McDermott's Two Hours
Encyclopedia
Introduction
The folk-rock band McDermott's Two Hours was formed in BrightonBrighton
Brighton is the major part of the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, England on the south coast of Great Britain...
in 1986 from the remnants of two other bands, The Bliffs and The Crack, and featured a vigorous line-up of vocals, fiddles, whistles, bouzouki, acoustic and electric guitars, drums and bass.
Front man Nick Burbridge
Nick Burbridge
Nick Burbridge is a British novelist, poet, dramatist, journalist, short story and song writer. He suffers from chronic depression, and his writing often concerns itself with the dispossessed, those at the margins of society...
named the band after Tommy McDermott, who gained notoriety for his two hour piece on Radio Free Derry, calling for peace and love during the Derry riots.
The band is nominally still made up of Nick Burbridge
Nick Burbridge
Nick Burbridge is a British novelist, poet, dramatist, journalist, short story and song writer. He suffers from chronic depression, and his writing often concerns itself with the dispossessed, those at the margins of society...
on guitar and vocals, Ben Paley on fiddle and Matt Goorney on bass with Dil Davis (drums), Philippe Barnes (flutes, whistle and pipes) and Tim Cotterell (banjo, mandolin, bouzouki and fiddle), though live shows in recent years are rare events.
The early years
The original line-up included Nick Burbridge, Martin Pannett, Marcus Laffan and Tim O'Leary and spent most of the early years playing gigs. They only released one album, The Enemy Within. It was the live performances then for which the band were best known.With the Levellers
The Levellers often cite McDermott's Two Hours as one of their early inspirations and during the 1990s the two bands produced three albums together, World Turned Upside Down, Claws and Wings, and Disorder.After the Levellers
At Beautiful DaysBeautiful Days (festival)
This article is about the music festival. For other uses, see Beautiful Days .The Beautiful Days is a music festival that takes place in August at Escot Park, Ottery St Mary, Devon...
2007, McDermott's Two Hours released Goodbye to the Madhouse, their first album without The Levellers since The Enemy Within. Produced by Tim Cotterell and Jeremy Cunningham (of the Levellers), the album was recorded for a little over £400 and released by OTF Recordings. It features many guest musicians, including Mandy Murray, Roger Leach, Terry Bickers, John Brewins, Cate Ferris and Mark Fisher. Reviews have been uniformly positive.
Albums
- The Enemy Within
- North And South (c. 1992)
- World Turned Upside Down (2001)
- Claws and Wings (2003)
- Disorder (2004)
- Live at Ferneham Hall
- Goodbye to the Madhouse (2007)