the band played three ‘Beautiful Nights’ in Wolverhampton, Manchester and at London’s Brixton Academy,
followed by festival and summer appearances including a picnic concert at Arundel Castle. There followed a tour of theatres
in September including a memorable night at London’s most prestigious venue - Royal Albert Hall - where they performed a
half electric / half acoustic set with guest musicians including a string section. They also embarked on extensive tours of the
UK and Europe in November and December with support on the UK dates from Frank Turner. 2009 saw the digital release of
‘Levellers Live at the Royal Albert Hall’ although during the performance the year before, the recording equipment had
crashed and so several songs were lost from the final recording. The band toured around the UK and extensively in Europe
at the end of the year.
At the start of 2010 the band played an intimate UK tour to cities not on the usual ‘circuit’ including Crewe, Holmfirth, Brecon
and Tunbridge Wells which not surprisingly sold out very quickly. They continued on this path with the announcement of a
“grass roots” tour in November 2010 taking in 18 towns and cities around the UK to coincide with the re-release of their debut
album, “A Weapon Called The Word” on their own label On the Fiddle Recordings in October 2010. The album was digitally
re-mastered and included four previously un-released tracks from a BBC Radio 1 session and tour DVD, shot on a handy
cam by the touring crew that dates from 1991.
As a way of documenting the tour and highlighting the release of “A Weapon Called The Word” the band enlisted the help of
film-maker and ex-Chumbawamba vocalist Dunstan Bruce. Dunstan’s company, Dandy Films, is based at the Levellers
Metway Studios. He was the mastermind behind a blogumentary of candid footage of the band on that tour in the provinces
of the UK plus interviews with local groups, fans and location pieces. Dunstan has continued working with the band and is
producing videos for the new album in 2012.
Mark Chadwick released a solo album, All The Pieces, on independent label Stay By Records in September 2010 followed
by a 10 date UK tour in October. All The Pieces was definitely not a Levellers album. Whilst the voice is familiar, that is where
the similarities end. Instead, this was an intensely personal collection of folk-tinged acoustic pop tracks, written and refined
over the course of the last two decades. Brought to life by producer Sean Lakeman, Mark was joined by a number of guest
folk musicians on the album.
Levellers performed ‘Levelling The Land Live’ in its entirety for the very first time to mark the 20th anniversary of its original
release in 2011 on an extensive and sold out UK tour. Featuring the hit singles One Way, 15 Years and Far From Home plus
The Game, Liberty Song, Sell Out, Another Man’s Cause, Riverflow, Boatman and Battle Of The Beanfield, the show was
followed by an extended encore of live favourites. The Wonder Stuff supported on all the dates. The tour was a phenomenal
success and led to three more dates being added including a second night at London’s Brixton Academy with Dreadzone and
Back To The Planet.
The band were awarded the ‘Roots Award’ at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards in 2011. Presented by BBC Radio 2’s Jeremy
Vine, he stated that the award was for a band who “stays true to folk and where it came from. Only the strong survive and
The Levellers have done it by staying true to their roots.” The band then went on to prove this by closing the show with a
high-energy charge through two of their most popular songs – ‘One Way’ and ‘Riverflow’. The award was also seen as a
public acknowledgement of their work over the years in and around the folk music and festival community.
In 2011 the band teamed up once again with producer Sean Lakeman to work on their tenth studio album ‘Static On the
Airwaves’ which is already being heralded as their most accomplished album to date and will be released on 25 June 2012,
again through their own record label. Recorded ‘as live’ in the Czech Republic ‘Static On The Airwaves’ is the sound of a
band whose incisive lyrics, innate musicality and passion have continued to improve rather than diminish in nearly a quarter
of a century of writing, recording and performing. In many ways Static On The Airwaves represents a coming of age for
Levellers; it is unquestionably their most mature and considered release to date. The band released the first single from the
new album ‘Truth Is’ on 21 April (Record Store Day) on limited edition red 7” vinyl. The album Static On The Airwaves comes
out on CD, LP, Digital and with a Deluxe Box Set.
2012 got off to a shaky start when the band had to cancel a string of European dates and two festival appearances after
fiddle player Jon Sevink needed surgery on a damaged tendon in his finger but their calendar is full for the rest of the year
with work around the release of the new album in June, festival appearances including at Hop Farm and Latitude, a sell-out
Beautiful Days festival in August plus a mammoth four-week tour of Europe in October and a UK tour in November with
special guests Citizen Fish.