McDermott's Two Hours
McDermott’s Two Hours formed in Brighton in 1986 and were among the first groups to recognise the stirring potential of fusing traditional Celtic and English folk influences with the passion and vigour of punk-rock. McDermott’s soon earned themselves a reputation as one of the best live acts around. Their album, The Enemy Within is widely regarded as a folk-rock classic. Following appearances at Reading, Womad and Glastonbury festivals, as well as a series of gigs at London’s Mean Fiddler, McDermott’s split in 1991 as singer-songwriter Nick Burbridge stepped back from the limelight to pursue a literary career.
Burbridge’s lyrical integrity and sophistication have always been a central part of McDermott’s. His songs are characterised by an unnerving passion and a commitment to the dispossessed, marking the band as a reassuring presence in an industry saturated with the manufactured and the superficial.
McDermott’s were a major influence on The Levellers, who covered one track, Dirty Davey, on their eponymous album, selling over 250,000 copies. Recent collaborations between the two bands have produced three albums of Burbridge’s songs released under the guise McDermott’s Two Hours versus The Levellers: World Turned Upside Down, Claws and Wings and Disorder, all greeted by a uniformly positive critical response.
After more than ten years away from the live circuit, McDermott’s re-launched in 2004 with renewed vigour. A sell-out album launch gig at Brighton’s Komedia followed by a series of successful festival appearances, including prime slots at Beautiful Days and Solfest, reaffirmed McDermott’s Two Hours as a major presence on the British folk-rock scene. Spring 2005 saw the release of a live album recorded at Ferneham Hall and a national twelve date tour with The Levellers, playing to crowds of several thousand.
A new album, Goodbye to the Madhouse, is released as the inaugural title on OTF Recordings in August 2007, launched to coincide with their performance at Beautiful Days. It sees the band return to the form of The Enemy Within, combining Burbridge’s cutting lyrical prowess with traditional arrangements, augmented by bass and kit drums. Produced by Tim Cotterell and Jeremy Cunningham and mastered by Jon Sevink, the album continues the band’s close association with The Levellers while restoring McDermott’s to their own unique place in the scheme of things:
‘It really is a masterpiece. Instrumentation is immense, singing on top form and drums rocking. Proper folk-rock music, all lean and no cheese – a rarity in the genre! It’s a definitive boundary-pushing record.’ (Jeremy Cunningham, The Levellers)
McDermott’s Two Hours currently gig as powerful six piece, Burbridge joined by original members Ben Paley, “just about the best fiddler of his generation” (fRoots); and Matt Goorney playing bass, banjo, harmonica and melodica. They are joined by multi-instrumentalist Tim Cotterell; drummer Dil Davies and All Jigged Out’s piper and flute player Phillipe Barnes. As always, McDermott’s live outings are marked by their energy, sheer power, and by the musical virtuosity of one of the most innovative and significant bands operating within the folk-rock idiom today.
