We sing low and with a Georgian-inspired a capella style about things that are important to modern 21st Century Blokes, about being Sheds, the importance of the land, wishing we were pirates in a land locked county, and we love to perform our songs in public whilst wearing appropriate hats and other visual treats that make us a unique sound and visually engaging act.
Just to help explain what we do and how we have put together this short public information Showcase Video of the Blokes in action:
Our Magnificent Showreel from our concert at Bristol's Colston Hall - listen for the roar at the end!
We are very much inspired by our friends in The Spooky Men's Chorale and have been superbly lead by our belovéd Choirmeister and member of said singing troupe, Chris Samuel, to help shape our sound to incorporate our own influences from where we come from, North North Wiltshire, close to the borderlands with Gloucestershire.
Many more videos and other stuff on the Links page, up a bit and right a bit.
Here is a set of Mugshots of some of our current crop of glorious brethren to feast your eyes on! Steady ladies, most of them are "spoken for" . . .
Safe to say we sound a lot better than we look, and usually perform in subdued lighting so as not to alarm too many people. Having said that, we are very nice and can usually raise a smile or two.
And some of the Blokes Snapped in 2010:
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| Back: Lars, Darren, John G, Nick, Mike G, Alan, Jon H, Peter B, Bob, Martin |
| Front: Trevor, Chris A, Stuart, Neil, Chris S, Angus, David, John M |
. . . And Legend has it
Back in the myths of time a gathering was held that was called a "Sing Like a Bloke" Workshop and this was on the occasion of the 2008 Ashton Keynes Music Festival and as a result of no one stopping them, there is now a bunch of guys who meet every 6 weeks or so to re-learn the songs they have forgotten since the last time, enjoy a beer, a couple of hours of camaraderie and fulfill our themselves by unlocking the inner minstrel trapped within our humdrum 21st century daily existences.
Most of them are not what you might call “proper singers”, they learn their material by ear, have recordings to help them practice and when they get together they find they very quickly make a sound that can be quite, er,magnificent!
They sing all sorts of material a capella, with no musical accompaniment just harnessing the power of their individual voices joining in unison to create a sound that has been praised by the toughest of critics (“the wife”) as “surprisingly good”! They sing right across the spectrum from serious Georgian choral pieces to daft Caribbean doggerel, Sea Shanties for dwellers of a Land locked county and fun stuff, like Rawhide whilst wearing cowboy hats, all of which they occasionally perform in public to great acclaim.
Sing Low
Blokes are split up into small groups, Low, Middles and Highers, according to where in the spectrum people feel most comfortable singing, and everything is taught by ear, in three or four part harmonies. There is no written music and usually the lyrics are simple enough to pick up by repetition – it’s great physical and mental exercise and very stimulating and we quickly produce a sound that is quite magnificent at times.
There is also a tremendous social side to the group bringing together a very disparate group of Blokes from around the locality and we have organized a number of meals together, some times with partners and friends to extend the brotherhood.
And the name???
The name of our collective comes from the fact that most of us come from Ashton Keynes, the AK part, and over the course of the existence of the group there have been at least 47 members of an average age of somewhere round the 47 mark (!) and the Magnificent was tagged on as an homage to the great Western starring Yul Bryner and co, and because they like wearing cowboy hats.
New recruits
New recruits are always welcomed and the first taster session is free, thereafter term subscription to cover costs of hall hire and the professional Choirmaster, Chris Samuel from The Spooky Men's Chorale UK Branch, are typically around £50-40 a term which usually covers at least three workshop rehearsals and a couple of concerts so represents fantastic value for such a unique experience.
Page Last updated: Friday 30th May 2014
Change: Updated with new Show Reel & mugshots.
