Interview With Maddy (18th Nov)
"The interesting thing about Steeleye is that it's about the material – that's what it's about. We've kind of developed a world of our own, which is based in folk and traditional music and we've probably done more traditional music than any other band, because it is still a big part of what we do, we always look towards that.
“But we've come at it from a different angle – a sort of rock, prog approach. We've changed a bit over the years, but it's very distinctive and we do our harmonies in a very peculiar way in that everybody fights for their own. Nobody sits down and says: ‘This is the way it's going to go’.
"Now there's me and Liam (Genockey on drums), who's been there a very long time. Each lineup kind of makes it their own – people bring in some of their own influences, and sometimes they have to lose some of their influences because it doesn't work in Steeleye. There are ways that it works, and ways that it doesn't, and areas that we haven't gone into. It's kind of unspoken and I couldn't actually describe it technically, but I know when it works.
“It doesn't have to be anything in particular, but it either works or it doesn't, for me!
“I know what works by now, if it goes too far out it goes into other territory. We have a road of ours and we plough our own furrow. You can go a bit out to the side, and we have, but it's not always successful”, she laughs. “We did try reggae once, and I thought no, that's not working, and then a band, Edward II, came out and did all traditional material in reggae!
“If you're going to experiment, not all of it is going to work, or isn't going to be palatable to half the band or half of the audience.
“But we never stay still, we never stop doing it. This new compilation has got some interesting things on it – we've done Shipbuilding, for instance. We're going off in a bit of a different direction - the difficulty is in keeping it somewhat contained so that it doesn't go off so crazy that it doesn't make any sense any more.”
So does she ever pull rank? “Only when I need to!” she laughs. “I still think of it as a sort-of democratic band, certainly once we start with the music. The other stuff, is slightly different, but no one's ever been a dictator”
