Ambient Green Picnic
I had a great day on the 11th of July, when the Ambient Green Picnic took place at Shalford Park in Guildford. It was a baking hot summer day, and the vibe was really relaxed. I must admit, I largely avoided the Main Stage which banged out trance, ambient and the like, but the Acoustic Stage was excellent. The best acts of the day were the punk and woodwind fusion of The Monsoon Bassoon, the original instrumentalism of the Essences(who are best described as a more groovy Mogwai!) and the singer-songwriter Nick Harper who was funny, political and a cool guitarist. Thanks to everyone involved with the running of the festival.
Band Splits
There's been a fair few recently, hasn't there? I'll try and pay a bit of a tribute to some of my favourites. Firstly, Cable: although I never bought any of their albums, I have a friend who was into them, and every time they turned up on one of his homemade compilations, I'd always think... hey, that's fantastic, who are this band? And it'd always be Cable; full of infectious tunes that knew how to rock. What's particularly sad about the split is that it was forced on them by a managerial dispute. Hopefully they'll be back in another guise. Continuing on the theme of emo-rock, the most surprising split of the year is Jetpak. I really thought they were going to make it, particularly after their last single got them a bit of coverage in Kerrang!. They were a devastating live band, and I'll never forget that 500-strong mosh-pit they whipped up at the Christmas Splatch. I don't know why they split though, try their website if it's still operational. Finally, a band have split that many of you won't have heard of, local boys Sonic Blue. They wrote classy indie tunes, and their live performances were really honest, particularly in an acoustic setting. Again, I'm not sure why the split happened, but they played their last gig at the Camberly Artslink in July.
Drop The Debt
I could write pages on how I feel on this subject. Basically, we've been ripping-off, abusing and strangling Third World Countries for too long, and the least we can do is raise awareness about the poverty our governments are driving them into, and attempt to help them. Please sign the petitions which are going round, they do help - I know it sounds cheesy, but canceling part of the Third World Debt would be something to really celebrate over the millennium.
Guildford Indie Fans
Basically, this is a plea to ask you to support your local scene. At the moment, because Splatch! has stopped, the only regular venue putting on gigs is the Plantation Cafe in Guildford. Now I know this venue has no bar and is rather 'uncool' but they are trying to put on some decent bands, and so it is disappointing when hardly anyone turns up to watch the bands. I mean, Monkey Boy, Monkey Island and Fantasmagroover are all brilliant bands that are bothering to play in Guilford, yet they've played in front of two dozen people at most! Admittedly, sometimes the gigs are poorly promoted, but I even stuck posters up around town and in record shops for the Fantasmagroover gig, yet still no-one turned up that either I or the band's drummer, who works in Guildford, hadn't invited. In contrast I've been to punk gigs at the venue which have been completely teaming with people, and that's only to watch some local ska-punk crap! So I'm going to end this rant by just asking you to support the venue because if not live music for teenagers is going to completely disappear from Guildford.
Inter and Redwood
Two years ago, these were my favorite bands, and I've seen both of them about ten times. Over the year however, they both appear to have disappeared from the face of the planet. There is good news though! Inter's new single 'National Paranoia' is out in August on Yoshiko. I've heard it on John Peel's show a few times now and it's fantastic. Hopefully the long-awaited debut album will follow shortly - a possible album of the year. As for Redwood, well they're still around I think... probably still writing new material for their second album, I guess.
Live Reviews
...or lack of them. Basically, I've been to loads of gigs recently, but I find them painful to write up, so I've decided not to do them anymore unless I see something really unusual or special. I will however, mention a few of the best bands I've seen around. Probably the best gig I went to was when the Llama Farmers and Seafood completely tore apart a sweltering Garage with their brands of lo-fi rock. At the Aldershot WEC there's been some ace gigs too; Nojahoda were bizarre but brilliant and Dustball played loads of new material and remained very impressive. There's been a new wave of cool bands in the Surrey area and I've been able to witness some of them live for the first time; Fourth Quartet, Caretaker and Dreyfuss are exciting young bands that produce vicious live sets. At the Camden Falcon, The Clint Boon Experience kept everyone waiting far too long, but just about compensated with their selection of silly, keyboard led funk-punk tunes, although support act Fixed Stars combined sequencers and guitar energy far more effectively. The most mellow gig of the issue was at the Bassment Club in Farnham where an acoustic Mindwire showed that they're not just a noisy grunge outfit, but have some strong, haunting songs that sound perfect on a warm Summer evening.
Space Fillers
Things I am sick of hearing about:
- The millennium
- Danger about going blind during the eclipse
- Manchester United's Treble
- The Phantom Menace (although I probably will go and watch it)
Things I am looking forward to this year:
- Reading Festival
- University choices
- My 18th birthday
- A&B #4 coming out!
The first five gigs I ever went to:
- Counting Crows @ Shepherd’s Bush Empire
- Presidents of the USA @ Brixton Academy
- NOFX @ London Astoria
- The Bluetones @ Guildford Civic Hall
- Jethro Tull @ Guildford Civic Hall
Sorry if this last bit is a load of boring nonsense, it's just I was running out of stuff to write about, and I needed to fill up this page.
@tomika Interview
Issue 4 Contents
Issue 4 Summer '99 © Tim Bragger