On the 19th and 20th of July - The Silver Hammer unleashed their experimental radio drama onto the airwaves via‘I Love West Leeds’ Festival Radio.
And what a trip we took everyone on… “down by the river, upwind of the estate, a spit and turn from the farmers field with the golden goose and the well mannered children”. We ended up in a very strange village called ‘Waste Not Want Not’. A place full of dark happenings, physic kittens, excellent music and several horrible murders… not forgetting of course the tallest, highest security fence ever to be have been constructed in the history of the Yorkshire ridings…
But the show began quite by accident.
After seeing ‘For Sale’, Interplay came to us and said
“ We want The Silver Hammer to take over our Festival Radio…”
And then they added
“and we want you to do what ever you want…”
We thought
“But blimey, we’ve got Faust coming up…”
However, the temptation was too great and before we knew it we were screaming
“Yes, Yes, Yes! We’ll do it”…
Emma then realised she had better learn how to write radio, and that she had better find someone who understood things like microphones quick sticks quick as you like. And so she did, in the fantastic form of Chris Boylan. He worked tirelessly (alongside our ace cast - featuring Lynden Marquis, Sandra Chewins and Paul Chewins as well as Sarah, Angela) to bring the scripts to life…
6 weeks later, jaded and unable to tolerate daylight any longer Chris and Emma emerged to deliver the work to Interplay.
The response to the shows has been brillient.
We had listeners all over the country who tuned in over the internet…
Listeners feedback about ‘The Silver Hammer Gated Community Radio Hour:
Great stuff! I really enjoyed it...beautiful language and great soundscape.
Philip Palmer
I finished with a big grin and have been sat shaking my head and giggling whilst the kids watch doctor who. Beautiful, horrible, funny.
Cathy Crabb
Wow that was the cat’s whiskers! Well done
Jude Mawson
We were enthralled and intrigued. Marvelous. Couldn’t wait for the finale.
Joanne Butt
Hey! I loved that!
Amy Hirst
What’s more - on hearing the episodes Interplay’s Jane Earnshaw remarked
“I am never going to do another festival ever again unless The Silver Hammer is involved”
Which made our day.
We will of course hold her to this vow.
And don’t despair if you missed it. We are working on a way of making the episodes downloadable.
Links