Adrian Edmondson & The Bad Shepherds

The Bad Shepherds are Adrian Edmondson on the Mandolin and Mandola, world-renowned Troy Donockley (Nightwish, Maddy Prior, Midge Ure, Iona) plays the Uilleann Pipes and Bouzouki, and Tim Harries (Bill Bruford’s Earthworks, Steeleye Span) on the Double Bass. The Bad Shepherds play punk songs on folk instruments. Not as a gag, but because they really like the noise. They think the songs are better than people remember. They love folk instruments. It works. They do songs by The Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Stranglers, The Jam, Sham 69, The Undertones, The Ramones, The Buzzcocks, The Specials, Talking Heads, Squeeze and others, even Kraftwerk! Alright, they’re not all punk, but they come from roughly the same era. They’ve mostly given the songs a kind of Celtic feel, and they’ve stuck in the odd reel and jig here and there. But occasionally they just thrash! They’ve always thought the excitement of a reel taking off is the nearest thing to the excitement of watching punk live in the 70’s. With three albums under their belt, “Yan Tyan Tethera Methera!” in 2009, “By Hook or By Crook” in 2010 and “Mud, Blood and Beer” in 2013 which features an original song penned by Adrian. The Bad Shepherds have toured extensively over the years playing venues, many of which sold out, and almost every festival up and down the country, even playing further afield with a run of dates in Australia in 2013. 2017 will see them play a summer full of festivals. We play punk songs on folk instruments. Not as a gag, but because we really like the noise. This page is run by some of The Bad Shepherds' bad sheep.