Levellers

The Levellers are a popular English rock band influenced by punk and traditional English music.They are based in Brighton, England where they were founded in 1988. There are several storie

The Levellers are a popular English rock band influenced by punk and traditional English music.They are based in Brighton, England where they were founded in 1988. There are several stories regarding how they got their name; from the Levellers, a radically democratic faction of Oliver Cromwell's New Model Army, or as a reference to 'The Level', an area of Brighton around a flat triangular green in the centre of hilly Brighton, where members of the band used to live, or simply, according to guitarist, Simon Friend, they got it from a dictionary. Strongly interested and outspoken about green anarchism issues the band have built up a strong and devoted fanbase, despite being nearly universally ignored by mainstream critics. The band have been spokespeople for a number of issues including campaigning against the Criminal Justice Act and various anti-capitalist and environmental issues. They continue to tour extensively around Britain and Europe but maintain a mutual dislike with the music press which stems from their early days.

Mark Chadwick and Jeremy Cunningham met in The Eagle, a public house in Brighton known for attracting the more bohemian element of Brighton's residents, in 1988. Mark had just left local glam-rock act The Soup Dragons (not the 1990s indie act of the same name) and Jeremy was trying to sell his bass guitar in the pub, having become disillusioned with the music world.