MARK CHADWICK, frontman of the LEVELLERS, releases his new solo album ‘Ouse Dragon‘ on Aug 21st. RESOUND caught up with him to dig into strange goings on in a Sussex town.
RESOUND: Hi Mark. Thanks for giving us your time. How did the new album come about and is it something you’ve wanted to do for a while?
Mark Chadwick : Hello! No, no, it came about sort of organically, really. There’s a few things about this town that I live in that are quite odd. I really like Lewes in Sussex but it is a very weird town. Some people describe it as “witty”. Do you know what I mean? It’s a bit odd and it always has been, always will be. That’s what it’s known for in the area.
But there was one incident that did happen and the whole town was buzzing as it was a real mystery as to what happened to this one guy. They still don’t know to this day. Maybe because it was around Christmas time, and people have washed up or disappeared at Christmas time in this town. And with it being on the river, that normally has got something to do with it. There is a folklore in this part of the world, a thing called River Dragons. And I just kind of turned this one particular story into a folk song with a pure narrative in the middle, but with it immersed in the atmosphere, you know, three-dimensional sound. Think like Hans Zimmer when he did the soundtrack for Dune.
RESOUND: So the river dragon, the Ouse Dragon of the title, is that sort of like the black dog in folklore, a portent of doom?
MC: Yeah, it is and it generally feeds, you know, or receives a sacrifice or whatever around Christmas time. If you speak to any local they will tell you to be careful around that river at Christmas. But when it came to the music I wanted to couch the songs in something more than just acoustic guitars, mandolins, violins, banjos, and those, you know, the more traditional stuff that I would use. So I thought I’d go down the route of using analogue synthesizers. And there’s a few people that I managed to coax out of their basements with their unusual bits of gear, but don’t normally do so, to make these sounds. I played them song and said that I want you to evoke and emote with your machines over this over this track. And that’s what they did across the album the different stories to make the songs as cinematic and evocative of the mood as possible.
RESOUND: It’s a much darker album musically than your previous solo album which feel much more kin to the Levellers. And obviously you previously collaborated with the Lakemans who come from a very much traditional folk background, taking both folk and more modern stories and turning them into song. When I was listening to ‘Ouse Dragon’, the likes of Lankum and Silver Moth come to mind who use very different approach to folk music. Is it sort of more reflective, maybe of where the world is in 2026?
MC: Well, no, it wasn’t really, it wasn’t really that. It wasn’t actually a political decision. It was literally to service the songs. The songs are very dark, the lyrics and the stories are of murder and disappearance and mystery. And corruption and you know, just really dark things, , suicides, misadventures are all in there. It would be very traditional to do that with just traditional folk instruments, and that would be fine. But I decided not to. I decided to go forward to create a real headphone experience where you just literally, you’re just in that world.
RESOUND: Yes, it’s definitely a set of songs which in some ways wrong foots you as a listener because you see Mark Chadwick and you go in thinking and expecting to know what you will get and it’s very different. But then obviously your familiar voice comes in. You’ve been making music now for 38 years or more. How’s your relationship with your voice compared to back making albums in the 1990s?
MC: I don’t know. I mean, I enjoy it all now. I really do enjoy singing a lot now. I mean, singing was just what I did before, but now it’s something that I really, really actually consciously enjoy. And realising that was unexpected. I really tried to do different things with it, and you know, not massively, because I’m not a gymnast when it comes to my vocals at all, but I just like to capture the mood, and it is my voice that it is in. It’s definitely me when you hear it. But yeah, just enjoying it and enjoying telling the tales as well as possible really.
RESOUND: Yeah, that’s good. I mentioned wrong footing there. The second song on your album, ‘Chrysanthemums and Dragons’, has one particular moment that absolutely throws the listener, and it’s caught me every single bloody time I’ve listened to it. Are you just getting roundly cursed by anyone who’s heard the album?
MC: Ha ha, I’ve done it before, I thought it was a really good idea. Well, actually, I was working with my friend James, and I was running through that song but with just an acoustic guitar and it was getting to the point, and suddenly <REDACTED> and we both looked at each other and went that’d be really good to put into the actual records. Let’s do that. Let’s do that and let’s make it the <REDACTED>. So yeah, I know exactly what you mean. It still catches me and I put it there!
RESOUND: I spent the past weekend listening to the solo albums, listening to the Levellers back catalogue. And it really struck me how relevant your lyrics are today as when you and the band wrote them. In particularly ‘Social Insecurity‘ from 1990, I think that might have been one of Simon’s songs, you’ve got references to genocidal maniacs, erasing historical narrative, polluting of landscape. How f*cking frustrated are you that these lyrics still resonate some 36 years later, and that society does seem to be regressing?
MC: You can imagine, you can imagine. We have to really look for the good things in the world these days. It’s really quite increasingly hard. So yeah, this is not the world I was kind of expecting to be living in at this point, but there you go, that’s the way it is. And the Levellers will continue to do what we do. That’s it. You know, it’s as relevant now as it was then, and if not more so, so that’s what we’ll do. I mean, the point of this, it’s more pure escapism for people. It’s still political in there, but people can actually immerse themselves in something that’s a mystery rather than it’s fairly straight down the line, you know what I mean?
RESOUND: Yeah, I think the older I get, the more I realise how important music is as an escape from the realities of life. And I think you have songs and musicians who include serious subjects, but I think as a general release, as a general escape, it’s more important than ever.
MC: Oh, that’s brilliant. That’s true. So we’ve always said that, you know, at the end of the day, the Levellers are not politicians, we are entertainers. That is our job.
RESOUND: You guys have always crafted your own route and you’ve got Beautiful Days coming up this weekend (festival curated by the Levellers since 2003). How much input do you have with the lineup and what new bands are exciting you at the moment?
MC: Yeah, we have a lot of input with the lineup, to be honest. I don’t do the young bands, that’s more Jeremy (Cunningham) who does that and Jon (Sevink), but I don’t really, I listen to what I like. I’m a stick in the mud when he goes. but if they recommend something hard enough to me, I’ll listen to it.
RESOUND: Okay, are you familiar with Big Special at all? I think they are playing on the Saturday. Two guys from Birmingham who we are big fans of at RESOUND.
MC: Big Special? No, but I’ll will try and catch them now.
RESOUND: My first live encounter with you was at Glastonbury in 1994, where I think you still hold the record for the largest crowd they’ve had, 300,000 or something insane. What’s your memory of that, and from your perspective, how was it being on that stage with just a sea of faces stretching up the hill in front of you? Can you remember much about it?
MC: Absolutely. The main thing is just concentrate on playing as well as possible, really. That’s what you’re mostly thinking about, because there’s a lot of people there, you can make a big fool of yourself, something horrible could happen. So you’re actually worried about that. But no, it was quite a surreal experience, more of an out-of-body experience than normal gigs are, but we we did it.
RESOUND: When you do gigs like that, does time just fly by when you’re on stage? You are so focused on what you’re doing, but you’re not really conscious of playing once you make the first chord or you sing the first line?
MC: Yeah, that is the principle between every gig. I mean, I enjoy all of them. It’s a real joy and it’s a real privilege getting on stage to entertain people. It really is. And so that’s the most important thing and getting lost in it, just doing it and getting lost in it, not ever being bored by it. If you’re bored by it, then it’s something that’s going horribly wrong. You know, if I see some bands and then I’m like, “Why are you playing? You’re just going through the motions. Why are you doing that? You’re not enjoying it, you’re just going through the motions.” Which I could, you know, at times when you’ve done a long tour or something like that, you might feel like that, but you really, you got to fight that.
RESOUND: I don’t think that’s ever a description someone could give to the Levellers is that you guys are going through the motions, never giving less than a cracking live show. And as I say, it gives that escape.
MC: That’s been our pleasure, to be honest.
RESOUND: I’ve got one last question, and I apologise for this. I wasn’t quite sure necessarily what to ask you, so I did open it up to my followers on Instagram. I had a question back from a band called Thronk, who are a punk band in South Wales, and their question to you, what are your favourite free biscuits?
MC: Really? That’s great. Chocolate Digestives, Shortbread, and Jammy Dodger.
RESOUND: Very good choices. So to end, the album is out this Friday (21st August)?
MC: Yeah, its available for streaming on the 21st with hard copies to follow – they are being manufactured so hopefully for the Festival, but we’ve a big show going in Brighton. They’ll definitely be out for that. It’s an album for people to absolutely give themselves the time to listen to it with headphones and more than once because there is a lot going on.
RESOUND: Agree. It’s one that’s definitely a rewarding repeat listens. It’s not a sort of a one listen immediately hook you, but it’s one which the more you listen to it, the more you get out of it. And those albums I love because I think it’s very easy to have an album, you listen to it, oh yes, it’s great. You listen to it a few more times and it just becomes tired. I think an album where you have to make the effort is much more rewarding in the long run. You know, I’m glad it’s one of those.
MC: Yeah, no, and that’s by design. You know what I mean? It’s not like instant. That’s something else. No, it’s by design. It’s like, no, you’re going to have to concentrate on this.
RESOUND: Definitely, and you know, I’m glad it’s one of those. Thanks so much for your time Mark and hopefully see you later in the year.
MC: My pleasure.
Mark Chadwick tours solo in the UK in September 2026 https://www.levellers.co.uk/pages/mark-chadwick
The new album “Ouse Dragon” can be found at your local record shop.
The Levellers celebrate 35 years of their “Levelling the Land” album with dates across Europe in the autumn
Words by Geoff Shaw (IG: @gsmusicphotos)
B&W Photo of Mark Chadwick – Ami Barwell