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| Maxine Peake brings the Pendle Witches to Preston library | Maxine Peake brings the Pendle Witches to Preston library |
| (7 days later) | |
| When Maxine Peake was called by her now band-mate Adrian to say that the ad hoc two-hour recording session done in a living room and initiated by their shared passion for the Pendle witches was now an album and that they were a band on the verge of a UK tour, it wasn't the conversation she had expected. | When Maxine Peake was called by her now band-mate Adrian to say that the ad hoc two-hour recording session done in a living room and initiated by their shared passion for the Pendle witches was now an album and that they were a band on the verge of a UK tour, it wasn't the conversation she had expected. |
| My first thought was-you're joking? I thought it was something for Dean and Adrian that I'd just rocked up to help them with. | My first thought was-you're joking? I thought it was something for Dean and Adrian that I'd just rocked up to help them with. |
| Peake, Adrian Flanagan and Dean Honer make up the Eccentronic Research Council (ERC), a self-described "oddball" and "very leftfield" electronic music project conceived as a dedication to the memory of the witches. | Peake, Adrian Flanagan and Dean Honer make up the Eccentronic Research Council (ERC), a self-described "oddball" and "very leftfield" electronic music project conceived as a dedication to the memory of the witches. |
| Pulling them away from their day jobs as an actor and masterminds behind Sheffield-based The Chanteuse and The Crippled Claw and I Monster they say the project marks an unpredictable year. At the very least it is one they say they didn't imagine would end with them playing in the children's section of Preston library on a Sunday night. | Pulling them away from their day jobs as an actor and masterminds behind Sheffield-based The Chanteuse and The Crippled Claw and I Monster they say the project marks an unpredictable year. At the very least it is one they say they didn't imagine would end with them playing in the children's section of Preston library on a Sunday night. |
| The show marks the beginning of the end of the touring of their 12 chapter "song poem", 1612 Underture, which in the last four months has seen them take to the stage in places like FC United of Manchester's Gigg Lane, Festival No.6 and a Spiegeltent in Sheffield. It is an extended elegy to the women and men who were subjected to mistreatment, injustice and eventually executed at the Lancaster Witch Trials in 1612. | The show marks the beginning of the end of the touring of their 12 chapter "song poem", 1612 Underture, which in the last four months has seen them take to the stage in places like FC United of Manchester's Gigg Lane, Festival No.6 and a Spiegeltent in Sheffield. It is an extended elegy to the women and men who were subjected to mistreatment, injustice and eventually executed at the Lancaster Witch Trials in 1612. |
| After making a trip to Pendle in 2011 they decided to write down their experiences. Peake says: | After making a trip to Pendle in 2011 they decided to write down their experiences. Peake says: |
| We all tried to write something but I only managed a few lines. Then Adrian came back with 14 tracks just like that. It's great to be in a band but it's not something I envisaged happening because I'm not particularly musical, just something that I wanted when I was 18. We've just got better as the tour has gone on. I think we really came into our own when we played the Spiegeltent in Sheffield. | We all tried to write something but I only managed a few lines. Then Adrian came back with 14 tracks just like that. It's great to be in a band but it's not something I envisaged happening because I'm not particularly musical, just something that I wanted when I was 18. We've just got better as the tour has gone on. I think we really came into our own when we played the Spiegeltent in Sheffield. |
| Flanagan pitches in: | Flanagan pitches in: |
| It's been a religious experience, people throwing themselves at us and offering us limbs. | It's been a religious experience, people throwing themselves at us and offering us limbs. |
A collection of prose, poems and semi-fictional conversations accompanied by an eerie analogue synth-heavy noisescape, it led to the album being snapped up by Finders Keepers records in time to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the trials. Although focusing on the fatal, state-propelled myths that led to the persecution of poor women, the lyrics simultaneously highlight the parallel scapegoating used to blame social ills in an era of what the band calls "rabid Cameron." They say that making the content as significant as possible to a modern audience was always their main preoccupation. Flanagan puts it like this: | A collection of prose, poems and semi-fictional conversations accompanied by an eerie analogue synth-heavy noisescape, it led to the album being snapped up by Finders Keepers records in time to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the trials. Although focusing on the fatal, state-propelled myths that led to the persecution of poor women, the lyrics simultaneously highlight the parallel scapegoating used to blame social ills in an era of what the band calls "rabid Cameron." They say that making the content as significant as possible to a modern audience was always their main preoccupation. Flanagan puts it like this: |
| I did all the research after I wrote it because I didn't want to be too influenced by the story - I wanted it to be relevant to now. I think it's spooky and fascinating- the trials were a real smokescreen to what was happening at the time. In a way I don't think much has changed. | I did all the research after I wrote it because I didn't want to be too influenced by the story - I wanted it to be relevant to now. I think it's spooky and fascinating- the trials were a real smokescreen to what was happening at the time. In a way I don't think much has changed. |
It is a point Peake is keen to pick up on. | It is a point Peake is keen to pick up on. |
| I think the album symbolises the real climax we're at politically. Things will get worse but nobody's really saying it in pop music. In the mainstream it seems at the moment that no-one's allowed to have an opinion anymore without someone saying 'Oh, they're just doing a Morrisey' - well, at least he's got one! I think everyone's got so pathetic and is petrified of opening their mouths because they think it might put an end to their career - they've all been gripped by their short and curlies. This is the closest to pop music we can get without being popular - it's the unpopular speaking. | I think the album symbolises the real climax we're at politically. Things will get worse but nobody's really saying it in pop music. In the mainstream it seems at the moment that no-one's allowed to have an opinion anymore without someone saying 'Oh, they're just doing a Morrisey' - well, at least he's got one! I think everyone's got so pathetic and is petrified of opening their mouths because they think it might put an end to their career - they've all been gripped by their short and curlies. This is the closest to pop music we can get without being popular - it's the unpopular speaking. |
| People seem to find it easier to care about the environment and animals which is fine - you can get excited about recycling and choose to buy coffee from this or that place if you want but I think we need to find more power than what is related to our consumerism. It won't be long before people start getting left dying on hospital trollies etc and it will hit people with such a force when things like that do start happening. | People seem to find it easier to care about the environment and animals which is fine - you can get excited about recycling and choose to buy coffee from this or that place if you want but I think we need to find more power than what is related to our consumerism. It won't be long before people start getting left dying on hospital trollies etc and it will hit people with such a force when things like that do start happening. |
The trio are keen to encourage people to give direction to their anger at being made to bear the brunt of the current economic situation. Adrian comments on a demonstration a few days ago in Sheffield. | The trio are keen to encourage people to give direction to their anger at being made to bear the brunt of the current economic situation. Adrian comments on a demonstration a few days ago in Sheffield. |
| I saw a protest outside the town hall where people were singing "oggy oggy oggy" and I thought-is this how angry you are? It's important people speak up and say what they mean and get angry, cos "oggy oggy oggy"''s not going to do anything-and you can quote me on that! | I saw a protest outside the town hall where people were singing "oggy oggy oggy" and I thought-is this how angry you are? It's important people speak up and say what they mean and get angry, cos "oggy oggy oggy"''s not going to do anything-and you can quote me on that! |
| The relevancy is something that the band thinks is reflected in the broad cross-section of attendees at the shows despite the band's niche style. Adrian says: | The relevancy is something that the band thinks is reflected in the broad cross-section of attendees at the shows despite the band's niche style. Adrian says: |
| I think the album speaks to everyone who's already a bit pissed off. People seem to have warmed to it and are able to relate to it although it's quite different to anything we've even ever done before. We've had letters saying they 'get' what we're saying which is good to know and shows that we're communicating with people. | I think the album speaks to everyone who's already a bit pissed off. People seem to have warmed to it and are able to relate to it although it's quite different to anything we've even ever done before. We've had letters saying they 'get' what we're saying which is good to know and shows that we're communicating with people. |
| Their performance at Preston's Harris Library last Sunday as part of the Frozen North Weekender, nestled amongst Dr Seuss display boards and a computer cluster, stays true to their habit of playing unexpected venues. | Their performance at Preston's Harris Library last Sunday as part of the Frozen North Weekender, nestled amongst Dr Seuss display boards and a computer cluster, stays true to their habit of playing unexpected venues. |
| The progression from the support folk act Emma Tricca and gothic atmospherica of Paper Dollhouse in a way prepares everyone well for the semi-surrealism of an E.R.C performance, who for only the second ever time treat the audience to a theremin interlude played by Peake (another unexpected string to add to her already full-to-burst bow), make eerily realistic use of a hangman's noose and sing shoulder-to-shoulder with the middle of the crowd part way through the set. The enveloping, sensory-overpowering experience of seeing an E.R.C show first-hand only increases the punch and sense of immediacy contained in the content of the 1612 Underture. Off-the-wall they may be in some respects, but the bold energy of their stage presence means the important substance of the poems is noticed and then appeals to a much wider public. | The progression from the support folk act Emma Tricca and gothic atmospherica of Paper Dollhouse in a way prepares everyone well for the semi-surrealism of an E.R.C performance, who for only the second ever time treat the audience to a theremin interlude played by Peake (another unexpected string to add to her already full-to-burst bow), make eerily realistic use of a hangman's noose and sing shoulder-to-shoulder with the middle of the crowd part way through the set. The enveloping, sensory-overpowering experience of seeing an E.R.C show first-hand only increases the punch and sense of immediacy contained in the content of the 1612 Underture. Off-the-wall they may be in some respects, but the bold energy of their stage presence means the important substance of the poems is noticed and then appeals to a much wider public. |
| An encore of their new Christmas song, only recorded earlier that day in the library, is a fitting festive message for the E.R.C members who are tired of the relentless consumerism and terrible music choices that threaten to reach boiling point in December. Although Adrian jokes that he's "just having a moan", the extensive four minute-odd list cum mini-manifesto of everything they hate about it, including Slade and the transmorphing of people into one-track mind shopping Daleks in town centres, rings a lot truer than anything likely to be found on the Top of the Pops Christmas special. | An encore of their new Christmas song, only recorded earlier that day in the library, is a fitting festive message for the E.R.C members who are tired of the relentless consumerism and terrible music choices that threaten to reach boiling point in December. Although Adrian jokes that he's "just having a moan", the extensive four minute-odd list cum mini-manifesto of everything they hate about it, including Slade and the transmorphing of people into one-track mind shopping Daleks in town centres, rings a lot truer than anything likely to be found on the Top of the Pops Christmas special. |
| Say no to spending hundreds of pounds on toys for babies - give them a cardboard box, they'll love it! | Say no to spending hundreds of pounds on toys for babies - give them a cardboard box, they'll love it! |
| It's also not short of a few wry speculations about the contents of the Queen's speech which contains a wish to help create a film entitled David Cameron and his Temple of Doom. The song suggests that this Christmas, in a way just like the Pendle Witch Trials, is a temporary cover-up of societal inequalities and problems that won't go away with a 15lb turkey and re-runs of It's a Wonderful Life alone. | It's also not short of a few wry speculations about the contents of the Queen's speech which contains a wish to help create a film entitled David Cameron and his Temple of Doom. The song suggests that this Christmas, in a way just like the Pendle Witch Trials, is a temporary cover-up of societal inequalities and problems that won't go away with a 15lb turkey and re-runs of It's a Wonderful Life alone. |
| No magic, just loss. This is a black Christmas for sure Blank it out and lock the door. | No magic, just loss. This is a black Christmas for sure Blank it out and lock the door. |
| So what next for a band whose short existence so far has been marked by a relatively unanticipated and unplanned journey? Performing their last two outings of the album at the Queens Social in Sheffield and the Trades Club in Hebden Bridge in January, they have planned a brief hiatus whilst Maxine films. It will give Adrian and Dean time to start working on the new album whose content they insist is still a mystery to them. | So what next for a band whose short existence so far has been marked by a relatively unanticipated and unplanned journey? Performing their last two outings of the album at the Queens Social in Sheffield and the Trades Club in Hebden Bridge in January, they have planned a brief hiatus whilst Maxine films. It will give Adrian and Dean time to start working on the new album whose content they insist is still a mystery to them. |
| Considering their apparent surprise at the trajectory of their formation and critical success of the 1612 Underture, it's a believable excuse to give to prying journalists at least. But one point the E.R.C do seem certain on is continuing emphasis on their political focus. Flanagan says: | Considering their apparent surprise at the trajectory of their formation and critical success of the 1612 Underture, it's a believable excuse to give to prying journalists at least. But one point the E.R.C do seem certain on is continuing emphasis on their political focus. Flanagan says: |
| Politics shouldn't be unfashionable, especially at a time when people are up to their eyeballs in debt. Maybe it'll have something about those 'oggy oggy oggy' chants. | Politics shouldn't be unfashionable, especially at a time when people are up to their eyeballs in debt. Maybe it'll have something about those 'oggy oggy oggy' chants. |
| The Eccentronic Research Council will play at Queens Social Club in Sheffield on Friday 18th and Hebden Bridge Trades Club on Saturday 19th January. You can buy the 1612 Underture from here.. | The Eccentronic Research Council will play at Queens Social Club in Sheffield on Friday 18th and Hebden Bridge Trades Club on Saturday 19th January. You can buy the 1612 Underture from here.. |
| Chloe Glover is a freelance writer, blogger and journalism student at the Salford University. She also writes for the Salford Star and Quays News and is a volunteer at the Working Class Movement Library. | Chloe Glover is a freelance writer, blogger and journalism student at the Salford University. She also writes for the Salford Star and Quays News and is a volunteer at the Working Class Movement Library. |
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