“They’ll never last” Derek Green MD China records.
Derek Green, the man who signed the Sex Pistols to A&M and the Levellers to records has been proved wrong (again!).
The Levellers have stood the test of time, still with the original line-up, continuing to be successful for longer than their contemporaries from the 90’s. Their reputation as a superb live band and their commitment to the “road” has stood them in good stead with their loyal fan base over the years.
“Truth and Lies ” is the Levellers 8th studio album and marks a return to form with tracks such as the second single and live favourite “Last Man Alive”. Other standout tracks include “Confess”, ”Steel Knife”, “Wheels” and “For Us All”. The first single from the album “Make You Happy” gave the band their 14th Top 40 hit.
The Levellers have a busy touring schedule already booked for 2006, taking in countries never visited by the band before such as and . They are also set to play more established territories, , , , , and . The band’s own festival, Beautiful Days, will continue to build on its reputation as one of the country's best small festivals. The 10,000 capacity event is currently nominated for three awards on the Virtual Festivals website and is sure to sell out for the fourth consecutive year.
A no-nonsense approach to the music industry has served them well. 17 years on, the band have their own recording studio, their own festival, a cutting edge website
www.levellers.co.uk their own publishing company On The Fiddle Publishing and a world-wide fanbase.
The Levellers have always been a voracious touring band, often notching up over 200 shows per year throughout the world. Highlights include their headline appearances at Glastonbury Festival in 1992 and 1994 and a sell-out performance at Buxton Opera House in 2004 that led to an Acoustic tour of theatres in the later that year.
The band have released eight studio albums, including the platinum-selling "Levelling the Land" and number one album "Zeitgeist", one Live Album and a "Best Of." The band's consistency is underlined by the fact that they had more platinum, gold and silver albums in the 90’s than any other act in the . With songs like "One Way Of Life", “15 Years”, "Just The One", " Hope Street," and "What A Beautiful Day". The Levellers have had eight top twenty singles.
The Levellers have always done things differently. In 1994 they purchased a 10,000 square-foot building in Brighton called the Metway. This has been their creative base ever since, not only providing their own offices, studio and base for their excellent Fanclub "On the Fiddle" but also becoming a base for creative music in Brighton. The Levellers founded the Metway Sessions, giving a day’s free studio time away every week to emerging Brighton and bands. The Electric Soft Parade, British Sea Power and Clearlake, are a few up and coming bands who have all recorded Metway Sessions in what has become the 's most creative city. The Levellers play a leading part in the Brighton music community.
The Levellers have their own weekend music festival, Beautiful Days, 18th – 20th August 2006 will be the forth Beautiful Days Festival
www.beautifuldays.org They are the first band since Fairport Convention began Cropredy in the 70s to do this, and it further underlines the unique nature of this band.
May 2005 saw the release of the bands 8th studio album “Truth And Lies ”. The first single from the album “Make U Happy” released in April shot into the top 40. As always the band have numerous live appearances scheduled for the rest of this year as that’s the part of the job they enjoy most: Playing for the people.
Some quotes and anecdotes….
Damon Albarn “Get the fuck out of our dressing room”
Chris Moyles on hearing a caller declare the Levellers her favourite band “Ha ha ha ha ooo. Ha ha.
Channel 4 viewer after Mark and Jeremy were interviewed live at Glastonbury “Those are two of the most foul mouthed little oiks I have ever had the misfortune to see on my television set, who are they?”
www.levellers.co.uk