Amelia’s Magazine | Charly Coombes and the New Breed at London’s Monto Water Rats, December 11th 2010, Live Review

Charly Coombes and the New Breed by Roderick Barker-Benfield
Charlie Coombes and the New Breed by Octavi Navarro
Charlie Coombes and the New Breed by Octavi Navarro

Familiar with a fair few live music venues across case +UK&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=Westminster, store +London&gl=uk&ei=kdYETam3HY2ShAfs5NntBw&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CB0Q8gEwAA”>London, symptoms I’ve been pretty up close and personal to a number of bands, both great and truly awful, and wondered how Charly Coombes and the New Breed would fair at the Monto Water Rats in Kings Cross, as the stage is particularly petite. Taking to said stage on Saturday December 11th for the last night of their Waves EP promotional UK tour to a familiar crowd, CCATNB stole the show headlining a night of indie and rock music as the band with the edge. Showing only a comical strain to the end of their tour, as with fellow Oxford-ites and Amelia’s Magazine pal Little Fish, the band set out with great energy getting the walls shaking to their distinct key led indie sound that is so easily digested.

Charly Coombes and the New Breed by Roderick Barker-Benfield
Charly Coombes and the New Breed by Rodography.

Opening with their current single and crowd pleaser Jungles and Tides, momentarily forget about the ear candy, which is delightful, with many members of the crowd of the fairer sex, the eye candy wasn’t bad either. Clearly comfortable and at home playing The Water Rats, which has housed many bands, both up and coming and established, there’s a definite intimate tone to the night, where the crowd are within inches of the band, in all their sweat and glory. Their sound and musical ability isn’t matched within the indie music scene at the moment, taking soulful strides above the rest and echoing late 90s British rock at its best, the fellow bands of the night are good but not in the same sphere as the New Breed.

Charly Coombes by Werner Fismer
Charly Coombes by Werner Fismer

That aside, stand out tracks of the night include the head swinging God Knows, the beautiful and eloquent Sub Rosa, off their current EP Waves, which signals the musical prowess of the New Breed led effortlessly by Coombes’ key skills, and closer Dress to Kill, a song that marks the New Breed stepping things up a notch on their quest to bring decent independent music back home. Full of confidence and an instant connection with their fans old and new, CCATNB are for anyone who like a solid punch to their indie pie, and these guys are on the up and up. With their set ending all too quickly, catch them while you can at these intimate venues, as I can only see a brighter and bigger future for Charly Coombes and his New Breed.

Charly Coombes and the New Breed Live by Willemÿn Barker-Benfield

Categories ,British Rock, ,Charly Coombes and the New Breed, ,Dress to Kill, ,God Knows, ,Jungles and Tides, ,Kings Cross Station, ,Little Fish, ,Octavi Navarro, ,Oxford, ,Panic EP, ,Roderick Barker-Benfield, ,Sub Rosa, ,The Monto Water Rats, ,Waves, ,Werner Fismer

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Amelia’s Magazine | Truck Festival

truck_love_and_doughnuts.jpg

No two festivals are the same. Which is lucky since we would be stringing our genitals up by the linings of our straw hats if they were. Truck Festival, however, seems to hold a beautiful sense of naivety about it, pretty impressive considering its 11 year jog since its first outing in 1998. What seems to set it apart is its strong sense of community spirit. Throughout the weekend many of the acts expressed their respect and admiration towards Truck organisers, Robin and Joe Bennett. And with ice cream supplied by the vicar and food from the snowy members of the local rotary club, you can’t help feeling you’re a part of it.

truck_crazy_eyes.jpg

Following an early morning sprint from the more fresh faced end of the car queue, I managed to make it to the heavily odoured cowshed for Oxford’s pop darlings, Alphabet Backwards. Headed by the eccentric James Hitchman with his merry entourage, from appearances you may be excused for thinking you’re in for another melancholy strangling of your sanity with tales of first loves and heartbreaks. Thankfully not. Alphabet Backwards’s brand of energetic lo-fi poptro found the entire cowshed transfixed as we were taken into the rather alternative musings of Hitchman’s brain box. ‘Disco Classic’ was a particular favourite with its synth heavy, building intro. ’80’s Pop Video’ was one of the most involving tracks of the entire festival with the crowd taking over, to ad lib a bizarrely synchronised clapping solo, halfway through. Looking around found many a laughing face or tapping foot whilst the 5-piece bounced around the stage. In the words of Alphabet Backwards themselves, “pop’s not a dirty word”. Thank god for that.

After aimless wandering, I found myself back in the cowshed for the highly anticipated, Youthmovies. It’s hard to argue that they don’t know what they’re doing but amidst the thrashing guitars, flashing lights and smoke machines, it’s also hard to see much else beyond that. The proclamation that we were watching the best band in the world found me wondering whether the farm fumes had projected me to a mediocre parallel planet. If you’re into turned backs and guitar noise you’ll get on well with it but I couldn’t help feeling it was a bit like watching other people eating food when you’re hungry. Strong cheekboned lead singer, Andrew Mears, who was once involved with ‘math rock’ tyrants, Foals, is clearly a talented soul, confirmed after I later heard him deliver a rather intricate poetry reading possibly to an audience that didn’t understand. But there certainly wasn’t enough water around Youthmovies to go floating any boats. Or trucks for that matter.

These New Puritans, with skinny-framed Jack Barnett emerging in a shimmering gold roman-esque shirt, which seemed rather fitting considering the thumping drums which at times, sounded like a call to arms. As Barnett delivered his rap-esque vocals I couldn’t help think this is what Linkin Park would sound like if they were from the UK and just a bit more cool. Don’t let that put you off though. In fact don’t even use it as a comparison. ‘Numbers’ played on our human desire for repetition, perfectly wrapped up in a stupidly named parcel of electronic nu gaze. Whatever you call it though, I dare you not to be stirred at least a little.

Truck isn’t exactly spacious but preceding Noah and the Whale, it was chlaustrophobic madness. Crowd control had to make a forceful announcement that if people didn’t move, they were out. Fun fun fun indeed. After a 25 minute wait they finally arrived. Following the onslaught of skinny kids with 80’s haircuts, the cutesy summer strawberry pop was hideously refreshing. Exactly what you’d want to listen to before taking off all your clothes and dancing in long grass with a childhood friend. Naturally, ‘5 years time’ was a favourite, sending limbs all over the place although it’s a good idea to not write them off as some kind of one hit wonder hippy outfit. A lot more lies beyond the band than just a youth celebratory summer anthem. Frontman, Charlie Fink, holds faint similarities to the early Johnny Cash with his collected swagger, well groomed hair and waistcoat/tie combination. This mixed with the love heavy vibe and modern mish mash of jazz and folk rock made me wonder why I’d want to be anywhere else.

I was starkly unimpressed by all the bands named as headline acts. Lemonheads were uninspiring and I would of been equally entertained had someone just stuck a CD player containing their album, centrestage and pressed play. After seeing ‘It’s a Shame about Ray’, I had to go and flog a dead horse for a while. Camera Obscura delivered gentle sugary pop melodies to a laxidasically sprawled audience. Coming across as completely inoffensive in the good sense. But it was within the smaller acts that the most exciting, raw and breaking performances came.

truck_camera_obscura_main_stage.jpg

Pivot delivered the most lip biting, mind blowing set of the weekend. Not an attack you’d usually experience at 4pm on a Sunday afternoon. Seemingly gentle chaps turned into thrashing electronic noise warriors, pulling at the very bottom of the hairs in my neck before tearing them out. Comparisons could be made to a heavier Metronomy or a more broken Soulwax but it would be a weak attempt at pigeonholing something than shouldn’t be. Richard Pike tribally howled his way through a few sections whilst brother and drummer Laurence pounded at the quaking drum kit with such force that I thought a heart attack was only a matter of time. Definite highlight. Their album ‘O Soundtrack My Heart’ comes out August 20th although it’s hard to portray the passion and power that they play at, through a disc or music file.

Young hearts, Orphan Boy, a 3-piece from Manchester were one of the most exciting and promising of the weekend, only stumbled upon whilst I tried to find the person who had my plastic cup of warm cider, which rapidly paled into insignificance. There were few bands at Truck you could claim had any relationship with progressive post punk, but Orphan Boy more than made up for the lack of it. Thrashing their guitars into their vigorous yet half polished anthemic delights, they had the controlled arrogance of musical greats, creating a sound similar to The Fall if you stuck them in a pan and mixed them with a pinch of Arctic Monkeys. I couldn’t help feeling they weren’t getting the reaction they deserved but the few that were there shared my appreciation.

truck_orphanboy.jpg

It was then time to put away my dog eared notebook and effeminate pen and get involved in a good ol’ game of wallet fishing before jumping in a skip, picking up paralytic drum and bass kids and then passing out in someone elses shirt. Holy truck. Ouch.

truck_5am.jpg

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Amelia’s Magazine | Album Review – Chad Valley: Equatorial Ultravox

chad_valley_Equatorial Ultravox

From the teasing synths of opener Now That I’m Real (How Does It Feel?) to the closing wails of Shapeless it is clear that this new super long length EP from Chad Valley is steeped in a deep love for the period when I came of age, check the late 80s and early 90s. His beauteous take on the Chillwave phenomenon pays more than adequate homage to the blissed out Cafe Del Mar style Balearic Beats that I listened to during so many beachtastic student nights on the South Coast. To be clear, order this is no bad thing. Oh the joys of studying in Brighton…

Chad Valley by Lea Rimoux
Chad Valley by Lea Rimoux.

It’s curious, then, to learn from our previous interview with Hugo Manuel that Chad Valley is also inspired by the early 1970s, references which are far less obvious (read: I can’t hear them at all, maybe they’ll surface in future work?)

YouTube Preview ImageNow That I’m Real (How Does It Feel?)

Rose Dagul of Rhosyn provides harmonies on the first track, but from then on in we’re pretty much with Hugo alone – reverb, vocoder and lush atmospherics surrounding his voice with an ethereal ambience as the drumbeats drive us forward. Occasionally the tempo picks up or drops pace but essentially this is an EP best listened to as a whole. Drift away though the beautiful Equatorial Ultravox musical landscape with Chad Valley. It could just be the soundtrack to your summer.

Chad Valley by Amy Brazier
Chad Valley by Amy Brazier.

YouTube Preview ImageAcker Bilk

It seems astonishing that he was only a few songs into the EP when we last spoke with Hugo Manuel back in February. But it’s true, Equatorial Ultravox is out now on Loose Lips in the UK and on Cascine in the US. You can catch Chad Valley live at the awesome Truck Festival – I know I’m looking forward to it. Watch a beautiful remix video of Now That I’m Real from Newdust here.

Categories ,80s, ,90s, ,Acker Bilk, ,Amy Brazier, ,Balearic Beats, ,Blissed Out, ,brighton, ,Cafe Del Mar, ,Cascine, ,Chad Valley, ,Chillwave, ,ep, ,Equatorial Ultravox, ,Hugo Manuel, ,jonquil, ,Lea Rimoux, ,Loose Lips, ,Newdust, ,Now That I’m Real (How Does It Feel?), ,Oxford, ,Remix, ,reverb, ,review, ,Rhosyn, ,Rose Dagul, ,Shapeless, ,Truck Festival, ,vocoder

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Amelia’s Magazine | Rainbow Reservoir: City Bike video exclusive

Rainbow Reservoir 400 imperfect rhymes
Multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Angela Space works under the moniker Rainbow Reservoir, producing surreal tunes with poppy arrangements that only hint at her classical background and an alternative career teaching saxophone at the University of Southampton. Here she describes the making of the video for City Bike, which we have on the website as an exclusive. Enjoy!

City Bike was inspired by my first trip to Berlin. I had an entirely surreal couple days where people turned into other people with the same name, a monster drove a cab, and things came out of the darkness that were beautiful and unexpected and terrifying. The video was all shot in Berlin, mostly from a bike. It is supposed to give you that slightly mad feeling of a night out where you are just going wherever the bike, tram, or train takes you.

My second EP 400 Imperfect Rhymes was recorded in Oxford at Oli and Rob Steadman‘s studio. Oli and Rob played bass and drums respectively and Oli did the engineering. Duncan McNaughton played the trumpet track on City Bike. The beautiful album artwork was done by Kiri Kopcke and depicts Berlin, which is a city that had a great effect on me and my songwriting.

400 Imperfect Rhymes was mostly written at Tegel Airport and if I were to do a video for 400 Imperfect Rhymes it would probably involve Tegel Airport arrivals and departures displays.

Rainbow Reservoir pic by Tom Weller
Photo by Tom Weller.

400 Imperfect Rhymes by Rainbow Reservoir will be released on July 14th 2014. Find Rainbow Reservoir on band camp here, and facebook here.

Categories ,400 Imperfect Rhymes, ,Angela Space, ,berlin, ,City Bike, ,Duncan McNaughton, ,Kiri Kopcke, ,Kirini Kopcke, ,Oli and Rob Steadman, ,Oxford, ,Rainbow Reservoir, ,Tegel Airport, ,Tom Weller, ,University of Southampton

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Amelia’s Magazine | Festival Preview: Truck

‘Glass Gun 2′ by Julie Hill

A couple of days ago my housemate returned home bursting with a tale that he’d been carrying around with him all day. What he had witnessed on his well-trodden route to work that morning had seemed to pervade the conditioned air of his office in the hours that followed, mind reruns of the scene played out in windowpane reflections and on the inside of mid-blink eyelids. He had been inspired.

‘Breath Should Be Held’ by Julie Hill

The action that had my friend so roused wasn’t overtly political. Nor was it spectacularly en-masse. It was a man. Alone. Dancing at 8am in the centre of one of Bristol city centre’s busiest junctions, stuff multiple lanes of traffic whirring around unrestrained flying limbs like mechanical rings of chorus girls, capsule their metallic bodywork sparkling.

The root of this act, and the results of it, we can only guess at. Was his rush hour spinning a signal that the rest of us should slow down? A statement on the vulnerability of the pedestrian or the mindlessness of the daily grind? Maybe he just fancied a dance.

CRASH at Artsadmin: experimenting with sustainable alternatives to financial and ecological crises CRASH at Artsadmin: experimenting with sustainable alternatives to financial and ecological crises

As my friend’s impassioned regaling of the scene evidenced, whatever its grounds, form or situation, art is an enormously affecting class of action. And it’s being increasingly embraced as a method of political expression beyond homemade banners or gallery walls, because we can all be arts activists. The only thing that’s required is a little imagination.

Image courtesy of Artsadmin: ‘Quantitative Teasing- A benchmark in post-capitalism’

Two artist activists are on hand later this month to help spark that imagination via Interference, a free five-day workshop to encourage people to develop new ways of working collectively to make a difference to the causes they care about. Beth Whelan (who last year played a large part in the Mainshull Solidarity Camp) and Julie Hill will be working with participants to develop art-related strategies for both acting towards and reacting against change, using such tools as story-telling and myth making, climbing and reclaiming public space, urban foraging, self-publishing and night biking. Interference runs from 21st to 25th June at Artsadmin’s Toynbee Studios in London, but is limited to just 20 places, so if you want one of them Artsadmin asks that you write a short paragraph explaining why you want to get involved, and send it to heather@artsadmin.co.uk.

Beth Whelan at CRASH

Open to people from all backgrounds and experiences, Interference is an invitation to those who want to go beyond just thinking about change; to act via art to be part of, or begin, an empowering, engaging and positive political movement. You never know, it might even be one that stops traffic.

Turning our attention to the smaller independent festivals, page we are thrilled to be featuring Truck, help an event with an impeccable reputation and massive good will behind it. There are so many things that we like about Truck, we could practically list its attributes alphabetically. But for those who are scratching their heads in befuddlement, and wondering who and what this curiously monikered event is, the most important fact to learn about Truck is that it has the ethos and sensibility of a village fete and combines this with a cutting edge musical policy to create a unique and highly personalised festival that is head and shoulders above many of its contemporaries.

Truck has a much deserved reputation of having an eagle eye for upcoming talent. In recent years, bands such as Foals, Young Knives, Fuck Buttons, Get CapeWild Beasts and Fanfarlo have all graced the stages (which are used as cowsheds for the rest of the year – it’s on the site of a working farm), at a time when they were still fresh faced to the music scene. Headlining this year are bands that can easily be described, as NME did, as “awesome”. The roster includes Teenage Fanclub, Mew, Mercury Rev Clearlight Ensemble, Los Campesinos!, Chapel Club, Good Shoes and Summer Camp (a full, and yet to be completed line-up is featured on Trucks website).

Situated deep in the Oxfordshire countryside, Truck is proud to be one of the UK’s longest standing independent small festivals. The more you discover about Truck, the more you realise that it is fiercely independent in all aspects. From the get go (it was formed in 1998), Truck has rejected corporate sponsorship; instead allowing its food and ale stalls – all locally produced of course – to be run by locals rather than brands (and in the case if the ice cream stall, run by the local vicar). Truck lives by a strong charitable ethos; rather than sitting on their profits, they funnel money made at the festival back into local and national causes. Last year for example, £50,000 was raised for charity. The people behind Truck are quite possibly the busiest of bees in Oxford; as well as community projects in the city, they also run Wood, described as “Trucks folkier/younger, cleaner, greener and mysteriously beardier brother”. While Truck may be less hirsute, it certainly has the travellers bug, and recently came to New York State in the shape of Truck America, held in the mountainous Catskills region. Those who would like to attend a closer to home Truck can do so buy booking tickets through their ticket providers, Gigantic and Brown Paper Tickets, one of the first fair trade ticketing agencies in the UK which operates in a not-just-for-profit fashion. For the first time this year, there will be Friday night festivities (the music starts on Saturday at 12pm and finishes Sunday at 10pm), so campers are now welcome to pitch up from Friday, 4pm onwards. This perfectly sized, magic brew of a festival has all the key ingredients for a glorious weekend, and time is running out to get your tickets before it sells out, so hurry up and book yourself a spot!

Festival Details:
Truck Festival July 23 -25th
Ticket Prices
Adult (18+) Weekend –  £80?Friday – £15 adv/£20 on the day
Teen (13-17) Weekend – £60?Friday – £15 adv/£20 on the day
Minor (0-12) Weekend – Free?Friday – Free
Age Restrictions
Children age 14 and under must be accompanied by a parent or guardian.

Weekend tickets include access to the festival from 9am Saturday, and include 2 nights camping (saturday & sunday).

Categories ,Chapel Club, ,festival, ,fuck buttons, ,Good Shoes, ,Indie, ,Los Campesinos, ,Mercury Rev, ,mew, ,Oxford, ,Stornoway, ,summer camp, ,Teenage Fanclub, ,Wood Festival

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Amelia’s Magazine | Wood Festival 2014 Review: Sunshine, Drumming, Children, Singing, Bubbles and Yoga

Wood Festival by Tabby Booth and James Heslip

Wood Festival by Tabby Booth and James Heslip.

This year I was super excited about taking Snarfle to Wood Festivallast year he had not quite started walking yet and I think the concept of being in a field with music was probably a bit lost on him. This year, however, he is a walking talking being and I knew he would love a weekend spent in the Oxfordshire countryside.

We headed westwards on Friday afternoon in the lovely May sunshine, and put our tent up right next to the woods that fringe the field at Braziers Park. It’s a lovely location that I have camped on many times before, and it makes me wish for a life lived nearer nature…

Bar tent, Wood Festival by Becca Corney

Bar tent, Wood Festival by Becca Corney.

The music started just as we began to wander around the festival, and we caught the tail end of Sephine Llo on the main Wood Stage whilst eating a delicious meal courtesy of Will’s Cafe. This classically trained musician experiments with lesser known instruments such as the kora and sanxian, and her debut Flame EP is currently out with Tape Club Records.

Wood Festival 2014-kids

Up at the Tree Tent I was taken by country folk from Oxford based My Crooked Teeth, who ups the ante with clever lyrics. His debut EP is out now with Bear on a Bicycle records.

Wood Festival by Karolina Burdon

Wood Festival by Karolina Burdon.

Leeds based outfit Dancing Years impressed with delicate melodies, big instrumentation and heartfelt vocals. Their singer told us that since their tunes hardly lived up to their name they had prepared a special dance tune for their set, which I thought was a great addition.

Wood Festival 2014- Snarfle at main stage

Next up it was nice to hear from Trevor Moss and Hannah Lou again, showcasing their pitch perfect harmonies before jetting back off to rejoin Tori Amos on tour. I particularly liked hearing Hannah sing on her own for a change. By this point we had put Snarfle in his pyjamas and he had a great time running around with the other wee ones in front of the stage.

Wood Festival 2014-Oxford Ukeleles

I first wrote about Alessi’s Ark many a moon ago, and yet she is still only 23 years old. She graced the stage as my child started to go a bit mental with tiredness, but since he is not given to sleeping before nightfall these days we decided to sit by the camp fire for a bit, where a kindly lady let him pluck at her ukelele. I think his undoubted favourite of the day was watching the Oxford Ukeleles sing a selection of popular songs in the Tree Tent just before we fell asleep under the stars.

Wood Festival 2014-clay fairy

On Saturday we awoke to brilliant sunshine, and Snarfle had a lie in whilst I did some knitting (bliss, this never happens). Our morning was spent exploring activities for small children – we missed the yoga, sang along with family entertainer Nick Cope, discovered a wonderful woodland playground (how I wish we had more trees near us in East London), watched a man make a flute with a carrot, had lunch and then went for a lie down.

Wood Festival bubbles

Or maybe not as it turned out: because instead Snarfle BROKE MY FUCKING NOSE. By head butting me. Yup, I was hysterical. The onsite St John Ambulance sent me off to the Royal Berkshire A&E in Reading, so that is where we spent a lovely sunny Saturday afternoon. It turns out there was probably very little point to this trip because they gave me no referral letter, so I ended up back in my local A&E earlier this week in the hope of being seen by a consultant. As a result this Friday I am being put under so that they can whack my nose back into place. Toddlers: dangerous weapons of facial destruction. Watch out parents: it might happen to you!

Wood Festival 2014- Snarfle and Tim

But back to Wood Festival: on our return we managed to meet up with a number of friends who were on a day visit before they left. Many locals only come down for the day on Saturday, so the festival gets delightfully busy (but never too much so).

Wood Festival 2014- Snarfle drawing

By turns glitchy and dreamy folktronica by Oliver Wilde kept us entertained into the evening. We also enjoyed the female folk duo O’Hooley & Tidow, particularly their reinterpretation of songs by the likes of Massive Attack.

Wood Festival 2014-wood craft

By the time the Wood Festival brothers’ band The Dreaming Spires took the headline spot the kids were out in force, dancing wildly in their onesies beneath the stage. Snarfle was pretty much spent but we managed to catch carefully crafted folk songs from Birmingham’s Boat to Row before bedtime.

Wood Festival 2014- clay bat

On Sunday we took it easy again in the morning, with Snarfle very happy to hang out in the big kid’s tent, drawing whilst a bunch of older kids made wonderfully odd animals out of twigs and pinecones twisted into clay. He was also transfixed by a storyteller in a big feathery hat.

Wood Festival 2014-Phil Ball

In the Kindling Tent Phil Ball gave an engaging (and thoroughly candid) talk about his time spent in a Russian prison as one of the 30 Greenpeace protesters arrested in the Arctic last year. It was good to see him in the flesh, having only kept up with his recent antics via facebook for some time. Find out why it is such a bad idea to drill for oil in the Arctic here.

Snarfle drifted off during his talk but before leaving we could not resist hanging out for a bit longer in the sunshine, lulled by the twinkling world sounds of kora player Jali Fily Cissokho, who spends his time between Senegal and Oxford. Rapturous applause ensured a lengthy encore, before we finally hit the road homeward bound.

Wood Festival 2014-little girl

It was once again the perfect festival for families and folk lovers (ahem, we’ll leave aside my personal mishap). Before we left I picked up a pair of hand turned wooden bowls made by Alistair Phillips of Woodworks and Coracles, who was offering lessons in wood turning; once Snarfle is older I will really enjoy participating in the adult workshops, of which there are many.

Sadly I missed a number of favourite Wood Festival musicians… including Ellie Ford, Knights of Mentis, My Sad Captains, Goodnight Lenin and Co-Pilgrim. But don’t worry, you can still enjoy them by listening to my special Wood Festival compilation playlist on Soundcloud (just above). I’m looking forward to next year already.

Categories ,2014, ,A&E, ,Alessi’s Ark], ,Alistair Phillips, ,Arctic 30, ,Bear on a Bicycle, ,Becca Corney, ,Boat to Row, ,Brazier’s Park, ,Broken Nose, ,Co-pilgrim, ,Dancing Years, ,Ellie Ford, ,Flame EP, ,Goodnight Lenin, ,Greenpeace, ,Jali Fily Cissokho, ,James Heslip, ,Karolina Burdon, ,Kindling Tent, ,Knights of Mentis, ,Massive Attack, ,My Crooked Teeth, ,My Sad Captains, ,Nick Cope, ,Oliver Wilde, ,Oxford Ukeleles, ,Oxfordshire, ,O’Hooley & Tidow, ,Phil Ball, ,Playlist, ,Reading, ,review, ,Royal Berkshire, ,Sephine Llo, ,Snarfle, ,St John Ambulance, ,Tabby Booth, ,Tape Club Records, ,The Dreaming Spires, ,Toddler, ,Tori Amos, ,Tree Tent, ,Trevor Moss and Hannah-Lou, ,Will’s Cafe, ,Wood Festival, ,Wood Stage, ,Woodworks and Coracles

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Amelia’s Magazine | Stornoway talk about playing at the 2011 Larmer Tree Festival, 13th-17th July in Dorset

Stornoway by Sally Jane Thompson
Stornoway by Sally Jane Thompson.

I’m really excited that Oxford indie folksters Stornoway will be playing on the bill at Larmer Tree Festival this year. Their lovely debut album Beachcomber’s Windowsill was released in May 2010 and although I didn’t get around to reviewing it I’ve been listening to it loads since then. We caught up with them in advance of this year’s festival madness.

stornoway by Michael van Kekem
Stornoway by Michael van Kekem.

Larmer Tree is famed for the wild peacocks and mackaws that roam around the grounds. What kind of bird or animal would the band be for the day and why…
As a collective band perhaps we should be a group of choughs, information pills as that wouldn’t require too much of a transformation: they’re nothing particularly special to look at, diagnosis but they’re sociable, illness quick, and make an interesting noise….

YouTube Preview ImageI Saw You Blink

Have you been doing a lot of traveling as a band? How is life on the road and where is your favourite place to play and why?
Yes, we’ve just got back from our second European tour and in a few weeks we’re going back to the US. Thankfully the novelty of becoming travelling minstrels is a long way from wearing off yet! We continually feel like we’re on some mysterious musical holiday. Our favourite destination on our travels so far has probably been Berlin, even if we stayed in a dormitory. It’s an alternately kitsch, funny and dilapidated city – spiritually about as far from Oxford as you can get.

Stornoway by-David-Merta
Stornoway by David Merta.

The UK has an amazing festival scene – there are over 400 taking place this year! What do you think of UK festival crowds?
Please forgive the sweeping generalization, but people at festivals over here do tend to be gently eccentric, in the best possible way, and respond well to eccentricity, which is a highly appealing trait. It’s as if they’ve been waiting all year to be themselves!

YouTube Preview ImageWatching Birds

Any special collaborations you have coming up this year? What are your plans for 2011?
Right now we’re working on an exciting live collaboration with the North Sea Radio Orchestra – we’ll be performing with us at Somerset House this summer. Meanwhile, we’ve been working on various bits of recording collaborations with Kathryn Edwards and Anton Barbeau which should hopefully see light of day this year.

Stornaway by Claire Kearns
Stornaway by Claire Kearns.

What encouraged you to first start making music? Who were your earliest inspirations, musical and otherwise?
Co-incidentally it seems that we were all either forced or bribed to be musicians for as long as we can remember (we still are in a way). Early inspirations were Roy Orbison, Euros Childes, John Tavener, South African punkpop band Tweak, Arthur Scargill and Wizbit from Paul Daniels’ magic show.

YouTube Preview ImageZorbing

Lots of young musicians and performers attend Larmer Tree. Do you have any advice for those looking to break into the music industry?
As we never had some grand plan to follow, it’d be pretty disingenuous to come over as if we thought there was some surefire way of making things happen in the world of music! Don’t “plan” anything related to the music industry, as it’s in flux – just work on being the most versatile and sociable musician you can be and you’ll do just fine.

Stornoway by Sally Jane Thompson
Stornoway by Sally Jane Thompson.

Who are your most revered musicians and what do you find so inspiring about them? Have you ever met your idols and if so what was it like?
Brian and Jon’s first ever conversation was about Teenage Fanclub, as they had both been er teenage fans of the band. Anyone can do vocal harmonies, but Teenage Fanclub developed a signature three-part vocal sound over the years which is distinctive and special. We supported them last year in Camden and briefly met Norman Blake; although he seemed like a very modest, unassuming kind of guy, we were pretty tongue-tied and in awe.

YouTube Preview ImageBoats and Trains

You must have a lot of dedicated fans, what is the strangest thing a fan has ever done?
A girl once licked Brian’s shoe onstage in Milwaukee. She’s known as The Shoe Licker locally. Also, quite recently we were followed across Europe by a young fan we thought needed help, and then it emotionally blackmailed us into bringing it home. It wasn’t the same one as The Shoe Licker.

Stornoway by Camille Block
Stornoway by Camille Block.

What music are you listening to at the moment? Can you give us any tips on up and coming acts or hidden gems we may not have heard of?
We are listening to Caribou, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, Andrew Bird, Chapel Club and some new chap called Leadbelly.

Stornoway Phenakistiscope by Laura Frame
Stornoway Phenakistiscope by Laura Frame.

We’d recommend listening to Tom Williams and the Boat, Message to Bears, Spring Offensive and Otouto.

YouTube Preview ImageFuel Up, live on Jools Holland

What can we expect from your performance at Larmer Tree Festival?
We’ve been working hard on some new bits and pieces of music which we’re hoping to air at Larmer Tree. Last time we played at the festival Rob chickened out of his tap-dance, so fingers crossed it will happen this time. If not, Brian will regale you with endless facts about peacocks and mackaws; he might even write a song about them for the occasion.

Stornoway Live by Laura Frame
Stornoway Live by Laura Frame.

You can of course catch Stornoway playing on Saturday night at this year’s Larmer Tree. Read my full listing for Larmer Tree Festival here. It’s going to be a good one!

Categories ,Andrew Bird, ,Anton Barbeau, ,Arthur Scargill, ,Beachcomber’s Windowsill, ,Camille Block, ,caribou, ,Chapel Club, ,Choughs, ,Claire Kearns, ,David Merta, ,Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, ,Euros Childes, ,folk, ,Indie, ,John Tavener, ,Kathryn Edwards, ,Larmer Tree Festival, ,Larmer Tree Gardens, ,Laura Frame, ,Leadbelly, ,Mackaws, ,Message to Bears, ,Michael van Kekem, ,Norman Blake, ,North Sea Radio Orchestra, ,Otouto, ,Oxford, ,Peacocks, ,Roy Orbison, ,Sally Jane Thompson, ,Spring Offensive, ,Stornoway, ,Teenage Fanclub, ,The Shoe Licker, ,Tom Williams and the Boat, ,Tweak, ,Wizbit

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Amelia’s Magazine | Festival Review: Truck 2010

aeon festival
AEON Fest by Faye West
Illustration by Faye West.

This will be my third year at Aeon, stomach and for me it’s been a wonderful, nurse stress-free experience, cialis 40mg no queues, suffocating crowds or over-priced disgusting burgers. It describes itself as a ‘Shoestring Boutique festival’ and is set in the beautiful surroundings in mid Devon. A grassy amphitheatre precedes the main stage which sits on the edge of a lake, you are able to camp under the trees and gather around wood burners with friends and strangers. There is no sponsorship or big branding so it’s one of the most naturally visually pleasing festivals around and there’s something about this festival which has a very simplistic charm which embodies what a music festival only really needs to be – friends, music and fresh air.

There are lots of sweet put-together events that take place throughout the day. Last year I was very tempted by the Speed Date plus free meal for a fiver, a hair fascination workshop and a wood cutting class so that you can whittle down your very own wooden spoon from a branch, but of course was too busy frequenting the bar and resting on the grass whilst soaking up the surrounds. I was however encouraged to take part in the bubble wrap race. Once I was wrapped head to toe in bubble wrap, I thought as we all lay there like grubs that I was in for some kind of relaxing spa treatment. Unfortunately we were asked to try and get to our feet, and race each other round a tree and back. I was just left slumped on the floor, immobile from laughter.

Bubble Wrap Racing Aeon Faye West
Bubble wrap racing at Aeon. Photography by Faye West.

I managed to catch the super busy founder of the fest, Niki Portus for a few words whilst the count down for Aeon is on.

Aeon is in it’s 5th year this August, and I know that festivals tend to change quite a bit every year as crowds get bigger and organisers think up new ways to run an efficient festival. Sometimes this is for the worst! What were your goals for organising this year’s Aeon, and was there much you wanted to change or improve on from last year?

I’m a great believer in if it ain’t broke don’t fix it! I think we have a pretty good formula that seems to work and people really like the laid back feel of it all. We had to put the ticket price up this year which was really hard to get my head round but we’ve expanded on production and line up to reflect that – I think it has been more important though to improve on areas where we know we had problems.

We had a big debrief meeting straight after last year and the main area I wanted to get right was the camping as it filled up very quickly last year and was pretty rowdy. So this year we have added an extra area for noisy camping right next to the main site and kept family camping in the old area away from the rowdy bunch. Some of the programming needed adapting a bit but mostly it’s about us wanting to put on a good show and keep it fun for everyone as well as the element of a few surprises. I guess it’s about being realistic about accommodating natural growth as the word spreads, such as having more loos, better fencing and more security but not so it’s in your face. Little background things that cost more money but can make a big difference to the experience for people.

The main thing about Aeon for me is that it has always been about independent artists and strictly no sponsorship or outside funding – the first year was me taking out a small bank loan and maxing the credit cards but I’ve paid the loan off now *lol* and one day I might actually pay off the credit cards! The festival has sustained itself though for the past 4 years on ticket income and by running our own bar on site so it seems to work. I think people like the fact that we’re home grown – it’s very much like a big family now.

Aeon Ampitheatre Faye West

What do you think it is about Aeon that makes it so special and magical? And are you still achieving what you set out to do?

I have no idea! But we have an amazing crew who come up with all sorts of great ideas and are very creative. I think whilst I never thought it would get this far when I first set out on this journey I do feel its stuck to it’s original goal – that’s something I feel very strongly inside but it’s hard to explain! For me personally it’s definitely a love affair – I’ve don’t draw a salary or wage and if I manage to pay myself back for even something like my phone bill it’s a small miracle.

We’re pretty low key with our publicity as I’m always scared of over hyping things. It’s like ‘wow this is the best festival in the world ever’ well no actually it’s one of over 500 festivals in the country and everyone has their favourites for different reasons – you can’t please all the people all the time and there will always be one or two who think it’s crap, that’s just human nature. You see it all over the forums and I always think ‘god please don’t let that be us’ but you can’t control it. Freedom of speech and all that. This is the first year we will possibly have some ‘proper’ festival press on site – I’m terrified they’ll be rude!

Girls Aeon by Faye West
Illustration by Faye West.

Aeon is a wonderfully afordable festival compared to many others. Is it difficult keeping the cost down, and if so do you think the big festies such as Glastonbury are overpriced?

To the first question – in a word – yes – it’s very difficult keeping costs down! Just the little things like having a full time accountant now all adds up behind the scenes. But I don’t think you can compare it to the likes of Glastonbury – the production that goes in to that one is awe inspiring – in fact The History of Glastonbury is like my bible *lol* I find the stories from behind the scenes really heart warming and you know as an organisation they have set the bench mark for all events – their management structure and Health & Safety awareness is amazing. I like the concept of ’boutique festivals’ though – hence our tongue in cheek ‘shoestring boutique’ moniker.

Equally though there is only so much one person can do in a day and for most people special times involve having a laugh with a group of friends not standing in queues for toilets or over priced warm beers, or spending hours hunting for your friends because you went off on a drunken ramble. That said there are two sorts of people – those who go to festivals and those who work at festivals. All my friends who work at festivals prefer it when they’re behind the scenes making stuff happen.

I do really feel as well that just throwing money at something doesn’t make a party and personally I get a kick from doing things on a tight budget. The crew know I’m tight as a gnat’s arse! We’ve got some awesome artists this year for a really good price and I think part of the reason is the agents know we’re doing it all for the right reasons. It’s not about the big headliners for us – it’s about showcasing the underground well regarded stuff that if you know your music makes you go ‘wow that’s cool’ and if you don’t you know you can take a chance and see something you wouldn’t normally see and it’ll be really good. I did contact a couple of agents about some bigger acts this year out of curiosity to see how much it would be and they were like ‘Aeon who?’

Keeping the balance between family friendly and cool party is in the top 5 of my list of requirements for definite. As a single parent I want to know my son is safe.

Shobrook Park Aeon
Shobrooke Park Estate, Crediton – where Aeon is held.

Aeon takes place in a beautiful part of Devon. It appears to be a very eco-friendly event, is this something important to you, and if so has this been an easy practice to take on?

Honestly? I think it can be easy to over hype being ‘Green’ and in fact not take into account how important it is to support the local economy. I live in a little village on Dartmoor and work at the local preschool there – my family have been there over 30 years so we see firsthand how rural economies struggle and last year I joined a committee to build and start up a village shop after our one was closed down.

At the festival it’s therefore important we use local traders and cafes and encourage them to source locally. There are various community groups from Crediton who run things and fund raise on site as well. We struggled with our recycling last year but this year we have a proper green team on board to take the pressure off us on site and the company we use for our skips has their own processing plant just up the road from the festival site that recycles 85% of stuff. The policies behind landfill are actually really strict these days. We dish out bin bags to everyone and encourage them to take care of the park but in reality we live in a disposable culture that drives me up the wall. I think this isn’t helped by festivals being very fashionable at the moment and companies doing cheap deals on tents and welly boots means that many punters still feel they can leave stuff behind even at small festivals like ours. It’s definitely getting worse for events and certainly puts costs up. We encourage car sharing as well and this year are trying out Festival Coaches to see if a shuttle service from Exeter works too.

*********

Last year I spent a ridiculous amount of money on a larger festival, ensuring I got to see some bands I had always wanted to see. I’m not sure if I am just getting old, or maybe not so rock and roll, but I certainly didn’t enjoy this experience as much as I used to. I got angry at the shear masses kicking up dust, mile long queues to simply refill bottles of water and spending stupid money on horrible food (apart from the tea and toast van, which became my staple). Because others had let us all down by creating fires and explosions with gas canisters, gas stoves had been banned and it was impossible to do any proper camp cooking.

So, when Aeon swung round towards the end of last summer – just as most people were getting over festie camping and portoloos – I surprised myself again with how much I enjoyed the weekend as a whole. There was just no effort or stress involved and it felt like a massive garden party. Although there wasn’t any particular headlining act I had travelled miles to see, the bands were all so easy going and cheerful that everyone danced with the same enthusiam as if hearing their favourite ever song. In fact I shredded my new wellies from all the hopping and jumping. So I’m keeping my fingers crossed that I might do a way with shoes this year and hop about on the grass underfoot instead. Fancy joining me?

The facebook group for Aeon can be found here.

I am standing on a crowded tube on my way to Ladbroke Grove and boy do I want to bust a move. I want to glide along the carriage, sickness wind it up, approved shake my bootie (even though I don’t have much of one), do the robot, shimmy back and forth – but I don’t. Instead I repress all of my disco dancing energy into a few gentle taps on the pole I’m meant to be holding onto with my fingers; my inner Tony Manero bound and gagged.

Summer has arrived in full bloom as I listen to Ali Love’s latest single ‘Smoke and Mirrors’ on my hot pink ipod and find myself plodding along Portobello Road to meet the man himself. If truth be told, the first time I heard of Ali was only a few weeks ago when I was invited to a one-off exclusive show at new East London art venue, CAMP. Although initially weary of the next ‘hottest new act’ on the electro-pop scene label, on seeing him perform and hearing his latest material, I was genuinely struck by his commercial appeal.


Photography courtesy of Pietro Pravettoni.

Storming onto the stage dressed head-to-toe in black with a cloak, studded vest and, oddly enough, what appeared to resemble a tassled curtain tie-back around his neck, Ali worked the stage with his two slinky backing singers dressed in rubber black cat suits, stitched with fluorescent electric blue tubing, like a veteran pop-maestro. As the girls writhed behind him in synchrony with lashings of mascara and kohled eyes, Ali delivered his anabolic steroid pumped disco tunes, filled with dirty bass lines, swirling-synths and throbbing melodies, to an adoring party audience with his Prince-esque vocals providing the perfect dusting.


Photography courtesy of Pietro Pravettoni.

Bursting with 80s electro rhythms, Ali’s sound is fun, upbeat, catchy and infectious, and his set was filled with plenty of tracks, such as ‘Do the Dirty’ and ‘Dark Star’ which deserve to be hit singles. I started the evening cynical, propped up against a wall but by the end of the night, my feet had taken on a funked-up life of their own.


Photography courtesy of Pietro Pravettoni.

Today, there is no cloak and I arrive at Ali’s early to find myself loitering outside his flat, waiting for him to return from picking up his DMX drum machine. I spot him approaching me in distinctively 80s attire; a bright green t-shirt, blue skinny jeans, white Nike high tops with a fluorescent orange tick and a gold vintage bling watch. Ali towers over me, greeting me with a hug and a Sarf London accented: “Hey babe”.

On stage, Ali appeared extroverted, flamboyant and massively confident but on a one-to-one, he was more reserved than I had imagined, often flitting between intense and evasive, lucid and incoherent, and making little eye contact as he spoke. Over the course of the interview and a nice strong brew, however, as Ali began to loosen up, a cheekier and more spiritual side emerged…

I loved the cosmic theme of your stage set of your gig at CAMP. How did this idea come about?
In colour, the music I’ve created is black and electric blue. When I visualise the sound, I can picture things like arpeggiators and my DMX drum machine (Ali points to the electric blue lines on his Oberheim DMX drum machine). On the cosmic theme, well I like cosmic music coz I’m a cosmic guy.

How do you go about composing your records? Do lyrics or a tune come to you first?
Most of the time, it’s the melody that comes to you first. Then I’ll just pick up my guitar and try to re-create it. Other times, it’s being struck by a word that someone says; something that you instantly pick up on and connect with. A good word can just spark off an idea. Songs write themselves most of the time. It’s like a flame; you have to keep feeding it with your creative energy.

How would you describe your new album, Love Harder, in three words?
Electric love music.

What has been the general response from the audience who you have played to so far?
What I’ve done has been well-received by the gay community and all over Europe. They’re mainly my kind of people; slightly left of centre, so not mainstream. I don’t really make music for closed-minded people; I make music for open-minded people and cosmic party people. I don’t know if that sounds snobby but those are the kind of people I want to impress. When musicians like Aeroplane say they love my music, it’s a really great feeling because that’s the kind of audience I’m trying to reach out to. It means a lot to gain respect from the people that I respect.

There’s a track on the album where you collaborate with Teenagers in Tokyo. How do you think they complement your sound?
Well the opportunity arose to work with Sam (Lim) who has a lovely voice so I just grabbed it. I told her to sing like a space siren and she nailed it. She really went for it on the record and to me, she sounds like an angel singing. I think it’s a great track to end the album on.

Your sound is distinctively 80s – is this an era that you look to for inspiration?
I don’t see myself as a retro artist. The palette was slightly electro and analogue so that lends itself to sounding 80s. The machines that I used are all 30 years old. I don’t care whether something is retro or not, it’s about whether you can hold a tune or whether it’s good to listen to. We live in a post-modern world and it’s hard to create new ground.

What has your career highlight been so far?
I’ve been to lots of different places in the world and have experienced a lot of stuff and that’s all because of the music – that aspect has been good. I’m pretty even minded about most things in a Buddhist middle way; I try to stay emotionally consistent, whether things are good or bad. My most blissful musical times aren’t when I’m doing gigs – they’re when I’m in the studio, recording material. That’s what I love doing the most.

It’s interesting you should say that as most people tend to enjoy the gigging aspect.
The last gig was really good and I felt really confident and happy that people were there, which felt like a breakthrough. I’d like to be like Harry Nilsson, he never played live, he just made beautiful amazing songs in the studio. Same with Georgio Moroder, he gave up playing live. I’m more interested in being a recording artist.

What does making music mean to you?
If I didn’t do music I’d have to do meditation or something to stop me from going mad. Music for me is meditative. I need to concentrate on something and it’s been the one thing I can concentrate on. I was terrible at school. My dad died when I was 13 and it stopped me from caring too much about things. I became quite spiritual as I was suddenly hit by the question of death. My whole mind started to move in a different direction. It has given me a lot more empathy for feeling things in the world and enhances your musical palette which happens to a lot of musicians. You need to find a place to visit to write songs. If everything in your life was normal, it would be quite difficult to find inspiration to write. Having said that I do still really like boner jams about sex; they’re all fine.

How have you changed as a person since you started out in the music industry?
When I started out I was living above a club on Kingsland Road in East London and high all the time. I was living on the dole but passionate about my music; just the classic clichéd punk rock vibe. But somehow I managed to get a big record deal. So because I’d been on the dole for six years beforehand, it all went to my head a bit. I went a bit crazy and the partying outweighed the music-making even before it all started. But luckily I had the hit with the Chemical Brothers which kept me financially afloat for ages. I wouldn’t change anything; it was a good journey. Now I’d love to have a guru or teacher and learn kung-fu in the hills; get more in touch with my spiritual side.

Who interests you most on the music scene at the moment and why?
I’m mostly drawn to disco people like Aeroplane and the guy who did my remix, Bottin. I really like the work that Prince Thomas does and the Lindstrom stuff. Pop wise, I like Empire of the Sun.

Who would you most like to collaborate with?
I’d like to collaborate with rappers, some kind of US stuff. I think it’s because I’ve just moved to West London and there’s a bit more rap around where I live and that’s starting to soak into me.

So do you find that where you live influences your sound?
Well I was living in East London before which is why I made a totally gay disco record!

And finally – what random piece of advice can you offer readers of Amelia’s Magazine?
Be nice to each other and always look right twice when you cross the road.

Ali Love’s new album Love Harder is out on 9th August on Back Yard Recordings.

I am standing on a crowded tube on my way to Ladbroke Grove and boy do I want to bust a move. I want to glide along the carriage, online wind it up, price shake my bootie (even though I don’t have much of one), medical do the robot, shimmy back and forth – but I don’t. Instead I repress all of my disco dancing energy into a few gentle taps on the pole I’m meant to be holding onto with my fingers; my inner Tony Manero bound and gagged.

Summer has arrived in full bloom as I listen to Ali Love’s latest single ‘Smoke and Mirrors’ on my hot pink ipod and find myself plodding along Portobello Road to meet the man himself. If truth be told, the first time I heard of Ali was only a few weeks ago when I was invited to a one-off exclusive show at new East London art venue, CAMP. Although initially weary of the next ‘hottest new act’ on the electro-pop scene label, on seeing him perform and hearing his latest material, I was genuinely struck by his commercial appeal.


Photography courtesy of Pietro Pravettoni.

Storming onto the stage dressed head-to-toe in black with a cloak, studded vest and, oddly enough, what appeared to resemble a tassled curtain tie-back around his neck, Ali worked the stage with his two slinky backing singers dressed in rubber black cat suits, stitched with fluorescent electric blue tubing, like a veteran pop-maestro. As the girls writhed behind him in synchrony with lashings of mascara and kohled eyes, Ali delivered his anabolic steroid pumped disco tunes, filled with dirty bass lines, swirling-synths and throbbing melodies, to an adoring party audience with his Prince-esque vocals providing the perfect dusting.

Ali’s sound is fun, upbeat, catchy and infectious, and his set was filled with plenty of tracks, such as ‘Do the Dirty’ and ‘Show Me’ which deserve to be hit singles. I started the evening cynical, propped up against a wall but by the end of the night, my feet had taken on a funked-up life of their own.


Photography courtesy of Pietro Pravettoni.

Today, there is no cloak and I arrive at Ali’s early to find myself loitering outside his flat, waiting for him to return from picking up his DMX drum machine. I spot him approaching me in distinctively 80s attire; a bright green t-shirt, blue skinny jeans, white Nike high tops with a fluorescent orange tick and a gold vintage bling watch. Ali towers over me, greeting me with a hug and a Sarf London accented: “Hey babe”.

On stage, Ali appeared extroverted, flamboyant and massively confident but on a one-to-one, he was more reserved than I had imagined, often flitting between intense and evasive, lucid and incoherent, and making little eye contact as he spoke. Over the course of the interview and a nice strong brew, however, as Ali began to loosen up, a cheekier and more spiritual side emerged…

I loved the cosmic theme of your stage set of your gig at CAMP. How did this idea come about?
In colour, the music I’ve created is black and electric blue. When I visualise the sound, I can picture things like arpeggiators and my DMX drum machine (Ali points to the electric blue lines on his Oberheim DMX drum machine). On the cosmic theme, well I like cosmic music coz I’m a cosmic guy.

How do you go about composing your records? Do lyrics or a tune come to you first?
Most of the time, it’s the melody that comes to you first. Then I’ll just pick up my guitar and try to re-create it. Other times, it’s being struck by a word that someone says; something that you instantly pick up on and connect with. A good word can just spark off an idea. Songs write themselves most of the time. It’s like a flame; you have to keep feeding it with your creative energy.

How would you describe your new album, Love Harder, in three words?
Electric love music.

What has been the general response from the audience who you have played to so far?
What I’ve done has been well-received by the gay community and all over Europe. They’re mainly my kind of people; slightly left of centre, so not mainstream. I don’t really make music for closed-minded people; I make music for open-minded people and cosmic party people. I don’t know if that sounds snobby but those are the kind of people I want to impress. When musicians like Aeroplane say they love my music, it’s a really great feeling because that’s the kind of audience I’m trying to reach out to. It means a lot to gain respect from the people that I respect.

There’s a track on the album where you collaborate with Teenagers in Tokyo. How do you think they complement your sound?
Well the opportunity arose to work with Sam (Lim) who has a lovely voice so I just grabbed it. I told her to sing like a space siren and she nailed it. She really went for it on the record and to me, she sounds like an angel singing. I think it’s a great track to end the album on.


Photography courtesy of Pietro Pravettoni.

Your sound is distinctively 80s – is this an era that you look to for inspiration?
I don’t see myself as a retro artist. The palette was slightly electro and analogue so that lends itself to sounding 80s. The machines that I used are all 30 years old. I don’t care whether something is retro or not, it’s about whether you can hold a tune or whether it’s good to listen to. We live in a post-modern world and it’s hard to create new ground.

What has your career highlight been so far?
I’ve been to lots of different places in the world and have experienced a lot of stuff and that’s all because of the music – that aspect has been good. I’m pretty even minded about most things in a Buddhist middle way; I try to stay emotionally consistent, whether things are good or bad. My most blissful musical times aren’t when I’m doing gigs – they’re when I’m in the studio, recording material. That’s what I love doing the most.

It’s interesting you should say that as most people tend to enjoy the gigging aspect.
The last gig was really good and I felt really confident and happy that people were there, which felt like a breakthrough. I’d like to be like Harry Nilsson, he never played live, he just made beautiful amazing songs in the studio. Same with Georgio Moroder, he gave up playing live. I’m more interested in being a recording artist.

What does making music mean to you?
If I didn’t do music I’d have to do meditation or something to stop me from going mad. Music for me is meditative. I need to concentrate on something and it’s been the one thing I can concentrate on. I was terrible at school. My dad died when I was 13 and it stopped me from caring too much about things. I became quite spiritual as I was suddenly hit by the question of death. My whole mind started to move in a different direction. It has given me a lot more empathy for feeling things in the world and enhances your musical palette which happens to a lot of musicians. You need to find a place to visit to write songs. If everything in your life was normal, it would be quite difficult to find inspiration to write. Having said that I do still really like boner jams about sex; they’re all fine.

How have you changed as a person since you started out in the music industry?
When I started out I was living above a club on Kingsland Road in East London and high all the time. I was living on the dole but passionate about my music; just the classic clichéd punk rock vibe. But somehow I managed to get a big record deal. So because I’d been on the dole for six years beforehand, it all went to my head a bit. I went a bit crazy and the partying outweighed the music-making even before it all started. But luckily I had the hit with the Chemical Brothers which kept me financially afloat for ages. I wouldn’t change anything; it was a good journey. Now I’d love to have a guru or teacher and learn kung-fu in the hills; get more in touch with my spiritual side.

Who interests you most on the music scene at the moment and why?
I’m mostly drawn to disco people like Aeroplane and the guy who did my remix, Bottin. I really like the work that Prince Thomas does and the Lindstrom stuff. Pop wise, I like Empire of the Sun.

Who would you most like to collaborate with?
I’d like to collaborate with rappers, some kind of US stuff. I think it’s because I’ve just moved to West London and there’s a bit more rap around where I live and that’s starting to soak into me.

So do you find that where you live influences your sound?
Well I was living in East London before which is why I made a totally gay disco record!

And finally – what random piece of advice can you offer readers of Amelia’s Magazine?
Be nice to each other and always look right twice when you cross the road.

Ali Love’s new album Love Harder is out on 9th August on Back Yard Recordings.


Darwin Deez at Truck Festival. Photograph by Sabrina Morrison

It was only a matter of time before Amelia’s Magazine and Truck Festival became the firmest of friends. With circles overlapping so far and wide, information pills we might as well be kith and kin, our relationship was cemented and documented by Amelia at the Climate Camp gathering in Glastonbury (understand that Truck is kind of a generic description – the creators of Truck – the brothers Joe and Robin Bennett also play in the utterly fab Danny and The Champions Of The World) in a memorable performance where Joe played part of the gig on his back. ‘Cause that’s how he rolls.


Photographs by Sabrina Morrison


Pulled Apart By Horses perform. Photograph by Caitlin Mogridge

Truck is known for being somewhat of an anomaly; it’s a thoroughly strange hybrid of a bucolic Oxfordshire village fete, complete with a rotary club flipping burgers, a vicar serving ale and – no village fete is complete without this quintessentially English phenomena – cross dressers behind the bar, all of which serve as the surroundings to a musical line-up that is so hip, cutting edge and au courant that it makes SXSW look tame. The place was teeming with journo’s from every major publication, all of whom professed a long standing love for Truck. I had pitched up with a little crew of fellow Amelia’s Magazine colleagues and friends of mine from the band Amber States. By the time we arrived at 1pm on Saturday afternoon, the weather was glorious, the sun beating down on the 5,000 revelers who had already assumed the position of the day; lying flat on their backs (clearly taking a cue from the founder Joe). We quickly discovered that the festival was pleasingly manageable in size. Taking up no more that roughly three fields, the onus was on being able to bounce (I mean amble) from one stage to the next with the minimum of fuss.


Is Tropical in session. Photograph by Sabrina Morrison

So we quickly settled into a routine. Fuel up with a drink, and go find some music. From an extremely horizontal position I watched ex- Beta Band singer Steve Mason do a rousing Beta Band-esque set, followed by Stornoway who actually got me standing up (high praise). Although at some point I realised that that the hottest spot at Truck was by far and away The Barn, which receives the accolade from me as being The Hottest Music Venue In The World Which Also Smells Of Manure. It seemed that the rest of the festival agreed with me, and due to it’s cult like status, and the fact that the bands playing inside were off the charts, there was a constant queue to get into this converted cowshed. But I would stand in line all over again just to see this man play again.


Darwin Deez auditions for So You Think You Can Dance. Photographs by Sabrina Morrison

Mr Darwin Deez, New York hipster, sporter of the finest curls in the contemporary music scene, and creator of mid-song dance routines that even have their own narrative. My favourite bit was the dance that finished Radar Detector where his band mates engaged in what can only be described as a homage to West Side Story and the unfortunate Darwin was pushed to the floor (don’t worry, it was all part of the routine) but heroically sprang back to complete the rest of the dance/mime show. Why don’t more bands do this?
YouTube Preview Image
YouTube Video courtesy of John Pullman


Mew headlining, photograph by Sabrina Morrison

The evening was given over to watch Mew headlining. I had high hopes about this Danish group because the previous week I had been fortunate to have a long chat with Sune from The Raveonettes and he was in raptures over them. Truthfully, they were technically very impressive, but I wasn’t hooked. I think I was spoilt by watching smaller bands whilst scraping hay off of my converse in the cow shed, so this stadium-esque performance left me a little cold. Actually, I think I may have just simply been cold – it was 11pm by this point and the temperature had dropped. I wandered off to find my friends playing table football in the techno tent and concluded this very pleasant evening by not scoring a goal. Story of my life!


I got to meet the strange Truck monster; he was a bit monosyllabic but gave good hugs.

The next day was given over to more of the same thing. Naturally some lazing around had to be done. (We are not lazing in this picture, we are trying to figure out how to play the game where you lift someone up using two fingers, we didn’t succeed.)

Amber States do a collective i-phone check to find out how it’s done. Test study remains rooted to the ground.


Blood Red Shoes perform. Great live set, but inbetween song banter needs be improved; “We love sharks!” yells Laura-Mary. Photo by Caitlin Mogridge


Los Campesinos! Photograph by Caitlin Mogridge


Teenage Fanclub close Truck 13. Photograph by Caitlin Mogridge

Everyone found a band that we had previously not heard off but now had to IMMEDIATELY rush off and buy their tracks. A friend of mine was delighted by A Silent Film, which reminded her a little of The National. I really enjoyed the synth pop of Miaoux Miaoux, Sabrina discovered the joys of Egyptian Hip Hop, another mate stuck to the front of the stage while Blood Red Shoes performed and we all had a bit of a rousing moment to Los Campesinos! and Teenage Fanclub. Personally, Sunday afternoon was all about Danny and the Champions of The World. I’m not just saying that because of the aforementioned connections but simply because they put on a blinding performance. Plus you never know who you are going to get when Danny plays; later he performed a set in the little acoustic tent to a full house of little kids and was joined by the lovely Trevor Moss and Hannah Lou. Everyone clapped along to the songs – one toddler in the front helpfully kept time with the aide of his drum sticks and to me, this summed up Truck entirely; the ethos is collective, without pretension, kid friendly and all about the music, even when the music consists of two acoustic guitars, no mics and a two year old with drum sticks. Thanks again to Truck, for reminding us that this is what life is about.


Danny and Trevor Moss perform
Photograph by Rishi Mullett-Sadones

With thanks to Sabrina Morrison, Caitlin Mogridge and Rishi Mullett-Sadones for the photos.

Categories ,Amber States, ,Blood Red Shoes, ,Climate Camp, ,Danny and the Champions of the World, ,Darwin Deez, ,Egyptian Hip Hop, ,festivals, ,glastonbury, ,Is Tropical, ,Los Campesinos, ,mew, ,Oxford, ,Pulled Apart By Horses, ,Rishi Mullett Sadones, ,sxsw, ,Teenage Fanclub, ,Trever Moss and Hannah Lou, ,Truck Festival

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Amelia’s Magazine | Review: Truck Festival 2011


Truck Monster Illustration by Barb Royal

Dancing like a loon to jungle music at 3am. Sitting next to a cornfield in the evening sunshine with a succulent burger in one hand and a cider in the other. No, for sale wait, getting some love from the Truck Monster…. no; feeling the love as the most perfect album in the entire history of recorded music was recreated live on stage…. I’m trying to sift through my favourite moments at Truck festival 2011, and I could sit here ad infinitum without coming any closer.

The weekend of July 22-24th is one of Summer’s prime time slots in the festival calender – if this was the telly, it would be the 7.30pm Eastenders or Corrie dilemma, so Truck has always run the risk of being overlooked by the bigger beasts of the festival scene, yet it has diligently carved itself a niche amongst good people who love great music. If I were to try to give Truck a unique selling point, I would say that it’s like attending the worlds hippest village fete (but with no pretentious ‘tude). Example? Next to the stage that Transgressive, Heavenly Records and Bella Union were curating the line-up, the local Rotary Club were serving up cups of tea and scones. At this rate, I wouldn’t have been surprised had I been served tea by a ray-bans wearing vicar.

This year, I brought a good friend who had previously only been to one festival (Glasto), so I was excited to see what she made of something a lot more intimate. Joining us for an all-too brief time was Amelia and her lovely boyfriend Tim, who I last saw at Wood Festival. Sharing the same ethos as Wood (which isn’t hard; they are run by the same family), Truck is a resolutely inclusive, family-friendly festival. Babies and tiny tots are held in high regard here, and are given plenty of fun activities and places to play, which must be a godsend for parents.

Illustration by Benbo


Amelia captures her crew in the early evening sunshine.


Photographs by Amelia Gregory

I noticed that Truck had expanded a fair bit, there were additions of a theatre space, a comedy and cabaret tent, (which I regretfully say that I didn’t give enough attention to – next year I promise!), as well as Wood Field, which was a little slice of Wood festival, curated by the Oxford Folk Festival and providing lots of environmentally friendly activities and workshops (and music of course)

Most of my time was spent by the Clash Stage. This was the place where Transgressive, Heavenly and Bella Union took turns in curating the days set list. I considered myself in safe hands with these three labels; the triumvirate of the independent music scene. I have nothing but respect and admiration for the people behind this. Not least because they nail it again and again and again. Transgressive had kicked proceedings off on Friday with acts like Gaggle, Peggy Sue, Johnny Flynn and Graham Coxon. Gaggle are a force to be reckoned with; I first saw the 20+ piece all-female performance art choir about a year ago at The Lexington and was completely transfixed. They exemplify everything great about being a woman; strong, loud, dynamic and passionate (with killer headgear), I found this photograph of Gaggle posing in the field above Truck to give you a sense of their presence.


photo by Andrew Kendall

Saturday was Heavenly Records turn to take care of us. When I was first really getting into proper music – after my Five Star faze – Heavenly were one of the first cases where I was intrigued by the label as much as the artists. Right from the get go, Heavenly had its finger on the pulse of the dreamy halcyon days of early 90′s indie-pop, underground and all matter of slightly letfield music. And they provided one of the biggest and unexpected highlights for me on Saturday night – Edwyn Collins. First of all, I had no idea how many songs of his I knew without actually realising who had sung them; of course his biggest hit was “A Girl Like You“, and his days with Orange Juice produced the glorious “Rip It Up And Start Again“, but apparently I’ve been singing along to many more of his hits over the last few years. Live, his set was faultless; it was energetic and fun and the audience were loving every minute. It was about halfway in that I suddenly remembered reading that Edwyn had suffered two strokes a few years ago and could not marry up the idea of suffering something so debilitating with the man on stage who was giving us such a wonderful show. After the weekend I learnt that after a stroke, a persons ability to sing can sometimes remain unabated. I left the set in absolute awe of this mans ability and talent.


photo by Andrew Kendall

Tearing ourself away from the Clash Stage for a hot second, we headed over to the Main Stage to catch Gruff Rhys who delivered a brilliant performance. I had never managed to see the Super Furry Animals live, so I was really happy to watch Gruff entertain us. Sensations in the Dark is one of those perfect songs where every second packs a punch – and it’s great to dance to. (Which we did of course).


Gruff Rhys Illustration by Barb Royal


Late Saturday night and the bars kicked into full swing, such as Kidstock (pictured above), home to several sambuca shots which fortified Anshu and myself for our next pit-stop – the Boxford dance tent. My lovely and kind friend Toby Kidd was DJing old skool jungle in a two hour set that led me to discovering that I can actually dance to jungle. (I’m well aware that photos exist that will disprove this belief, I’m just not going to show them to you).


Photo by Ian Taylor
Sunday was a blazing hot day and I spent the first part of the early afternoon watching bands from a horizontal position, whilst letting the good people at the Rotary Club feed me a late breakfast. (Not literally at the same time, that would be too sybaritic – even for me). Bella Union’s set was possibly my favourite over all, I loved Cashier No.9, who opened proceedings and have been playing a lot on 6Music recently. I hadn’t heard of Lantern’s On The Lake, but I really enjoyed their set – it was a mix of loud, jangly guitar and etherial shoe-gaze. In fact Lanterns took shoe-gaze to its most literal level – I didn’t get to see the lead singers eyes – she and her guitar were pointed resolutely at the floor, lost in the wall of sound that she was creating.

Alessi’s Ark is a favourite of Amelia’s Magazine and its contributors so I was eager to see her set as well. She has a sweet delicate sound that reminds me a little of Liz Fraser from Cocteau Twins, which is ironic seeing that the guitarists in the band founded Bella Union, the label that Alessi is signed to.


Alessi’s Ark Illustration by Barb Royal

While my friend went to chill out in the afternoon sunshine with a reflexology session, I made my way over to the Wood stage, where Rachael Dadd was performing songs from her new album Bite The Mountain. I’m feeling like a little bit of a Rachael groupie of late, having gone to both nights of her album launches, as well as watching the beautiful evening that she helped put on a few months ago to raise money for the Japanese tsunami appeal. So although I know most of her songs off by heart now, they still feel fresh with every listen.


Rachael Dadd Illustration by Tom Watson

The most epic part of the weekend took place on Sunday night. Over at the Main Stage, The Dreaming Spires were holding court. The band consists of Robin and Joe Bennett, the brothers behind Truck. Knowing these guys, I knew what they had up their sleeve after their blinding set, which made me very excited. So at 11pm, everyone rushed back to the Clash Tent, where alongside The Magic Numbers, Trevor Moss and Hannah Lou, and Sarah Cracknell of St Etienne, the band performed the entire album of Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours. From start to finish, every second was magical. The audience sang along for most of the songs, or danced furiously. Watching the album being performed live, it made me realise how sonically perfect Rumours is; the composition of each song is faultless. The songs were sometimes sung en masse, or the various bands would take it in turn to sing. Of course, it wouldn’t be Truck if the Truck Monster didn’t come on stage and dance behind the band, which added a suitably surreal touch to proceedings. It was one of those moments that can never be captured again, and I’m so glad that I got to experience such musical craftsmanship.
All of a sudden, the festival was over for me, as I had to rush home. My spies tell me that me that those who stayed danced late into the night (or early into the morning), drawing to a close a beloved festival that gets everything right.

Photograph by Ian Taylor


Some girls get all the luck. Photograph by Carolina Faruolo

Categories ,Alessi’s Ark, ,Bella Union, ,Cashier No.9, ,Clash, ,Cocteau Twins, ,Edwyn Collins, ,festivals, ,fleetwood mac, ,gaggle, ,Graham Coxon, ,Gruff Rhys, ,Heavenly Recordings, ,Johnny Flynn, ,Lanterns On The Lake, ,live, ,Orange Juice, ,Oxford, ,Oxford Folk Festival, ,Peggy Sue, ,Rachael Dadd, ,Rumours, ,Sarah Cracknell, ,St. Etienne, ,summer, ,Super Furry Animals, ,The Dreaming Spires, ,The Magic Numbers, ,Transgressive Records, ,Trevor Moss and Hannah-Lou, ,Truck Festival, ,Truck Monster, ,Wood Festival

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Amelia’s Magazine | Reports of Snow: an interview with Abe Davies of Reichenbach Falls

Reichenbach Falls_Reports of Snow album_cover

Reports of Snow is the new album by Reichenbach Falls, a collective headed up by singer songwriter Abe Davies, and based out of Oxford, that ever burgeoning hub of musical creativity. The album is chock full of mellow tunes with a tinge of Americana, perfect for those long winter evenings…

Reichenbach Falls portrait

How would you describe the sound of Reports of Snow?
Reports of Snow started out as a solo acoustic record – it was going to be just me and my guitar, with maybe a little keyboard and piano, that kind of thing. But as we worked on the songs we kept thinking ‘this should be an acoustic song, for sure, but maybe with electric guitars, drums, bass, piano‘ … so not really an acoustic song at all! So once we’d decided to let the songs go wherever they wanted to go, we worked on the basis that there should be a sort of approach tying them together, to make sure it remained an album rather than just a collection of songs – every one should have the heart of a fairly simple folk song, and the listener should be able to hear that, but that from there one might go in a pop direction, another in a rock, another in a more arty direction and so on. Which is I guess a long-winded way of saying: I’d describe it as ‘experimental folk-pop-rock‘!

Reichenbach Falls by Amberin Huq

Reichenbach Falls by Amberin Huq. ‘I found whilst listening to the Reichenbach album I was reminded to cold winter mornings by the sea and absence so it was just about finding an image that reflected that feeling I had. I wanted to create something that could be quietly beautiful and quite sparse to accompany the music.’

What are the lingering themes of the album and what inspired them?
Well, I guess the lingering theme would be lost love or something like that. It’s kind of a break-up album, and though a couple of the songs are a little older (written when I was living in St Andrews in Scotland) the vast majority were written over a couple of months after moving to Oxford a couple of years ago. So whereas I think the next record will be a little more wide-ranging in terms of subject-matter, this one’s pretty single-minded. I guess every songwriter has to get a break-up album out of their system every few years, and this is ours. 

Reichenbach Falls by Emma Russell

Reichenbach Falls by Emma Russell. ‘Reichenbach Falls have an outdoorsy, Americana feel that I wanted to echo. Listening to Risky, I liked the idea of escape and the image of the Southern Cross shining.

Where are you from originally and how did you end up here?
My parents came over here from Canada for my dad to train as an actor, so weirdly enough I was born in Wales. But all our family was in Canada still, and after a few years my dad moved back, so we were always back and forth and I lived in Calgary, near the Rocky Mountains, for a while when my dad lived there too. Then I lived in Spain for six months, Norwich, Scotland for a while, now Oxford for the foreseeable … so kind of all round! I consider myself 40% English, 40% Canadian and 20% somewhere in the Atlantic, maybe a little south for warmth. 

Reichenbach Falls by Kimberly Ellen Hall

Reichenbach Falls by Kimberly Ellen Hall.

How does the ‘rotating membership’ of the band work in practice?
The rotating membership is a pain! It’s allowed us to make an album that I’m really proud of, and that I couldn’t possibly have made without the generosity and skill of all these people, but everything takes forever and is a nightmare to organise. On the other hand, I’m super lucky with the talented friends I’ve made over the last couple of years and also with the fact that to play live I don’t necessarily need anybody but me. I’m kind of at the point where if I want to do a show I’ll agree to do it solo, and then if there’s the possibility to add components I’ll see if I want to and then make some calls to if it’s going to work schedule-wise. So having that solo option takes a lot of stress out of the rotating membership. Sorry, are these answers going on forever?? I feel like they are …

Reichenbach Falls tarot shop

Is that Joe Bennett, founder of Truck Festival who you are collaborating with? how did that come about? He gets everywhere!
That is indeed Joe Bennett of Truck fame. And it came about because he’s a friend of mine and does get everywhere … He’s also an incredibly talented and fun guy who lives to play music, so that doesn’t hurt either! He’s a great guy to have around – I ended up playing Y Not Festival with Co-pilgrim, a band that he’s in, and so he joined me for a few songs. That was cool, and I’m sure won’t be the last time. 

Where was the video for Risky shot? it looks suitably depressing and grey…
That was shot in a single take in Jericho in North Oxford – coincidentally, only a few hundred yards from the studio where we made a lot of the album. It was in February, I think, so you get that washed-out light that’s beautiful but sort of sad. Ben Johnston, who conceived and directed it, is also pretty nifty with getting the look just right in post-production – there’s a video for the song Stay Home, Elizabeth that he’s in the process of making with an amazing actress from here in Oxford which is going to be really beautiful, too, I think. I’m really looking forward to seeing it myself!

Who was the dancer and what was her brief, and who is polishing the gun and where did you acquire that from?!!! Looks real…
Actually, the dancer is Breeze Murdoch, a great friend of mine who I met through her husband, Michael de Albuquerque, who co-produced, engineered and mixed the album – and that’s him with the gun at the end, which I think is actually a very realistic, powerful air-rifle. As far as I remember, her brief was to make it feel as if it were a little ‘risky’ just being outside, with all these strange, pretty, dangerous things happening. But she’s both a musician and a professional dancer, so the kind of person to whom you don’t really have to spend a lot of time explaining these things. 

Reports of Snow by Reichenbach Falls is released on 2nd December 2013 through Observatory Records.

Categories ,Abe Davies, ,album, ,Amberin Huq, ,Ben Johnston, ,Breeze Murdoch, ,Calgary, ,canada, ,Co-pilgrim, ,Cornershop, ,Elizabeth, ,Emma Russell, ,Goldrush, ,interview, ,Joe Bennett, ,Kimberly Ellen Hall, ,Little Fish, ,Michael de Albuquerque, ,Observatory Records, ,Oxford, ,Reichenbach Falls, ,Reports of Snow, ,Risky, ,Stay Home, ,Truck Festival, ,Viarosa, ,wales, ,Y Not Festival

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