Friday, September 10, 2004

Good news for ex-hippies, musicians, aspiring musicians, music lovers and anyone looking for an enjoyable night out without leaving the valley.

On Saturday 13th November the Incredible String Band return to Hebden Bridge and will be playing at the Picture House from 7.30pm.

Those of you old enough to remember the original incarnation of the band in the 60's and 70's will know that there was never anything to compare with their seriously strange and beautiful songs; combining influences from bluegrass to Celtic folk, jazz to jugband; and using a vast array of instruments and sounds: from classic western instruments via strange oriental oddities through to simple bells, whistles and birdsong.

The band was started in the mid-60's by Robin Williamson, Clive Palmer and Mike Heron and during the 8 years until it's spilt in 1974 the line-up changed constantly but at it's core was the duo of Robin and Mike, both prolific songwriters.

After the spilt they went their separate ways but the fans never forgot them and at the beginning of the new century they finally bowed to pressure and the Incredible String Band was re-born with all three original members, plus Robin's wife Bina and Welsh keyboard wizard Lawson Dando.

At the end of 2002 Robin and Bina stopped touring with the band in order to concentrate on their solo projects, but the other band members choose to continue touring and to feature material exclusively from the first 5 or 6 String Band albums. Much of this material didn't get played live much at that time: they were so prolific that they were constantly moving on to the next album, the next project; but now it is getting an airing and the band are very obviously enjoying the experience as much as their audiences: this music sounds every bit as vibrant and current as it did all those years ago. The current line up of the band is Mike Heron, Clive Palmer and Lawson Dando augmented by singer/multi-instrumentalist Fluff and bass guitarist Gavin Dickie.

More details of the Hebden Bridge concert.

More information about the Incredible String Band

The full monty on the band's biography, history, discography etc.

Information about Robin Williamson's current projects

More news from the Hebden Bridge Web