Levellers (band)

[4] Chadwick and Cunningham composed their first recordings for the compact cassettes An Agreement of the People and All the Free Commons of England.

At that time the band recruited Alan Miles to play harmonica, guitar, and mandolin and to perform backing vocals.

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".

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 generally gloomy atmosphere that surrounded the band is reflected in the darker tone of the resulting Levellers album.

In June 1993 they released the Belaruse EP which included a live cover of "Subvert", the first single from the anarchist punk band Zounds.

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 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.

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.

The album spawned several more singles, "Celebrate", "Dog Train" and "Too Real", the last of which had an accompanying video directed by cult film director Alex Cox.

However, the last two dates at Brixton Academy and the planned homecoming at Brighton Centre had to be postponed when Jon Sevink fell ill.

The release of the greatest hits album was accompanied by a video collection of promos, also called "One Way of Life: The Very Best of The Levellers", and the band's official biography written by George Berger entitled Dance Before the Storm.

With the relative commercial failure of the album, the band and the record company severed their relationship by mutual agreement.

After the recording 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".

Meanwhile, after contemplating releasing the new material on their own Hag label, the band eventually signed a new deal with Eagle Records.

Green Blade Rising (originally a title of one of the Levellers' earliest songs) was released in September 2002 and also failed to reach the Top 40 of the UK Albums Chart.

"Green Blade Fayre" was the title of the first attempt, and was to be held at Bicton Park, East Devon, England in August 2002.

Despite the backing of the necessary authorities, an organised local population managed to persuade the East Devon council to reject the licence application.

The festival is now an annual event, taking place each August at Escot Park, near Fairmile in Devon, England.

In early 2007, the band went on an electric tour, visiting Scandinavia, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, the UK and Ireland.

The intensive touring schedule continued with the band playing a number of festivals throughout the summer, including Wychwood, Rhythm, Bestival, Fflam, Solfest and Le Mans 24 Hours.

Released in August 2008, coinciding with the Beautiful Days Festival, Letters from the Underground, was their eighth studio album and charted at No.

The band performed at the Glastonbury music festival in the summer and then continued on the 'grass roots' path with a tour in November to promote the re-release of their debut album, A Weapon Called The Word on their own On the Fiddle label.

[12] The first single from the album, "Truth Is", was released for Record Store Day on limited edition red vinyl.

The band released a Greatest Hits album in September 2014, featuring four new collaborations with Imelda May, Frank Turner, Bellowhead and Billy Bragg.

In 2018, the Levellers released We the Collective in which they reworked several of their songs with a string and percussion section composed of members of folk-rock band Moulettes.

Jeremy Cunningham and Matt Savage, Beautiful Days Festival, Devon 20 August 2006