Gigspanner

Peter Knight~Violin
Roger Flack~Guitar
Sacha Trochet~Drums

In the wake of his departure from Steeleye Span, fiddle player Peter Knight has turned his full attention to his trio Gigspanner, and in the process established their reputation as one of the most genuinely ground-breaking forces on the British folk scene, inspiring Maverick magazine to write "Gigspanner are pushing at the boundaries, expanding the possibilities and in the process making some of the most beautiful music the genre has to offer"

They have been described by Folk Radio UK as one of the “most quietly brilliant sets of musicians in the folk world and beyond”, and by Songlines as "another milestone in folk's rebirth of cool".

Taking self-penned material along with music rooted in the British Isles and beyond, with the flick of a bow, a finely chosen chord or slip of a beat, Gigspanner produce richly atmospheric arrangements “with notes seemingly plucked from the stars and rhythms from the equator”  Spiral Earth

Tour Dates

As expected, British traditional music forms the bedrock of the trio's repertoire, but the approach is what sets it apart...leaving enough room within the arrangements to spread and stretch the music in the moment.

In a time where the element of improvisation is gaining traction in the folk-roots world, it is worth noting that Gigspanner has always used it as a rich seam to be mined, and to quote Peter's own words "there is nothing more exciting than finding yourself lost in a new layer of inspiring and spontaneous music".

2019 marks the tenth anniversary year of the release of Gigspanner’s debut album, Lipreading the Poet, an album which made it onto The Wire’s Top Ten Global Albums list for 2009. With its strapline ‘Adventures in Modern Music’, it seems wholly appropriate for a band that “has taken traditional tunes as a starting point and rearranged, orchestrated and improvised around them to create fascinating new works, leaving no doubt that Gigspanner’s increasingly impressive sound is like no other" Folk Radio UK

Listen Now

The Gigspanner Big Band

In 2015, Gigspanner invited BBC Folk Award winners Phillip Henry and Hannah Martin (Edgelarks) to guest with them for two special album launch concerts, which in turn led to the extended line-up being invited to Headline at the 2016 Bristol Folk Festival.

It was clear that the five piece ensemble ‘had legs’, and The Gigspanner Big Band as it has become known, has since played a series of high profile festivals including Cropredy, Sidmouth, Shrewsbury, Broadstairs, FolkEast and Costa del Folk in Portugal, as well as undertaking short tours as frequently their respective schedules permit.

The line-up was extended in July 2019 to embrace the formidable Melodeon playing of Bellowhead co-founder ‘Squeezy’ John Spiers, inspired largely by the dynamic musical connection forged by John and Peter’s work as a duo.  

Find Out More