Blyth Power are a British rock band formed in 1983 by singer and drummer Joseph Porter, formerly of

anarcho-punk Anarcho-punk (also known as anarchist punk or peace punk) is ideological subgenre of punk rock that promotes anarchism. Some use the term broadly to refer to any punk music with anarchist lyrical content, which may figure in crust punk, hardcor ...

bands Zounds and The Mob. The band's music shows strong influences from punk rock and

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has ...

and Porter's lyrics often centre on themes from mythology and history. The band have released more than a dozen studio albums, since 1993 on their own label Downwarde Spiral Records.

Career

Established in 1983 and named after a railway locomotive, the one constant in an ever-shifting lineup has been drummer, vocalist, and songwriter Joseph Porter (real name Gary Hatcher, born 21 February 1962 in

Templecombe Templecombe is a village in Somerset, England, situated on the A357 road five miles south of Wincanton, east of Yeovil, and west of Salisbury. The village has a population of 1,560. Along with the hamlet of Combe Throop, it forms the paris ...

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lor ...

, England), who formed the band with Curtis Youé, another former member of

band The Mob. The band have subsequently been through many line-up changes; their 1990 album ''Alnwick and Tyne'' featured Jamie Hince, later of The Kills, on lead guitar. The band's first release was a cassette, ''A Little Touch of Harry in the Night'', in 1984. Since 1993, Blyth Power recordings have been released on their own label, Downwarde Spiral. Since 2000 they have cut back on their touring schedule due to various personal commitments, but they have organised an annual mini-festival, the Blyth Power Ashes. The festival takes place in August of each year, and combines live music with a cricket match featuring band members and their associates. From 2011 the event moved to The Plough, in Farcet Fen near

Peterborough Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire until ...

due to its ever-increasing popularity. From 2015 to 2019, The Ashes took place at The Hunters Inn in Longdon, near

Tewkesbury Tewkesbury ( ) is a medieval market town and civil parish in the north of Gloucestershire, England. The town has significant history in the Wars of the Roses and grew since the building of Tewkesbury Abbey. It stands at the confluence of the Ri ...

. Joseph Porter has also been involved with various side-projects, such as doing solo guitarist/vocalist performances and collaborating in two other bands, Red Wedding and Mad Dogs & Englishmen.

Musical style

The band's lyrics often deal with episodes from history, ranging from the

Trojan War In Greek mythology, the Trojan War was waged against the city of Troy by the Achaeans (Greeks) after Paris of Troy took Helen from her husband Menelaus, king of Sparta. The war is one of the most important events in Greek mythology and ha ...

to the

Cod Wars The Cod Wars ( is, Þorskastríðin; also known as , ; german: Kabeljaukriege) were a series of 20th-century confrontations between the United Kingdom (with aid from West Germany) and Iceland about fishing rights in the North Atlantic. Each ...

, as well as aspects of English culture such as

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by st ...

, village life and trains, as well as a lot of politics. Porter is an avowed trainspotter, and in August 1998 the band appeared on the LWT religious affairs television programme ''Holy Smoke!'' in a slot in which musicians discussed their individual religions — with trainspotting cited as his religion.

Members

Current members

Former members

Timeline

Discography

Albums

Studio albums

Live albums

Compilation albums

Singles

Appearances

*"Reality Asylum" - cover version of the song by

Crass Crass were an English art collective and punk rock band formed in Epping, Essex in 1977, who promoted anarchism as a political ideology, a way of life, and a resistance movement. Crass popularised the anarcho-punk movement of the punk sub ...

on the compilation album ''You've Heard It All Before'' (1993)

Related albums

*''When Death Went to Bed With a Lady'' (1998, Joseph Porter solo album) *''Going Down with Alice'' (2000, album by Mad Dogs and Englishmen, including Joseph Porter) *''Red Wedding'' (2004, acoustic album by Steven Cooper and Joseph Porter)

Videos

*''Do the One About the Horse'' (1990) *''Live in Harlow'' (1995)

References

External links

Blyth Power official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blyth Power English punk rock groups Anarcho-punk groups Folk punk groups British indie rock groups