Goblin Band and Craven

Event information

Double bill of folk at the Old Chapel

Goblin Band formed from sessions of the same name run out of the HobGoblin Music shop in central London, organised by a collection of young queer folk obsessive friends and shop employees looking to forge their own way into folk music.
This gave rise to a band of multi-instrumentalists firmly rooted in the folk music of Britain, interpreted via the socialist tradition concerned with folk’s relationship to the history of the working classes, capitalism, and colonialism.
Through a fusion of harmony singing, fiddle, squeezebox, hurdy gurdy, recorders and more, Goblin Band deliver a charismatic alternative expression of English traditional culture in a way which is at once riotously joyful and deeply sincere.
"They can play and they can sing and they’re fearless...When I saw Goblin Band singing recently, I just thought, “Why didn’t I think of that?”
- MARTIN CARTHY

Bristol/Stroud based Folk band Craven perform traditional ballads with crafted arrangements. Their genre bending soundworld takes influence from punk, electronic dance and classical chamber music.
Approaching the heavy themes of traditional folk - life, death, war and poverty - with irony and wry wit, and finding queer and contemporary ideas in old songs, and bringing out new meanings for new contexts.
Their debut release, "Baby Vs Crow'' exemplifies this tongue in cheek attitude. A mixtape consisting of 6 traditional folk songs, it showcases their breadth of sound from the bright, punk-lead "Arthur McBride", to the darker "Crow on the Cradle'' with synth-like arpeggiation.
Craven is composed of Will Bremner (Melodeon/Concertina), Elian Moisey (Double Bass/Viola da Gamba), and Rhiannon Takel (Fiddle/Mandola).