Port Isaac’s Fisherman’s Friends, York Barbican, February 23 (From York Press)

Port Isaac’s Fisherman’s Friends, York Barbican, February 23

10:01am Friday 17th February 2012 in Music news and reviews

Introducing … John McDonnell, the Yorkshireman among the Fisherman’s Friends, the shanty singers from Port Isaac, Cornwall.

AFTER more than 15 years together, performing shanties and Cornish folk songs, Port Isaac’s Fisherman’s Friends are building on the Top Ten success of their self-titled third album in 2010 and their 2011 BBC Radio 2 Folk Award with a national tour that includes their York debut.

CHARLES HUTCHINSON tracks down one of the men behind the West Country brawny chorale: builder, roofer and baritone John McDonnell. “It’s just a bit of singing really,” says the down-to-earth Yorkshireman.

First of all, John, where exactly is Port Isaac?

“It’s a little fishing village in north Cornwall, just east of Padstow.”

How did you end up there?

“I’m from South Leeds, Beeston/Middleton, originally – our house used to look down on to Elland Road – but I left Leeds in 1970. Well, not left, but I went travelling and did various things, though I still go back; my mother still lives there and two brothers and two sisters still live there, within three miles of each other.

“Anyway, after travelling for a while, a girlfriend – who’s now my wife, though we weren’t really together at the time – said she was going to Cornwall to work the summer season and I thought, ‘I’d love to go there’.

“We came to Port Isaac, which I’d never heard of, but it’s now where they film the TV series Doc Martin – where they call it Portwenn – so we get thousands of visitors.”

When did you move there?

“That was in 1977, so I’d been travelling for a while.

“I’m a builder by trade, though in Leeds I’d worked as an engineer at Charles F Thackray in Beeston, but although I enjoyed being an engineer, I didn’t like being in a factory, so I ended up doing jobs all over Europe.

“I picked grapes near Bordeaux; I worked as a chef in Guernsey, Devon and Cornwall when we first arrived, and I used to do building and roofing in the winter.”

Do you continue to do building work?

“Yes, I’m still doing traditional Cornish rag slate roofing. In fact I’m working on an old chapel in the village at the moment.

“After we came to Port Isaac, I worked in a kitchen for a couple of years and did maintenance in the winter and then started doing more building work and that became full time, specialising in roofing, but basically doing everything but the electrical work and plumbing.”

How did you become involved in the Fisherman’s Friends singing group?

“One of the things I liked about Cornwall is that you would be in a pub and suddenly a group of people would burst into song.

“I’d be on the outskirts of these guys as they were singing at the Golden Lion, and eventually I got to know more or less everyone in the village and more or less unintentionally became one of the singers when they needed a baritone.

“About 16 years ago, we decided that we’d specialise in shanties and songs related to the sea and the village.

“One day, we started singing outside the pub and all of a sudden we had a massive audience and we decided we should start singing at the top of the harbour in a place called the Platt, a traditional portside hard standing for the fishing boats.

“We would sing either on the Platt or on the beach, depending on the tide, and we would do that on a Friday night, May to September, which we still do.

“Now people come down specially to see us and because of the publicity we’ve had, you get as many as 3,000 people down there. It’s meant that over the years we’ve raised so much money for local charities as on average we raise £1,000 to £1,500 each Friday.”

Port Isaac’s Fisherman’s Friends is your third album but your first for Universal. How did the group land a deal with a major label?

“It was through a young chap, Rupert Christie, an independent producer, who’s a great fan of Cornwall. He came across to see us one Friday and asked if he could do a bit of video recording, and he came back to us within the next week to say he’d had three offers from Decca, Island Records and Sony Music, which is staggering really.

“I’ll tell you what happened next. After we got the offers, Jeremy Broom, one of the three fishermen in the group that gave us our name, went to see a chap who runs a B&B and staying there was Johnnie Walker, the Radio 2 DJ.

“Jeremy got talking with Johnnie, who put him on to his manager Ian Brown, who we met and really liked and he took us on and basically did the deal with Island Records [part of the Universal group].”

Where did you record the album?

“We couldn’t do it in our village church as the seagulls were making too much noise, so we went inland and found St James’s Church in St Kew: that’s the one that featured on our video.”

Why have the public taken so much to the songs?

“They’re songs that people have sung for years [Haul Away Joe, (What Shall We Do With) The Drunken Sailor], and they love the simplicity of them – and the songs do mean something.

“Without thinking about it too consciously, they make people realise we’re an island nation that relies on the sea.

“I also think the way we dress is part of our appeal as well; we wear clothes that are workmanlike, striped tops, smocks, fishermen’s gear – obviously you don’t want to be in your Sunday best, but nor do we want to be like a theatre group.”

Now comes your first nationwide tour….

“We love the idea of doing this tour. I can’t wait to take these Cornish guys to York for some good Yorkshire hospitality.”

• Port Isaac’s Fisherman’s Friends play York Barbican on Thursday, 7.30pm. Box office: 0844 854 2757 or yorkbarbican.co.uk