Adrian Edmondson's Bad Shepherds to rock Caernarfon's Galeri

Nov 11 2008

ADRIAN Edmondson is hanging up his comedic and acting boots to help launch his band The Bad Shepherds.

The band, described as punk/folk, will take to the roads of the UK next month for his virgin outing as vocalist and mandolin player for the band, playing 27 dates, including Galeri in Caernarfon and Theatr Harlech on Friday and Saturday, December 12 and13, respectively.

When Edmondson announced that he was about to leave BBC One hit show Holby City and embark upon a full-time career in music, the great British public could be forgiven for the sneaking suspicion that a major wind-up was under way.

Further ammunition arrived when he announced the band would be performing "folked-up" versions of punk rock songs, and the smart consensus was that we were about to witness a re-run of the famous Bad News episode from the Channel 4 series The Comic Strip Presents.

That show was a parody of every heavy metal cliché ever invented, though Bad News eventually metamorphosed into a real-life band.

But this time round Adrian is deadly serious and has gathered together a folk super group of experienced world class performers.

Martin Allcock was for many years a multi-instrumentalist and backing vocalist with Fairport Convention before joining Jethro Tull.

Troy Donockley has performed on Uillean Pipes and whistles with a host of rock and folk bands as diverse as Nightwish, Maddy Prior and Midge Ure.

And the band is completed by rising Irish fiddle-player Eimear Bradley.

The band perform an amalgam of the two styles of music Adrian loves best, so expect folk versions of punk classics such as I Fought The Law, London Calling, Teenage Kicks and God Saves The Queen among others.

For details, call Galeri on (01286) 685222 or Theatr Harlech on (01766) 780667.