Millstone Grit is a great rarity: an all-male Vocal Group that does not tie itself to any particular genre of music. When we formed in 2009 we described our repertoire simply as "The Sort of Songs Men Like to Sing". Over the many years that followed, using that extremely open definition, we have developed a repertoire that is truly eclectic. We are at home with classic pop songs, folk songs, sea shanties, world music and many others that do not even fit into those categories. We make no apology for the fact that our audience really never do know what is coming next. We are perfecty happy following a glorious Croatian close-harmony folk song with belting out "What shall we do with a Drunken Sailor"! We most certainly do not fit the template of a Male Voice Choir, rarely venturing into the realms of songs from musicals, sacred or classical music. Unless we fancy it....
And this year - 2024 - we "fancied" entering the male Voice Choir section of Northampton Music Festival and finished as runners up with three songs that were deliberately NOT the sort of songs MVCs like to sing. Nobody was more surprised than ourselves. I likened it to a punk rock band appearing at the Proms. Hats off to the superb Peterborough Male Voice Choir who pipped us at the post.
We sing mostly in four part harmony, and seldom in less than three parts, mostly arranged and conducted by our talented Music Director, Mrs Jan Williams. Despite being predominantly a capella singers we do use a variety of instruments in a significant minority of songs, and a fair bit of percussion. There are up to fourteen singers, depending on availability.
We don't do fancy dan uniforms. No dicky bows, no black shirts with coloured ties, no tuxedos or suits. We don't stand like statues. Just look at our cover picture! Yes, we do have a sort of "uniform" - just any waistcoat of our choosing so you know who we are when you want to buy one of us a beer afterwards. But we wear it lightly. Or not at all, if it's hot. The waistcoats, that is.
Why should you invite us to perform for you? Well, for a start off we are not - yawn - a pop music covers band. Yes, you read that right. Extraordinary. You will hear the downright esoteric and the very familiar. We won't deafen you except when we roar out a sea shanty. You will see US having fun and we try to communicate that to our audiences. We think you will like us as well as enjoy listening to us.
Our sound is almost unique. Our repertore certainly is. Not everybody out there wants to hear clones of Queen and Status Quo. Book us. Go on we dare you. Go out on a limb. You know you want to.
Do We Charge?
Yes we do sometimes. If you are putting on a commercial event that is there to make money - if you are a pub, for example - we charge £150. You agree with us how long you want us to sing for. If you are raising money for charity or you are a community group we might well agree to sing for a token amount or even for nothing at all if it's for a good cause. Remember there are fifteen of us. Whatever we charge it is a fraction of even our travelling expenses. We do this for fun. not for profit.
What About Amplification?
Although we prefer to sing without using pa, it is sometimes necessary or desirable, especially outdoors. Even indoors, you might need us to rise above the hubbub of a busy room. If you have your own pa system - that will usually only be if we are one of a number of acts, such as at a music festival, and people who know how to set it up for a vocal group as opposed to a band - then that is wonderful. Otherwise we do have our own pa system. But we will need time to set it up. You would need to talk to us about this.
How Far will You Travel?
That depends on how much you can tempt us! We enjoy singing and we like new audiences and new experiences. It's not about money although we could be open to bribery! Within about twenty miles of Stamford in Lincolnshire you would be on safe ground. Beyond that - just convince us. We are big softies.
Do You Do Christmas Concerts?
No. Learning songs in four part harmony is hard work! So we cannot afford to rehearse a suite of songs to use just once or twice a year. Sorry. If you are raising money for a Christmas charity and need people to just lead the singing of traditional carols you might, again, be able to appeal to our big soft hearts, but only if we can raise a quorum.