As far as underground heroes go, few are more critically acclaimed – yet hidden from the mainstream eye – than Sweet Billy Pilgrim. Loved by their fans and revered by the kind of tastemakers whose opinions adorn adverts and posters on a regular basis, the four-piece have always sat firmly but unwittingly on the very fringes of commercial success.
Over an almost decade-long career their star has glimmered quite literally from a shed in Aylesbury, the birthplace of their debut album with the prescient title ‘We Just Did What Happened And No-One Came’; a title resurrected with added poignancy as a groove-laden track on the band’s brand new, fourth album, ‘Motorcade Amnesiacs’.
That glimmering star has shone brighter and brighter as second album ‘Twice Born Men’ became nominated for a Mercury Music Prize in 2009, and its follow up ‘Crown And Treaty’ became one of the most critically acclaimed releases of 2012, being draped with five star reviews. Yet despite the garlands of praise, mainstream applause and chart success has proved elusive, meaning Sweet Billy Pilgrim occupy that hallowed, yet frustrating position, as one of music’s best-kept secrets.
