Goblin Band formed organically from intimate sessions of the same name ran out of the HobGoblin Music, a folk music instrument shop in Central London, and organised by a group of queer folk obsessive friends and shop employees. These sessions have given rise to a six- piece band which, though firmly rooted in the traditional music of the British Isles, draws widely on medieval and early music, as well as the folk musical traditions from abroad. The sound concocted employs all manner of strings, squeezeboxes, hurdy gurdy, flutes, horns, bells and whistles. The Goblins interpret folk song in relation to the political upheavals of past and present and strive to make a space for new audiences to experience traditional music in a manner which is both riotously joyful and deeply sincere.
“They can play and they can sing and they’re fearless…When I saw Goblin Band singing recently, I just thought, “Why didn’t I think of that?…They move stuff around…They go back to versions that we were too snotty to touch and they turn them into stomps. They did one of the songs that I consider to be one of ‘my’ songs, ‘Willie’s Lady’, and I thought it was fucking brilliant. I was knocked out…They’ve changed it and it’s bloody good! I even thought of copying it myself” – MARTIN CARTHY
