Folk on the water: Blabbermouth's busking boat tour is coming to a town near you (From St Albans & Harpenden Review)

Folk on the water: Blabbermouth's busking boat tour is coming to a town near you

10:08am Friday 26th June 2009

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Boatman and musician Steve Thompson aka Blabbermouth is now marrying his two passions together and taking to the water on a busking tour from Little Venice travelling through several Hertfordshire towns and villages, finally arriving 137 miles, 125 locks, at least two moveable bridges, six small aqueducts and four tunnels later in Leicestershire.

Folk from Rickmansworth to Tring can be entertained by Steve’s extensive repertoire of songs as he calls in at “nice spots” along the waterways to promote his new single I Return, mastered by Pink Floyd's sound engineer of 25 years Andy Jackson.

They don’t realise we’re not on a boating holiday, this is our home. We were invaded by pirates once

Steve Thompson, aka Blabbermouth

Steve and his American wife Genevieve bought their narrowboat eight months ago. I was lucky enough to join them aboard the cosy wood-pannelled confines of the Whittington Myth prior to the start of the tour. I feel particularly honoured when Steve tells me it generally takes quite a while for boat owners to let you pay a visit.

“The boating community is like one long village but most of the time you’ll just talk on the towpath,” says Steve. “When they invite you on board it feels quite special.”

I ask how he’s adapted to life afloat.

“You get lots of people looking in. They don’t realise we’re not on a boating holiday; this is our home. We were invaded by pirates once. They threw a tow rope round the boat and we hauled them up the River Lea. I don’t think they realised they were going to have to row all the way back. Then there were four kids on a motorbike shrieking down the towpath the other night; but its easy to get away and take your home somewhere else.”

Steve, a graphic designer and musician and Genevieve, a life coach and poet, are continuous cruisers, which means they never stay moored anywhere for more than two weeks at a time. This was the spark for Steve’s Roaming Busking Tour comprising impromptu gigs and radio shows live from the boat.

“I’m going to do something called the boat songs. I’ve already recorded a couple on the boat with the ducks quacking and the odd chav shouting.

“The boat has different acoustics. The vocal sound is much better as more sound is coming back at you.”

As well as playing aboard the boat, Steve has clocked up many performances on dry land including The Crawley Folk Festival and, most recently, The Camden Eye.

“When you see him on stage he’s so comfortable in that environment,” says Genevieve. “Playing in pubs if things get rowdy he’ll ask the revellers to give him a subject for a song. Once they asked for a song about cheese and one time someone said do death.”

Steve says the canal waters have brought him intimately close to the subject.

“You see dead pigeons, foxes, there was a huge dead fish gravitating towards us, a little dead dog and a frozen cat in winter that looked like a cartoon; that was sad.

“I’ve had this thing for a while about writing around the concept of death. There are two on the album and the new songs are about a dead rock star, but I do other songs apart from the miserable ones. Some are quite upbeat and folksy.”

Blabbermouth’s tour will reach Harefield by Sunday, July 5 and tours Rickmansworth, Croxley Green, Abbots Langley, Kings Langley, Hunton Bridge, Hemel Hempstead on Monday, July 6; Winkwell, Berkhamstead, Northchurch, Dudswell, Cowroast on Tuesday, July 7 and Tring on Wednesday, July 8.

Look out for signage and follow his blog on: www.myspace.com/therealblabbermouth

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