Band History

Flatworld arose out of the Tuesday night session at the Brewers Arms in West Malvern, Worcestershire, during the winter of 2000/2001.

It was at one of these evenings that music promoter Alan Turnbull heard some Jewish music being played, which accordionist Jonathan Penley had collected on his travels around the circle-dance scenes of England and Canada. Alan had booked Polish klezmer trio Kroke for a Malvern gig in April 2001 and suggested that the Brewers session players might like to play support on the night. We agreed…

Of the original Brewers Arms protagonists, the first line-up included Jonathan, Steve Luttrell on violin and Neil Poulter on guitar. Alan’s wife Kimberly was invited along to play violin and the four-piece started intensive rehearsals. A few weeks before the gig the name “Flatworld” was selected by examining the set list for something the audience might be able to pronounce and remember. (The name comes from a waltz written by English melodeon player Andy Cutting, and is still in our set.)

On the night the music was well received and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. So we decided to carry on, rehearsing regularly and playing a handful of events during the rest of the year.

At the beginning of 2002 Steve decided to leave. We carried on as a trio for a short while, before adding Mick Morris on double bass, and later, Sarah Jones on clarinet; djembe player Eric Aston became an increasingly frequent guest. Over the following years a steady stream of gigs followed. Sarah left to persue persue other interests and Mick left to concentrate on Irish band Hagglebag; he was replaced by Peter Stone.

The original trio of Jonathan, Kimberly and Neil remained the nucleus of the band until the summer of 2006 when Jonathan decided give it up in order to concentrate on his solo career; Peter decided to leave at this time as well. Instead of another accordionist, Tim Cranmore was recruited on saxophone and recorder. With bass duties in the expert hands of Vo Fletcher and Eric now a full-time member, the sound became more punchy and up-front, a transition completed a year later by the recruitment of Georgina Clark on fiddle.

Neil Poulter
Autumn 2006