The Ploughmen Collective

News and Forthcoming Dates

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Forthcoming Dates

Sunday 29th November 2009: The Fox, Pirton, Herts
Saturday 10th April 2010: The Plough, Ley Green, Herts
(Wedding party, but the pub is open to all as usual)

Satisfied Venues

Potton Social Club, Potton, Beds
Preston School, Preston, Herts
Portland Arms, St Albans, Herts
The Boot, Sarratt, Herts
Offley Hoo Farm, Offley, Herts
The Plough, Ley Green, Herts
The Nightingale, Hitchin, Herts
Hitchin Conservative Club, Hitchin, Herts
Ploughstock Festival, Kings Walden, Herts
Aldenham Social Club, Aldenham, Herts
The Windmill, Charlton, Hitchin, Herts
The George, Nash Mills, Hemel Hempstead, Herts
The Plume of Feathers, Little Wymondley, Herts
The Anchor, Hitchin, Herts
Red Lion, Preston, Herts
Red Lion, Breachwood Green, Herts
Offley Club, Great Offley, Herts
The Well, Hitchin, Herts

'YMCA' at The Boot, Sarratt. Click the pics to see large versions

Book The Ploughmen

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On This Page:

Book the Band
Gig/Availability Calendar
Set List
Chords

Book the Band

Do you have a pub, club or a forthcoming event? Are you looking for something a little different from the usual pub rock? We can do loud if you want, but if you would prefer an all-acoustic set in order to avoid complaints from neighbours or the council, well we can do that as well... Cheap and flexible, that's us!

For your convenience we maintain a calendar (below) that shows most bookings and periods when we are otherwise unavailable due to holidays etc. Please check to see if we seem to be free on the date you would like us to play.

If you'd like to find out about booking The Ploughmen, please email or telephone.

Email: rickcadger(at)gmail.com

Mobile: 07913 023969 (please leave a message with your contact details if there is no answer).

Availability

Gigs and dates when we know we will be unavailable will appear on this calendar. Please call or email to confirm availability or to book the band.

Set List

Ain't Misbehavin'
Back in the USSR
Bad Moon Rising
Bring Me Sunshine
Brown Eyed Girl
Country Roads
Cripple Creek
Dirty Old Town
Duelling Banjos
Fat Bottomed Girls
Feel Like Making Love
Foggy Mountain Breakdown
Green, Green Grass of Home
Hello Mary Lou
Honkey Tonk Women
Hoots Mon
I'm the Urban Spaceman
Jambalaya
Johnny B Goode
Just for Kicks
La Bamba
Limehouse Blues
Man of Constant Sorrow
Meet Me on the Corner
Misty
Molly Malone
Moondance
My Old Man's a Dustman
One Step Beyond
Promised Land
Proud Mary
Putting on the Style
Radar Love
Rockabilly Rebel
Rock Around the Clock
Rock This Town
Roll in My Sweet Baby's Arms
Route 66
Runaround Sue
Sentimental Journey
Sharp Dressed Man
Suspicious Minds
Sweet Georgia Brown
Take It Easy
Twenty Flight Rock
Whiskey in the Jar
Wild Rover
YMCA

And more!

We get many requests for the chords to "Bring Me Sunshine", so here's our version as transcribed by our guitarist, Barry.

Bring Me Sunshine
-----------------

         G6        Gdim     Am7   D7
Bring me Sunshine, in your smile,
         Am7     D         G6
Bring me Laughter, all the while,
        Dm7            G7                 C
In this world where we live, there should be more happiness,
        A 9                        Am7               D+
So much joy you can give, to each brand new bright tomorrow,

        G6    Gdim         Am7    D7
Make me happy, through the years,
      Am7      D7   G6
Never bring me, any tears,
         Dm7        G7          C           C#dim
Let your arms be as warm as the sun from up above,
         Am7           D7                 G
Bring me fun, bring me sunshine, bring me love.

         G6        Gdim    Am7     D7
Bring me Sunshine, in your eyes,
         Am7     D          G6
Bring me rainbows, from the skies,
           Dm7         G7           C
Life's too short to be spent having anything but fun,
       A 9                  Am7           D+
We can be so content, if we gather little sunbeams,

         G6     Gdim      Am7    D7
Be light-hearted, all day long,
        Am7    D7      G6
Keep me singing, happy songs,
         Dm7        G7          C           C#dim
Let your arms be as warm as the sun from up above,
         Am7           D7                 G
Bring me fun, bring me sunshine, bring me love.

About The Ploughmen

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On This Page:

Introduction
History

Introduction

The Ploughmen are a ragged-arsed bunch of middle-aged hooligans. 50% of the band are accomplished and versatile musicians. The other 50% is an accident looking for somewhere to happen. There are currently nine core members of the collective, most of whom are fugitives from other bands. With a collective age of several hundred years, these iffy characters have scarcely a full head of hair, or a full gob of teeth, between them.

The Ploughmen's raison d'etre is as impenetrable as the "music" they produce. Live appearances are invariably shambolic and traumatic. There is no money in the project, and certainly no artistic merit.

The range of musical genres covered is wide, and unsuspecting audiences have been exposed to Irish and cockney pub songs, rock & roll, bluegrass, rock, reggae and ska, jazz, rockabilly, blues and folk songs - seemingly without rhyme or reason.

The most baffling thing about The Ploughmen is that the punters absolutely love them. So far, every venue they have played has invited them back to commit further offences.

History

In about 2005, Rick and Lindsey came back from a holiday in Killarney. After enjoying the kind of informal, traditional entertainment so common in Irish establishments, they were acutely aware of the absence of similar entertainment locally. The idea of a regular session at The Plough emerged and, after an appeal for participants, the first ever Plough session took place one Tuesday evening in an otherwise empty bar.

The founder members at that first, peculiar shambles were Rick, Trevor, Phil, Russell and early supporter Kenny. Kenny soon found that other commitments meant he had to drop out.

In the early days, the repertoire was mostly British, Irish, Australian and American folk songs - basically, the kind of stuff one would hear in a ballad session in Ireland. That kind of session was what had inspired the activity at The Plough. One of Rick's main concerns was to keep the whole thing simple and free of amplification, and to avoid spawning just another pub rock band. The idea was to create traditional, DIY pub entertainment. Not so much a performance as a session where guest singers and players could join in.

Next to join were folk enthusiasts Pete and Lyn Bliss, closely followed by Robin. Pete contributed a very strong, traditional singing voice while Lyn played tin whistle. Robin, a blues specialist, added a very welcome guitar while Russell found that demands on his time meant that his attendance became infrequent. It was when Robin, Pete and Lyn joined that things started to take shape and a few more people started coming along to listen or to join in. Nevertheless, a lot of people remained skeptical of the folky content, and gradually songs in other genres began to creep into the set.

At this point the "band" played their early gigs. The first was to be an appearance at the Great Offley Bike Show, a motorcycle event. Unfortunately, technical problems meant that the band spent a frustrating 20 minutes on an unsuccessful sound-check before leaving the stage without playing a note. By this time, Keith had got himself involved in the shambles.

The first successful gig was a garden party at The Plough. The event was well-attended and the performance went down very well. Soon afterwards came a gig at Offley club (the venue that hosted the bike show where the first, abortive gig attempt had occurred). Upon arrival, the band found that they were billed as "The Ploughmen", the name used to this day.

Pete and Lyn emigrated to Portugal a few months later, and vocal duties were taken over by Boyd. A few more gigs went well, and The Ploughmen began getting more frequent requests to play. Barry began to join the band for gigs and occasionally for the informal Tuesday sessions.

In the absence of Pete and Lyn's strong folk influence the band had to play to its remaining strengths, and other genres became more prominent, although the sing-along ethic (and the chaos) remained.

Gordon and PJ became regular members in 2007 adding very welcome vocals and instruments : guitar and double bass respectively. With their arrival a new collection of rock and roll and rockabilly songs were added to the repertoire, including some which have become an indispensable part of every performance.

2007 was the year of infamy: the year in which a Ploughmen video was banned from YouTube. Following a complaint by the copyright holder, a video of The Ploughmen's cover version of the Village People hit 'YMCA' (added to the set as a nod to the gay and lesbian contingent of the band's huge worldwide fanbase) was pulled by YouTube. Despite international condemnation, the video ban remained and the only way to present the performance to an eager public was to add the clip to this site.

2009/2010 sees the band continuing their World Tour of North Herts.

Related Bands

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The Ploughmen is not so much a formal band as a collective of people who have temporarily escaped from other, proper, bands. Here are links to some of the worthy ensembles who have contributed members to The Ploughmen.

Matchbox:
Gordon's main band, best known in the UK for their 80s hit "Rockabilly Rebel"

Hang Loose:
Phil and Keith's blues/rock/soul band

Moose on the Loose:
Barry's newest covers band. Gigging around Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and maybe a little further afield when the wind is in the right direction.

Trax:
Another of Barry's bands. Rock & roll/60s covers. Loitering around Hertfordshire and North London... Just don't ask them to go south of the river.

Just for Kicks:
A rock & roll band featuring Gordon, PJ, Keith and Trev

If you want to contact any of the bands above (not all of them have websites), please feel free to leave a message using the contact details on the "Book the Band" page of this site. So long as you make it clear who the message is for, it'll get passed on.

Perpetrators

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The core line up of The Ploughmen includes an unusual mixture of instruments including guitar, banjo, double bass, saxophone, mandolin, ukulele, another guitar, clarinet, yet another guitar, another ukulele, another ukulele, another ukulele, yet another ukulele, drums/percussion and, once in a blue moon, tin whistle, recorder and fiddle.

These are wielded by the following offenders, in alphabetical order:

Barry (AKA Bo Widdley):
Guitar, ukulele, transcendental meditation, mercenary tendencies, heartless betrayal...
Boyd (AKA Boyd Diddley):
Sleazy lounge vocals, timing errors, fag breaks, extreme leaning, wandering off, cider
Gordon (AKA Bo Piddley):
Guitar, ukulele, vocals, forgetting words, sound FX, fag and bathroom breaks, crap jokes
Keith (AKA Blow Diddley):
Saxophone, clarinet, tin whistle, recorder, ukulele, occasional hat, Benny Hill tribute
Phil (AKA Bo Hillbiddley):
Banjo, vocals, bass, ukulele, Butlins-style compere duties, leaving early to watch Celebrity Love Island
PJ (AKA P Diddley):
Double bass, bass guitar, ukulele, vocals, demented laughter, mandolin, fag breaks, Stella
Rick (AKA Bo Fiddley):
Mandolin, ukulele, tin whistle, solo-ducking, mistakes, additional mistakes, Guinness
Robin (AKA Elbow Diddley):
Guitar, mandolin, string-breakage, late-entry solos, sick notes
Trevor (AKA Bo Paradiddley):
Drums, shaky things, half a dozen carbines, fag breaks, wandering off, Mickeys

Regular special guest performers:

Billy (don't be a hero):
Mandolin and occasional vocals
Eric (The Dustman):
Skiffle vocals and extreme rhythmic variations
Colin (Fred Scuttle):
Benny Hill impression

and featuring Mary as "Mary" in Green, Green Grass of Home

Other guests and members come and go seemingly at random. Occasional and former contributors include: Kris, Pete, Lyn, Russell, and Martin... all in various capacities.

It should be noted that at least two former members even went so far as to emigrate in order to escape involvement...