Comedy folk band
The Lancashire Hotpots |
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| Origin | St Helens, Merseyside, England |
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| Genres | Comedy, folk |
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| Years active | 2006–present |
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| Labels | Fuss Records |
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| Members | Bernard Thresher
Dickie Ticker
Bob Wriggles
Kenny Body
Billy McCartney
Ron Seal |
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| Past members | Willie Eckerslike |
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| Website | The Lancashire Hotpots |
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The Lancashire Hotpots are a comedy folk band from St Helens, (historically part of Lancashire), England, formed in 2006.[1] The group perform and record songs about Lancashire, technology and British culture, such as "He's Turned Emo", "Chippy Tea" and "eBay Eck".[2]
The group's songs make use of Lancashire dialect. Their first single, "He's Turned Emo", gained over 230,000 plays on MySpace in March 2008, and was featured on BBC Radio One by Colin Murray.[2] Their debut album, Never Mind The Hotpots, was a minor hit, becoming the number one comedy album on iTunes in UK, and number two in the BBC Radio 6 Music Album Charts.[3]
The current members are Bernard Thresher (vocals, guitar, ukulele, drums), Dickie Ticker (bell tree, mandolin, melodica, hand percussion), Bob Wriggles (bass guitar, synth bass), Billy McCartney (keyboards) Kenny Body (drums), and Ron Seal (lead guitar). McCartney and Body joined following the death in May 2010 of founder member Willie Eckerslike (real name Tom McGrath), (drums, vocals), while Seal joined in 2016.[4]
History
Thresher and Wriggles met while working at Knowsley Safari Park and subsequently formed their first rock band together, Korova. Whilst working at St Helens College, Wriggles met Dickie Ticker who was producing electronic music and light-hearted remixes under the name 'Diffusion'. The three became interested in working together and, after Korova disbanded, Thresher and Wriggles joined forces with Ticker to create electronic dance music under the new name Emmet.[5][6]
They first dabbled with comedy music producing a remix of the Coldplay song "Clocks" for Radio One DJ Chris Moyles in the style of the German dance group Scooter.[7] In a play on words they named the side project Moped. The track proved popular with listeners of the show and they went on to produce several more remixes as well as playing live in clubs around the country. On the request of Moyles, they produced a remix of songs by Norman Cook aka Fatboy Slim in order to perform them at an outside broadcast in a pub in Brighton. Cook was a guest on the show and Moped performed the remix live on the show for him. Whilst being interviewed on the show he said he 'felt as though his whole life had flashed before him.'[8]
Ticker then had the idea of a folk band who write songs and tell stories about modern life:[9] not about orchards and craft fairs but online dating and modern technology. Originally intended to be called the Bolton Weavers (after folk band the Houghton Weavers), the band was instead named the Lancashire Hotpots. They made their first recordings in Thresher's front room in Coventry, after an Emmet gig at a comic convention in Birmingham, where they had played to an empty room.
McCartney was in Liverpool band Lyons and Tigers which supported the Hotpots numerous times around the North West of England. Body was in several St Helens-based bands including Jessica's Ghost, The Ups and Giant Root Attack. Both were enlisted to play in the band following death of original drummer, Willie Eckerslike.[10] Incidentally, Kenny Body briefly appeared as an audience member in their "Carry You Home" video.
Influences include the Oldham Tinkers, George Formby, hip hop and John Cooper Clarke, as well as the Houghton Weavers.[2]
Festivals
As well as touring nationwide, the band play at major music festivals playing events such as Glastonbury Festival, Kendal Calling, Y Not Festival, Carfest and Beat-Herder Festival.[11][12][13][14][15]
Television
Television appearances for the group have included a performance of their song "Dibnah", live on BBC2's Too Much TV, in March 2016.[16]
Olympic controversy
The group were contacted by the International Olympic Committee in August 2016 over their 2008 song "The Beer Olympics". The IOC claimed trademark rights over the word Olympics stating that Hotpots' use of the word was a breach of their trademark.[17] To avoid further problems, the band subsequently retitled the song "The Beer International Non-Profit, Non-Governmental Sporting Quad Yearly Event".[18]
