The Levellers

The Levellers
The Levellers
General information
origin	Brighton , England
Genre (s)	Rock , punk , folk
founding	1988
Website	www.levellers.co.uk
Founding members
bass	Jeremy Cunningham
Drums , percussion	Charlie Heather
Vocals , guitar	Mark Chadwick
Current occupation
bass	Jeremy Cunningham
Drums , percussion	Charlie Heather
Vocals, guitar	Mark Chadwick
Keyboard , backing vocals	Matt Savage
Fiddle , sequencer	Jonathan Mark Sevink
Vocals , guitar , mandolin , banjo , harmonica	Simon Friend (from 1990)
former members
Mandolin , guitar	Alan Miles (1989–1990)
Guest musician
Didgeridoo	Stephen Boakes

The Levellers are a band from England . In her music she combines elements from rock and punk with traditional folk or Celtic sounds. In their lyrics, the band often deals critically with the social conditions in Great Britain and general social developments.

Band history

The Levellers were founded in Brighton in 1988 by Jeremy Cunningham , Charlie Heather, Jon Sevink, Mark Chadwick and Alan Miles. With the band name they refer to the English democratic movement of the Levellers from the middle of the 17th century .

In the first year they released two self-produced EPs , which helped them to a record deal with Musidisc . The debut album A Weapon Called the Word did not make it into the charts in 1990 (only 6 years later it was awarded gold due to long-lasting sales ). Miles left the band and Simon Friend completed the line-up in his place. When independent label China Records one year, the second album was released later Leveling the country . With number 14 in the British album charts and the song One Way , which reached number 1 on the indie charts, it brought the breakthrough. The 15 Years EP confirmed its success in 1992 and the following year the album Levellers came in at number 2. It was also successful on the European continent. While they were doing sold out tours there, they couldn't gain a foothold in the US, even though they had signed with a US label. The hits from the album included Belaruse and This Garden , both of which reached number 12 on the singles chart .

Her most successful album was then Zeitgeist , which topped the charts in 1995 . It was also the most successful work in the German charts at number 42. The song Hope St. brought her to number 12 for the third time. It was followed by the EP Just the One , which also stayed at number 12, which should remain her highest position in the single charts. The album Mouth to Mouth came back at number 5 in 1997 and the song Beautiful Day at number 13, but it ended the most successful period of the Levellers. The first five studio albums were all awarded gold. The first real best-of album, One Way of Life , also achieved gold status in 1998.

That series ended two years later with Hello Pig . The album only came in at number 28 and also met with little interest abroad. The only single Happy Birthday Revolution did not make it into the Top 40. It did not make it to the album Green Blade Rising in 2002 either and three years later Truth and Lies even missed the Top 100, even if it was their last Top 40 with Make You Happy -Single hit included. Nevertheless, they continued to have loyal fans and were in demand at major festivals in Europe. For the band's 20th anniversary in 2008 they came back to number 24 with their ninth studio album Letters from the Underground . After the previous two failures at the Eagle label , which belongs to the Universal group , they had taken the releases into their own hands and had their own label On the Fiddle founded.

In 2012 they released a new album, Static on the Airwaves , after a four-year hiatus during which singer Mark Chadwick went on a solo excursion . In 2014, a greatest hits album followed (double CD and DVD). Both achieved top 40 placements. In April 2015 the band documentary A Curious Life was presented. To mark the 25th anniversary of her breakthrough with Leveling the Land , this and five more of the first albums were released as a remaster in 2017 . The album We the Collective was released in March 2018 . Then the band recorded their greatest hits from 30 years as acoustic versions . It came in at number 12 in the UK.

Discography

Albums

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)		Remarks
		DE	UK
1990	A Weapon Called the Word	-	UK- gold UK	Label: Musidisc
1991	Leveling the land	-	UK14th gold (38 weeks)UK	Label change to: China Records
1993	Levellers	DE55 (9 weeks) DE	UK2 gold (15 weeks)UK
1995	Zeitgeist	DE42 (9 weeks) DE	UK1 gold (16 weeks)UK
1996	Best Live - Headlights, White Lines, Black Tar Rivers	-	UK13 (5 weeks) UK	Live album
1997	Mouth to Mouth	DE88 (1 week) DE	UK5 gold (8 weeks)UK
1998	Best of the Levellers - One Way of Life	-	UK15th gold (13 weeks)UK	Best of album
2000	Hello Pig	-	UK28 (3 weeks) UK
2002	Green Blade Rising	-	UK77 (1 week) UK	Label change to: Eagle Records
2008	Letters from the underground	-	UK24 (2 weeks) UK
2012	Static on the Airwaves	-	UK36 (1 week) UK	Label change to: On the Fiddle
2014	Greatest hits	-	UK32 (1 week) UK	Best of album
2018	We the Collective	-	UK12 (1 week) UK	Acoustic versions of the biggest hits for the band's 30th anniversary
2020	Peace	-	UK8 (... weeks) UK

More albums

• See Nothing, Hear Nothing, Do Something: UK Singles and Live Collection (Compilation, 1992)
• Special Brew (compilation, 2001)
• Truth and Lies (2005)
• Live at the Royal Albert Hall (Live album, 2009)
• Leveling the Land Live (Live album, 2011)

Video albums

• The Great Video Swindle (1992 China Records Ltd)
• Headlights White Lines Black Tar Rivers (1996 Warner Music Vision)
• One Way of Live - The Videos (1998 Warner Music Vision)
• Chaos Theory Live - DVD (2006 On The Fiddle Recordings)
• Together All the Way , DVD included with the re-release of A Weapon called the Word , the debut album from 1990 (2010 On The Fiddle Recordings)

Fan Club DVDs

• Waking the World (2003), Live at Preston Guildhall 2003, interviews
• Fire in the House (2004), band interviews, Wickermann Festival 2004, Bluebell Railway show 2004, Beautiful Days Festival 2004
• State of the Union (2005), Beautiful Days Festival and Tour October 2003

Singles

all songs written by the Levellers (Mark Chadwick, Simon Friend, Jeremy Cunningham, Jonathan Sevink, Charlie Heather, Matthew Savage) unless otherwise noted

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChartsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)	Remarks
		UK
1991	One way leveling the land	UK51 (2 weeks) UK
	Far from Home Leveling the Land	UK71 (1 week) UK
1992	15 years EP	UK11 (5 weeks) UK	contains the songs 15 Years , Dance Before the Storm , Riverflow (live) and Plastic Jeezus
1993	Belaruse Levellers	UK12 (5 weeks) UK
	These Garden Levellers	UK12 (4 weeks) UK
1994	The Julie EP	UK17 (5 weeks) UK	contains the songs Julie (new version), Lowlands of Holland , English Civil War and Warning (live)
1995	Hope St. Zeitgeist	UK12 (8 weeks) UK
	Fantasy zeitgeist	UK16 (6 weeks) UK
	Just the One EP	UK12 (8 weeks) UK	Contains the songs Just the One (Original), A Promise , Your 'Ouse and Drinking for England on the song Just the One , Joe Strummer was named as "Special Guest on piano"
1996	Exodus Headlights, White Lines, Black Tar Rivers	UK24 (3 weeks) UK	Live recording
1997	What a Beautiful Day Mouth to Mouth	UK13 (5 weeks) UK
	Celebrate mouth to mouth	UK28 (2 weeks) UK
	Dog Train Mouth to Mouth	UK24 (6 weeks) UK
1998	Too real mouth to mouth	UK46 (2 weeks) UK
	Bozos	UK44 (2 weeks) UK	Original: We're All Bozos on This Bus by Flik Spatula Authors: Jem Moorshead, Justin Travis
1999	One Way One Way of Life	UK33 (2 weeks) UK
2000	Happy Birthday Revolution Hello Pig	UK57 (2 weeks) UK	Authors: Stephen Ryan, Phil Johnstone, The Levellers
2002	Come On Green Blade Rising	UK44 (2 weeks) UK
2003	The Wild as Angels EP	UK34 (2 weeks) UK	contains the songs Wild as Angels (Song / Video), Galahad and Adulterer's Blues
2005	Make You Happy Truth and Lies	UK38 (2 weeks) UK

More singles

• Carry Me (1989)
• Outside / Inside (1989)
• World Freak Show (1990)
• Together All the Way (1990)
• Last Man Alive (2005)
• A Life Less Ordinary (2008)
• Burn America Burn (2008)
• Before the End (2008)
• Truth Is (2012)
• After the Hurricane (2012)
• We Are All Gunmen (2012)
• The Recruiting Sergeant (2013)

swell

1. ↑ ^{a b} BPI gold / platinum database (Great Britain)
2. ↑ ^{a b} Chart sources: Germany - UK

Web links

• Official website
• Official German fan club On the Fiddle - extensive information about the band
• The Levellers on Myspace
• The Levellers at Allmusic (English)
• The Levellers at Music VF
• The Levellers at Discogs (English)
• Works by and about The Levellers in the catalog of the German National Library