This must be our earliest Christmas present yet…

We’re excited to announce that The Demon Barbers will be regrouping for Christmas this year, providing the live music for Breaking Tradition’s festive extravaganza, The Lock In ‘Christmas Carol’, thanks to financial support from Help Musicians!

The charity, which has supported professional musicians for over 100 years, will provide the funding to create a new line up of the band for a short tour across the UK.

We’ll be releasing more details over the coming weeks

If you’d like us to keep you posted please

join our mailing list here

***** WhatsOnStage.Com
***** The List (Edinburgh Fringe)
**** The Telegraph
**** The Independent

“The inspiration comes from Damien Barber, front man of the award-winning folk band The Demon Barbers, who supply the floor-shaking live music that alone justifies the price of the ticket” The Independent

“Some shows demonstrate great skill and technique, some offer strong musicianship, and some create the kind of atmosphere and energy that leaves you high on life. The Lock In does all three” The List (Edinburgh Fringe)

“ A full-on show of such blazing energy and joyous ingenuity you scarcely ponder on the apparent madness of trying to marry folk dance and hip hop” The Independent

It is with the greatest reluctance that I have to announce that The Demon Barbers are taking a break from touring/recording for the foreseeable future.

It’s been a difficult 18 months, with having no shows or income, and many of our artists are having to turn to other work to make ends meet. Unfortunately, this means that some of us are currently unable to commit to shows from October 2021 onwards, as The Demon Barbers.

While this is obviously very disappointing, there is some good news in that my theatre company, Breaking Tradition, will continue to develop and produce shows in the near future

I’d like to thank everyone for their amazing support over the last 20 years and until we meet again, we hope you stay happy, safe and fill your days with folky fun!

Damien

We are delighted to announce that the winner of this years’ Demon Barber Clog Competition is Sam Jones! Our competition which took place on the 1^st of May at Upton Folk Festival was judged by the fantastic and very talented Huw Williams and Ceri James. Like us, Huw and Ceri love to see the development of traditional clog, looking for great presentation, technical skill but most importantly innovation! Winner, Sam, is from Oxford but learnt clogging in South Wales. His choreography, movement and changes of rhythm were outstanding! Our congratulations must also go to runner up, Ayliffe Edwards! Thank you to all who took part and made it such an enjoyable event for all involved. We can’t wait to see what you bring to the stage next year!

On Friday 12th May we performed our brand new show The Lock In ‘Folk Fairy Tale’ at Wakefield Theatre Royal. We had an amazing night and would like to thank you all for coming along! Our antics were captured by folk paparazzo Peter Simmonds and here they are for you to enjoy!

The Lock In ‘Remixed’ will return, kicking off at Glastonbury Festival Friday 23rd – Sunday 25th June.

23-25 JUNE – GLASTONBURY FESTIVAL

12 AUGUST – BROADSTAIRS FOLK WEEK

 13 AUGUST – ARTRIX BROMSGROVE

1 SEPT – PAIGNTON PALACE THEATRE

 6 SEPT – RHYL PAVILLION THEATRE

14 SEPT – NEWBURY CORN EXCHANGE

16 SEPT – YORK THEATRE ROYAL 

17 SEPt – LINCOLN THEATRE ROYAL

Catch us at a theatre near you! 🙂

Our drummer and all round musical chap – Ben Griffith is teaching drums!

Currently he has four young students in the Huddersfield area, but is hoping to expand.

Home visits are ideal, but lessons using Roland V-Drums are also available at his residence in Skelmanthorpe, HD8.

Ben specialises in teaching beginners of all ages and lesson prices are very competitive.

If you or anyone you know are interested in this opportunity, then please get in touch with Ben via email at benofficialrecords@gmail.com

Thanks!!!

We are coming to London’s Blackheath Halls and we want your dance team!

We have seen over 150 dance groups join us at our ‘Lock In’, ‘Demon Barbers XL’  and most recently our ‘Lock In Christmas Carol’ performances and we are on the lookout once again!

If you are dance group (Morris, Hip Hop, Clog, Sword, Appalachian, Street… any style) we’d love you to come down to Blackheath Halls on Saturday the 11^th of March and be a part of our pre-show dance display. Over 2000 dancers have performed in our displays in the past, bringing their high energy and fun vibes to kick off the evening!

We really appreciate all the support we get from local dance groups and would be delighted to feature each display group on our website. There is no pressure to stay and watch our show, however we are able to offer discounted tickets should you wish to stay.

If this is something your dance group would like to be involved in please contact Laura, we look forward to hearing from you!

Here at the Demon Barbers, we love being involved in school and community projects. We offer workshops in folk and hip hop dance and have been invited into many many schools up and down the UK, teaching rapper sword, clog, morris and breakdancing. The music side of things often takes a back seat and is used as an accompaniment to the various styles of dance. Our recent visit to Shropshire was slightly different though…..

We were invited to take part in a weekend of music workshops with the The Shropshire Youth Folk Ensemble. The event was organised by Izzy MacLachlan (Education Director of Shrewsbury Folk Festival) and Matthew Keegan Philips (Former head of music at the Belvidere School in Shrewsbury).

We left our hip-hoppers and cloggies at home and instead recruited our bass player – Angus Milne and vocalist & fiddler – Bryony Griffith. Workshop regulars Damien Barber and Ben Griffith also took part.

We arrived at Oakmeadow CE Primary school in Bayston Hill and were greeted by Izzy, Matthew and a group of young musicians, with ages ranging from 10-16. There were lots of violinists, several guitarists, a couple of youngsters brandishing electric and double basses, and a handful of brass and woodwind players.

Despite the focus being on music, we like to keep our workshops quite physical so we warmed up with various games and a group workout before moving onto the folk side of things.

Those of you that have seen our shows will know that we like to incorporate a variety of music and dance styles, so we thought it would be great to work towards a half hour showcase, similar to one of our own concerts. To achieve this we decided to teach the children some rapper sword dancing. Shropshire is an excellent hub for all things folk, so quite a few of the participants had seen sword dancing before and picked it up very quickly.

Next we moved onto the music side of things. With such a range of ages and instruments, we needed an idea of what we were working with, so asked the group if any of them had a solo piece to perform for us. Some were reluctant and others very keen, notably 10 year old Ruby who blew us away with her rendition of Lindi Ortega’s ‘Jimmy Dean’ on vocals and acoustic guitar. We thought the piece was so strong that we arranged it for all the musicians and included it in the final performance!

We were still quite a few minutes short of a concert though, so spent the next two days singing and playing folk music with a focus on contemporary styles and arrangements. Bryony led an a cappella version of the West Yorkshire mining song –  ‘Collier Lads’ – using body percussion to add a rhythmical element, and we turned ‘The Bear Dance’ – a popular folk tune, into an epic multi-genre arrangement. The piece went on a journey through Rock, Jazz, Hip Hop and Dubstep before finishing on one of our favourites – Disco.

Sunday teatime came around very quickly and all of a sudden parents were lining up en masse, intrigued to see what we’d been up to. After 10 minutes of extra cramming we were ready to let them in. Damien explained what we’d been up to and then we performed the rapper dancing in two groups. One half of the group providing the music and then seamlessly swapping over. They nailed it and then it was time to take the audience on our musical journey.

The performance was spot on and was very well received, and we are extremely proud of all that took part!

We’re heading back to Shropshire in December to teach more rapper dancing, and we’re extremely grateful to be able to work so closely with people that realise the importance of folk music and dance, not only in Shropshire, but the whole of the UK.

We’d like to say a great big thank you to Izzy and Matthew and all those involved! Check out the link below for a video of the weekend’s highlights, and we hope to see you at a workshop near you!

http://shrewsburyfolkfestival.co.uk/line-up/all-together-now/shropshire-youth-folk-ensemble/

The festival season is coming to a close and the nights are drawing in, but there’s no sign of hibernation for The Demon Barbers and The Lock In Dance Show!

That’s right, we’re currently focusing all our efforts on our Dickens inspired The Lock In ‘Christmas Carol’ in which the land lady of the Olde Fighting Cocks pub, Jazmineezer Scrooge, is threatening to relaunch her much loved folk and hip hop venue as the garish, noisy and unpopular ‘Oompah Techno Bar’.

Those of you that have seen the Lock In will know that it’s a music and dance show exploring the clash and eventual fusion of traditional and contemporary dance styles. On deciding to make a Christmas version of the show we thought the story should play a much more important role and that the Dickens’ classic tale would be perfect for festive family audiences. With that in mind we set out to find a script writer.

We recently made a pilot for our Children’s show ‘The Sleepover’ and spent a day workshopping with Wendy Harris – artistic director of children’s theatre company ‘Tutti Frutti’ and she put us in touch with
writer and actress Stacey Sampson.

Stacey has worked in television and theatre for over fifeteen years. She appeared as Jennifer in the hit TV show ‘This Is England’ and throughout this time worked as a drama practitioner, leading workshops in many settings including primary schools, libraries, young offender programmes and sheltered housing units. This work often required her to write bespoke scripts for the groups she was working with and eventually
writing became the main focus of her career.

We met up with Stacey and spent the day trading ideas and storyboarding the show. She was keen to get stuck in and after a couple of days we were presented with a wonderfully magical and poetic script.

So we have the story, the cast, the music and the moves. Now it’s time to put it all together and create our festive frenzy – The Lock In ‘Christmas Carol’

Check us out at a theatre near you!
http://www.thelockindanceshow.co.uk/tour-dates

We had such a fantastic time teaching Folk and Hip Hop dance in Shrewsbury Primary Schools as part of Shrewsbury Folk Festival, that we’re looking for more schools and festivals to develop workshop projects with.

We can provide workshops in schools and community settings teaching Morris, Sword, Clog and Hip Hop dance, proving to be a great way of involving the local community and developing interest in traditional music and dance in the build up to festivals. As part of these workshops we can provide a short performance and even work with the students to create a performance of their own, debuting at their school or perhaps a nearby festival!

As well as teaching in schools, we have held many workshops at festivals up and down the country and we love nothing more than teaching our folk and hip hop fusion, so if you think we fit in with your festival programme please get in touch!

Breaking Tradition & The Demon Barbers have over 15 years of experience in writing funding applications and would be happy to help with yours.

Please contact Laura at laura@thedemonbarbers.co.uk

We look forward to hearing from you!

We had such a fantastic time teaching Folk and Hip Hop dance in Shrewsbury Primary Schools as part of Shrewsbury Folk Festival, that we’re looking for more festivals to develop workshop projects with.

We can provide workshops in schools and community settings teaching Morris, Sword, Clog and Hip Hop dance, proving to be a great way of involving the local community and developing interest in traditional music and dance in the build up to festivals. As part of these workshops we can provide a short performance and even work with the students to create a performance of their own, debuting at their school or perhaps the festival itself!

As well as school workshops, we have taught many workshops at festivals up and down the country and we love nothing more than teaching our folk and hip hop fusion, so if you think we fit in with your festival programme please get in touch!

Breaking Tradition & The Demon Barbers also have over 15 years of experience in writing funding applications and would be happy to help with yours.

Please contact Laura at laura@thedemonbarbers.co.uk

We look forward to hearing from you!

We’ve just had our 3rd pressing of Disco At The Tavern!

To celebrate (and to make space for the new stock!) we’re giving away copies of our ‘+24db’ EP with every order.

Including our latest release…

Disco At The Tavern (2015)

 A collaboration with  Grammy Award winning producers Donal Hodgson and Kipper best know for their work with Sting.

“they’re like a folk analogue of Ian Dury and the Blockheads” Chris Nickson, fRoots

The Demon Barbers & Breaking Tradition Dance Company are touring again next year!

Following a number of successful UK tours, including high profile shows at Glastonbury Festival and 5 star reviews at Edinburgh Fringe, The Demon Barbers have been bringing together some of the UK’s most exciting young Clog, Sword, Morris, Hip Hop & Break dancers onto the concert stage with their ‘Lock In’ dance show and ‘The Demon Barbers XL’.

In 2017, Breaking Tradition will be producing ‘The Lock In’ and ‘The Demon Barbers XL- Disco at the Tavern’ along with bespoke shows suitable for festivals of all shapes and sizes!

If you are interested in talking to us about possibilities for your festival, please get in touch with Damien at damien@thedemonbarbers.co.uk

We look forward to hearing from you!

Reviews

‘A full-on show of such blazing energy and joyous ingenuity you scarcely ponder on the apparent madness of trying to marry folk dance and hip hop’
★★★★ THE INDEPENDANT

‘Some shows demonstrate great skill and technique, some offer strong musicianship, and some create the kind of atmosphere and energy that leaves you high on life. The Lock In does all three’
★★★★★ THE LIST (Edinburgh Fringe)

Live Video

The Demon Barbers XL

The Lock In

We have seen over 150 dance groups join us at our ‘Lock In’ and ‘Demon Barbers XL’ performances over the past few years and we are on the lookout once again!

If you are dance group (Morris, Hip Hop, Clog, Sword, Appalachian, Street… any style) we’d love you to come down to one of our up-coming gigs (listed below) and be a part of our pre-show dance displays. Over 2000 dancers have performed at these events in the past, bringing their high energy and buzzing vibes to kick off the evening!

We really appreciate all the support we get from local dance groups and would be delighted to feature each display group on our website & social networks. There is no pressure to stay and watch our show, however we are able to offer discounted tickets for many of the venues.

If this is something you are interested in please contact Laura for more information laura@thedemonbarbers.co.uk

We look forward to hearing from you!

The venues that have confirmed Dance Displays are:

The Demon Barbers XL- Disco at the Tavern
Saturday 8^th October Leamington Royal Spa
Friday 14^th October South Holland Centre, Spalding
Saturday 15^th October Martlet Hall, Burgess Hill
Sunday 23^rd October Theatre by the Lake, Keswick

The Lock In ‘Christmas Carol’
Saturday 19^th November Salisbury Arts Centre (Display TBC)
Sunday 20^th November The Lighthouse, Poole
Monday 21^st November Exeter Phoenix
Saturday 26^th November Clonter Opera House, Congleton
Monday 28^th November The Apex, Bury St Edmunds
Friday 2^nd December Lawrence Batley Theatre, Huddersfield
Sunday 4^th December Sage Gateshead
Saturday 10^th December Norwich Playhouse
Saturday 17^th December The Atkinson, Southport

A few weeks ago we were involved in a project with Batley Community Choir. After the first rehearsal the tragic death of Jo Cox MP rocked both the local community and the wider world but despite this BCC wanted our project to continue, culminating in a wonderful set at Cleckheaton Folk Festival.

Jo had close links with BCC and following their performance on Channel 4’s ‘The Last Leg’ they decided to record ‘The Rose’ as a charity single with all proceeds to be donated to the Jo Cox Fund, supporting Jo’s 3 favourite causes.

Gary Skyrme, the choir’s musical director, said: “The Rose is such a fitting song – it’s about love and hope – and Jo, who was our own Yorkshire Rose, epitomised those values.”

The three causes supported by the fund are the Royal Voluntary Service, Hope not Hate and the White Helmets.
Jo’s sister Kim Leadbeater described the tribute as “beautiful”.
She said: “On behalf of Jo’s family I would like to say a big thank you to Batley Community Choir for producing this beautiful single in her memory.

Community and particularly the coming together at times of celebration and of mourning is a big part of the ethos of The Demon Barbers and we hope you will consider supporting this project.

You can download The Rose now from Amazon, iTunes, Google Play, or buy a limited edition CD from http://www.batleysings.org/buy-the-rose/4592666160

Half gig, half dance show and half panto! Join the BBC Award Winning team of musicians & dancers for 150% of the very best festive live music, song and dance!

It’s Christmas Eve and the regulars of Ye Olde Fighting Cocks are excited about the night ahead, it’s going to be the Folk & Hip Hop party of the year! To their dismay the landlady, Jasmineezer Scrooge, has more profitable ambitions and is preparing to launch her new business, ‘Jazzles’ nightclub. Cheap alco-pops, seedy lighting and mind-numbing bass beats are all in danger of alienating the local community and ruining Christmas! Fortunately, some insightful souls are at hand to lead her back to her senses.

Featuring ‘folk powerhouse’ The Demon Barbers; artists from Breaking Tradition Dance Company; a new seasonal repertoire and a ‘slightly unhinged’ approach to their family friendly stage shows, they are ‘guaranteed to raise weary spirits and send an audience home smiling’! The Telegraph

“Some shows demonstrate great skill and technique, some offer strong musicianship, and some create the kind of atmosphere and energy that leaves you high on life. The Lock In does all three” The List (Edinburgh Fringe)

‘A full-on show of such blazing energy and joyous ingenuity you scarcely ponder on the apparent madness of trying to marry folk dance and hip hop’ The Independent

‘The Lock In is infectious and gets under your skin to the extent you stop analysing and start just enjoying. Certainly the best night out in town’ WhatsOnStage.com

For more details please check out www.thelockindanceshow.co.uk 🙂

Related show

• Artist:
  The Lock In ‘Christmas Carol’
• Tour: The Lock In ‘Christmas Carol’
• Date:
  Saturday, 19th November 2016
• Venue:
  Salisbury Arts Centre
• City:
  Salisbury , Wiltshire
• Address:
  Bedwin Street
• Country:
  United Kingdom

• Artist:
  The Lock In ‘Christmas Carol’
• Tour: The Lock In ‘Christmas Carol’
• Date:
  Sunday, 20th November 2016
• Venue:
  Lighthouse
• City:
  Poole
• Address:
  BH15 1UG
• Country:
  United Kingdom

• Artist:
  The Lock In ‘Christmas Carol’
• Tour: The Lock In ‘Christmas Carol’
• Date:
  Monday, 21st November 2016
• Venue:
  Exeter Phoenix
• City:
  Exeter
• Address:
  EX4 3LS
• Country:
  United Kingdom

• Artist:
  The Lock In ‘Christmas Carol’
• Tour: The Lock In ‘Christmas Carol’
• Date:
  Saturday, 26th November 2016
• Venue:
  Clonter Opera Theatre
• City:
  Congleton
• Address:
  CW12 2LR
• Country:
  United Kingdom
• Sold Out

• Artist:
  The Lock In ‘Christmas Carol’
• Tour: The Lock In ‘Christmas Carol’
• Date:
  Monday, 28th November 2016
• Venue:
  The Apex
• City:
  Bury St Edmunds
• Address:
  Charter Square, IP33 3FD
• Country:
  United Kingdom

• Artist:
  The Lock In ‘Christmas Carol’
• Tour: The Lock In ‘Christmas Carol’
• Date:
  Friday, 2nd December 2016
• Venue:
  Lawrence Batley Theatre
• City:
  Huddersfield , West Yorkshire
• Address:
  Queen Street
• Country:
  United Kingdom
• Sold Out

• Artist:
  The Lock In ‘Christmas Carol’
• Tour: The Lock In ‘Christmas Carol’
• Date:
  Sunday, 4th December 2016
• Venue:
  Sage Gateshead
• City:
  Gateshead
• Country:
  United Kingdom
• Age restrictions:
  All Ages

• Artist:
  The Lock In ‘Christmas Carol’
• Tour: The Lock In ‘Christmas Carol’
• Date:
  Friday, 9th December 2016
• Venue:
  The Stables
• City:
  Milton Keynes
• Address:
  MK17 8LU
• Country:
  United Kingdom
• Age restrictions:
  All Ages

• Artist:
  The Lock In ‘Christmas Carol’
• Tour: The Lock In ‘Christmas Carol’
• Date:
  Saturday, 10th December 2016
• Venue:
  Norwich Playhouse
• City:
  Norwich
• Address:
  NR3 1AB
• Country:
  United Kingdom
• Age restrictions:
  All Ages

• Artist:
  The Lock In ‘Christmas Carol’
• Tour: The Lock In ‘Christmas Carol’
• Date:
  Saturday, 17th December 2016
• Venue:
  The Atkinson, Southport
• City:
  Southport
• Address:
  Lord St.
• Country:
  United Kingdom
• Age restrictions:
  All Ages

On Tuesday 5th July we were given a rare and exciting opportunity to perform for HRH The Prince of Wales, as part of a special visit to clog maker Trefor Owen’s workshop in Criccieth, Cardigan Bay, where he been making clogs for 38 years. Our own ‘Prima Cloggerina’, Tiny Taylor bought her first pair from him in 1988, aged 7, and despite being too small for her now they are still going strong!

The clog making trade is a specialist tradition with only a handful of craftsmen still practising in the UK. With this in mind, Trefor wanted to pass on his skills to an apprentice, but struggled to find the support to do so. In 2013 he appeared on Radio 4 and discussed the difficulties he was facing trying to find a protégé, and soon after the broadcast, learned that his interview had struck a chord with a sympathetic and very high-profile listener.

Mr Owen said: “I got a phone call from a woman who said she worked for Prince Charles and  wanted more information.“I thought it was a wind-up or a con trick. It was a great shock and certainly not what I expected.  I believe he has a very strong interest in heritage and traditional crafts, and he was struck enough by my story to have his staff follow it up.” With the help of his royal backer, Trefor was able to find a 21-year-old from Bethel near Caernarfon who is now learning to make clogs in the traditional way.

Three years later the Prince announced he would like to visit Criccieth to see how things were progressing, so Trefor contacted Tiny to see if she would showcase some clog dancing along with Welsh clogger, Bethan Williams. Tiny jumped at the chance and was keen to involve one of her clog pupils – Izzy Foster (age 10) and also take our own Bryony Griffith and Damien Barber for musical accompaniment.

We all had a fantastic day with Charles and his wife Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall. Lots of local school children attended the event and Trefor’s friends and family provided tea, coffee and cakes. Charles had a good look around the workshop, tried out some of the tools, and then watched the dancing. We all received a royal handshake and the Prince even poked his finger into a hole in Damien’s slightly tatty concertina and said it could do with some attention! Nearing the end of the visit, Camilla disapeared to find an ice cream and despite the security team’s efforts to stop him, the Prince wandered off to find her!

We seem to be on a roll with our royal appointments, what with Damien performing for Princess Margaret at Cecil Sharp house in 1992, so please join our fan club to keep up with our Regal liaisons!

Gallery

Our tour of The Demon Barbers XL is well underway and we are looking forward to getting back into the studio to work on ‘The Lock In Christmas Carol’ which will be touring November and December. Whilst being a very busy time for The Demons one of our keyboard players, Jonny Doherty, will be very busy indeed! He will be travelling all the way to Shanghai to work for a whole year! Jonny is our main dep for ‘The Demons’ keyboard player Matt Crum which means, we are on the lookout for a new keyboard player to join us for some of our upcoming XL and The Lock In ‘Christmas Carol’ shows.

We are looking for someone who has the ability to learn and play by ear (no music on stage), a good understanding of jazz/pop chords in all keys and good improvisation/vamping skills. Key parts include synths, organs and electric piano – control pedal is used for swells, organ volume and wah wah. Nord Stage 2 is strongly advised as sounds can be uploaded from Matt’s keyboard easily. If this sounds like you, please contact laura@thedemonbarbers.co.uk with your name, contact details and CV. We look forward to meeting you!

We are very excited to announce our first full-time employee and new Assistant Producer, Laura Simpson! Laura first joined the company in the Winter of 2009 as a dancer for ‘Time Gentlemen Please’. She has since played a key role in creating and choreographing for ‘The Lock In’, ‘The Demon Barbers XL’ and ‘The Sleepover’ as well as performing and teaching for the company.

Laura has been working in our office part-time for the last 2 years and we are delighted to be able to offer Laura this full-time position. Her new role will involve tour booking, coordinating rehearsals, tour logistics, artist liaison, writing funding applications and networking as well as performing and touring in our shows.

If you are a promoter or festival and you are interested in working with us on our latest projects, please contact Laura on laura@thedemonbarbers.co.uk, she looks forward to hearing from you!

We’re delighted to be playing Glastonbury next week! It will be our fifth trip to the internationally renowned music and arts festival. Our first outing was in 2005 when we took our roadshow to the Bandstand in the markets area and the Tadpole Stage in the Greenfields. In 2013 we were invited to take our folk and hiphop dance show ‘The Lock In’ to the Astrolabe in the Theatre and Circus field, and also perfom our ‘XL’ show on the Avalon stage. Since then the Astrolabe has taken us under its wing and given us the opportunity to perform each year. As usual we will be taking our troop of musicians and dancers, and we’re inviting you to join us before our performance in a freestyle dance jam with beatboxer Finn Barmer and our hip hop crew. If you’d like to take part then please send a video of your dancing to damien@thedemonbarbers.co.uk. We look forward to seeing you there!!!

Hip hop jam @ 4:30pm followed by our XL performance @ 4:45 – Friday, Saturday & Sunday. Look out for the big red and yellow tent.

http://www.glastonburyfestivals.co.uk/areas/theatre-circus/