Shrewsbury Folk Festival 2012

As you may or may not know, it is only within the last couple of years that I have become a ‘folkie’. The problem with this is I am missing years of experience and knowledge about all the different folk music out there. I am still very much at the catch up stage trying to get up to date with all the different styles and main stream acts that are floating around.

This was a deciding factor when I decided I wanted to go to a folk festival. My first surprise was how many folk festivals there are!

Anyone who says folk music is dead has absolutely no idea! After looking at several big folk festivals I opted to go to Shrewsbury as it had one act going which I was particularly keen to see, so me and a work colleague booked tickets and waited.

When the programme finally arrived I got my second surprise. How much there was to do. Folk festivals seem to beat normal festivals to me because not only are there the main stages with headline acts but also vast selections of other events and activities to do during the day, and not to mention the option of attending ceilidhs at night if the current acts on don’t appeal to you.

This would actually be my only criticism of the folk festival, I was spoilt for choice and ended up feeling as though I had missed out because it was simply impossible to see everything I wanted to.

My third surprise was how many young people and children were interested. There is a stereotype that folk music for old people, and yes there were many older and middle aged people there. There was however a large number of people in their twenties and lots of children floating around too! In fact there were event whole event lists devoted to children’s activities, so there must be a lot of takers.

Now on to the acts themselves:

LAU

Lau was one of the acts I really wanted to see when I saw the act list. Unfortuntly I only caught the end because I had the most horrific journey of my life getting from Liverpool to Shrewsbury. When I arrived I was soaking wet and extremely upset and as a result I just could not really focus on the music.

Luckily I am going to see Lau at the Deaf Institute in manchester on November 10th, so I will be able to review them properly there.

What I can say is their popularity speaks for themselves as the tent they were performing in was literally overflowing with people, I was stuck outside with a vast crowd just wanting to be close enough to hear them!

JIM MORAY

I had never heard of Jim Moray before. Which I now know is ridiculous for someone who claims to be a fan of folk music, but I am young and new to this so I'm sticking with this excuse. Me and my colleague where only going to Jim Moray because we wanted a good spot for when the next act, Kate Rusby, came on. My colleague had listened to Jim Moray before and thought he was okay.

The queue for his performance though was downright insane, the queue stretched past the main marquee and down along the sides of the camp sites and even past the food tents. It took a good five minutes to walk from the front to the end.

This is pure devotion, you must be good at what you do to inspire this many fans. At this stage I was becoming very curious to hear Jim, I expected him to be the same kind of Folk as Seth Lakeman which i don't mind but certainly is not my preferred style.

Finally we got to the entrance and noticed that there was a queue probably just as long on the other side of marquee too! Much to my surprise we actually got in, although bunched up at the back.

It was worth it though. Jim Moray pumped real personality into his songs and the crowd loved him! My favourite song from hid entire set has got to be 'Bless You all the pretty girls" which had the audience bouncing and singing along with him! Even my colleague had drastically changed his option by the end.

Jim really did warm up the start of night and was just a hint of the good things to come. Starting on a high is defiantly a good thing and Jim did a great job doing just that! (Quick side note, I wanted to see his sister Jackie Oates, who performed with him, but her solo act clashed with other things I wanted to see, so hopefully next time)

 

KATE RUSBY

Another act I had not heard of and should be ashamed by not knowing. This was one of the main acts my colleague wanted to see at Shrewsbury and I can see why. Her mere introduction sold it for me. She came onto the stage (greeted by the loudest cheering I have ever heard), gave a big smile and then say "Hello!" In the friendliest northern accent ever. What struck me about Kate and Jim and is that they sounded genuinely happy to be there. I notice that a lot with folk artists, they actually seem to enjoy what they are doing. Some popular musicians and rock stars don't seem able to put the same warmth into their voices when talking to audiences, many make it sound far too forced!

Kate honoured us with great sets and delightful little tales as her slot went on, enforcing what had already been a great night!

SHOW OF HANDS

Somehow I managed to get right up to the front for this act. I had bought a couple of their CD's in preparation and I'll admit they were hit and miss, each song was a case I either loved it or hated it, there did not seem to be an in-between.

Show of Hands were doing the same set list that they used at the Royal Albert Hall during Easter and they pleasantly surprised me by putting on an excellent fun show. I enjoyed the chosen track list with I think only one song I found to be not in my taste but this was greatly outweigh by their excellent renditions of "Are We Alright" and "Cruel River", the latter of which I enjoyed the most. Double Bass player Miranda Sykes (Who I clocked the next day just walking around the festival, I doubt members of Nickelback of Gun's N Roses have ever done that) did a solo song which actually gave me goose bumps, which is very unusual.

What struck me the most about Show of Hands is the way it seemed different to the previous two acts. It seemed more like a mass concert like you would find at Leeds or Glastonbury than in a marquee in Shrewsbury. I think Show of Hands had a slightly more professional stage demeanour but I wonder if this was also partly due to my change in location. Despite being at the front I was also at the side so could not see them on stage, resulting me having to watch the screen, and this really does change a perception of a show.

GHOSTS OF DECEMBER

On Sunday I planned to check out the 'Village Stage' which was a small stage set up in the middle of the festival show ground, the first act I arrived for was Ghosts of December. I feel slightly ashamed of myself because I formed an opinion about them before even arriving. When I saw their name in the programme I expected them to be one of these amateur folk groups which try to unsuccessfully modernise Folk in a way which simply fails.

Well I am happy to admit I was wrong. They were brilliant, and they were proper folk. They had just the right balance of folk, rock and a Celtic twang which came together as a great mixture. I wanted to buy one of their CD's during their show but unfortunately funds at the time did not provide for that so I had to settle with simply enjoying them in the moment.

Two members (I'm not very familiar with their individuals names yet) even came and sat by me in the audience for the next act (Again you wouldn't see that at Leeds).

 

JAMES RILEY

Now this is the act that surprised me the most. This young man and his entourage (including a spoons player!) really made the day for me. Again I was sceptical, expecting a hippie act but instead was blasted by the greatest version of 'Matty Grove' and amazing original tracks.

The crowd that James Riley attracted from around the festival site speaks for itself and I even chose to go back for the same set list the next day (In hindsight I should have filmed one of his songs).

Look out for this guy because I think he is only going to progress further up the ladder!





 

BLACKBEARD'S TEA PARTY

Again the name got me curious and they have now pushed their way into my top five acts. The music they played during the Ceilidh was just brilliant. Folk and Rock is very difficult to mix well I think but these guys managed it no trouble. The best way for me to describe them is modern pirate music.

Unfortunatly for me I was at the ceilidh on my own so I couldn't really join in, but on the bright side I got to sit aside and watch as hundreds of people entered the dance tent and filled the dance floor.

All the members of BTP are very young but in their music they keep the traditional themes and ideas of Celtic folk music and just give of revamp them slightly but without losing that antique spark that folk music needs to be what it is. If the music didn't feel slightly old, then it wouldn't be folk music. BTP managed to keep that spark and yet make the music new!

I have since bought both their albums and loved them both.

I think it is hard for me to describe this group to you, let me show you instead:

FRUMTARN GUGGEN BAND

These guys count as one of the other acts going around. During the daytime several morris groups and these guys were walking around various spots of Shrewsbury village performing. The first thing I noticed about them was the way they dressed up like cows.

I find it hard to class them as folk, they are more... awesome marching band, however they were very popular and created an unbelievable atmosphere in the dance tent just before Blackbeard's Tea Party came on.

The two worked well together actually Frumtarn Guggen hyping up the crowd and then Blackbeard's Tea Party taking that and letting people express it through an awesome dance!




The videos I took of these guys in the ceilidh unfortunatly were not very good because I was too close to the drums, but hopefully this one will give you a small taster:

MORRIS DANCING GROUPS

Despite my father being a Morris Dancer when he was younger I did not think they would be something I would enjoy.

On Saturday I spent my time wondering through the town and bumped into a group called the Shropshire Bedlams and Martha Rhoden's Tuppenny Dish and they were absolutely crazy. Anyone who says Morris is boring needs to see these guys in action, from the strange dress to the bizzare noises and then launching themselves into the audience, they become a tough act to beat even buy the headline musicians!

Other groups such as Mortimer's Morris and Spank the Plank were good too and much more fixed to how people view Morris dancing. I am going to attach two videos, one for the Shropshire Bedlams and one of a Morris dancing parade that was done on the final day through the showground:

FAUSTUS

Faustus is the act that sold Shrewsbury to me. I am a massive fan of Bellowhead and through their album 'Umbrellowhead' got to experience the work of Belshazzar's Feast, Rachael McShane, Benji Kirkpatrick, Chavo, Spier's and Boden and of course Faustus.

This is kind of how my love of folk started, I was already into The Pogues and Dubliners but wanted to experience more English stuff so a friend sent me 'New York Girl's by Bellowhead and from there I was hooked and able to venture out to these other artists (who all play for Bellowhead).

Quite to my amusement I bumped into Paul Sartin as he was arriving at the festival. I had met Paul previously as a Belshazzar's Feast concert on the Wirral (Check out previous posts). Now Paul is a member of Bellowhead, Belshazzar's Feast and Faustus, all bands I have come to enjoy as a result of umbrellowhead, but I do hope poor Paul doesn't think I'm stalking him, especially as I will be seeing Bellowhead in November. As followers will know I like to get my picture with and meet bands I review, although naturally that would be difficult for all the acts of Shrewsbury, but I couldn't resist the opportunity to ask Mr Sartin if I could get a picture with Faustus. He kindly agreed! Now if I can just convince the rest of Bellowhead (Hah!)

Anyway. Faustus did not disappoint. They did all the best tracks (Appart from Temperly Hornpipe which was disappointing) including 'Green Willow Tree', 'Brisk Lad', 'Ballina Whalers' and of course 'Next Stop: Grimsby/ The Three Rascals/ Aunt Crisps'. As always their on stage banter added greatly to the show and made it the perfect way to finish of the festival. In some ways I am glad they were the last act I saw because it allowed me to end on a high, saving the best until last kind of thing.







 

If you want to see more of my reviews please follow me on Blogger and on Twitter @PaulRawcliffe, comments would be great and pass it on to anyone you think would like to read it!

If you are one of the acts mentioned: Hi hope you liked it and please get in touch if you want!




 

DFTBA

Your's and Mine

I noticed recently at a restaurant that a waiter came over and said the words “Are you finished with your sauces?”

Now I’m sure you will agree that this is not generally considered to be a strange thing for a waiter to say. When you look at the scenario more closely however, you can start to wonder if it actually is a bizarre thing to say.

I entered an external establishment, ordered specific food off a menu and sat down. The waiter brought one of those little holders with sauce bottles in: ketchup, HP, mayonnaise, that sort of thing. He later comes and asks me if I am done with “my” sauces.

I don’t think the sauces can ever really be called mine. They belong to the restaurant, I simply took use of them (well in reality I didn’t even use any but that’s not the point). So really the waiter could have said “Are you finished with my sauces” which itself is still ambiguous about the owner of the sauces, as it is unlikely the waiter personally invested in them himself.

Alternatively he could have said “our” but then that implies some kind of “us and them” type scenario between the establishment and the customers, or even could imply that me and him equally own the sauces.

The only option really should have been “the” sauces as it does not leave any connotation to ownership.

It strikes me that to really be able to refer to something as “mine” you had to have experienced some kind of loss to gain it, whether this is financially or otherwise. Another can be what I like to refer to as ‘undisputed domination’ which is basically a fancy way of saying that you were the only one who wanted the thing in question, although usually this would mean there is no value to it.

Another way of examining this is if someone comes to your home and you offer them a glass of milk, they accept and are happily drinking it, then suddenly the glass falls from their hands they exclaim “My milk!”

Can they say that? At any point has it actually really become “Their” milk? You bought it, you suffered the loss and are simply allowing someone else use.

Obviously it would be stupid to yell “Your milk!” when they were holding the glass, but you see the point.

The final way to look at it is through the idea of gifts. Was the milk a gift? Gift implies exchanging ownership through less financial means and more emotional ones. Well what about in the restaurant? If that sauce was a gift then how dare he take those bottles back!

Some may argue that the sauce used is included in the price of the meal. Impossible I say. First of all there is no advertised use of sauces on the menu and secondly how could they possibly then ensure everyone gets their money value worth of sauce.

Other will probably argue I’m over thinking this. Probably true but I still noticed this.

DFTBA

Review: The Feelgood Depression

First an apology for my lack of post on Wednesday as advertised as I have been unwell this week.


The Feelgood Depression is a new and upcoming band based in Stoke on Trent right her ein the united Kingdom. As with many bands just starting out they are striving to increase their fanbase and plug their music out to all those who may be interested. It is very difficult these days for news bands to get the proverbial ball rolling. Some believe that the utilisation of websites such as Mysapce, Twitter and Facebook would actually make this easier but I believe it instead to be the opposite.

The Feelgood Depression is a modern combination of Rock and Grunge lead by the vocals of Deborah Crellin and Tracy Smith featuring the lead guitar skills of James Smith, Kenneth Nelson on Bass, Dan Steele on drums and Dan Dale on keyboard and synthesiser.

Their E.P album is called Rockstar and features four tracks. The first track, also called Rockstar opens with an immediately catchy guitar rift which then breaks into vocals part way in telling the classic story of Rockstars doing what they do best, rocking!

Track two, The Flowers are Dead (a title which actually made me go "Awwwh :(" before even starting the track) starts slower than the previous track with a synthesiser start flowing into a soft beat and guitar. This track has a much more sad theme on which we taken on a journey discussing the sadness of being forgotten, whether this is supposed to be forgotten because of death or other reasons I believe is left for the listener to decide depending on what they related to better. The vocals explore that little glimmer of hope that we all have that we would not be forgotten and that someone from our lives, someone we love, still remember.

The third, track titled "The One" jumps back to a more catchy and faster paced opening which reminds me of the likes of Franz Ferdinand and Feeder (For some reason?), and continues into a lovely fast paced "Hum" song, by which a song which after listening to it you find yourself humming the melody for the rest of the afternoon.

And finally the fourth track "Help Me Out" moves back again into a slightly softer beginning but jumps and morphs into a faster grunge track discussing the inevitable feelings of low self worth and yearning for the appreciation of others.

With each track I enjoyed this band more and more and highly recommend you give them a listen and check out their lives shows:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Feelgood-Depression/127179797362002 Give them a big old LIKE

https://twitter.com/FeelgoodDepress FOLLOW and see where it leads you!

Next week I will finally post about this large subject I have been building up to, if there are any topics you wish me to discuss on this blog, or if you have a band or there is a band you want me to review then please e-mail me on paul.rawcliffe1@gmail.com and let me know!


DFTBA

Misc

Okay so I had been avoiding doing a blog post because the one I was planning is very deep and sensitive and had been on my mind a lot recently.

However two things have cropped up lately so I'm inserting this in-between my planned post which I will do next week. On that note since my posting has been, erratic to say the least, I am going to choose a day in the week to do a consistent post, not sure when yet.

I want to talk about the recent plans to make busking without a license an arrest able offence in Liverpool and the 'discovery' of the Higgs Boson.

First of all I am unclear on the facts for both of these stories, but my intention is to examine the hypothetical ideas.

Buskers, as you may or may not know, is what we call those people you often find in city centres playing music in the street for tips. First of all I HATE the stereotype that these people are all homeless beggars. Nonsense, most are very talented musicians and are part of bands etc. Busking is a good way for new musicians to become known and also just to liven up an otherwise dull and ugly urban setting, why would people not want their lives brightened with music?

Secondly these people are clearly not beggars, you can tell just by checking out the instruments and equipment most have.

Anyway off my tangent.

http://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/keep-spontaneous-street-performance-alive

It is my understanding that there are already generally license requirements for busking publicly and I suppose the more I think about it I do understand why this makes sense.

The trouble, as this article is suggesting, is it is restricting who can busk far too much, part of the point of busking is to give new musicians experience, not just to cherry pick the very best, that’s basically signing a musician, and yet with no perks of such a thing.

Street performing is a delight of the modern world and yet local authorities do not seem to want it.

Why?

I have tried to work out what it is that restrictive councils don't like about them. For a start do people forget Liverpool got European Capital of Culture in 2008, something our Council made a very big deal about.

I doubt completely that our skilled street buskers did not in any way contribute to this title, and how do we reward them? More limitations.

Now anyone who has read my University Dissertation (which none of you have, so I'm not sure why I've said that, would anyone like me to post it?) would know that I do actually believe in limitation on things like information. I do not believe in freedom of speech and I certainly do not believe in the freedom of information and that blasted Wikileaks.

However that restriction is based on the idea of public and national safety being the bigger priority.

Unless I am grossly misinformed busking is at worst an irritation to people who don't understand it and then at best a passion for those who enjoy it. On balance I do not see how busking is a threat to the public and therefore should not be so tightly regulated.

The excuse of " These measures will greatly enhance Liverpool's ability to attract the very best buskers and will add a new dimension to the visitors experience...Buskers themselves will benefit from a better regulated process...retailers and shoppers will be delighted the city has finally made this leap."

Is completely insane! How on earth are buskers going to benefit unless they are already the top of their game? Yes we want to attract the best buskers, but why should we reject the ones not as good, is this fair? Should people of all abilities not be able to express their art?

Furious.

Right second topic. Apparently CERN has discovered a particle that fits with their model for the Boson. This is very exciting news for the science world:

http://www.theverge.com/2012/7/4/3136527/higgs-boson-discovery-cern-announcement

First of let me clarify that the Higgs Boson does not disprove God or any of this nonsense (I personally believe it adds more reason for believing but I'm not going into that), it is called the God Particle which people think mean it is a substitute for God. Well first of all the Media gave it this name not scientists and secondly all they meant is it is such an exciting discovery it would be like discovering proof of God, it is that amazing a particle. That particular phrase is a poor choice of words and causes far more arguments than it should.

It should be clarified that it is NOT certain that this is the Boson yet, what is certain is that it is a new particle. The more we learn about the way the universe works the better, the more advancements we can make and the better life can be improved. Now we can also start manipulating the universe, which is a handy thing to do!

Anyway my next post will be the one I had scheduled and it links in some ways to this post, I'll aim for Wednesday of next week. I also intend of doing Teaser Tuesdays so keep an eye open for those posts too.

DFTBA