Fiddler's Dram

Career

Fiddler's Dram began with Dave Arbus, a violinist for East of Eden, who was a founding member but left well before that band found fame. The core group came from musicians at the University of Kent at Canterbury and regulars at Duke's Folk Club in Whitstable.

They often held jam sessions in a Canterbury squat, where other club members could join in and sometimes play local gigs. This open, shifting part-time lineup helped the band build a strong local following, and they performed regularly in clubs and bars around Canterbury. Around 1976, the full-time members, along with other club figures like John Jones and Ian Kearey, formed the Oyster Ceilidh Band, with Cathy Lesurf on vocals; she later became the dance caller.

Their debut album, To See the Play, came out on the Dingle's label in 1978. It featured acoustic versions of mostly British traditional songs and tunes, plus a live favourite called "Day Trip to Bangor," written by Whitstable Folk Club regular Debbie Cook. David Foister from Dingle's suggested releasing it as a single. For that, the track was re-recorded at a faster pace, and the acoustic sound was beefed up with bass guitar, synthesiser, and drums.

There is a claim that "Day Trip to Bangor" was actually inspired by a day trip to Rhyl, a seaside town 35 miles east of Bangor in North Wales, but that Bangor was used because it had an extra syllable and rolled off the tongue better. This supposedly sparked an outcry from Rhyl councillors and business owners, who felt the publicity would have helped their tourist trade. Songwriter Cook has flatly denied this.

In a BBC Radio 4 documentary aired on 29 September 2011, she said the song was "absolutely yes" about the Welsh Bangor. She explained that she was so unaware at the time that any other Bangor existed, so it was definitely that Bangor, chosen purely because it scanned and for no other reason. She called the Rhyl controversy "a great piece of nonsense." The single climbed to number 3 on the UK Singles Chart in January 1980, after its release the previous month.

Did You Know?

• Songwriter Debbie Cook later wrote scripts for The Archers and EastEnders.
• A version of "Day Trip to Bangor" with altered lyrics was used in a TV commercial for Anchor butter, for which the band received no royalties.
• The story of the unpaid royalties was featured on the BBC TV series That's Life!.
• Banjoist Chris Taylor appeared on Never Mind the Buzzcocks on 10 April 2006 (episode 5 series 18).
• In 2009, Cathy Lesurf released a Christmas single called "Christmas Time", hoping it would be a "companion" for "Day Trip to Bangor".