MAWKIN; CAUSLEY

 

In 2002, Dave (guitar), Jamie (fiddle) and Danny (bass guitar) thought that sentence described them in perfect fashion. Mawkin began as a duo, Dave and Jamie had just split up with their former band, and had an invitation to perform at Dartmoor Folk Festival 2002 at the age of 15 and 17 yrs old respectively. However, the direction of the music changed as soon as they realized the potential of Danny Crump. Danny had been playing in an Iron Maiden tribute band with Dave for a few months, and had only been playing bass for that long as well. At Moreton Folk Festival; a local festival organized by Dave and his family, Danny was asked to play bass for the festival’s resident ceilidh band, although he had no experience of playing on stage, playing bass or even playing folk, Danny said yes.

After Dartmoor 2002, Mawkin began to receive more performance opportunities, and soon realized that they were forming a band. So they drafted in Alex Goldsmith, a good friend of everyone’s, and a great melodeon player. Alex was given 2 weeks to learn the repertoire before going on stage at Dartmoor 2003 to perform. It would be nice to say that he learnt it and the band sounded tight, but he couldn’t and they didnt. They just mixed his tunes up with some their tunes and survived the set (somehow), soon after band practices were introduced as things started to get serious.

 

The music is taken from many influences, Jamie’s fiddle is very much in a English style, but with aspects of Johnny Cunningham in his work. Alex play’s melodeon like he’s trying to tame a beast, a big punchy sound influenced by Andy Cutting, John Kirkpatrick and session players from his home county of Suffolk. Dave’s guitar work is influenced by jazz and rock, although he also has a classical guitar upbringing and Danny has taken influences of funk rock artists in his bass playing. It’s hard to pin down.

 

The result is a unique sound, its punchy, energetic, passionate and good fun, but can also be moving and subtle.

In March 2005 the band released their debut recording, being a six track EP it is a showcase of where the band were at by the end of 2004. It was recorded live over two days at ‘So-Called’ Studios in Thaxted, this was quite an experience and forced the band (again) to look over arrangements and attitude. The EP was well received by the press and is still selling well.