Melodeon player John Spiers of Bellowhead gearing up for exciting night of music at Bury St Edmunds’ The Apex show with Peter Knight of Steeleye Span

Melodeon player extraordinaire John Spiers is looking forward to a special night of music in Suffolk with legendary folk musician Peter Knight. Cameron Reid chats to John, one half of the talented pair, ahead of their spring tour.

“I’m always excited to perform, the fact that I’ve got the best job in the world never ceases to amaze me,” said John.

The 47-year-old, who lives in Oxfordshire, is best known for co-founding the eleven-member folk band Bellowhead and for his work with Jon Boden in the duo Spiers and Boden.

However, after joining forces with Peter in 2016, John is looking forward to performing at The Apex in Bury St Edmunds on Thursday, April 13 and will give the audience something a bit different to enjoy.

He said: “Working in the duo with Peter is another level of excitement because we never go on stage knowing what we’re going to play which is kind of our schtick really it’s quite special about our gigs.

“We have a basis of traditional music we know we’re going to base our playing on, but it’s completely open on the evening, we keep it interesting and the audience comes on a journey with us.

“Every gig is different as it's more exciting than being with a band where you have a set piece to play. There is that quite intimate feeling about the gig, even in a place as big as the Apex, because it draws you in as we are sort of on a knife edge.”

John, known better in folk circles as Squeezy, has made a name for himself as one of the leading squeezebox players of his generation and used to get awful stage fright, yet now thrives off playing music without even a plan.

He said: “I used to be an incredibly nervous public speaker as I remember sort of clamming up and stuttering when talking to people publicly, but ever since I went on stage with music, it has manifested quite differently so I am quite grateful for that.”

“When you're about to do something that you've not attempted before, there’s always that kind of thrill and the adrenaline rises it’s like doing dangerous sports and it is now always there for a gig.

“Of course it can go wrong, that is the beauty of live music. You’ve got to be on top of your game to get it right for the audience to enjoy, so when I’ve done a gig that seems to have gone well, I’m proud of it.”

Peter Knight, formerly of folk rock group Steeleye Span, was paired with John in the summer of 2016 at the FolkEast Festival for a special ‘one off’ concert which has blossomed into an impressive partnership.

While both possess great singing voices, John is a melodeon, concertina and bandoneon player whereas Peter plays the violin, mandolin and keyboard, as a result they balance each other nicely.

Since combining, the musical pair have received great acclaim, with their recent album Both in a Tune named as one of the ‘10 Best New Albums from Around the World’ by the influential music journal, Songlines.

The two have formed a remarkable relationship as well and John could not be happier to perform with him.

He said: “He is incredible. We’re playing traditional melodies we both dearly love and I have played music with lots of people in my time and he is right up there.

“He’s one I look across at and just go ‘wow, I don’t even know you do that’. Because we improvise together and play different instruments, we explore each other’s musicality during the gigs and he takes music to places I’ve never heard.

“His tone on the violin is absolutely beautiful too, he can make that instrument sound like the richest sound possible. I’ve never heard a player like him. I’m truly lucky.”

Growing up in Oxfordshire, John absolutely loved music and dabbled with the recorder, piano and guitar and was also influenced by his dad, David, who was a Morris dancer.

However, it wasn’t until he began studying natural sciences at King’s College, Cambridge where he bought his first melodeon, did he begin playing music far more often with the support of his local folk club.

Despite admitting that he misses his student days, John recognises he and fellow musician John Bowden’s idea to form Bellowhead, which were active from 2004 to 2016, as something he is particularly proud of from his career.

He said: “In terms of my greatest achievement it would probably be starting the band Bellowhead with Mr Bowden as it was our idea to take our duo and multiply it by five.

“Everybody at the time told us it was a stupid idea and that it would never work. The fact that we did it anyway and proved everyone wrong and went on to have huge success, we just didn’t expect to happen.

“We even did a reunion tour last November. The band hadn’t played together since 2016, and it was hugely enjoyable for all of us because it felt like the whole band was back together again and I just feel very lucky to have played with so many skilled people.”

Over his long career as a musician, John has performed at a range of venues and with different bands, but one particular memory that he still remembers clearly to this day was an event in 2001.

“We did a gig in Cambridge early on in my career in a pub for a folk club and it was the same day as the Twin Tower bombings happened, so everyone was sort of at home watching TV.

“We’d been listening to the news and thought the show must go on. So we turned up and only three people came to the gig, so the duo I was playing with was almost half the people there.

“Then suddenly at one point they all ran out of the room and left us in the middle of the song with no audience. We were left wondering whether to keep playing or not, but apparently someone's car had caught fire in the car park.

“No one had told us what was going on though so that was quite a memorable experience.”

John Spiers and Peter Knight are performing at The Apex, Bury St Edmunds on Thursday, April 13 and it starts at 7.30pm.