CV Folk News

Liam Vincent and the Odd Foxes. Photo courtesy of the Artists.

Taking the folk world by surprise, Liam Vincent and his band are this month’s headliners for CVFolk’s Albany Theatre concert.

If one leading music magazine rates your band as providing the ‘Best Live Act Event’ for 2023, you must be doing something right. That was the accolade bestowed by R&R Magazine’s on Liam Vincent and the Odd Foxes, described as a ‘surprise discovery’ at the Cropredy Fringe to Fairport Convention’s annual festival in Oxfordshire.

As for their recently released debut album Fabric For a Flawed Society, a review in Hot Music Live declared that ‘any band who can create this many original songs each of which stimulates the mind, the heart and the feet is thoroughly deserving of success’.

Not so much ‘in your face’ as folk-rock with finesse, the 5-piece line-up combines acoustic and electric guitars, bass, fiddle, drums and spellbinding harmonies to provide powerful arrangements to thoughtfully written material.

Liam Vincent. Photo by Pete Willow.

Last year saw them delighting the audience with a short set for one of CVFolk’s ‘2nd Sunday’ events in the Albany Theatre Studio. Sunday 12 May sees them back at the venue as headliners, where they’ll have the opportunity to create their full plugged-in sound – a worthy follow-up event to April’s highly acclaimed all-star show with Lauren South and Friends.

Band frontman, singer and guitarist Liam Vincent was raised by his grandparents in a home full of Irish traditional music. Leaving school, he flirted with punk, indie and rock with various gigging bands before discovering a creative outlet as a songwriter, combining his folk and rock influences.

It was Liam who came up with the band’s unusual name. Fox hunting had been commonplace during his village childhood and when he started to question it, he was told that ‘they only ever kill the odd fox or two’.

Classically-trained violinist, pianist and singer in choirs, Rebecca Mileham brought her fiddle-playing expertise to the band after a chance meeting on JoinMyBand.com, when she and Liam discovered that they went to the same Warwickshire school together.

Bassist and vocalist Matt Berry is a music graduate and is adept as a producer and composer, turning his hand to writing film scores and arranging songs.

The first kit played by drummer Paul Disley was one that he found in his Uncle’s loft, and he has since performed professionally in touring bands for 15 years. Limiting himself to playing cajon at last year’s CVFolk gig, he’s looking forward to bringing the full percussive collection for this event.

Newest band member is electric guitarist James Richmond, an experienced multi-instrumentalist who has lived, worked and recorded (as a producer and musician) in Europe, Asia, and the USA.

Jamie Scott. Photo by Pete Willow.

Also featured that evening are a return appearance by accomplished blues guitarist and songwriter, Jamie Scott, and performances by Coventry duo, Julie Neale and Robert Small. An excellent guitarist, Julie has only recently regained her lost voice but will continue to focus on instrumental numbers while sharing the set with her partner Robert, himself a talented singer and guitarist.

Guest MC is shanty singer, satirist and former host of Nuneaton Folk Club Geoff Veasey. The music starts 7.30pm and admission is free although there will be the usual ‘caddy collection’ during the interval.