Theigns & Thralls is the brainchild of Skyclad’s vocalist and songwriter Kevin Ridley. Originally, it was intended to be an ‘occasional band’ to perform songs from the writers back catalogue (Skyclad songs, solo album songs, covers etc) working around Skyclad’s touring plans. 

However, due to the pandemic, the project became a collaborative recording project building on a few demo ideas. Friends and players from across Europe were asked to contribute and the response was overwhelmingly positive. In the end, twenty-five musicians from bands such as Korpiklaani, Ensiferum, Cruachan, Waylander, Celtibeerian and Metal De Facto, as well as solo musicians, contributed everything from drums, bass, guitar, violin, whistles, bagpipes to hurdy gurdy and vocals.

The name Theigns & Thralls (which basically means master and servant) was settled on and it was also decided to make an eponymous album, so that Theigns & Thralls was the band’s name, the name of the album and the name of the opening song. This also helped clarify the band’s ’mission’. Theigns & Thralls is where an appreciation of history, literature and humanism come together for fans of Celtic Speed-Punk, Folk-Metal and Classic Rock. 

Apart from completing the recordings for the album – along with a few remixes and acoustic versions as bonus tracks – another positive thing to come out of the lockdown situation was that the players were asked to provide videos of their performances for the song ‘Drinking’. We edited them together and ‘Drinking’ was the song the first song released by the band.

Finally, as well as putting out the album and videos, a ‘touring band’ was put together, to perform the songs live. The band have, subsequently played gigs and festivals across Europe, often with guest artist appearances.