level playing field
TALKS TO JON SEVINK, FIDDLER WITH THE LEVELLERS
WHEN
you think of a rock/folk/punk band, the violin isn’t necessarily the
first instrument you’d consider, but then The Levellers have always
thrived on being alternative. If you don’t know their music, I’d
urge you to have a listen – Levelling the Land is probably their
most famous album – and hear Jon strutting his stuff. It’s a completely integral part of the Leveller’s sound, and Jon’s
been there since the very beginning of the band. And this is no small band. They made more gold and platinum albums in the 1990s than any other band.
They’ve also been pretty verbal over the years about their political leanings, and have stuck to their ideals despite enormous success
- they were the first band to come up with (and pull off!) the idea of a carbon-neutral tour – planting enough trees to counter the emissions
from an entire tour.
Jon first picked up a violin at the age of seven,
having been inspired by the deputy head of his
junior school in Harlow, who was a violinist and
performed to the school kids one day. “It was
fantastic. I decided it was the instrument for me
and signed up for lessons and the school
orchestra.” Unlike my interviewees in the last
issue (FUSE), violin playing all went a bit haywire
after that. He gave up the violin at 16, and never
planned on playing again. Despite having enjoyed
orchestral playing, particularly touring with the
Brighton Youth Orchestra around Canada,
Yugoslavia and France, he was uninspired by his
teachers and hated practising. More to the point,
in his own words – “I liked ROCK music, and rock
bands didn’t have violins.”
Hang on a second. You’re in a rock band. And
you’re a violinist. “Yeah, well.. My sister was
living
in the loft at my Dad’s house in Brighton with her
boyfriend. He played acoustic guitar and had been
in a couple of bands. When he met a drummer and
bassist in our local pub with a view to starting a
new band, they suggested adding a violin to the
mix. He knew I had played and volunteered me.”
The first rehearsals gave Jon a chance to pick
up the violin again – the same one he’d learnt on
years before. I laugh, as I imagine him trying to
compete with amplified guitars and singers, not
to mention the drums. “Someone gave me an old
Stratocaster pickup which I jammed under the
bridge and wired into a Marshall 50 watt amp. The
noise was absolutely horrendous, yet strangely
very exciting! From the first notes I played I
realised I was going to have to forget everything I
knew and start again.”
I correctly assume that Jon’s not still playing
the same old violin. “No. For about four years I had
been playing a 100-year-old acoustic violin with a
mixture of pickups that I had cobbled together
myself. This was the fourth violin I had used, the
previous instruments having slowly but surely
unglued themselves under the strain of rigorous
touring under intense conditions (heat, sweat and
careless roadies).
It seemed unfair that the rest of the band were using good sounding instruments tailor-made for the job when I was struggling with someth Over a period of about nine months Bridge developed and I road-tested a number of different pickup and electronic systems to arrive at the one I use today. From the start I was impressed that we were
working with a resonant hollow body as
“Don’t sign everything you do over to a multinational record company. Do It Yourself. It might seem like a long road and a lot of work but you’ll never regret it.” opposed to the planks that everyone
else was using. This seemed to give a
more responsive 'acoustic' sound, more
violin than synthesiser.
“
I’m impressed that he’s had such an
input into the design of his instrument,
I suppose mainly as I hadn’t given
thought to the fact that there was
such scope for variation in how an
electric violin is put together and works
in a live situation. I gather that Jon’s
also responsible for a lot of the looping
and effects for the band (and think
about the similarities between him and
Steve Bingham – I have amusing visions
of the two of them in concert
together!).
He tells me that it’s mainly
about the the music he makes
requiring a greater imagination and
flexibility than the violin alone can
provide. That’s where all the exciting
little gadgets come in, as noises Jon reveals at this stage that Jimi
Hendrix inspires him more than any
violinist. I wonder whether he ever
plays or listens to classical music at
all. “Very rarely. The majority of the
music I listen to contains lyrics.
It’s always been important
to hear words I can
understand (no offence
opera fans..), and as for
playing, I was never very good and I find
writing music far more enjoyable than
following someone else’s dots
on a page.”
And in case you’re
wondering what a travelling
rock musician does in his spare
time, Jon has just moved house, from
Brighton to a small farm in the West
country, so life is full of brand new
things like tree surgery, mucking out
chickens, building polytunnels and
trying to find things in cardboard
boxes, although he does also confess
to a passion for surfing.
I have two last questions for Jon,
as I really shouldn’t take up more of his
time.
What’s next for the Levellers?
“We’re heading out on tour in
November, playing small (for us) venues
around the country as a kind of ‘back
to your roots’ vibe and next year we’re
celebrating the 20th anniversary of
our “Levelling The Land” album with
some bigger shows. In between
we’re writing new material which
we’ll record when we know
everyone likes it.”
Finally - any pearls of
wisdom for people hoping
to break into the rock
business? “Don’t sign
everything you do over to
a multinational record company.
Do It Yourself. It might seem like a
long road and a lot of work but
you’ll never regret it.” |
JONATHAN BUNGARD
ing that at best was only making do. I tried every alternative that I could find but was constantly frustrated by the poor sound of any of the electric violins I was given. When Paul from Bridge Instruments approached me to try one of their new violins, I jumped at the chance. It was an opportunity to work with someone who understood what an electric violin could and should sound like.
and
sounds are as important as the notes.
“We worked a lot on the frequency
range and tone to give the bite and
attack that I need to be heard above
electric guitars and drums, yet retaining
the mid-frequency power that can (with
a few effects!) make one violin sound
like a string section.”