On the mantelpiece, next to a notice warning that the garden is closed due to last night’s heavy rainfall, a plastic crow is glaring at a stuffed squirrel as if in admonishment for the rodent spiriting off with its pine cone. I’m munching a beef sandwich laden with potent horseradish (rescued from a thieving black Labrador), drinking a pint of dark and mysterious ale and discussing with a gruff local the intelligence of the sheep dog playing with stones outside. It’s clear this isn’t your normal gig; but then again, this evening hasn’t been put on by your normal band. Once again, British Sea Power have defied convention and given us something special, something that feels very them. A two hour coach ride from London ends in a South Downs valley blushed with the last of the spring sun that sets as we arrive at the Ram Inn. The small village of West Firle, a sleepy place typical of anywhere in rural England; a church, wonky houses, the pub, a drive curving through the trees to the big house where the toffs lived…

This, of course, isn’t the first musical performance the Ram Inn has seen. For hundreds of years local sheep farmers would have gathered here to drink, talk, and sing. We know this because their descendents are still here, in the form of ‘support’ group the Copper Family, who hail from nearby Rottingdean. Over the years, the different generations of the Coppers have passed traditional songs from father to son and daughter; nearly 200 years ago their ancestor George Copper was singing these very tunes in this very room, bearded and clutching a pot of ale like grandpa Bob is now. It’s a strange connection with a life that’s all too far in the past and in danger of being lost. It’s sad to think that these songs that the Copper’s had the foresight to record and keep alive probably have thousands of vanished brethren, their words now ghosts lost to us forever. That’s not to say that the Copper family make us feel maudlin. On the contrary, their simple, unaccompanied close harmonies and tales of the joys and hardships of our forefather’s lives are a moving reminder that our past was not all colonialism and stomping and rich folk in stately homes, that Englishness is a thing we can be proud of, not ashamed.

To have British Sea Power follow that, in this small pub where music has been enjoyed for so many hundreds of years, is a strident affirmation of their place, geographical, historical and emotional, in our musical climes. We’re in the surroundings that normally are just evocations within the sound of British Sea Power live or on record; to be in such a place as they play, to look out over candle flames into the kind of darkness you only ever get in the countryside, is a strange, magical experience. That the band can create the atmosphere they do tonight, with “The Lonely” and new track “Blackout” (one of their finest yet), to warm the hearts of those of us who’ve seen them at least a dozen times before, for the local of my age whose only gig in the past year was the Fatboy Slim fiasco on nearby Brighton beach, for the farmer who merely remarked to me that he hoped British Sea Power weren’t ‘crap rap or techno’, seeming more excited about the trademark Merlin aero engine sound that roars overhead between songs, is a testament to the power of their craft, their belief, their all encompassing vision that makes tonight as much a statement of identity and intent as a gig. Then “Lately” does what “Lately” does, becoming big and loud and beautiful and tear jerky, and there we stand, in this little room in a little pub in a little village in this little island. And, all of a sudden, it really feels like we’re part of British Sea Power’s own, strange, wonderful world… and the city seems very, very far away.

Setlist :

Childhood Memories  /   Blackout  /   Carrion  /   Remember Me  /   The Lonely  /   Lately  /   Rock In A

THE RAM INN

Firle, Nr Lewes, East Sussex, BN8 6NS

Tel: 01273 858222

Directions: From the end of the M23, follow the A23 towards Brighton. When you reach the A27 turn left and follow it to Lewes, and then on towards Eastbourne. About 4 miles beyond Lewes, past the turning for the A26, Firle is signposted on the left.

Firle Place, Charleston Farmhouse 2 miles, Glyndebourne 3 miles, Lewes Castle 5 miles, Michelham Priory 8 miles, Brighton 12 miles, Seven Sisters Country Park 10 miles

Photo from Firle Beacon looking to Glyndebourne © Nelson Kruschandl 2005

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