Conflict is Steeleye Span’s first album of the 2020s. As ever, it’s a blend of traditional songs with new compositions – but what’s different this time is the extent to which they’ve embraced a harder-edged sound. As Maddy Prior tells Prog, they’re unlikely to do it again.
“The world of music has changed enormously around us, but it hasn’t changed much for us – we’ve always ploughed our own furrow with very little reference to anybody else,” says Steeleye Span singer and founder member Maddy Prior, with regard to Conflict, their first studio album in six years.
“Steeleye is a world of its own. We do get influenced by other stuff, but in a minimal way, and only if people bring that influence in with them.”
Formed in 1969, they helped define the golden age of UK folk rock, and in the 70s gave the genre its highest commercial profile with four UK Top 40 albums and two unlikely hit singles. In 1973 they reached No.14 with 16th-century Christmas carol Gaudete, then in 1975 the boisterous singalong All Around My Hat, produced by Womblemeister Mike Batt, peaked at No.5. They even starred in the BBC TV series Electric Folk, for which they were filmed performing live in stately homes. National treasures, one might say.
They were used to playing universities, theatres and festivals in their home country. But in 1973 they were invited to tour the US supporting Jethro Tull. It was time to introduce a drummer so Nigel Pegrum, formerly of UK proggers Gnidrolog, was drafted in with much learning to do.
“In three weeks we were to be playing large arenas,” Prior recalls. “We just laughed about it, because in three years we’d gone from playing folk clubs to four nights at the LA Forum, which holds 17,000 people. It was bizarre. We loved it. I mean, we fought and got drunk and all that, but it was still a great time.”
Things have calmed down since then, of course, but Steeleye Span have remained in the folk-rock vanguard. Prior has described their shifting line-ups as “like a bus with people getting on and off” – but since Wintersmith, their 2013 collaboration with fantasy author Terry Pratchett, they’ve become more settled with a core of Prior, guitarists Julian Littman and Andrew ‘Spud’ Sinclair, plus Liam Genockey on drums. Bassist Roger Carey first recorded with the group in 2019 and the most recent addition is Royal Academy Of Music alumna Athena Octavia, following pevious fiddlers Violetta Vicci and Jessie May-Smart.
Steeleye have developed a rocky edge since Wintersmith that’s helped keep them grounded in the present. Conflict is stylistically wide-ranging, balanced between traditional and original songs with intricate vocal arrangements – “There’s five of us who sing, so we can make a really good noise,” says Prior – and some inspired instrumental settings.
“I usually initiate songs,” she says. “I look through the tradition to find new things, and there are three of my own pieces on this one: Trees Are Whispering, Honey Bee and Ghost Ship. I’ll have words and an idea of what it is. It’s not entirely a democracy, but I’m not telling people what to do. Then I work with Spud and Julian to get something that’s like a song, so we know where it’s going. And then everybody comes and suggests things and we work it out between us.”
The material on Conflict sits within a conceptual framework. “We had the title first,” Prior explains. “We’ve done loads of stuff over the years that’s war-based, but we didn’t want to do one just about war. We wanted to reflect the times we find ourselves in, but also the stretch and tear of our relationship with this planet that hosts us.
Low Flying was written and recorded by former bassist and Prior's ex-husband Rick Kemp for Happy Families, an album they recorded together in 1990. Inspired by planes over their home, it’s a satirical number about a man who answers an ad and becomes an RAF pilot.
One of the standout songs is Genocide, also written by Kemp, partly in response to reports that the RAF quite liked Low Flying. The subject matter remains horribly prescient; and it sees the band move into shredding territory with high-velocity flourishes by Littman and Octavia.
“Everybody lets rip on Genocide,” Prior says. “It’s probably as far as we’ll go in that direction – but it’s quite a long way in that direction,” she says. “The remit isn’t necessarily spoken, but you kind of know whether it works or not. Honey Bee is a bit on the edge. When we did it live, they couldn’t figure out what it was. We stopped doing it because it was too much like a love song. But it’s actually about bees!”
He said, ‘I imagine a vocal something like Tom Waits.’ I said, ‘I’ll give it a go!’ And that was the first take
Trees Are Whispering was inspired by theories about how trees communicate with each other and the interconnectedness of nature. This song links to I Am An Oak Tree. Written by country singer-songwriter Jonathan Byrd as I Was An Oak Tree, it’s about a tree that stands firm for centuries as kingdoms come and go.
“He writes great songs, but most are about the South. They’re not really appropriate for me to sing as they’re Americana,” Prior explains. “But this is an unusual piece, and when we did the album, I thought, ‘Perfect!’ We’ve got trees in there and it’s about change.”
Ghost Ship is the eerie tale of a craft ‘full to the gunnels with refugees.’ It’s a contemporary companion to Blow, Boys, Blow, a traditional song about a ship on the slave run, which is here given a sombre treatment. In the studio, Ridley told Prior that he thought it needed something a little different.
“He said, ‘I imagine a vocal something like Tom Waits.’ So I said, ‘Well, I’ll give it a go!’ And that was the first take. It’s about the words – it’s not about singing nicely. I thought people would think my voice is gone, but it’s deliberate.”
Some of the traditional pieces Steeleye Span have recorded address typically grim subjects like unwanted pregnancies, demons, murder and incest. Prior recalls being introduced to Queen Elizabeth II, who complimented them on their “jolly songs.” But listening to their colourful version of Over The Hills And Far Away, with its Celtic-sounding guitar and violin lines, it’s easy to imagine, had followed All Around My Hat, they might have had a third hit on their hands.
“Yes!” Prior says with a laugh. “It’s a great song. As older people we remember it from our youth, and John Tams used it as the theme music for the Sharpe TV series.. But I don’t think young people know songs like that any more.”
