Will Lang is a percussionist who is full of passion for his music. He helps to drive the sound of Park Bench Social Club and Mabon and find the time for a healthy dose of educational work. Spiral Earth had a enlightening and humourous chat with him one afternoon during the Cwlwm Celtaidd festival. We even learnt what his favourite dinosaur is!

So Bodhran is your speciality Will?
Yes, mainly.

And where are you based at the moment?
Newcastle now, but I'm born and bred just outside Bristol.

You took a music degree in Newcastle didn't you?
Yes, been there, done it and finished in June and now teaching for them, a percussion tutor for them on the side.

So you've gone full circle. The boy's done good, well you must have done, for them to have you back.
Yes and I didn't think I was going to graduate. They've said my attendence levels have gone up since they're paying me to be there.

So you can't have misbehaved too much, can you?
No, not that much.

Not too wild in the student bar?
Well some things don't change.

So that's where you met the other Park Bench Social Club guys then?
Yes I met them on the degree. We became friends before we were ever a band and it was quite strange. I was booked at a festival with another band and one of the main guys had to pull out so the whole band was pulled. They were stuck for somebody for that slot so they asked 'What can you do?' Well I said 'I know these guys, They're alright', so I said I'd see what I can do in three days. It was literally three days solid rehearsal, went there did it and people have been giving us gigs ever since.

How long at that stage had you been playing?
As a percussionist about nine years. I started when I was twelve. My parents were into folk music, they were into dancing. My brother was a musician but I was too involved with fishing to really care. Then on my twelfth birthday he asked me what I wanted and I said a fishing rod really and I can't really repeat what he said. But he advised me to get one of these drums and make yourself some money. So he got me one.

So you didn't rebel against that?
No my brother he's like a younger dad. He's twelve years older than me, so he's cool and I look up to him. I went with it because he said it was cool. Yes, it's gone from there really, but it never entered my mind I'd make money from it. I was doing it fot the love and enjoyment of it.

The Park Bench guys seem to be gathering quite a lot of attention.
Yes it seems that way. It's really rather good actually considering we've only been going for two years, it's a strange one. We've not been really working at it that hard in terms of, we never had visions of being where we are, but it seems to have crept up on us and we really enjoying where we are going.

Can you tell us a little bit about the mixture of styles in the group
The friendship thing is a big factor. When we all met it wasn't a case of I want you to play the music I like. We would just be around in the car or wherever we were going and it would be just have a listen to this, I'm really into this at the moment and everyone would be the same. Everyone just seemed to get into that whole little bubble of all the influences that we enjoyed.

So there wasn't a meeting where you thrashed out a style or direction?
No we've never had style (ha ha) it's been very organic in what we do. We have started to sit back and think where are we going to go from here. This is our benchmark if you will and after that we need to do something that proves progression.

The tricky second album.
Yes, because you don't think about the first album really it just happens. The main point is we're all still very close as friends, we don't see it as work, we're getting paid for it. We are very close and everyone respects everyone else's views, so it's good.

I don't want to put it in a geographical sense but it's great that I'm from Bristol, Ross being from Shetland and Aidan from Vancouver and we've all picked up different things along the way.

Is Aidan based over here now?
He is yes. His dad's actually from Newcastle. His dad moved over to Vancouver when he was eighteen. So probably 1932 ( ha ha), no probably the sixties, then Aidan came over because he heard about the course.

Is that where some of the more Americana playing comes from in the group?
Yes he is a bluegrass boy. He always says his grandad taught him how to pick, play pool and swear.

Have the pool and the swearing come in handy on the tours?
Yes to a certain extent. There's been some big men that are quite scarey when he beats them at pool.

That bluegrass element with the fiddle and your playing, it's actually a very good fusion isn't it? Really driving, if needed.
Definitely, It's always very firey. That's not to say we can't do gentle but we're probably all of the same mind. We're on different motorways but we're going in the same direction. It's going good.

So where did Mabon come in?
Mabon have been going for quite a few years. I actually think it started in 2000. I haven't been with them all the way through. I met them at a festival quite a few years back. They saw me playing and the Accordionist, Jamie Smith, who writes all the tunes put an i-pod in front of me and said 'What do you think to all these tunes?' So I said, 'yes they're great', so he said 'let's do a gig tomorrow night'.

There's already quite a lot going on in their sound. They obviously thought they needed another element in there?
To be honest it was weird because I don't know of many bands that have a kit and a percussionist as well. But it adds texture to it definitely and myself and the drummer get on very well. We're the two geeks on tour. Whilst they're in the pub playing pool, we'll be playing chess. so drummers are clever.

We're you good at maths at school?
Yes, I like maths.

You are also credited with playing a cajon and tabla.
Yes with Park Bench I play a flamenco drum. Originally not from Spain I think it actually came from Peru. Yes it's strange, slaves weren't allowed to play music so if they were ever seen with an instrument they would get it taken away from them of they would get punished. So they made this box, it didn't look like an instrument, so when no one was around they could have a play and when people were around it was a box, absolutely amazing thing. You can probably get one about seven doors down at Hobgoblin. I'm not sponsored by them by the way.

Now with Park Bench you've got the Eliza Carthy connection. How did that happen?
Honestly?

Anything. I'll have myth or reality.
We actually met in The Old Ship in Sidmouth couple of days before the festival started. My parents have a caravan down there. So we were down there to have a good laugh and she popped into the session we were playing at and Aidan is a very pretty boy.

Oh, that helps.
Yes and she said 'I like what you're doing' and we said 'I like what you are doing, would you like to come and play a gig with us'. We got her a triangle which I love the idea of. She's alright at triangle but better at fiddle but it's really lovely to have her support.

Are you going to have any more guests on future recordings?
Yes there's plans for quite a few more guests. The next album, fingers crossed, is going to have some high profile people. By high profile I just mean better known than us. We kind of pick the people not for maybe the music they play but more the vision they have in their head.

Any names for us?
Not at the moment.

I'll press you next time we meet up.
OK, Noel Edmunds.

He'd be the dream would he?
Yes and I'm also on the phone to Maggie Thatcher but she's been in hospital so I can't confirm her yet but I'll tell you first.

So what's this about your educational side? Tell us about the workshops you run.
I do a lot of those things and I'm really enjoying them. Going back to my brother he started a young folk musicians weekend in Halsway just outside Taunton. It's the only residential folk centre in England. The committee there had got ever older and had started having bingo evenings rather than ceilidhs.

My brother lives in Australia now but when I came out of university I wanted to be doing something like this. Get more youngsters in even if they are musicians to start with but not round the folk scene. You'd be amazed how receptive the youngsters are.

Guarantees an audience for the future doesn't it?
Definitely, we're facing a problem where the folk audiences are getting ever older. I really respect what they've done and I'm really glad to have them at the gigs. There's a good sixty percent now encouraging youngsters but there's still forty percent want to keep it precious for themselves.

So the scene needs freshening up round the edges a little you think? Certain festivals needing some new blood?
Well it's working it's way to freshening up. It's getting there slowly but surely.

You've also been in demand in certain other genres of music haven't you, Will? Nitin Sawhney for instance.
Yes, I was really lucky to work with him. I heard two of his albums in 2001, 'Prophesy' and 'Beyond skin'. It's going back to the maths thing, Indian classical music is very mathematical in it's rythmns and everything and so maths and music together it was like geek heaven. So I had admired his work from afar and then got the chance to work with him for a few gigs. Absolutely lovely guy, stunning musician, very clever. The work that we did had musicians from all sorts of genres just coming in. We started it with a weeks worth of rehearsals with one person throwing something in, then another person chucking something in, then we had to start gigging it. Another amazing organic project with his direction but everyone was like shall we put this in to see what worked. It was brilliant.

Superb. Thanks Will. Anything else?
My favourite dinosaur is a Diplodocus.
Magic!