''I was blown away at the Bideford Festival when I heard Chris sing, when his song ended no one wanted to break the silence it would have spoiled the amazing atmosphere he had created.
After buying his album I discovered he like me has a great passion for writing about the West Country.I am pleased to say Chris has agreed to guest on my next album"

Maggie Duffy

www.maggieduffy.co.uk

Chris Millington talks to Rosanna Rothery about his new album, Warnings of Gales

Thursday, January 15, 2009

WINDSWEPT waves smash the North Devon coast, surging with raw emotion and tempestuous tales from the past. You'll almost taste the salt-laden spray and feel the gusts against your cheek when you listen to the latest album by folk troubadour, Chris Millington.

Warnings of Gales is rooted in tales from the sea, seasoned with the salty flavour of ebbing and flowing emotions.

"I've put a lot more of myself into it," said Chris who lives in Combe Martin. "It's emotional as well as historical."

The first two songs on the album ¨ actually Chris' own favourites ¨ conjure up not only a stormy seascape but the drama of being swept away by emotions.

"I hope people feel empathy not just with the stories but the emotion that goes into those stories," said Chris. "The first one Find Me An Island is about looking for some kind of a solace in a storm and people can look at that any way they want to. It represents getting away from everything."

"The second, Broadside, follows on from that and is about meeting people who throw you out of your boat."

Chris wrote the gist of Broadside while he was battling through white water during a canoe trip at Heddon's Mouth.

"The storms got up and it got pretty scary. The canoes kept getting hit broadside and nearly tipping over and I had this mantra going through my head: 'You hit me broadside'."

He adds with a laugh: "You can be knocked out of your canoe when you least expect it."

The album, produced and recorded by Ilfracombe musician Mark Presland, demonstrates Chris' multi-instrumental talent. This man's fingers know their way around a guitar, mandolin, melodeon keyboards, bass, cello and cajon.

Undoubtedly it's a North Devon album. One of the songs, Piece of Eden, inspired by the Devon flag, took second place in Devon Music Services Song 4 Devon competition in the Song For Any Occasion category.

"I did a bit of research about the flag and the green stood for the hills of Exmoor, the black stood for the darkness of the tor and the white stood for the waves."

As a Devon anthem it explores the land and sea plus the stories that have been passed down from generation to generation. The last verse looks at the future of Devon: fields being paved with gold.

"It's a bit sentimental but I was quite pleased with it. If I'm asked to write something I sometimes find it a bit difficult but I wrote this with the competition in mind and I was really pleased with it in the end."

Ilfracombe's famously haunted manor is the setting for Chris' epic poem, The Call of Chambercombe, which he has re-recorded for the album. It's a wild tale of the Oatway family, wreckers and a skeleton of a lady found behind a wall at Chambercombe.

"I am fascinated by local history and history in general, said Chris. "A lot of the themes of folk music carry on today. There is a meta-narrative that carries on throughout time. You may be using the same story that would have been told two or three hundred years ago but it still fits the context of today."

This can be seen in Chris' song Pushed into the Sea which is about the Highland clearances when workers were forced off the land to go and work by the sea.

"If you have a look at what's going on around the world, people forced to leave their homes because of war and lack of work, it still fits. It's about asylum seeking and it's for anyone forced to leave their home."

Chris' earthy, raw vocals are used to good effect on the album and the over layering of his voice in harmonies often gives the impression of a hearty singalong. That, coupled with his knack of writing catchy songs, means you'll soon be humming along with ballads that sound as familiar as any folk classic.

Bury Me At Sea is a prime example of the storm-tossed emotions that are prevalent throughout the album.

"I wrote it because it was raining and I was in the back of the van on my own feeling a bit miserable," said Chris. "The next day I performed it at the headline gig at Bideford Folk Festival. I had to have the words in front of me and everything. It's gone down really well and a lot of people have said it's their favourite song on the album."

It explores the fear of being judged.

"It's about someone who is obviously very scared of something and, instead of on judgement day God coming to find them and judging them, they have been asked to be buried at sea without any marker buoy or flowers in the water. They just want to hide away."

Chris himself seems to have very little time to hide away. He's a lecturer in religious studies, philosophy of religion and critical thinking at North Devon College and his folk music sees him playing a festival such as Brampton Live and the Ireby Festival in Cumbria (where he will be in May). His skills as a multi instrumentalist keep him in hot demand for collaborations too. One of his most recent assignments will be to play on a Maggie Duffy album, to be recorded by Phil Beer of Show of Hands.

¡ñ Chris will be singing songs from the new album at the Fo'c'sle in Combe Martin on Friday January 23 at around 8.30pm and The Coach and Horses in Appledore on May 29. The album is available from his website www.chris millington.com

"Chris Millington performing "Broadside" at North Devon Folk Festival 2008 and looking very handsome ...This song could very well explode your heart into a million little fireworks and set you free across the night sky in showers of turquoise awe. Well, it could happen. That's what happened to me anyway... "

"Fiddlebix support Chris Millington for a night of fiery local folk music. If you haven’t seen Chris before you must check him out, we think he’s probably the best local young singer songwriter in North Devon, and are really looking forward to this one!"

".........We love the work of Chris and so do the punters. Cleverly crafted honest English folk tunes. The punters did love it. A captive crowd not usually used to original acoustic music."

Stocks and Powell

  ...........Troubadour Chris Millington's awe-inspiring rhythmic guitar and atmospheric self-penned songs, swept us up into the salty windswept world of wreckers, rugged cliffs and ghostly legends. On a tide of superb songs, thumping guitar and raw vocals this set couldn't fail to float our boat.

(North Devon Journal. 26th January. article written by Rossana Rothery.)

For full review of the evening, follow:  www.northdevonjournal.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=198348&command=displayContent&sourceNode=198336&contentPK=13900876&moduleName=InternalSearch&formname=sidebarsearch

There was an expectant, buzzing atmosphere about Ilfracombe's great music venue to enjoy London's very own Mohair.

First though, an excited gaggle of fans listened to local boy made good Chris Millington. Enthusiasts of this mans bruised yet soaring vocals will have noticed a bad cold clogging up his pipes yet even so, we were treated to a greaty set which surprisingly yet smashingly, covered Seth Lakeman's 'Ballad of Josie.'

Someone sign this acoustic hero now!

(Written by Nick Hill for the North Devon Journal and The Venue.)

 

UNFORGETTABLE NIGHT

Seth Lakeman Trio (supported by Chris Millington) Plough Arts Centre WHAT an electrifying night! With 200 ticketless punters left outside, expectations were high to see Seth Lakeman. Before the main event we were treated to a regrettably all-too-short set from Ilfracombe troubadour Chris Millington. Chris' three songs were enthusiastically received by the audience with his new ballad Who Will Cut Me Down? being particularly poignant. On to Seth Lakeman. This was an emotion-soaked, intensive session full of songs about murders, executions and dark, rain-lashed moors. The nagging haunting sound of his violin became imprinted on the mind in songs like Kitty Jay. Even if his voice was just beginning to tire - 22 dates into a 30 date tour - this was an unforgettable evening.

Chris got to do three of his North Devon coastline self penned numbers and very well received they were too, especially his latest opus, "Who will cut me down", a cheery little number about being strung up by an angry mob. You can find it at Mp3unsigned.com in the folk section.
I won't post a link to the site here cos no doubt the rouge mod will toast it.
It went well enough for him to sell 9 cds........ I pointed out afterwards over a bottle of absinthe that if 9 people bought it, 90 thought about it.
As for Seth and the lads - a trio which was actually a quartet featuring the bodrhan (sorry if thats spelt wrong) player from Uiscedwr, they were faced with a fairly ancient audience (i'm sure that someone had their knitting with them) all of whom were sitting down. They were also evidently knackered after 22 dates. So it was a bit slow to start and there were a few moments when I thought they were going through the motions.
When it went right though, between Seths constant retuning, Sean and Seth have this faintly bizarre synergy on stage, whih is amazing to watch.