[5] In 2020, Will Addison left the group, and was replaced by Polly Bolton, a mandolin player and vocalist known for her work with The Magpies and Stillhouse.
[9] At around age 17, they started to deepen their interest in folk music, with Robin writing an early version of the song Haf (Welsh for ‘summer’) during this time.
It was also during this period that they discovered the music of various classic folk acts such as Planxty, Andy Irvine, Paul Brady, Dick Gaughan, Silly Wizard, Fairport Convention and Steeleye Span.
In their third year at Cambridge, they began playing with violin player David Bailey, with whom they formed their first band ‘Mo’s Gold Teeth’.
The name was in honour of one of their best friends at university, Mo Nagdy, who had two bright gold teeth in the rear of his mouth which would only be revealed when he smiled.
They played their first gigs in pubs and small venues around Cambridge, once supporting their hero Andy Irvine at Baldock and Letchworth Folk Club.
Several songs from The Trials of Cato became parts of the band’s repertoire during this period, including Tom Paine’s Bones, My Love’s in Germany, and some of their instrumental sets.
The songs on this EP (simply titled ‘The Trials of Cato’) were written over a fortnight as the band prepared to leave Beirut and travel to Abbey Road in London for the recording.
[9] Upon the band’s return to the UK they pooled together their savings from working in Beirut to purchase two Roland busking amps and an old Ford Transit van.
As they had no permanent residence at this time, the band would usually turn up in their van, play the show and sleep on site before moving on to the next club the following day.
[9] During 2017, the band continued a mix of busking and playing folk clubs around the UK whilst also writing their debut album, Hide and Hair.
It was mixed by Donald Richard, and mastered by John Davis, who initially called them ‘The Sex Pistols of Folk’, a title that has since been used to describe them publicly on several occasions.
[9] Throughout the winter of 2020 and up until June 2021, the band were not able to perform live due to the pandemic, and so had ample time to bring their ideas together to write and arrange their second album, Gog Magog.
[9] The album was mixed by Donald Richard and Jake Charron, who worked together at Space Camp Productions, the latter also being a guitarist who plays in The East Pointers.