Video of the week: Wille and the Bandits 'Wheal Jane'

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3 hours ago
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A dark blues-rock portrait of life deep underground in Cornwall’s tin mines, with a music video filmed inside a mine shaft.

Cornish blues-rock outfit Willie and the Bandits, described by Cornwall Live, as “One of the best bands to come out of Cornwall in years” release their haunting new single “Wheal Jane,” a track that dives into the perspective of a miner working in the historic Wheal Jane tin mine in Cornwall. The site, known for its dangerous and unforgiving conditions, stands as a stark symbol of the region’s industrial past. The band channels that bleak environment into a heavy, atmospheric soundscape shaped by tension, distortion, and emotional weight.

Driven by shadowed vocals and slow-burning blues riffs, “Wheal Jane” captures the sensation of being trapped deep below the surface, far from daylight and certainty. It reflects the grit and vulnerability of those who worked in the mine’s depths day after day.

Wille Edwards explains,

“We wanted to show what it felt like to be down there, the pressure, the darkness, the sense of being cut off from the world above. The story is rooted in real lives and real danger.”

At its peak, Cornwall’s mining industry employed more than 30,000 people, around a quarter of the regions entire population. Men, women, and children as young as twelve endured gruelling conditions, often working twelve-hour shifts, six days a week, deep underground. Their resilience and sacrifice shaped the cultural and industrial heart of Cornwall for generations.

In keeping with the single’s authenticity, the video is filmed in a mine shaft underground, further grounding the song in the landscape and history that inspired it. The visuals will mirror the raw physicality of the environment, highlighting its scars, silence, and scale.

“Wheal Jane,” the second single from the band’s forthcoming album Salt Roots (out February 27, 2026), builds on the momentum of the debut track “Trouble Round the Bend.” The song pushes the band’s sound into bolder territory, heavier, more cinematic, and deeply rooted in storytelling.

Salt Roots UK TOUR

March 2026

4th Fleece | Bristol

5th The Brook | Southampton

6th John Peel Centre | Stowmarket

7th The Star | Guildford

11th Night and Day | Manchester

12th Voodoo Rooms | Edinburgh

13th Rum Shack | Glasgow

14th Cluny | Newcastle

18th Acapela | Cardiff

19th Albert’s Shed | Shrewsbury