The new album is here this week! We can’t wait to FINALLY release it, but as many musicians will tell you, the weird thing about the release process is that by the time you release an album you’re already super done with it, and moving on to the next one.
So what will the next one be like? Well, this band has always been pretty relentless in its drive to record original folk-punk songs; even on Into The North we did four original sea shanties, which was actually really bloody difficult, because that genre so easily descends into comical “yo ho ho” stereotypes about grog and wenches. And as I’ve constantly blathered on about here, we’re bloody proud of some of this; looking back at a song like “Polka Never Dies”, you realize that you kind of DID something that needed DOING and that no-one else was going to DO.
But the funny thing about this policy is that it cuts you off from a vast, living tradition of folk music. I often return to a band like Steeleye Span, who have been so influential on us in so many ways, and I admire the way they (and others like them) mined the English/Scottish/Welsh folk tradition for brilliant songs to do.
The English folk tradition in particular never got the big popularity boost that the Irish one did and is nowhere NEAR as ‘marketable’ (mainly because it doesn’t sell alcohol… thanks, ethnic stereotypes!). This is particularly ironic because many songs people think are Irish (like “Wild Rover”) are actually of English origin. And there are so many other songs from that tradition that absolutely blow my mind; Scarborough Fair, Oak and Ash and Thorn, Tom O’ Bedlam, and of course all the wassailing songs associated with that wonderful Cidery thing they do over there. And then there are bazillions of traditional Polkas we could do… and so many challenging instrumentals from the Balkan/Slavic tradition (i.e. the transcendent Ajde Jano… if the rhythm of that song messes you up, try counting to seven). Klezmer… Ukrainian… even Turkish…. SO MUCH TO DO.
So, like, why not focus our energies on an all-traditional album for 2023? Eh?
Bearing this POSSIBILITY in mind, we’re gonna open up comments on this post and ask: what interesting, under-explored songs would YOU like to hear on a trad-heavy Dreadnoughts album?
I'd be interested in hearing a cover of "Wayfaring Stranger." It'd be interesting to hear it in your style. I know that many others have done that in the past, but I'd definitely want to hear you guys put your own twist on it.
I'd love to see a collaboration between you guys and The Longest Johns. If that's not possible, a romanian-folk inspired song would do fine. Love what you did with Victory Square!