The Trades Club

Following on from the critical and fan acclaim of their last album The Big Defreeze in 2014, Manchester five-piece The Travelling Band infiltrated and infatuated new listeners whilst still retaining the excitement and enthusiasm that enthralled existing fans. With the dust settled on album number three, the indie folkers are set to continue their journey in 2015 with bated breath having signed off the year before with the message: “you can steel our vans but you can’t steel our fans”.

The release of The Big Defreeze marks the moment that The Travelling band planted their flag into the ground and came to the forefront of people’s music catalogues, led by their single Passing Ships (which has been streamed almost 200,000 on soundcloud) and solidified largely by their increasing reputation as a must-see live band. Drenched with a massive sound that skips between gorgeous pop and giddy highs with deep caverns of deep folk, The Big Defreeze was prized by Q, Uncut, Drowned in Sound (“honeyed harmonies and reverb-soaked guitars”) and Louder Than War (“The Travelling Band paint pictures of vast horizons, rural idyll, and a gentle sense of forward motion which pulls listeners along on a journey through a rich tapestry of folk and Americana”). The record also enjoyed radio play from Dermot O’Leary and Bob Harris.

The future of the The Travelling Band was cast into doubt in December 2014 when their van, containing £30,000 of equipment which was needed to record their next album, was stolen in Manchester. The story was shared widely throughout the band’s fanbase and the music community and following a public appeal the story made national news with NME, BBC, ITV and Channel 4 all running with it. This exposure and support lead to the recovering of van several days later with all their equipment mostly intact.

A large batch of exciting new material is on the horizon as well as collaborations with Ren Harvieu and members of the Magic Numbers.