Folk-rock is reaching out to the masses thanks to Kent-rabble rousers Fate the Juggler. Chris Price caught up with the band everyone on the London-scene is talking about.

With their debut album about to drop and a string of high-profile London shows under their belt, you really should have heard about Fate the Juggler.

The folk-rock six-piece are marking themselves out as one of the brightest musical prospects to emerge from Kent in recent times.

The band have played top small venues in London like the Dublin Castle in Camden, The Troubadour in Earls Court and the 100 Club on Oxford Street, which has hosted everyone from the Sex Pistols, to the White Stripes over the years. They have also been asked to play a show at the O2 Academy in Islington.

“We had 52 people come from Kent on a coach and by train to see us at the 100 Club,” said Rob Spiers, the band’s founder and frontman.

“We are trying to up the ante with every show. We need to see if we can get into the London scene. We headlined at the Troubadour and have been asked to headline at Dublin Castle. We are turning gigs away at the moment as we have got so many. We want to become bigger and better.”

The new album, The Ghost of Beauty Lost, is available on iTunes and Spotify from Monday, February 6. It will be available to buy in HMV and Tesco four weeks later. Released through Folkestone-based Red Admiral Records, the album took about four months to make and was recorded in Rob’s studio at his house in Boxley Road, Maidstone.

Formed in the summer of 2010, the band quickly built up a following on the local music scene and then started touring all over Kent. Rob has been in several bands, most notably classic rock tribute band Learning Curve, where he played Eagles and Beatles songs around the county for 16 years.

However, there’s only so many times you can play Hotel California and eventually Rob decided he wanted to devote his time to original material and advertised for folk musicians.

“We did open mic nights and they went so well the pubs said, 'Can you do a full gig?’ We went down a storm,” recalled Rob.

“We try to increase what we are doing each time. We played local gigs first and now we are getting booked in London.”

Rob is the main creative force of the band, who play tunes on instruments as diverse as the djembe, mandolin, bouzuki and harmonica. All their songs were written by Rob but the band has started co-writing songs as a whole for the next album, which they feel they could start recording right away.

“I have written a lot of stuff specifically for this project and some of it is some old stuff I had,” said Rob, 57.

“We are tapping into a young and old audience. There seems to be a wide age range at the shows. Lots of people like the music.

“I think it is the mix of our set up. When people see Kirsteen [Bristow] playing the djembe, they say 'what’s that?’ It is unique. You hear the bouzuki, mandolin, cajon – it all just fits.

“It seems like we may just have hit on something. On Facebook we are up to 5,000 friends. We seem to have caught the imagination.”

Fate the Juggler’s next Kent show is at The Barge in Gillingham on Saturday, February 4. Admission free. Call 01634 850485. The band’s new album, The Ghost of Beauty Lost, is available on iTunes and Spotify from Monday, February 6. Details atwww.fatethejuggler.com