Soju Tanaka
As soon as I entered the exhibition I was drawn towards the delicate artwork of Soju Tanaka, which featured lots of strange little creatures cavorting around in trees, or climbing on clouds. Her website is full of slightly blander digital artwork – she should stick to this style IMO. I hope Soju is a she…
Polly Philp
In a darkened room behind curtains Polly Philp showed her colour saturated film The Caretaker – a right old romp through all things currently trendy. A mystical looking gentleman with a long beard walks through a cave of stalactites. Encounters all sorts of ethnic and occult objects. Smokes a skull pipe. Finds an eyeball in his mouth. Gazes into a candlelit mirror. Eats an egg. I’ve no idea what the hell it all meant but it was so much fun I watched it three times. It’s a shame then that Polly’s presence on the web is near to zero. The website on her postcard doesn’t work, her blog is set to private (like, duh) and her flickr account tells me very little, apart from she is quite odd. As if I didn’t know that already. Maaaaan, it just makes me so cross. Get online lady! Start promoting your work. Because it’s very good!
Colin Stewart
Former Amelia’s Magazine contributor Luke Best apparently teaches at Camberwell College and his cut and paste painted style has had a marked influence on some of his proteges – particularly Siobhan Sullivan and Colin Stewart, the latter of whom has done some wonderful work for this very website – you can see his pictures of Patch William in my blog about Glastonbury this year.
Miriam Elgon Miriam Elgon has produced some of the most individual work I’ve seen from any recent illustrator – her scratchy overlays creating a rich narrative tapestry that calls to mind the work of impressionist painters. But she has no website. Why oh why oh why?
Ella Plevin Ella Plevin was one of my very favourite Camberwell illustration degree graduates. Her gorgeous combinations of pastel colour-filled line drawing and photocopied montages look deceptively simple and work brilliantly. Plus she has a fabulous and comprehensive website up and running, as all graduates should. Go take a look…
Vitalism by Ella Plevin.
Harriet Wakeling Harriet Wakeling showed a beautiful shell trailer attached to a bike. Some of the work in this show was really pushing the boundaries of what defines illustration and this was mos def one of them. I’m not sure this has anything to do with illustration, but I love all things bike-inspired, so can I have one please?
Kai Chan Kai Chan contributed one of her colourful intricate illustrations to the last ever print issue of Amelia’s Magazine, and it’s good to see her very distinct style has developed into something really wonderful. Here’s a detail from a long banner she had wrapped around one of the pillars.
Andy Ainger
Rounding a corner at the bottom of the stairs I encountered the work of Andy Ainger, who makes strange paper mache characters. Here The Band (a collaboration with Sean Fitzpatrick) was a collection of nearly life-size (in a munchkin vein) models in bright primary colours. A lot of fun.
Oscar Bolton Green
Despite a glaring error in the spelling of Oscar Bolton Green‘s website on the exhibition tag which meant I had to hunt him down via the Save Our Souls website despite taking thorough notes *wrings hands in despair* I loved Oscar explorations of the different types of bird beak – he’s a natural for graphic children’s book design. Lovely stuff.
Yana Elkassova Yana Elkassova is one for all those fans of old Ladybird books – a clear inspiration on this extremely talented illustrator who mixes retro hyperealism with a dash of darkness. She also had some wonderful custom made Russian dolls on show that you can view over on Matt’s blog post. And a beautiful website to boot.
Detail from Yana Elkassova’s work.
Jess Stokes
The lovely Jessica Stokes was a very able editorial intern at Amelia’s Magazine who produced some wonderful articles for us, and since then she has completed her degree, the main body of which centres around the most wonderful intricate architectural line work. She also specialises in some fabulous oddball portraiture.
I’ve rounded up the best of the rest in my next blog post so just click here to read more…
Written by Amelia Gregory on Wednesday August 4th, 2010 3:49 pm
Soju Tanaka
As soon as I entered the exhibition I was drawn towards the delicate artwork of Soju Tanaka, which featured lots of strange little creatures cavorting around in trees, or climbing on clouds. Her website is full of slightly blander digital artwork – she should stick to this style IMO. I hope Soju is a she…
Polly Philp
In a darkened room behind curtains Polly Philp showed her colour saturated film The Caretaker – a right old romp through all things currently trendy. A mystical looking gentleman with a long beard walks through a cave of stalactites. Encounters all sorts of ethnic and occult objects. Smokes a skull pipe. Finds an eyeball in his mouth. Gazes into a candlelit mirror. Eats an egg. I’ve no idea what the hell it all meant but it was so much fun I watched it three times. It’s a shame then that Polly’s presence on the web is near to zero. The website on her postcard doesn’t work, her blog is set to private (like, duh) and her flickr account tells me very little, apart from she is quite odd. As if I didn’t know that already. Maaaaan, it just makes me so cross. Get online lady! Start promoting your work. Because it’s very good!
Colin Stewart
Former Amelia’s Magazine contributor Luke Best apparently teaches at Camberwell College and his cut and paste painted style has had a marked influence on some of his proteges – particularly Siobhan Sullivan and Colin Stewart, the latter of whom has done some wonderful work for this very website – you can see his pictures of Patch William in my blog about Glastonbury this year.
Miriam Elgon Miriam Elgon has produced some of the most individual work I’ve seen from any recent illustrator – her scratchy overlays creating a rich narrative tapestry that calls to mind the work of impressionist painters. But she has no website. Why oh why oh why?
Ella Plevin Ella Plevin was one of my very favourite Camberwell illustration degree graduates. Her gorgeous combinations of pastel colour-filled line drawing and photocopied montages look deceptively simple and work brilliantly. Plus she has a fabulous and comprehensive website up and running, as all graduates should. Go take a look…
Vitalism by Ella Plevin.
Harriet Wakeling Harriet Wakeling showed a beautiful shell trailer attached to a bike. Some of the work in this show was really pushing the boundaries of what defines illustration and this was mos def one of them. I’m not sure this has anything to do with illustration, but I love all things bike-inspired, so can I have one please?
Kai Chan Kai Chan contributed one of her colourful intricate illustrations to the last ever print issue of Amelia’s Magazine, and it’s good to see her very distinct style has developed into something really wonderful. Here’s a detail from a long banner she had wrapped around one of the pillars.
Andy Ainger
Rounding a corner at the bottom of the stairs I encountered the work of Andy Ainger, who makes strange paper mache characters. Here The Band (a collaboration with Sean Fitzpatrick) was a collection of nearly life-size (in a munchkin vein) models in bright primary colours. A lot of fun.
Oscar Bolton Green
Despite a glaring error in the spelling of Oscar Bolton Green’s website on the exhibition tag which meant I had to hunt him down via the Save Our Souls website despite taking thorough notes *wrings hands in despair* I loved Oscar explorations of the different types of bird beak – he’s a natural for graphic children’s book design. Lovely stuff.
Yana Elkassova Yana Elkassova is one for all those fans of old Ladybird books – a clear inspiration on this extremely talented illustrator who mixes retro hyperealism with a dash of darkness. She also had some wonderful custom made Russian dolls on show that you can view over on Matt’s blog post. And a beautiful website to boot.
Detail from Yana Elkassova’s work.
Jess Stokes
The lovely Jessica Stokes was a very able editorial intern at Amelia’s Magazine who produced some wonderful articles for us, and since then she has completed her degree, the main body of which centres around the most wonderful intricate architectural line work. She also specialises in some fabulous oddball portraiture.
I’ve rounded up the best of the rest in my next blog post so just click here to read more…
Written by Amelia Gregory on Wednesday August 4th, 2010 3:49 pm
A gourmet three course meal served up by a world class chef (Charlie Nicoll, visit webcure formerly of the River Cafe) – at a festival? You could be forgiven for thinking you’d just heard wrong. But this was exactly what I enjoyed on Friday night at the Soul Fire Restaurant at Secret Garden Party this year.
Guests were encouraged to book their place online, order and the restaurant (housed in three cosy yurts backing onto a kitchen preparation area) was busy as soon as we arrived for the first sitting at the leisurely hour of 9.30pm.
In the first yurt diners were treated to some live music, sick and out back we were seated in candlelit surroundings at a shared table, with walls decorated in contemporary art. The waiters were delightful, and from the incredibly reasonably priced £30 three course menu we were soon chomping on our starter choices of Uig Lodge Smoked Salmon Blinis with Sour Cream and Avruga Caviar, and a large portion of succulent Wild Mushroom Arancini with Rocket and Aioli.
Illustrations by Katie Harnett.
My only quibble with the menu was the lack of an obvious main vegetarian option (we had to ask for it) but in the end we all settled on the same dishes – French Freerange Guinea Fowl with Sweet Potato Dauphinoise and Greens. I am generally a vegetarian but will occasionally eat freerange and organic meat – and this just sounded too good to pass up.
“The Soul Fire menu has been deliberated over with the utmost love and attention to offer guests an exquisite choice of fine food to suit all palates,” states the press release for the restaurant, which served only ethically and locally sourced food. I can confirm that our guinea fowl was absolutely delicious, sentiments agreed on by my two dining partners as we enjoyed our meal with an accompanying bottle of wine.
For desert we chose Lemon Curd Cheesecake with Blueberry Sauce and a moistly rich Chocolate Brownie with Ice Cream, which were both superb and again arrived in very reasonably sized portions that would set us up nicely for a long night of partying.
It may seem slightly strange to chose such a fabulous dining experience at a festival, but we returned to the madness outside refreshed, relaxed and fully sated.
On our travels later we overheard a punter passing the restaurant say “Best Eggs Benedict ever” to his companion. My only disappointment was that I was unable to sample the Soul Fire brunch experience for myself – by the time we made it back to the restaurant in the mornings it was always full already. It’s funny how news of a good thing will travel so fast.
I very much look forward to news of the next Soul Fire pop up restaurant in a yurt. This idea could grow and grow…
A gourmet three course meal served up by a world class chef (Charlie Nicoll, clinic formerly of the River Cafe) – at a festival? You could be forgiven for thinking you’d just heard wrong. But this was exactly what I enjoyed on Friday night at the Soul Fire Restaurant at Secret Garden Party this year.
Guests were encouraged to book their place online, viagra 60mg and the restaurant (housed in three cosy yurts backing onto a kitchen preparation area) was busy as soon as we arrived for the first sitting at the leisurely hour of 9.30pm.
In the first yurt diners were treated to some live music, and out back we were seated in candlelit surroundings at a shared table, with walls decorated in contemporary art. The waiters were delightful, and from the incredibly reasonably priced £30 three course menu we were soon chomping on our starter choices of Uig Lodge Smoked Salmon Blinis with Sour Cream and Avruga Caviar, and a large portion of succulent Wild Mushroom Arancini with Rocket and Aioli.
Illustrations by Katie Harnett.
My only quibble with the menu was the lack of an obvious main vegetarian option (we had to ask for it) but in the end we all settled on the same dishes – French Freerange Guinea Fowl with Sweet Potato Dauphinoise and Greens. I am generally a vegetarian but will occasionally eat freerange and organic meat – and this just sounded too good to pass up.
“The Soul Fire menu has been deliberated over with the utmost love and attention to offer guests an exquisite choice of fine food to suit all palates,” states the press release for the restaurant, which served only ethically and locally sourced food. I can confirm that our guinea fowl was absolutely delicious, sentiments agreed on by my two dining partners as we enjoyed our meal with an accompanying bottle of wine.
For desert we chose Lemon Curd Cheesecake with Blueberry Sauce and a moistly rich Chocolate Brownie with Ice Cream, which were both superb and again arrived in very reasonably sized portions that would set us up nicely for a long night of partying.
It may seem slightly strange to chose such a fabulous dining experience at a festival, but we returned to the madness outside refreshed, relaxed and fully sated.
On our travels later we overheard a punter passing the restaurant say “Best Eggs Benedict ever” to his companion. My only disappointment was that I was unable to sample the Soul Fire brunch experience for myself – by the time we made it back to the restaurant in the mornings it was always full already. It’s funny how news of a good thing will travel so fast.
I very much look forward to news of the next Soul Fire pop up restaurant in a yurt. This idea could grow and grow…
A gourmet three course meal served up by a world class chef (Charlie Nicoll, sick formerly of the River Cafe) – at a festival? You could be forgiven for thinking you’d just heard wrong. But this was exactly what I enjoyed on Friday night at the Soul Fire Restaurant at Secret Garden Party this year.
Guests were encouraged to book their place online, mind and the restaurant (housed in three cosy yurts backing onto a kitchen preparation area) was busy as soon as we arrived for the first sitting at the leisurely hour of 9.30pm.
In the first yurt diners were treated to some live music, capsule and out back we were seated in candlelit surroundings at a shared table, with walls decorated in contemporary art. The waiters were delightful, and from the incredibly reasonably priced £30 three course menu we were soon chomping on our starter choices of Uig Lodge Smoked Salmon Blinis with Sour Cream and Avruga Caviar, and a large portion of succulent Wild Mushroom Arancini with Rocket and Aioli.
Illustrations by Katie Harnett.
My only quibble with the menu was the lack of an obvious main vegetarian option (we had to ask for it) but in the end we all settled on the same dishes – French Freerange Guinea Fowl with Sweet Potato Dauphinoise and Greens. I am generally a vegetarian but will occasionally eat freerange and organic meat – and this just sounded too good to pass up.
“The Soul Fire menu has been deliberated over with the utmost love and attention to offer guests an exquisite choice of fine food to suit all palates,” states the press release for the restaurant, which served only ethically and locally sourced food. I can confirm that our guinea fowl was absolutely delicious, sentiments agreed on by my two dining partners as we enjoyed our meal with an accompanying bottle of wine.
For desert we chose Lemon Curd Cheesecake with Blueberry Sauce and a moistly rich Chocolate Brownie with Ice Cream, which were both superb and again arrived in very reasonably sized portions that would set us up nicely for a long night of partying.
It may seem slightly strange to choose such a fabulous dining experience at a festival, but we returned to the madness outside refreshed, relaxed and fully sated.
On our travels later we overheard a punter passing the restaurant say “Best Eggs Benedict ever” to his companion. My only disappointment was that I was unable to sample the Soul Fire brunch experience for myself – by the time we made it back to the restaurant in the mornings it was always full already. It’s funny how news of a good thing will travel so fast.
I very much look forward to news of the next Soul Fire pop up restaurant in a yurt. This idea could grow and grow…
Hay bales for seating in the Collosillyum area. Photography by Amelia Gregory.
If Latitude is a well planned amble between the South Bank, view ICA, viagra order Royal Opera House and Somerset House with added sheep, then Secret Garden Party is the biggest most eccentric three day party in the grounds of a country mansion you could never dream of. Two more diverse festivals you could not imagine.
The Party Blimp – accessible only by boat.
Music is just one of the elements that make up the Secret Garden Party experience, surely the only festival where the main acts are liable to be upstaged by a death-defying wheelchair race or a mud wrestling fight. Because the stages are not the central focus there is always space to sit down or to dance, and the natural layout of the main stage in particular means that there’s always space to see the bands properly – which makes for a far more comfortable viewing experience than at most festivals. Despite a distinct lack of well known bands the quality of music on the line up is never low, and as usual I discovered lots of great new music.
My favourite Secret Garden Party stage is built into the side of a huge tree. This year there were giant eyeballs sewn into the back and the front was made up to look like the prow of a ship, complete with a naked female figurehead. Shortly before the prow had been swung into destruction by inebriated climbing mammals Animal Kingdom took to the good ship Where the Wild Things Are with a beatific set of melodic songs that have gleaned comparisons to Radiohead, Sigur Ros and Coldplay.
Over in the geodesic rave dome – AKA the Remix Bubble – the Lake District’s finest Burn the Negative were proving to a small but highly motivated crowd (including security on balloons) that danceable indie electro doesn’t just come out of the big cities.
Secret Garden Party has expanded massively since I first came in 2004, and the more idiosyncratic attractions are now linked to the main arena by a floating bridge that caused much swaying hilarity on every crossing. As a mid afternoon treat I decided to get my toes nibbled by some miniature carp from Turkey.
Yes that’s me. White legs! Photography by Tim Adey.
The Doctor Fish has been used for centuries to cure skin ailments, and they were particularly excited by my friend Jemima’s Psoriasis. It was a very soothing experience, and my skin felt notably softer afterwards. This is the first time this particular species of fish have been imported into the UK and entrepreneur Keon Petre hopes to open a range of fish nibbling franchises.
Emma Ware.
A huge pink tent housed stalls from a carefully picked range of artists and designers including Spitalfields based illustrator Dan Hillier and jeweller Emma Ware, who makes gorgeous contemporary pieces from recycled inner tubes. Expect to hear more about her designs on this blog soon.
Fionn Regan was the perfect treat for a sunny day, following in the traditional mould of talented Irish folk singers with added 80s McEnroe hair band action. Never a bad thing in my book.
I knew there was a reason I felt immediately warm towards main stage act Steve Mason despite having no clue who he was – turns out he was one half of the excellent Beta Band. And anyone who twitters about Ian Tomlinson is even better in my books. Musicians with a conscience – we need more of them.
I’ve been a big fan of hot tip Marina and the Diamonds for some time now, but we missed most of her set whilst enjoying the most wonderful three course dinner at the Soulfire restaurant, housed in three yurts (look out for my full review, coming soon). Instead we caught the last few songs, which still gave me ample time to admire her vermillion lips and whippet thin waist: I can now confirm that she is every bit as sexy in the flesh as she comes across on record.
Afterwards we were treated to some nefarious circus fun from Down Under – including pubic angle-grinding, sword swallowing and weights hooked into eyelids. Tasteful.
I featured the Infadels way back in issue 04 of Amelia’s Magazine in 2005, and they’ve been steadily plugging away ever since. I haven’t heard any recent albums but they seemed quite happy to play lots of the old tunes, which perfectly suited the late night party crowd.
Most amusingly they seem to have acquired a female joint lead vocalist on one of their most famous tunes. Maybe all ageing bands will one day invite drunk negligee-wearing teenagers on board to spice things up. Oh hang on, it’s already become a trend… (see Saturday’s blog…)
Last up on Where the Wild Things Are at gone 1am the glitter-covered Delays played a fantastically energetic set to a shockingly small crowd. “Let’s see some shoulder action,” they pleaded. “It’s not a festival without it.” Several people obligingly mounted their friends with rapidity. I hope one day this vastly underrated band finds the success they deserve. Catch our recent interview with them here.
Remember, there’s more where this came from – you can read about Saturday’s events here. The Comfort of Strangers by Christopher Morris, site a contributor to Amelia’s Magazine
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last few months, rx you’ll know that we have a soft spot for illustration here at Amelia’s Magazine.
So I popped along to the grimly-titled but rather splendid Save Our Souls illustration exhibition a couple of weeks ago – the latest offering from Camberwell College of Arts. Free booze flowed (sometimes too closely to some of the works, which made me ‘eek’ aloud. Seriously) and there was SO much to see – too much, actually – it was a little overwhelming. With so much talent on display, it made me realise just how competitive the illustration industry is – but thank heavens we’ve been featuring so much on here recently!
Most people chose to sit outside and booze – it was a pretty hot evening.
How you digest all of this wonderful work into 500ish words is beyond me, but I’m going to give it a damn good try. The exhibition featured not only traditional, framed illustrations but lots of other mixed media works, fashion, film and sculpture. Here’s my top picks of the day, whose souls I’ll be saving by featuring them in this article.
In no particular order, honestly:
Katie Brookes
I was absolutely astonished by Katie’s intricate, large-scale drawings, pleasantly-titled The Pathway To Hell. (‘What is it with all this talk of death?’ I wondered, ‘these students need cheering up!’) The detail in Katie’s drawing was incredible, and amongst a lot of delicate, minute pieces, this really stood out.
Moa Ceder
In contrast, Moa’s diminutive and very simple line drawings also grabbed my attention. I enjoyed musing over the impish characters and Moa’s appreciation of light and dark. Simple but effective.
Alice Lindsay
Alice also made attractive use of light and dark with her slightly weird scenes. These intriguing lithographs derive inspiration from literature (these are in fact based on ‘Something That Needs Nothing’ by Miranda July). Their monotone colour palette with flashes of red created drama and were a striking inclusion into an exhibition which featured so many bright colours.
Colin Stewart
Colin Stewart’s mixed media pieces were unmissable in this exhibition (and not only because they were immediately visible from the entrance!) They featured unusual characters with Picasso-like faces, amongst architectural backgrounds.
Feronia Parker Thomas
I very much enjoyed glaring at Feronia Parker Thomas’ childlike pencil drawings, featuring domestic scenes such as smokers outside Battersea Power Station and Elvis. Feronia’s technique made her colourful pieces appear motional.
Emma Denby
I loved loved LOVED Emma’s eccentric short film about schizophrenia, with each scene hand drawn or making use of mixed media techniques. With a 1950s informational-video-voiceover, this video made the room of viewers chuckle aloud. Watch it!
Yana Elkassova
Yana produces playful illustrations for children’s books, made up of beautiful pencil crayon sketches, but it was her fabulous Russian Doll series that had me drawn (illustration pun intended) to her little section. Two sets of dolls appeared, one saucy Burlesque stripper, complete with flirtatious wink and hands-behind-back-undoing-of-bra, and a 1950s housewife going about her domestic duties.
Jason Colbert (Double Barrel)
As fashion editor of Amelia’s Magazine, I simply couldn’t resist featuring Jason Colbert’s quirky t-shirt prints. Manufactured using vinyl, digital techniques and screen-printing, Jason’s pieces feature simple geometric shapes and animal faces – making use of contrasting colours. Great styling in these photographs, too.
Written by Matt Bramford on Wednesday July 28th, 2010 5:12 pm
Illustration by Dan Heffer, what is ed Hat by Angela Bruce
Around the monolithic event that is Graduate Fashion Week at Earl’s Court, there exists what might be known as satellite events. This is no way refers to the quality of work that is on display only to the difference in size between shows. I was lucky enough to visit the millenary on show at Kensington and Chelsea College’s end of year show.
I’m not sure whether it’s the wedding’s I’ve been too recently or the constant press attention regarding the ladies hats at certain races (hello Ainscourt) but recently I’ve been paying more attention to headwear.
Illustration by Lauren
The quality of the work on display was unmistakable and a joy to photograph through the sculpture shapes. Each Milliner had created a story around their final product, some of the topics covered envoked narcassim, Alice in Wonderland
Illustration by Rachael
to old myths and Legends.
Illustration by Krister Selin, Hat by Anna Pulley
Hat by Kate Underdown
Hat by Anna Pulleyn
Photographs by Sally Mumby-Croft
Illustration by Dan Heffer, ampoule Hat by Angela Bruce
Around the monolithic event that is Graduate Fashion Week at Earl’s Court, medications there exists what might be known as satellite events. This is no way refers to the quality of work that is on display only to the difference in size between shows. I was lucky enough to visit the millenary on show at Kensington and Chelsea College’s end of year show.
I’m not sure whether it’s the wedding’s I’ve been too recently or the constant press attention regarding the ladies hats at certain races (hello Ainscourt) but recently I’ve been paying more attention to headwear.
Illustration by Lauren
The quality of the work on display was unmistakable and a joy to photograph through the sculpture shapes. Each Milliner had created a story around their final product, cheap some of the topics covered envoked narcassim, Alice in Wonderland
Illustration by Rachael
to old myths and Legends.
Illustration by Charlotte Gibson, Hat by Kate Underdown
Hat by Anna Pulleyn
Illustration by Krister Selin, Hat by Anna Pulley
Photographs by Sally Mumby-Croft
Illustration by Dan Heffer, viagra 100mg Hat by Angela Bruce
Around the monolithic event that is Graduate Fashion Week at Earl’s Court, recipe there exists what might be known as satellite events. This is no way refers to the quality of work that is on display only to the difference in size between shows. I was lucky enough to visit the millenary on show at Kensington and Chelsea College’s end of year show.
I’m not sure whether it’s the wedding’s I’ve been too recently or the constant press attention regarding the ladies hats at certain races (hello Ainscourt) but recently I’ve been paying more attention to headwear.
Illustration by Lauren
The quality of the work on display was unmistakable and a joy to photograph through the sculpture shapes. Each Milliner had created a story around their final product, some of the topics covered envoked narcassim, Alice in Wonderland
to old myths and Legends.
Illustration by Krister Selin, Hat by Anna Pulley
Illustration by Charlotte Gibson, Hat by Kate Underdown
Hat by Anna Pulleyn
Illustration by Rachael
Photographs by Sally Mumby-Croft
Illustration by Dan Heffer, pills Hat by Angela Bruce
Around the monolithic event that is Graduate Fashion Week at Earl’s Court, salve there exists what might be known as satellite events. This is no way refers to the quality of work that is on display only to the difference in size between shows. I was lucky enough to visit the millenary on show at Kensington and Chelsea College’s end of year show.
I’m not sure whether it’s the wedding’s I’ve been too recently or the constant press attention regarding the ladies hats at certain races (hello Ainscourt) but recently I’ve been paying more attention to headwear.
Illustration by Lauren
The quality of the work on display was unmistakable and a joy to photograph through the sculpture shapes. Each Milliner had created a story around their final product, some of the topics covered envoked narcassim, Alice in Wonderland
Our Saturday starter was none other than Sam Duckworth of Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly. who changed his stage time so that he could watch the ill-fated England match on Sunday. Those Climate Campers who knew him were suitably excited and soon stood on the corner of the Craft Field with the megaphone. It’s amazing what a big name does… the festival goers were soon flooding into our small area, more about slightly disbelieving that our wee stage could be hosting such a well known musician.
Meanwhile I stood slightly panicked on the entrance as the minutes slowly ticked by… and then Sam came ambling down the leafy rise, slightly late having come straight from taking part in a debate about the rise of the BNP at the Leftfield Stage. A more mild mannered and charming young man you would be hard to come by, but Sam’s grasp of how important it is to speak out against the ills of this world is admirable. Without undue ceremony he was soon aboard the Tripod Stage, holding a borrowed acoustic guitar. “Can you all hear me? I’ve got a big voice so I can sing louder!”
Sunglassed against the blazing heat Sam sung new songs from his upcoming album alongside old crowd pleasers such as One More With Feeling. Unbidden he spoke with passion of meeting a Bangladeshi woman who had lost her family as a direct result of the effects of climate change, and how important it is to stand up to the big corporations. A truly special young man who has been off my radar for awhile, I now remember why I featured Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly. in Amelia’s Magazine all those years ago. What a star. Sam’s new single Collapsing Cities is out in August, followed by a 22 date tour in September and October.
Next up we had Kyla La Grange, a beautiful girl with a stunning voice (does it matter that she was beautiful? It shouldn’t, but she really was, what can I say? And talented…) She arrived without fanfare and I found her practicing behind our van on the same acoustic guitar that Sam had borrowed.
This was the first time in awhile that the husky voiced Kyla had played her songs without added production but she’s an accomplished songwriter and songs like the catchy single Vampire Smile worked just as well without backing. Definitely a talent to watch: her debut album is currently in production.
Kyla’s favourite bits of Glastonbury: Arcadia was absolutely brilliant but as far as performances go it was a tie between Laura Marling and Florence and the Machine. They were both faultless.
Patch William were another band we shared with the BBC Introducing stage (or should that be the other way around). They arrived complete with their own recording facilities, although I will hopefully attempt to cobble together some of the footage I shot myself (oh Final Cut Pro, how I yearn to learn your charms).
Fronted by William and his god sister Ali, Patch William braved the blazing heat dressed as if they had just stepped out of a fairytale, all flowing hair, wide trousers and Ali crowned in a flower garland so beloved of festival goers this year. Their melodic harmonies were perfect for a lazy summer day such as this, and culminated in the Ivor Novello nominated The Last Bus, a stunning song that saw Ali nimbly swap from guitar to cello. Just gorgeous.
Patch William liked playing the Tripod Stage because: It was great to be able to play a set which was powered solely by a solar panel! Patch William’s favourite bits of Glastonbury: Discovering a naked mermaid at Shangri La and being able to say ‘hello glastonbury’ during our set (something which we’d only dreamed of before).
Patch William play the Firefly Music Festival and Belladrum Festival in Scotland. Their next single release will be Skinny White Boy and they plan to go on tour in September. Watch their set at BBC Introducing here.
Then we were supposed to host The Federals, but unfortunately some misunderstood information meant that they hadn’t come prepared for our particular stage set up and all I got was this picture.
Oh well! You win some you lose some: they seemed like nice lads, and went on to play, yes, you’ve guessed it, the BBC Introducing stage. Instead we had a bit of a gap before an exclusive secret set from the wonderful Robin Ince… who turned up a good hour early so we all sat around having a cup of tea and a chinwag.
Robin was determined to perform his set back to front, so I would be introducing him after he’d finished, and Danny Chivers could come on as a warm up act at the end. This meant that Robin also started sat on the floor with his back to the audience. To another disbelieving crowd – “Yes, we really do have Robin Ince performing here in a minute” – Robin gave a brilliant performance that touched on themes of favourite suicides, the use of jazz hands in the popularisation of science and banality in politics.
I’ve uploaded part of his performance for your delection here:
At the end he called on me to come up and introduce him, but then carried on heckling me from the floor. Can anyone tell me, did he do his gig in the Comedy Tent during the England match on Sunday dressed as an octopus? Muchos love going out to you Robin.
Last but by no means least the Tripod Stage was delighted to host Dry the River, a folk band from East London attired in vaguely matched check shirts. Accompanied by guitar, bass, violin, glockenspiel and snare drum, Dry the River sing of history, culture, religion – often in gorgeous four part falsetto boy harmonies. Lead singer Peter Liddle studied anthropology and is now en route to become a doctor; a background that clearly informs his unusual lyrics. If there is any sense in this world Dry the River will be a major success: in fact if I were the betting kind I would lay the notes down hand over fist for this unsigned band. Really really brilliant, I feel so blessed to have found them.
I asked bearded bassist Scott to answer a few questions:
Scott’s feelings on the Tripod Stage gig: The Climate Camp Tripod Stage was awesome! We played as the sunshine beamed down on our faces, and the people around were so laid back and friendly. Plus we all got a cup of tea while we played which was like a dream after two days of camping. We even got a chance to road-test a new tune we’ve been working on because of the relaxed atmosphere of the show, and it went down well!
Scott’s favourite part of Glastonbury: It’s tough to pick a ‘best bit’ for the whole weekend but for me heading out to get lost in the maze of Shangri La at night was amazing, and bumping into Neville Staple backstage in the Dance Arena was pretty cool. Obviously the gigs we were able to play while we were there all stand out too, the Climate Camp for the friendly hospitable people there, the Crow’s Nest for the amazing view of the whole festival at sunset and of course the BBC Introducing set was just so exciting with the cameras and everything.
Make sure you catch up with Dry the River live – they’re playing Standon Calling, the Big Chill and Underground Festival in Gloucester. You can download a FREE 3 track EP from their myspace which includes an unreleased version of Coast, a never before heard track recorded earlier this summer. Dry the River headline the Lexington on September 30th and you can buy tickets here. In the meantime see them on BBC Introducing here.