Lesser-known Lakeman is making ripples

WHILE Seth Lakeman has become the leading light in British folk, brother Sean, the secret ingredient to his brother's phenomenal success, is fast earning a reputation as a producer inn his own right, with all manner of artists beating a path to his door.

He's just finished work on the Levellers' latest offering (see opposite) which received record of the week and four stars from The Mirror's Gavin Martin, who described Sean as "one of the UK's foremost musical masterminds."

Of course, Sean is still probably best known for capturing Seth's collection of songs on disc for what would become the life-changing, Mercury-nominated album Kitty Jay. Recorded chiefly to acquire a few gigs, the music industry's most prestigious award certainly couldn't have been further from their minds.

"At the time no-one would give him any gigs," says Sean. "We'd play absolutely anywhere anyone would have us – upstairs in village pubs, wherever, just me, Ben (double bass player) and Seth.

"It was quite good fun, actually, just the three of us in a van, playing the toilet circuit. We had no money for lighting, and managed to acquire a birthing lamp from a charity shop, to shine up at Seth's face – which made him look real moody, but also sweat like a baboon!"

"Seth came up with this Dartmoor-themed concept for an album, but even if you sat him down in a room with a big button saying 'record', he wouldn't know what to do, so it was left up to me to come up with the idea of how to bring this concept to life."

Much was made in the national press of Kitty Jay being recorded in Sean's Dartmoor kitchen for less than £300. "The kitchen was perfect, as it was all river-stone and slate, a harsh sounding gritty acoustic which really helped bring the songs to life.

"Seth has the attention span of a sparrow, so you'd have to fire him up with coffee and encouragement and he'd give you about 40 minutes. Half the trick of production is getting the performance…"

Sean started tinkering with a four track when still at college in Tavistock, and produced his first full-length album for local folk stalwart Ben Campbell in the early 90s. He has a grounding in jazz and modern classical music from Leeds College of Music, and is a comsummate guitarist. He has recorded two superb traditional folk albums with former Equation vocalist Kathryn Roberts, mother of his twin girls, Poppy and Lilly.

He was responsible for recording the three Lakeman Brothers in the early days, and when they morphed into six-piece folk-rock sensations Equation, he made the band's calling card, their debut EP, which helped get them a deal with the mighty Warner Brothers.

"Once we were signed up, we had the luxury of recording in Peter Gabriel's Real World Studios with four top producers. It was a great way of picking up tips and seeing how things were done."

When Seth signed to Relentless, which released Freedom Fields and his most recent album, Poor Man's Heaven, the label was happy to allow Sean a free hand initially.

"There were lots of people with strong opinions on how they didn't want Heaven to sound, and I worked on it until last Christmas, then left them to it.

"Fortunately, they didn't change it all that much. There was a huge amount of pressure for the album to perform, so when it went to No 8 in the charts, there was a real sense of relief."

Recording an album for the Levellers was a different prospect. Sean had been a massive fan of the band from youth, and has toured with them since the mid-90s.

"Once I'd met them and become part of the inner sanctum and seen what they were like, the dream was shattered! But the Levellers are the real deal, and I felt they hadn't made a great record in a while and were just waiting to make one. Mark is a big champion of mine, and asked me to do it. We did a taster in Propagation Studios, this brilliant place near Bude, away from all distractions, and we got down some great tunes."

After that, it was back to their own Metway Studios in Brighton, where Sean was able to get the best out of them.

"I'm really pleased with it and actually I've never listened to an album on completion as much as I have this one. I even listen when I'm walking the dog."