welcome to the homeland of druidspear - d-file 2011

The Return of the Broken Sorcerer

Welcome to the Druidspear website. The year 2011 has caught me in it's spotlight and after a ten year lay-off we are now back in business. Druidspear started off in 1992 with sessions involving Ian Rushbury, Go Birch, Mike Richards and yours truly jamming through songs in the back room of my home. Here we are 19 years later and an awful lot of mileage under the old belt. The last Druidspear gig took place on January 6th 2002 and I have been lost to the world at large ever since. I won't go into detail but suffice to say the Isle of Avalon welcomed me eventually and remains my dwelling place to this day.

2010 saw me venturing into the public eye with 2 sets at Glastonbury Festival. A fantastic way to return to the stage. We were billed as Avalon By Bus and yet the old Druidspear philosophy was in evidence in the way the whole thing came about. Hardly having touched a guitar in the interim I was joined by Tom (drums), Taz (bassoon) and Mark (bass) and in a couple of weeks a set was created with old and new material. Great. Check out the Avalon By Bus pages.

The next thing I knew Go Birch was back! "Have a look on the internet, mate" he urged. So I did. Lo and behold the website you are now perusing was threatening to be born. I had to do something about this and so here we are.

The history of Druidspear and Anew Music will unfold for the curious as we go on but the main event to instigate proceedings is the long overdue arrival of the follow up album proper to '....Slow' (1996).
'Return of the Broken Sorcerer' was recorded, re-recorded, ditched, revived, mixed and mastered over a 4-5 year period amidst the trials and tribulations of the final years of the band. Now, in 2011 it is available for scrutiny, perusal and enjoyment on this very site.

Over the years many, many wonderful musicians have graced the stage and studio with me and the site will honour the contributions of them all as we go on. I have been blessed to have such a beautiful adventure and to share in such rewarding experiences. As the site develops there will be more additions of recordings, both studio and live, to archive and represent the array of different music that was produced by Druidspear. At this stage the contributors are just too many for me to list in one go but rest assured I will do all in my power to bring one and all to the fore as we go on.

We are going to compile photos, artwork and videos for you to have a look at too.

It was always my intention that Druidspear should act as a forum for inclusive creativity as much as a vehicle for me realise my songs with a broad musical palette. As a result fantastic art came from many sources.

May you find pleasure in all this with us. If I have failed to mention your own involvement let me know. Honour and recognition are both due.

During the course of 2011 I am intending to take the music back out of my head and onto the stage. For sure Druidspear will be playing at Glastonbury festival this year for starters but that's not all so watch this space. As a wise man once said, "The past is prologue".

Love from the hills

James Binning

January 2011

Listen to The Return of the Broken Sorcerer

A curious by-product of Druidspear the band was The 'd' Files.

A (very) finite number were produced containing articles, jokes, letters, art, adverts and recipes among other things. So please enjoy the representations soon to be included on this site.