| Show of Hands | |
| Landscape: | Yes |
| Background: | group_or_band |
| Origin: | Devon, England |
| Genre: | Roots, folk, acoustic |
| Years Active: | 1987–present |
| Label: | Hands On |
| Current Members: | Steve Knightley Phil Beer Miranda Sykes Cormac Byrne |
Show of Hands is an English acoustic roots/folk duo formed in 1986 by singer-songwriter Steve Knightley (guitars, mandolin, mandocello, cuatro) and composer and multi-instrumentalist Phil Beer (vocals, guitars, violin, viola, mandolin, mandocello). Joined by singer and double-bassist Miranda Sykes for a tour in 2004, Show of Hands continued to regularly perform as a trio with Sykes, as well as in their original format. In 2019, the line-up was further expanded by the addition of Irish percussionist Cormac Byrne.
Known for their songs with rousing choruses that address contemporary social issues, (notably their "singalong attack on the bankers", Arrogance Ignorance and Greed) these often illustrate current concerns through historical narratives and have earned Knightley the label the 'Gravel voiced spokesman of the rural poor'.[1] Rooted in English traditional music the songs are shot through with diverse influences from music across the world, including the blues, Americana and Latin rhythms. Nominating Knightley as 'songwriter of the '90s' Tom Robinson of BBC Radio 6 noted that the songs spring from "the soil of the West Country,"[2] where, as Robin Denselow writes in the Guardian, "Beer and Knightley have become folk heroes".
Widely recognised as pioneers in the folk/roots arena, both for their enduring emphasis on stagecraft and their radical business model, Show of Hands are noted for the high level of professionalism they bring to their performances, whether in a small club or the Royal Albert Hall. Their "much vaunted cottage industry," set up Show of Hands as an independent concern before the internet made this common practice. Beer and Knightley, with their then manager, Gerard O'Farrell, built on their close relationship with their growing and "devoted" fanbase to create a completely self-contained way of working. This included their record label and production company Hands On Music, that gave them control of their consistently 'classy' output.
Show of Hands have received widespread critical acclaim over their 30 album (and continuing) career, and in 2006 were voted "Greatest Devonians Ever" in a poll run by Devon Country Council beating Sir Francis Drake, Agatha Christie and Chris Martin amongst others to the title.
1980s: The beginning
Offered a gig at the Wimborne Festival in 1986, Steve Knightley called on his old friends Warwick Downes (double bass) and Martin Bradley (concertina) to join him for that event. They performed as Show of Hands, a name chosen by Knightley who liked its democratic implications. Another of Knightley's old friends, Phil Beer, was in the audience. Impressed by the quality of Knightley's self-penned songs and by Exile in particular, Beer suggested they form a duo and offered to try and get them some gigs.
The pair had first met in the early seventies when both were in their early teens and performing on the thriving Devon folk circuit. Beer was gigging extensively with Colin Wilson (guitar) in their duo 'Odd Folk'. Knightley, in 'Gawain', was working his way through the Penguin Book of English Folk Songs, with Paul Downes (Warwick's brother) on guitar and John 'Bat' Evans on fiddle. At this time Knightley began experimenting with writing his own songs.
Relocating to Coventry to study politics and history at Lanchester Polytechnic College, Knightley started a folk club there. Beer and Downes, gigging as a duo were frequent visitors.Continuing his studies at Sussex University, Knightley formed a duo with Warwick Downes, during which time he penned his narrative folk 'opera' Tall Ships. This he later performed on Richard Digance's Capital Radio show, with his then neighbour, the actor Jim Carter (who plays Mr Carson in Downton Abbey) reading the opening poem, 'The Wrecker's Prayer'.[3]
Throughout the late 1970s and early 1980s Beer and Knightley would stand in as needed in each other's bands when they were playing in London. Here Knightley "stormed the indie rock circuit" In four bands The Cheats', 'Total Strangers', 'Short Stories' and 'The West' and Beer gigged with folk legends Johnny Coppin, Ashley Hutchings’ The Albion Band, Mike Oldfield and his own 'The Arizona Smoke Revue'.
In 1986, Knightley moved to rural Dorset with his first wife Simone to run the remote 'Catsley House' as a whole-food guest-house. Here, in January 1987, following their fateful Wimborne Festival meeting, Beer and Knightley set up in a studio above the garage to record the songs that as Show of Hands they were now honing live.
Their first release, Show of Hands (on cassette only), sold out over the course of their live shows. Playing every gig on the folk circuit they knew well from their teenage years, they realised that audiences tend to favour familiarity over novelty. So, the pair initially slipped original songs into a set of folk standards. But by the end of the decade the folk standards barely featured in their shows. This is testimony to Knightley’s ability to write original songs that become instant classics.[4] For instance, The Galway Farmer has appeared in at least one list of traditional Irish tunes though Knightley wrote it in 1994.[5]
1990s: Sowing the seeds of a 'grass-roots' phenomenon
Show of Hands kicked off the 1990s with the release of Tall Ships. Again, on cassette only and recorded at the Catsley House home studio, it featured the recording of Knightley’s epic folk-suite that had first aired on Capital Radio. This too sold out at gigs.
Taken on in 1991 by local agent Peter Wilson, he secured bookings for the duo in hundreds of venues up and down the South Coast. Here in the dockers' and bikers' pubs Show of Hands learnt how to successfully compete with the darts and the TV to grow a loyal audience beyond their usual folk crowd.
Knightley's years performing in tough London pubs and bars and Beer's folk/rock experience of venues throughout Europe began to pay off. "We were playing loud and hard. People would still be clapping, and we'd be already counting in the next tune. Sometimes we’d have to tone it down a touch in the folk clubs, but it was great grounding for festival gigs." 'Nailing it' live, Show of Hands were building firm foundations for their famously close relationship with their audience as the 1990s dawned. And in 1991, as their gigging schedule became increasingly hectic, Beer left ‘The Albion Band’ to concentrate full-time on Show of Hands.
Out for the Count, also on cassette, followed the same year. Recorded at Beer's Old Court Studio in Gloucestershire, it again quickly sold out at gigs. Displaying their trust in the people who came to see them, Show of Hands would simply put the cassettes in a tub and say: "If you’d like one, take one, but bung in a fiver."
Early collaboration
A chance call from Roger Watson from the Southern Arts Development Project (TAPS) in 1992 resulted in Beer and Knightley’s collaboration with three exiled Chilean musicians. Together with Dave Townsend on fiddle and concertina, they joined Sergio Avila, Mauricio Venegas and Vladimir Vega to create the band 'Alianza'.
Working with the Chileans on the 'Alianza' tour and album of the same name had a profound impact on Beer and Knightley. Whilst informing their rhythmic language and musical sensibility, it also inspired them to add the cuatro to their repertoire. The Chileans' awareness of music's power to educate and inform (and the risks that they took to perform it), hit home with Beer and Knightley. "In our society people can make political statements in song and no one will threaten you. But for them, just getting together and playing ordinary folk songs (meant) risking arrest, imprisonment and exile."
First CD releases
Beer and Knightley continued performing as Show of Hands whilst also touring with 'Alianza' and in June 1992 their performance at the Bull's Head in Bridport was recorded live by Mike Trim who'd signed the duo to his RGF record label. Show of Hands Live '92 was their first CD release. It secured them slots on the following year’s festival circuit and a 60-date tour support with Ralph McTell.
Where the 'Alianza' tour had introduced Beer and Knightley to arts centre audiences in the South of England, the gigs with McTell took them to large theatre audiences across the country. McTell advised them to "stop doing endless gigs," to group them into coherent touring periods underpinned by a concept – and with a new record to promote!
In January 1994, Show of Hands recorded Beat About the Bush (Isis records 1994, Hands On Music 1999), in Wytherstone Studios, West Dorset, again produced by Mike Trim. Released in February, the album featured a large line-up of guest musicians, including a rhythm section that the prevailing wisdom deemed necessary for a more radio friendly sound.
A new business model
The Beat About The Bush tour took in over a hundred gigs from Land’s End to the Scottish Borders. Halfway through, Australian maverick and musician Gerard O'Farrell joined as sound engineer. Realising that the normal music business practice involving agents, fixed fees and using house PAs at each gig wasn't doing the band or the venues any favours, O'Farrell took up the reins as manager and agent. With Beer and Knightley, he set up a new business model that was to become a template for musicians everywhere.[6] [7]
Show of Hands would book the gigs in-house, turn up with their own PA and lighting system and even provide their own rider. They'd refuse a fee and instead take a percentage of the door. All the venue had to do was sell the tickets. In taking on the financial risk, Show of Hands avoided possibly antagonistic relationships with the venues and also empowered a host of music-loving amateur promoters, many of whom have built careers booking major artists in large concert venues.
Forming a close-knit expert touring team, they also removed the anxieties of potentially poor sound and inadequate lighting. Show of Hands would take typical folk performances to a new level, ensuring a professional performance scenario that both they and their audiences could rely on.
As the band continued to build up their grass-roots fan base and growing a mailing list that received news of their forthcoming gigs, their 'cottage industry' approach began to pay off. In 1996, O'Farrell, Beer and Knightley set up the label 'Hands On Music', to take care of Show of Hands' recording, distribution and publishing needs. From the outset, O’Farrell and Hands On Music bucked the trend in usual music business practice by positively applauding music sharing in line with the available technology. A newsletter went out in 1997 encouraging the copying of albums onto cassette and handing them out to friends. Later, after a crash course to learn all things internet, O’Farrell set up the band’s website, made Show of Hands' music and footage freely available and gave downloading a hearty thumbs up.
In 2001 O'Farrell returned with his family to Australia where he continued to run the website. Vaughan Pearce, then in charge of the band’s merchandising, took on the role of manager. He would focus on the agency side of the business, whilst his wife Gwen, a former major record company executive, would soon join him to run the Hands On Music label. A deal with Proper in 2001 ensured mainstream distribution for Show of Hands releases.
International gigs
Throughout the 1990s the duo performed in Australia, Hong Kong, the US, Canada, Indonesia and India – experiences that opened their ears to yet more instrumental textures and songwriting themes. Under Vaughan and Gwen’s steady stewardship the duo re-focused their attention on their British audiences and their festival and concert profile grew accordingly.
"A formidable partnership"
1994 saw the release of Show of Hands first compilation album. Favourite tracks from the first three cassettes were repackaged on CD: Backlog 1987–1991. (Isis 1994)
Demonstrating their commitment to their audience and to music itself, Show of Hands embarked on their first 'workshop tour' in February 1995. In this they shared their experience of composing, performing and the music business with fans and fellow musicians alike.
In amongst festival gigs, and before performing to 18,000 at Copredy in August, Show of Hands recorded their next studio album Lie of the Land (Isis 1995, Hands On Music 1996). O’Farrell producing, plugged the instruments straight into the desk to capture a pared down 'live' sound. Released in October 1995, the album received 4-stars and a 'startlingly good' from Q, becoming their folk record of the year in '96.