jd meatyArd singer songwriter activist
'THE MISSION' album download from Friday 30 January - jdmeatyard1.bandcamp.com
John Donaldson AKA JD Meatyard.
HERE'S THE STORY...
Glasgow born John Donaldson aka Jd Meatyard, a DNA line from Dungannon to Glasgow and on thru Darwen, Liverpool, Manchester and Rotterdam to Malaga. stories to tell! Starting with skiffle nights at home with ma n da, sisters and brother banging the songs out on busted guitars and my beats from a floor tom… joining the bands then was au na
Glasgow born John Donaldson aka Jd Meatyard, a DNA line from Dungannon to Glasgow and on thru Darwen, Liverpool, Manchester and Rotterdam to Malaga. stories to tell! Starting with skiffle nights at home with ma n da, sisters and brother banging the songs out on busted guitars and my beats from a floor tom… joining the bands then was au naturel! Side Effect, Levellers 5 then Calvin Party… and, now, many albums as Jd Meatyard.
SIDE EFFECT
Side Effect a band in the milltown with that mix of fave covers morphing into the writing of our own… a single of the week in MM, radio plays and gigs gathering some momentum… 7” single releases ‘Watch Me Dance’ and ‘Business is Business’. JD with Gordon Huxley, Terry Walsh, Ian Almond and Dave almond.
LEVELLERS 5
Then a shift on to Levellers 5 in the 90’s… an anarchic band of beats and sonics much beyond the mainstream, playing to packed shows and breaking the eardrums… as BBC radio John Peel stated - “ Levellers 5 ‘Springtime’ one of the best albums of the year”. Here began the BBC Peel sessions down at Maida Vale studios in London
CALVIN PARTY
Levellers 5 ran it’s course, Hamburg excesses and London head losses, we split and, for JD, came… Calvin Party.
1993 CP debut alum ‘Life and Other Sex Tragedies’ again on Probe Plus records. Backed again on BBC radio and many indie radio shows and BBC John Peel sessions “ Calvin Party songs as excellent as ever” and “one of the greatest
Levellers 5 ran it’s course, Hamburg excesses and London head losses, we split and, for JD, came… Calvin Party.
1993 CP debut alum ‘Life and Other Sex Tragedies’ again on Probe Plus records. Backed again on BBC radio and many indie radio shows and BBC John Peel sessions “ Calvin Party songs as excellent as ever” and “one of the greatest undiscoverd bands”. JD, Carole Fleck joined by Dave Thom, Cam Donaldson, Gav Whelan and Phil Hayes… band changes along the way, Cathy Brooks, Vinita Boyle, Dan Hadley et al contributing to well received albums ‘Lies Lies and Government’, ‘Never as Black’ and ‘Godard’s Girlfriend’
... and now... JD MEATYARD
... and now... JD MEATYARD
Using yet another narrative life change as a trigger, JD headed for a different musico angle, the closing of Calvin Party and the start of the ’solo singer songwriter’ mode… thus, Jd Meatyard is born! Thanks to foto artist Kenny Brown.
All releases from L5, Calvin Party and JD available here jdmeatyard1.bandcamp.com
“In JD the spirits of
Using yet another narrative life change as a trigger, JD headed for a different musico angle, the closing of Calvin Party and the start of the ’solo singer songwriter’ mode… thus, Jd Meatyard is born! Thanks to foto artist Kenny Brown.
All releases from L5, Calvin Party and JD available here jdmeatyard1.bandcamp.com
“In JD the spirits of John Martyn, Lou Reed and James Joyce
crackle through the soul of a wise modern Troubador and
flow into the songs like quicksilver.” SP. Morning Star
THE MISSION
'THE MISSION' download Friday 30
January. CD's available from Friday 6 February.
All albums available here jdmeatyard1.bandcamp.com
Site Content
CONCERTS
SEPT 19 O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW JD WITH HMHB.
NOVEMBER 27 ROTTERDAM DE RIDDERT
NOV. 28 UTRECHT CAFE AVERECHT
NOV. 30 AMSTERDAM CHECKPOINT CHARLIE
2026.
FEBRUARY 6 MALAGA LLAVE CULTURE CENTRE
MARCH 14 DARWEN. SUNBIRD RECORDS
APRIL 16 STOKE. ARTISAN TAP
APRIL 17 ROCK FERRY INDIGO VENUE
APRIL 18 BRISTOL GREEN MAN
SEPT 17 ROTTERDAM. DE RIDDERT
SEPT 19 EINDHOVEN STAGE MUSIC CAFE
REVIEWS
IS THIS MUSIC>COM
Support came from JD Meatyard, whose presence on the bill acted as a low-key, slightly menacing counterpoint. A regular tour support, the former Calvin Party frontman delivered another stripped, emotionally blunt set that seemed to win over the Biscuit crowd’s more attentive segments. On his occasion bolstered by guitar and stand-up drums, he offered a quieter foil to HMHB’s sardonic zip: intimate, earnest and occasionally ragged in the best way, the much-travelled singer becoming quite emotional at his return to his birthplace. September 19th
Rock n Reel " ...power to the people...all we really need is LOVE"
Morning Star " How has he managed to produce perhaps his best one yet? The album hangs together as an exhilarating whole." LOVE!
John Peel BBC Radio 1. “Springtime by Levellers 5, one of the best albums of the year". ...... “JD Meatyard offers proof that thrilling, visceral, directly political music is still available for those wishing to scratch beneath the surface" Andrew Neil, Louder Than War. ...... “You don't forget a JD Meatyard live performance and you certainly don't leave it with any uncertainties about where he stands”
Mark Whitby, Unwashed Territories........ “JD Meatyard is so much more than yet another singer songwriter...’Never Seen A Kid Born Bad’ hangs in your head all day, ’10 Miles Low’ rocks out and ‘Satisfied Heart’ is indescribably beautiful. ‘Taking The Asylum’ is a superb and superlative album” Nick Toczec, Rock n Reel... ... •“A great album, choc full of hits if we can get people to listen” BBC On The Wire