Fishermen’s Friends to come to Dorset for one night only
The world famous group are going from performing for royalty to Poole Lighthouse
A famous sea shanty band with eight albums and two feature films will take their talent to Poole Lighthouse in May.
The Fisherman’s Friends became the first-ever traditional folk act to land a UK top ten album, just a decade ago.
Since then, they have had a TV documentary, a book and a stage musical about their rise to stardom as well as perform in front of thousands in sell-out tours year in year out.
Band member, John Cleave told us the whole experience has been an ‘absolute whirlwind’: “It’s been something none of us expected. The first time we sang down at Port Isaac there was no audience at all, but we’ve gone from that to the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury.”
The band, comprising genuine fishermen, a shopkeeper, a potter, an engineer and two builders, started performing in pubs and along the harbour after fishing voyages during the mid-1990s.
Mr Cleave said: “Part of the original fishing scene was a good old sing song after, so that’s what got us together and then we found, by chance, that we had voices right across the vocal range and some of us were able to harmonise quite naturally which made a lovely full sound.”
30 years on and they are continuing to sell-out arenas and are even in the process of releasing their ninth album, expected to come out just after the New Year.
When asked about the highlight of his career, Mr Cleave replied: “We were invited to the BBC Folk Awards at the Royal Albert Hall, and it was packed full of folk enthusiasts, musicians and celebrities.
“At that point. we hadn’t sung together for 12 months but when we walked out onto that stage, we got a massive standing ovation. It was very, very moving.”
The Fisherman’s Friends will be coming to Poole Lighthouse on May 12th.