Barricades Rise

The Internet is a fine thing. A few years ago we ended up playing a lot of gigs in Northampton for reasons unknown, and one of these gigs was organised by Lew Bear. I think it was towards the end of a long tour, we were both shattered, we played but didn’t really promote ourselves too well as we usually did. If I remember right, I was a bit ill and had an early start. Basically, all this comes down to we played an OK gig, then left 30 minutes later. A very un-Barricades Rise thing to do. We probably shared a 5 minute conversation with Lew, who was a gentleman not to mention a gentle man. Since then via Facebook and Twitter, we seem to correspond often. His latest venture really caught both Jonathan’s and my eye.

For Lew’s album he was to record a load of songs outdoors, really outdoors. In the middle of a field, by a river, under a bridge and more, with as much nature going into the recordings as vocals and guitar. He has just released this album, entitled Down By The River, and the sound is fantastic. Birds are chirping, rivers are flowing and the space is ethereal. This morning the album came through my letter box and I’m loving it. I urge everyone to seek it out whether its via limited edition CD with 4 extra tracks, or online.

Great work Lew!

Michael