Fairport Convention - Fansite - Review - Wood And The Wire

When the Wood Meets the Wire:

Fairport Convention Violinist Ric Sanders

Interview by: Ben Likens - 12-14 September 2000

Ric Sanders has been " fiddling around" with folk/rock pioneers Fairport Convention for 15 years now, and according to him, he has lost absolutely none of his boundless enthusiasm for his instrument, his music, or his audience. When Sanders, along with band mates Simon Nicol (guitarist and only original member), Dave Pegg (bassist who, in addition to Fairport, enjoyed a 16 year stint with Jethro Tull), and multi-instrumentalist Chris Leslie (one of Britain's finest folk musicians) appear at Fitzgerald's in Berwyn, Illinois on November 1st, their collective enthusiasm and expert musicianship will once again be displayed for yet another loyal, rapt audience. Gerry Conway, the band's drummer (also a Jethro Tull alumnus), will stay behind while his mates tour the U.S. acoustically. The band will be playing many numbers from their excellent new disc, The Wood and the Wire, released in the U.S. through Compass Records.

The intimate atmosphere of a club like Fitzgerald's is perfect for a band like Fairport, as it has the feel of, as Sanders puts it, " a gathering of friends." According to him, Fairport is not a typical band as far as audience/performer relationships go. " We are not the celebrities playing to an audience separate from us," he explains. " We consider the people who come to see us, all over the world, as our friends. We mingle with them before the show, during the break, and after the shows. When people ask me what has kept Fairport going through all these years, I always tell them that it's our friends, the audience. Fairport fans are some of the most loyal, unique, and special people in the world."

Since Chris Leslie, who numbers the violin amongst the many instruments he plays, joined Fairport in 1998, Sanders has used Leslie's influence to find new ways to express himself through his writing and his playing. " Chris has taught me many things in terms of folk playing. I started out as a jazz musician who developed a true love for folk music, whereas Chris has been playing folk more or less from the beginning. He's taught me different bowing techniques and that sort of thing, which I feel have improved my understanding of folk and the way it's played." Was he threatened at all by Leslie's arrival? Not even a little bit. " Chris and I are like brothers," Sanders says. " We've been wanting to work together for years. Now, of course, we have the pleasure of working together all the time. We love doing our head-to-head fiddle duets on stage and really, since he's joined the band, it's been an absolute blast."

In terms of Sanders' jazz beginnings, he says that while everyone else was listening to the likes of Led Zeppelin and Jethro Tull in the '70's, he was listening to the likes of Miles Davis and John Coltrane. " Don't get me wrong," Sanders says. " I love Zeppelin and Tull. Fairport has toured and shared band members with Tull and Robert Plant is a great friend of ours. He's sung with us many times at our annual festival in England. But when I was seventeen and first took up the violin, the expressiveness of the great jazz players really affected me, and the jazz style is what influenced my playing most. It still does."

After a stint with the jazz-rock group Soft Machine in the '70's, Sanders found himself playing with The Albion Band which, at that time, included several members of the then disbanded Fairport. When Fairport decided to re-form in 1985, they asked Sanders to join them, thus replacing the eccentric, impish, and legendary violinist Dave Swarbrick, who had been with Fairport since 1969. " Swarb wanted to go in a different musical direction," Sanders explains, " so the remaining three Fairporters asked me to join. Of course, Swarb is one of my biggest folk influences, so it was quite an honor to be asked to be his successor. It was a little daunting, but Swarb has been incredibly supportive and encouraging ever since I joined. He still guests with us occasionally, and I absolutely love playing with him. He's one of the true greats."

Many true greats have passed through the ranks of Fairport Convention, including Swarbrick, the late Sandy Denny, drummer Dave Mattacks, and guitarists Richard Thompson and Jerry Donahue. During Fairport's annual festival, held in an English village called Cropredy, many past members join the current line-up during their long set. I asked Sanders what goes through his mind at the end of a successful festival performance. " When the final note echoes over the field, I feel a certain sense of relief that it's over," he says, " because the week immediately prior to the festival is very stressful in terms of making sure everything is in place. When all is said and done though, I think about this band's tremendous past, as well as in its present. Of course, the week after the festival I get restless and want to be out playing again. I don't like not working. I couldn't imagine taking a vacation from what I do, at least not for too long. I love it too much."

Updated: 8 December 2003