Fisherman's Friends to perform live on QVC

Fisherman's Friends, a ten-man singing band from Port Issac in Cornwall, will be performing songs from their new album live on QVC on Thursday 29th July at 1am and 9am.

Here they chat to QVC about how they got together, their new album and more...

How did your break into the music industry come about?
 
The chap who ended up producing our album was in Port Isaac, heard us singing, and for some reason he wanted to make an album with us. He told a few people in London then I think there was a brief bidding war, we signed on the dotted line, sipped some champagne and went back to work!

How has life changed for you?

We’re all very happy with our lives in Port Isaac so we’ve done our best at not changing the way we live at all, we just have a lot more adventures these days.

Last winter we recorded the album in St Kew church - the seagulls in Port Isaac were too noisy for us to record there! We’ve had the opportunity to sing at some great festivals and popped up on TV a few times but most of the time we get on with our day jobs.

Between the ten of us there are fishermen, builders, a shopkeeper, a potter, a café owner and one retired fisherman.

Tell us about your album?

It’s a collection of sea shanties and songs from the sea we’ve sung for the last 15 years in Port Isaac with some great musical accompaniment. It’s an album that you can sing along to - they are very simple songs because if they weren’t, we wouldn’t remember them!

Do you have any collaborations planned?

Nothing planned yet. We’ve heard U2 keep phoning our manager but we want Bono to make sure his back is better before committing!!

Who would you most like to collaborate with?

Anyone who doesn’t sing better than us!

What were your first jobs?

As young kids, most of us would help the fishermen looking after the dingies while they were out catching lobsters. They would make sure that when they arrived back in the harbour we were there so they could get back to dry land.

What are the best gigs you have played so far?

We’ve played at so many great places this year to so many wonderful people, but we love singing in Port Isaac the most. Every Friday night during the summer we sing on the beach so if you’re in Cornwall during the summer please come along, it’s absolutely free.

What are your plans for the future?

Just to keep singing and having fun. If we’re not having fun what’s the point?

If you were QVC presenters for the day, what do you think you could sell?

The Brown brothers are all fishermen so they would sell their lobsters and crabs they catch off the north Cornwall coast. Billy would sell his pottery (he’s a potter). Jon Cleave would probably sell his children’s books about the adventures of Gully the pesky seagull and Nigel would sell his cupcakes. Not sure what Trevor, Leftie, Peter and Johnnie Mac would sell!

Comments

[Adie feber]

A fantastic nite we recently saw the boys sing on the beach in port Isaac tremendous and all very friendly and wonderful people thank you singing and songs super catchy too. Adie feber Bolton lands.