THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Binding Time is a suite of new songs inspired by the formation of the Durham Miners’ Association and performed with musicians from The NASUWT Riverside Band.
These songs were originally written as a commission for Durham Brass Festival and were to be performed at Redhills, the home of the DMA, July 2021. Unfortunately Covid restrictions meant that this performance could not take place, and the suite was eventually premiered at Durham’s Gala Theatre in the summer of 2022. After that performance, Field Music’s Peter and David Brewis set about recording the songs at their studio in Sunderland.
“Growing up in the North East in the 1980s, you took for granted that mining was part of the landscape but I don’t think I really understood what it meant for the region,” says David. “It’s not just about heritage. The whole area has been shaped by the coal industry; socially, economically, politically, even geographically. Once you start to dig into it, you realise that the story of the DMA is basically the story of working class representation. The very first working-class MP, Thomas Burt, was a miner.”
Peter and David set about researching and writing back in 2020, tracing the growth and decline of coal mining in the region and the struggles of mining communities. “We were looking for a balance between telling stories which someone with no prior knowledge could understand, and then also threading in all these fascinating factual details, and writing from perspectives which add some light and shade. We felt it couldn’t just be historical. It had to be personal too.”
