Gabby Young and Stephen Ellis at Larmer Tree. All photography by Amelia Gregory.
By Saturday the rain had well and truly settled in at Larmer Tree Festival and it was quite a struggle to get out of the tent.
Our first stop was Daytime Club Larmer for the second part of Bane, thumb which was equally as much fun as the first episode. Apparently there is a third one kicking about too and if you are going to Secret Garden Party this weekend then you will get a chance to see it! Well jel.
Overnight a host of art installations had sprung up around the Larmer Tree Gardens, page including this magical bottle top Chameleon by Fiona Campbell…
…and a peacock hut inspired by a poem called The Thatcher and The Peacock by Simon Sinkinson, a tale of a poor boy who asks the advice of a peacock on how to win the heart of the girl he loves. How? Under the Larmer Tree of course! Simon is a thatcher as well as an artist, and he was also responsible for the ten hidden miniature woodland doorways dotted around the site. Sadly I didn’t find any myself.
At the Mis(Guided) Protest by Fuse these girls were bearing placards with slogans such as Processed Cheese, Yes Please and Bunting for All Ages. Worth protesting for I’m sure you’ll agree. I do find it intriguing that protest has become ripe for artistic intervention – wherein ‘revolutionary rhetoric’ is rendered utterly banal.
The Oxjam stage was hosting an open mic when we wandered in and I caught the tail end of Scottish singer songwriter Gary Stewart duetting with Rosie Doonan (I sadly missed her own slot). Beautiful folk harmonies, and great yellow wellies!
Pete Lawrie is a Cardiff based singer songwriter who nearly played on my Climate Camp stage at Glastonbury last year but had to pull out with a throat infection at the last minute, so I was excited to finally hear him properly. Since then he’s released an album and gained an enthusiastic following for his soulful singalong folk. His easy banter explained the premise of songs, including one dedicated to all those who’ve worked in shit jobs at petrol stations. At this show it was really brought home to me just how impossible it is to place a sound anymore – he may be Welsh but Pete’s music, as with most musicians now, boasts a host of international influences.
On the Garden Stage Nashville born Caitlin Rose lucked out with a bit of brilliant sunshine for her lush country-influenced tales of love and loss. Americana never sounded so good: I particularly loved the laid back dude on the steel pedals. Read our interview with Caitlin Rose.
I’m not sure if the Bill and Ben Flowerpot Men were meant to be performance art or extreme fancy dress but who cares when they look this fab?!
Over at the Wishing Tree I took a few moments to read through the fabric wishes. The most striking thing was the amount of wishes that children should grow up to be healthy and happy – another indication of the demographic at this family friendly festival.
Gabby Young was accompanied by boyfriend Stephen Ellis at the ARC, dressed, as usual, with impeccable style (with a little help from Amelia’s Magazine contributor Katie Antoniou – the lilac striped dress cost £7 on ebay). Her opera trained voice sounded as beautiful as ever, and she closed the set by leading the captivated crowd in a rousing singalong of We’re All In This Together. This was Gabby’s only festival appearance this summer because she’s busy working on a new album. Very excited about that.
Film critic Mark Kermode performed some well arranged covers and plenty of old sounding new songs with his band The Dodge Brothers for the early evening slot at the Garden Stage, entertainment geared towards those who had dressed up for the 50s themed fancy dress parade.
But it was Stornoway that I was most looking forward to on Saturday (read our pre-Larmer Tree interview) and they didn’t disappoint. Classic tunes such as Zorbing and Here Comes the Blackout from album Beachcomber’s Windowsill were played with great gusto – the guest violinist perched like a mascot at the top of the stage. Stornoway manage that masterful trick of combining folk elements and great song writing to create a new and instantly recognisable sound of their own.
Lead singer Brian Briggs had a slightly deadpan style of banter so it took me awhile to understand his comment about picking up two small buoys from a Stornoway beach to include in their act. What I hadn’t anticipated, climbing into the photographer’s pit, was just what a boyband Stornoway are. The audience was a sea of screaming teenage girls disappearing into the horizon… and they all seemed to want one particular band member: ever so cute drummer ROBBIEEEEEEE, owner of the aforementioned buoys and brother of equally cute guitarist Oli Steadman. The signing tent afterwards was a seething mass of prepubescent excitement that any sane adults had clearly balked at joining.
For the finale Stornoway released a couple of giant Prisoner-esque white balloons into the audience to bounce about over our heads. The band liked one of my twitpics so much that they posted it on their website. A wonderful set and one of my festival highlights.
Over at the Big Top the ever so smiley Vieux Farka Touré finally took to the stage for his delayed performance (passport problem apparently). He’s an exceptionally gifted guitarist from Mali… the son of renowned musician Ali Farka Touré, and purveyor of that unique Mali sound: an adept blend of Western rock riffs and traditional African beats that have given him the moniker of the African Jimi Hendrix. Best of all Vieux Farka Touré was totally laid back and made it all look so utterly simple to play the guitar with such skill. Maybe not quite so rock and roll then! His drummer looked about 12 years old but played an amazing beatdown on a large halved gourd for the encore.
From the back of the packed main stage we caught the tail end of Asian Dub Foundation, who provided a suitably energetic party vibe for Saturday night.
Finally we headed back to the ARC for our daily dose of comedy, compered by kid’s TV presenter Iain Stirling. Gareth Richards attracted some drunken heckles, which he bashed off admirably… but I have to say they weren’t totally undeserved. Mediocre.
Headline act was ‘old git’ Arthur Smith, who did a sturdy routine of well rehearsed classic one-liners before ending the show with his pants down.
I was very flattered, when, thanks to a recommendation from Stay Loose music PR, I was asked to be one of the judges for the first round of Glastonbury Festival’s 2014 Emerging Talent Competition. The panel is made up of ‘about 40 of the UK’s top online music writers’ that includes the likes of Drowned in Sound, TLOFBF and Breaking More Waves, so I am indeed in good company. Together we have compiled a long list of 120 acts from around 8000 entries (with the selection sent to me predominantly consisting of folk, electronic, acoustic and pop acts, at my request), from which the second stage judges must pick the 8 finalists and then the final winner. Over the years I have frequently been very impressed with the bands that have been highlighted by this competition as ones to watch, and so it was a real honour to be included in the early stages. The Emerging Talent Competition gives new and unsigned artists a chance to showcase their wares on a main stage at the festival, and previous entrants have gone on to great things, including Stornoway and Treetop Flyers.
Given so much talent I found it incredibly hard to make my final three choices, and in the end based much of my decision on the professionalism of the acts and the need to pick a balanced offering. So I choose my very favourite best tunes – the ones that had me hit the virtual rewind time and again – and then I looked for a good stage presence since this is essential in a festival setting (this was sadly a let down with a few acts that I really liked) and finally an aptitude for self promotion, as I feel this is vital today (again, too many acts had not really thought this through, which I feel shows a lack of ambition or belief, both of which are necessary to survive). It is perhaps no surprise that my top act is coincidentally one that had previously (before the competition) contacted me to cover their music, which I did, you can read my post here: I love a bit of get go in a creative!
Here, without further ado, are my top three choices: I hope at least one of them makes the final cut! And I hope to write a further blog post recommending some of the other great bands I found but which sadly did not make my final three. Click on the titles to hear the tracks on soundcloud.
Arthur Rigby & The Baskervylles – Moonlit Strangers By Warren Clarke.
On Moonlit Strangers the Leeds based band Arthur Rigby & the Baskervylles employ lush orchestration and multi-layered vocals to tell a tale of loneliness and heartbreak. It’s a brilliant showcase for their exuberant melodies, with a folksy violin curling around the lead vocals, all backed by an enthusiastic brass section. The anthemic tunes and sing-a-long choruses are perfect for the Glastonbury crowd. (NOTE: between the time of writing this blog and the announcement of the long list Arthur Rigby sadly announced their demise… so it seems I did not pick a good horse after all. Here’s hoping that my other two choices fare better in the cut throat music world. I wish I could have given someone else a chance.)
The opening notes of Memphis bear the woozy electronic hallmarks of German/Turkish singer Alev Lenz’s collaboration with acclaimed Finnish drummer Samuli Kosminen (Múm, Hauschka, Kronos Quartet, Jónsi). Her swooping vocals carry a beautiful melody of heartbreak and dreams across softly twinkling keys, a style which is further showcased on Song No.1. In other tracks she effortlessly combines classical influences with electronica to create a unique and engaging sound. I think Alev Lenz is an exciting new talent that we will hear much more from.
How High The Mountain is a simple slice of folk which showcases swoonsome vocals from North Yorkshire’s George Boomsma, all bound together by an elegiac violin. I found his live version of the song absolutely mesmerising and feel it would be sure to turn heads and gain fans at Glastonbury. I was also impressed by further tracks, with rollicking tunes and plentiful harmonies.
I hope you will help me spread the word about these talented musicians, all of whom deserve further recognition x
Written by Amelia Gregory on Wednesday March 5th, 2014 1:43 pm
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
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 Cape… Wild 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).
Written by Cari Steel on Sunday June 6th, 2010 7:52 pm
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.
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….
I 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.
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!
Watching 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.
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.
Zorbing
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.
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.
Boats 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.
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.
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.
I first heard of Bobbin Bicycles just over three years ago, shop when as a nascent bespoke bike company they contacted me to suggest featuring some of their imported upright Dutch bicycles in my Amelia’s Magazine fashion spreads. This was a canny move from husband and wife team Tom Morris and Sian Emmison because I am a big fan of cycling and we shot Bobbin Bicycles several times for the final print issues of the magazine.
Tom and Sian in Bobbin Bicycles. All photography by Amelia Gregory.
Today Bobbin Bicycles has grown into a well known business that employs six people and is set to open a bespoke and vintage bike repair workshop. They’re launching their own brand of upright Bobbin Bicycles in Australia, visit this to be followed shortly thereafter in the USA and are set to produce their own brand of Bobbin Bicycles branded panniers and capes. They’ve quickly become the go to people for the kind of upright bicycle that is increasingly favoured by townie types looking for sturdiness and style, buy information pills and indeed they’re so busy that Sian barely has time to say hello as she poses for a photo before returning to the phones in her subterranean office below their lovely shop in St John Street, Islington in North London. Instead I catch up with the lovely Tom in the basement of their bulging store to find out a little bit more about Bobbin Bicycles.
The love affair with bikes (and with each other) began long ago in Amsterdam.
Both Tom and Sian were fine artists living abroad who fell in love with riding Dutch bikes. It was about a whole lifestyle that was old fashioned, elegant, relaxed and most of all sociable, for in Amsterdam it is not uncommon to ride in groups and chit chat along the way. They were commissioned to film a bike race for the Dutch Arts Council, and the rest, as they like to say, is history.
Fast forward to 2001. London. The daily grind.
On their return home to the big smoke Tom found work in advertising, and Sian worked for cult furniture company SGP, which is based on Curtain Road. But they dreamed of something more… and so in-between freelance work they started to import bikes from Holland. At first this meant touring around Holland in a van to pick up bikes which they shipped back to the UK to sell from a storage unit. Within weeks they had moved onto Eyre Street Hill in Farringdon, where they shared a space with watchmakers and jewellers.
Their glamourous “atelier showroom” was a bit like Turkish gambling den.
No one else had thought to specialise in Dutch bikes and soon their appointment only showroom was so popular they were selling ten bikes a day. Being well schooled in the ways of branding they targeted their customers with great care: Tom draped a curtain over the grottier bits of the workshop and played nice music. Customers got the “wow” factor when coming in off the street and soon the national newspapers started to call when they wanted a story about upright bikes.
Pashley began to stalk them. Bobbin Bicycles had moved to Arlington Way by the time that Pashley paid them a secret visit. Thinking that not everyone wants a Dutch bike Tom had already approached the well known British brand, but he was unaware of the mutual interest. Pashleys are smaller in size and offer more gears, plus they offer the added bonus of all British manufacture UK. Fast forward to 2010: Bobbin Bicycles now operates from a lovely little shop in Angel and is one of over 100 UK stockists of Pashleys, but who else can boast their very own exclusive colour range? At Bobbin Bicycles you can now pick up the Pashley Provence in a special mint or mustard colourway.
Upright bikes have become a lot more fashionable of late.
As more cyclists take to the roads many are choosing to ride sit-up-and-beg bikes of the type that Bobbin Bicycles sell, and lots more bike manufacturers are “having a pop” at simple upright bikes. Downstairs Tom shows me some new Globe bikes made by the huge company Specialised. People are now making appointments to visit Bobbin Bicycles from as far away as LA and Russia. *NB: I do not condone travelling across the world to purchase a bike. But definitely buy a bike. Everyone should have one.
Piles of baskets in the basement of the shop.
Steel or aluminium? Why, what’s the difference?
Pashleys are made with a beautiful thin lugged steel frame, but most modern bikes are made from lightweight aluminium that makes for a more juddery ride, though they are definitely not as heavy when lifting up steps. Bobbin Bicycles can cater to all your upright wishes and stock a huge range of brands including the wonderfully named Swedish Skeppshult.
London has way more cycling tribes than other cities.
In other cities the cyclists tend to look quite homogeneous, but here in London we have many different identifiable types. Tom was amongst the first to label the big three cycling tribes for an article in the Independent. The Traditional, Fold-up and Fixie tribes can now be broken into multiple subsets and mash ups, including the Fixed Tweed tribe.
Bobbin Bicycles ran a tea stop for this year’s Tweed Run.
The Tweed Run is perfectly Bobbin: an annual celebration of all things upright and traditional about cycling. This year they presented a prize for the best decorated bike to a lady from Holland, who arrived with an old 70s shopper decorated with a multicoloured knitted saddle cover and matching dress guards on the back wheels.
Boris bikes. Good news for Bobbin Bicycles.
Tom loves the idea of cycling into town on Boris bike and then getting a cab back. Or simply having the option to avoid the horrors of the night bus. Even though the amount of money spent on cycling in the UK is a fraction of what is spent in countries such as Denmark, Holland and Germany the new London bike scheme will undoubtedly encourage more people to cycle. Here’s how it goes: people will try them out instead of investing in a cheap bike from Halfords. Once they get into the idea of cycling they will realise how heavy and unwieldy the Boris bikes are and will decide to graduate onto something nicer. Hopefully a Bobbin Bicycle, for instance.
Collaborations are good fun.
In the cabinet behind me are wonderful bowler and deerstalker hats designed to fit over helmets. They were made by the historically influenced milliner Eloise Moody, who has also created a sexy reflective nurses cape. Bobbin Bicycles will launch their own range of panniers and capes for spring 2011, and the shop stocks lots of small boutique brands you would not find elsewhere. They’ve provided bikes for a Mark Ronson video and the newspapers always come knocking when they want to borrow a pretty upright.
They are moving back to Arlington Way.
Well, in a manner of speaking. The shop in Angel is bursting at the seams and they’ve decided to open a new workshop on Arlington Way in October, just three doors down from their previous location. Dedicated Bobbin mechanics will specialise in the servicing of vintage bikes and hard to get components such as hub gears. But all cyclists will be welcome.
Bobbin Bicycles jewellery.
Vintage Goodwood here we come.
Bobbin Bicycles have provided Vintage at Goodwood with a fleet of promotional bikes so that they can flyer all over town. They have a pitch at the festival alongside the Old Bicycle Company from Essex – which specialises in Penny Farthings. Sadly, here we don’t come. Amelia’s Magazine has not been made welcome at Vintage at Goodwood.
The independent bike shops all get along.
And why not? They all specialise in their own thing, and quite often a boyfriend and girlfriend will come into Bobbin Bicycles with different ideas of what they want to ride. The girl wants an upright, the boy wants a fix. So they send him down the road to Condor Cycles or up the road to Mosquito. Yes, 80% of their customers are female, possibly down to the attitude and service of Bobbin staff, which is deliberately very accessible and non technology based.
Top tips for autumn and winter cycling.
Many people are merely fair weather cyclists (not me!) but cycling through the British winter will keep you warm. You’ll arrive at work with a good feeling inside, blood pumping, ready to get down to business: you don’t get that sitting on an overheated bus. But make sure you have decent lights because they’ll make you feel really smug when it gets dark early. Get a good cape to whack over the top of your clothes if it’s raining. Waterproof trousers are not a good look but leather jackets are. They keep the wind out and they look good too. Stay on your bikes! Honestly, it’s by the far the best way to travel at all times of the year. And I speak from experience.
You can visit the friendly staff at Bobbin Bicycles at 397 St John Street, London, EC1V 4LD or you can drool over their website here. And do say hello at Vintage at Goodwood.
I first heard of Bobbin Bicycles just over three years ago, no rx when as a nascent bespoke bike company they contacted me to suggest featuring some of their imported upright Dutch bicycles in my Amelia’s Magazine fashion spreads. This was a canny move from husband and wife team Tom Morris and Sian Emmison because I am a big fan of cycling and we shot Bobbin Bicycles several times for the final print issues of the magazine.
Tom and Sian in Bobbin Bicycles. All photography by Amelia Gregory.
Today Bobbin Bicycles has grown into a well known business that employs six people and is set to open a bespoke and vintage bike repair workshop. They’re launching their own brand of upright Bobbin Bicycles in Australia, page to be followed shortly thereafter in the USA and are set to produce their own brand of Bobbin Bicycles branded panniers and capes. They’ve quickly become the go to people for the kind of upright bicycle that is increasingly favoured by townie types looking for sturdiness and style, dosage and indeed they’re so busy that Sian barely has time to say hello as she poses for a photo before returning to the phones in her subterranean office below their lovely shop in St John Street, Islington in North London. Instead I catch up with the lovely Tom in the basement of their bulging store to find out a little bit more about Bobbin Bicycles.
The love affair with bikes (and with each other) began long ago in Amsterdam.
Both Tom and Sian were fine artists living abroad who fell in love with riding Dutch bikes. It was about a whole lifestyle that was old fashioned, elegant, relaxed and most of all sociable, for in Amsterdam it is not uncommon to ride in groups and chit chat along the way. They were commissioned to film a bike race for the Dutch Arts Council, and the rest, as they like to say, is history.
Fast forward to 2001. London. The daily grind.
On their return home to the big smoke Tom found work in advertising, and Sian worked for cult furniture company SGP, which is based on Curtain Road. But they dreamed of something more… and so in-between freelance work they started to import bikes from Holland. At first this meant touring around Holland in a van to pick up bikes which they shipped back to the UK to sell from a storage unit. Within weeks they had moved onto Eyre Street Hill in Farringdon, where they shared a space with watchmakers and jewellers.
Their glamourous “atelier showroom” was a bit like Turkish gambling den.
No one else had thought to specialise in Dutch bikes and soon their appointment only showroom was so popular they were selling ten bikes a day. Being well schooled in the ways of branding they targeted their customers with great care: Tom draped a curtain over the grottier bits of the workshop and played nice music. Customers got the “wow” factor when coming in off the street and soon the national newspapers started to call when they wanted a story about upright bikes.
Pashley began to stalk them. Bobbin Bicycles had moved to Arlington Way by the time that Pashley paid them a secret visit. Thinking that not everyone wants a Dutch bike Tom had already approached the well known British brand, but he was unaware of the mutual interest. Pashleys are smaller in size and offer more gears, plus they offer the added bonus of all British manufacture UK. Fast forward to 2010: Bobbin Bicycles now operates from a lovely little shop in Angel and is one of over 100 UK stockists of Pashleys, but who else can boast their very own exclusive colour range? At Bobbin Bicycles you can now pick up the Pashley Provence in a special mint or mustard colourway.
Upright bikes have become a lot more fashionable of late.
As more cyclists take to the roads many are choosing to ride sit-up-and-beg bikes of the type that Bobbin Bicycles sell, and lots more bike manufacturers are “having a pop” at simple upright bikes. Downstairs Tom shows me some new Globe bikes made by the huge company Specialised. People are now making appointments to visit Bobbin Bicycles from as far away as LA and Russia. *NB: I do not condone travelling across the world to purchase a bike. But definitely buy a bike. Everyone should have one.
Piles of baskets in the basement of the shop.
Steel or aluminium? Why, what’s the difference?
Pashleys are made with a beautiful thin lugged steel frame, but most modern bikes are made from lightweight aluminium that makes for a more juddery ride, though they are definitely not as heavy when lifting up steps. Bobbin Bicycles can cater to all your upright wishes and stock a huge range of brands including the wonderfully named Swedish Skeppshult.
London has way more cycling tribes than other cities.
In other cities the cyclists tend to look quite homogeneous, but here in London we have many different identifiable types. Tom was amongst the first to label the big three cycling tribes for an article in the Independent. The Traditional, Fold-up and Fixie tribes can now be broken into multiple subsets and mash ups, including the Fixed Tweed tribe.
Bobbin Bicycles ran a tea stop for this year’s Tweed Run.
The Tweed Run is perfectly Bobbin: an annual celebration of all things upright and traditional about cycling. This year they presented a prize for the best decorated bike to a lady from Holland, who arrived with an old 70s shopper decorated with a multicoloured knitted saddle cover and matching dress guards on the back wheels.
Boris bikes. Good news for Bobbin Bicycles.
Tom loves the idea of cycling into town on Boris bike and then getting a cab back. Or simply having the option to avoid the horrors of the night bus. Even though the amount of money spent on cycling in the UK is a fraction of what is spent in countries such as Denmark, Holland and Germany the new London bike scheme will undoubtedly encourage more people to cycle. Here’s how it goes: people will try them out instead of investing in a cheap bike from Halfords. Once they get into the idea of cycling they will realise how heavy and unwieldy the Boris bikes are and will decide to graduate onto something nicer. Hopefully a Bobbin Bicycle, for instance.
Collaborations are good fun.
In the cabinet behind me are wonderful bowler and deerstalker hats designed to fit over helmets. They were made by the historically influenced milliner Eloise Moody, who has also created a sexy reflective nurses cape. Bobbin Bicycles will launch their own range of panniers and capes for spring 2011, and the shop stocks lots of small boutique brands you would not find elsewhere. They’ve provided bikes for a Mark Ronson video and the newspapers always come knocking when they want to borrow a pretty upright.
They are moving back to Arlington Way.
Well, in a manner of speaking. The shop in Angel is bursting at the seams and they’ve decided to open a new workshop on Arlington Way in October, just three doors down from their previous location. Dedicated Bobbin mechanics will specialise in the servicing of vintage bikes and hard to get components such as hub gears. But all cyclists will be welcome.
Bobbin Bicycles jewellery.
Vintage Goodwood here we come.
Bobbin Bicycles have provided Vintage at Goodwood with a fleet of promotional bikes so that they can flyer all over town. They have a pitch at the festival alongside the Old Bicycle Company from Essex – which specialises in Penny Farthings. Sadly, here we don’t come. Amelia’s Magazine has not been made welcome at Vintage at Goodwood.
The independent bike shops all get along.
And why not? They all specialise in their own thing, and quite often a boyfriend and girlfriend will come into Bobbin Bicycles with different ideas of what they want to ride. The girl wants an upright, the boy wants a fix. So they send him down the road to Condor Cycles or up the road to Mosquito. Yes, 80% of their customers are female, possibly down to the attitude and service of Bobbin staff, which is deliberately very accessible and non technology based.
Top tips for autumn and winter cycling.
Many people are merely fair weather cyclists (not me!) but cycling through the British winter will keep you warm. You’ll arrive at work with a good feeling inside, blood pumping, ready to get down to business: you don’t get that sitting on an overheated bus. But make sure you have decent lights because they’ll make you feel really smug when it gets dark early. Get a good cape to whack over the top of your clothes if it’s raining. Waterproof trousers are not a good look but leather jackets are. They keep the wind out and they look good too. Stay on your bikes! Honestly, it’s by the far the best way to travel at all times of the year. And I speak from experience.
You can visit the friendly staff at Bobbin Bicycles at 397 St John Street, London, EC1V 4LD or you can drool over their website here. And do say hello at Vintage at Goodwood.
I must admit, approved I’ve had my reservations from the start. Right from the moment when they wheeled out that universally irritating celebrity known as Lily Allen. Young, for sale rich, famous and by all accounts a pain in the butt. Best known amongst the vintage community for out-bidding everyone else on all the best clothes at auction. Admittedly the closest I have ever got to Lily Allen was when she nonchalantly flicked cigarette ash on me as I passed her huge chauffeur driven four wheel drive on my bike one day last summer. But I think this tells me enough.
Vintage at Goodwood is a new festival. A new festival afloat in the sea of other festivals now populating British weekends throughout the summer months. Not a weekend goes by without at least two or three wonderful festivals that I know about to chose from, and many others that I don’t. Trying to find a niche market that hasn’t already spent as much as they can afford on summer festival frivolities is surely not an easy thing to do. Not surprisingly Vintage at Goodwood hasn’t sold out in it’s first year.
So, they’ve done a notably huge amount of advertising – plastering everything from Bobbin Bicycles to bus billboards with the distinctive Vintage at Goodwood posters, which proclaim a festival that places as much emphasis on art, fashion, film and design as it does on music. All well and good, it’s a trend pioneered by the likes of Latitude and Secret Garden Party, but I’ve yet to fathom exactly how the mix works this time round. The only emphasis I can see has been on ‘curating’ a very large shopping area: even John Lewis gets a presence on their old-fashioned High Street.
And who, exactly, is the “glamping” crowd they want to attract? “Vintage” as a lifestyle choice is something wholeheartedly embraced by people on a budget who like to champion an individualistic, upcycling, DIY aesthetic. Many of my readers for instance. Why, I’ve been wearing Chazza clothes since I could walk into a shop. Beyond Retro is my local store. Okay, since from about 1999 I’ve mainly favoured clothes from the 1980s over anything earlier, but today even this most silly of decades gets the Vintage treatment at Vintage at Goodwood.
But the Goodwood Estate also hosts Goodwood Revival – a glamourous motoring and aviation event aimed at people with a little bit more money than your average Vintage Enthusiast of the kind I speak of. It’s been written about in posh supermarket Waitrose’s own magazine, and fawned over by the right wing press. “They are used to catering to Goodwood Revival, who are basically mostly very wealthy, vintage car/plane owners… and where people ONLY seem to care how much money/how many stately homes you have.” This is clearly a festival with pretensions to be more than the mere stamping ground of a bunch of fashionable east end types. And yet many of these very people are the ones making the festival happen. Thrifty vintage enthusiasts fill the vintage shopping area with their stalls. They’re volunteering their time to be stewards of boudoirs. Vintage bloggers have written glowing posts about how much they look forward to the festival, thereby ensuring there is huge amounts of hype online to compliment the more traditional advertising. But are these very same people being looked after by the corporate wheels of Goodwood, Freud Comm and co?
At Amelia’s Magazine we’ve always tried to support as many small festivals as possible, especially the new ones, the ones focused on green issues and the ones that will appeal to our readership. You’d think, given this quote in the Telegraph (soz) today, that I would be the ideal kind of press to invite along to Vintage at Goodwood. “Vintage fashion is a win-win. It’s about upcycling, recycling, thriftiness and great design. I felt this was the right time to celebrate it and show people how good vintage links music, fashion and film.” Does this sound anything like the kind of stuff we promote on this blog, day in day out? Only this week we’ve published interviews with Think, Act, Vote and Bobbin Bicycles, both of whom have a presence at Vintage at Goodwood that gets a mention in our blogs.
Unhappy at the way that the press team for Vintage at Goodwood dismissed me without so much as a by your leave, and uneasy about the complaints I noted on the Vintage at Goodwood Facebook site regarding a lack of transparency over ticket pricing a few weeks ago, I decided to dig around for a bit more information. Someone, somewhere clearly has money. Freud Comm are the huge corporate PR agency responsible for the massive amounts of press you see. They also look after Nike, Asda, KFC, Sky, the Olympics and drinks giant Diageo, who has close ties to the festival. Cheap they cannot be to hire.
I am small fry to Freud, as are all those other eager bloggers. Freud doesn’t even have a twitter feed. Or a blog. They are beyond such things. But they also don’t understand the power of such things. Or maybe they would not be so dismissive of those with such close ties to the market they are trying to reach.
As soon as I started to ask around I discovered a lot of unhappiness… and I was only scratching the surface. Bloggers that have gushed about Vintage at Goodwood for months had applied for press passes only to be turned down this, the week before – forced to purchase their own tickets to experience the festival they so much wanted to write about. Even seasoned journalists writing for big websites have been turned down. Now I’m no marketing genius, but it seems to me that if you have a new festival, and you haven’t sold out, it makes no sense at all to turn down any enthusiastic journos. After all, it costs the organisers nothing to let people in for free, and our eagerness should be appreciated because it doesn’t come without costs to us when we don’t have huge expense accounts to fall back on (travel and food soon mount up). Presuming that Vintage at Goodwood would like to continue next year, surely it’s a wise idea to maximise your chances of positive press from day one? For this very reason I will always send a press copy of Amelia’s Anthology of Illustration to any blogger that asks, no matter how well read their website is, or not. I appreciate that you want to spend time writing about my project. (ask away)
But there’s more…. getting Vintage at Goodwood off the ground has not been without its casualties along the way. And here you’ll have to bear with me if I adopt an air of secrecy – many of these people are still going to Vintage at Goodwood anyway – but tell me this, does this sound like a happy bunny? “It is a real shame as I have not met one person who is genuinely excited to go. Most are curious about how bad it will be and want to see it fail due to the poor behaviour from the organisers.”
As Vintage at Goodwood have decided to focus on the shopping aspect of the event the costs of stalls have spiralled, well out of the reach of many young Vintage Stockists. A key curator has dropped out. One Vintage Enthusiast who shall remain nameless told me that “It’s all a big money making sham.” Many things will cost more (on top of the ticket price) during the festival. Another told me “I may as well rent a shop in Brighton for a month for the price they were asking for a pitch the size of a stamp.” I find all of this desperately sad. As a way of life Vintage is not about this. I understand the need for a new festival to break even, but at the expense of all those who help out along the way? It’s just not right.
Another quote: “I have heard nothing but bad things which is so sad as I have high hopes for the event.” I really wish I was able to get along to Vintage at Goodwood to make a judgement on it myself. As a concept it sounds great. Many many good friends will be attending, including Tatty Devine, Supermarket Sarah, Bobbin Bicycles, Think, Act, Vote… the list goes on. I would have loved to have covered the green lectures and meet the people who attend in all their fabulous finery. Vintage as a lifestyle is something I wholeheartedly support. As are festivals. Can you imagine a better bunch to photograph, illustrate and talk about for Amelia’s Magazine?
Wayne Hemmingway (he’s behind Vintage at Goodwood) by Gareth Hopkins.
Sadly it is not to be. I can’t afford to pay for a ticket, especially given the time it takes me to write a festival up, which usually approaches a week and bearing in mind that no one pays me to write. It’s also very tiring (as anyone working the festival circuit will tell you), which is why I’ve stayed at home in London for the past few weekends – although I had set aside time to visit Vintage at Goodwood and see if it lived up to the hype. Instead I hope to hear from others who are going, fingers crossed. And do tell me your thoughts too, especially after the event. I hope you have a truly wonderful time if you are going, either as a punter or a contributor. Everyone. But organisers, remember this. Look after your team. They are what will make Vintage at Goodwood what it is, not the rich people glamping it up in luxury teepees and yurts. Don’t forget what Vintage as a lifestyle truly means…
* I did make it to VAG in the end… My review of Vintage at Goodwood is now online and you can read it here.* Phil King. Illustration by Courtney Lee
There seems to be something slightly off kilter about going to the legendary home of London’s jazz scene to hear folk music but on this particular evening the pinstripe suits and trilbies made way for plaid shirts and beards, find as live music night TV Nights kicked off their bi-monthly folk night at the Upstairs bar at Ronnie Scott’s.
Run by up and coming live promoter Vaz Pilikian aided by musician and self confessed “Robin to Vaz’s Batman” Henry Brill, about it TV Nights is fast becoming a regular fixture in every devoted folkie’s calendar, ambulance with upwards of 5 nights a month pouring forth some of the best new folk music out of various underground venues across the capital. With the ethos of keeping the musicians happy above all else, Vaz has certainly managed to pull together an impressive and eclectic line up and yes, to my untrained eye, they all seemed to be pretty happy, so things are looking good.
Phil King. Illustration by Stuart Whitton
First up is Bristol based singer songwriter Phil King. Immediately captivating the crowd with his pure yet powerful vocals and his charming vulnerability, his accomplished set is a mixture of Damien Rice style heartfelt balladry, John Martyn guitar picking melancholia and the raw energy of a busker.. Reminiscent of Glen Hansard’s busker in his Oscar winning film Once, Phil sings to a spot a foot or so above the crowd’s heads and seems to immerse himself totally into his music, grinning and grimacing his way through the set – perhaps in part due to the intimate surroundings and the desire not to sing directly into the audience’s faces, but also due to the personal and tender nature of his songs. Here is a man laying his heart wide open, with nothing but his guitar and harmonica for company, to a room full of strangers and that in itself is worthy of respect. The fact his music is also so heartwarmingly good makes being in the crowd a thoroughly enjoyable experience.
Tamsin Wilson. Illustration by Yelena Bryksenkova
Next on the bill is a guest appearance from the brilliant Tamsin Wilson. On a short whistle stop break back in old Blighty, Brit Wilson is currently based in Boston, studying music at the highly respected Berklee School, but has managed to spare an evening in her busy schedule to come and share her talents with us lucky lot. A diminutive figure on the stage with a simple guitar and a spotlight shining in her face, Tamsin’s tiny speaking voice barely makes it over the growing chuntering of the after work crowd who had taken over one end of the bar. The rest of us lean in to hear her introduction, but it soon becomes irrelevant as she embarks on a confident and near faultless set. Sounding immediately like an English Feist, Wilson’s voice is crystal clear and perfect, with enough edge to her alt-folk pop songs to keep it from being too commercial or saccharine. With her coquettish glances at the crowd and a knowing twinkle in her eye, she is nothing short of captivating, which is sadly tainted by the constant fight against the drunken barking of the bar crowd who all but drown her out. With the more devoted of us shhhing and scowling to little avail, what would have been a fully absorbing and satisfying set turned into a battle of wills between the devoted music fans and the devoted beer fans. A massive shame, but then again with such a huge talent, Wilson will win the battle to be heard in the end, that’s for sure.
Amber States. Illustration by Dan Gray (Little Gonzales)
Up next is a highlight of the evening, the brilliant Amber States. The North London four piece fill the stage with not only instruments, but energy and charisma. Banjo, cello, guitars and keys create a sound not unfamiliar in the burgeoning nu-folk scene, but Amber States manage to steer clear of the hackneyed fiddle and guitar style that has become so popular and instead carve their own sound and produce a short but life-affirmingly magnetic set that gets the biggest crowd and the loudest cheer of the night. Their set is laden with catchy hooks, dreamy melodies, exhilarating builds and a toe tapping rhythms without being too paint by numbers folk, with lead singer Gavin Bell’s smoky vocals adding a rawness that sits perfectly over the top. The wonderful sound of Phil Noyce’s cello takes over where the typical violin would be and lets be honest, who doesn’t love a cello solo? They’re a handsome bunch, these boys, and together with such beautiful goosebumps-inducing songs as Morning Sun and Fall From Grace, they are a very appealing package indeed. Finding myself grinning like an idiot throughout their set, there is no reason why Amber States can’t take on the Mumfords and Stornaways of this world and win.
We Used To Make Things
The night takes a bit of a turn away from folk with the appearance of Hackney eight piece (yes that’s EIGHT) We Used To Make Things. Trumpet, trombone, guitars, keys, backing vocals, maracas, loud hailers and the kitchen sink are thrown at us by what can only be described as East London’s best non-pub pub band. Hitting the crowd with a full on and shameless pop set, We Used To Make Things are what it would sound like if The Divine Comedy got pissed, dropped the cynicism and tried to remake Sergeant Peppers in a small room in East London. With a trombone. And it’s thoroughly entertaining stuff. Perhaps teetering dangerously on the edge of ‘novelty’ at times, We Used To Make Things are a party band of the highest order and certainly have the personality to carry it off.
Juan Zelada. Illustration by Alexandra Embleton
Final booking of the evening is another step further into MOR territory with Spanish pocket rocket and piano prodigy Juan Zelada. A graduate from Liverpool’s answer to The Brit School, Paul McCartney’s LIPA, it is clear from the outset that Zelada is an incredible musician. He jigs and jumps behind his piano producing track after track of shiny pop soul and pseudo blues with infectious energy and charm. Zelada is a captivating performer who seemed to be having the most fun out of anyone in the room, which proved to win over even the most stuffy of ‘folkies’ in the crowd. Sadly, being past 11pm on a school night, the crowd had somewhat thinned out by the time he took to the stage, but this didn’t seem to matter to Juan and his band who produced perhaps the most committed performance of the night. Zelada is what Radio 2 producers dream of. He is shamelessly commercial and sits comfortably in the Jamie Cullum/John Mayer/Paolo Nutini school of pop which makes the booking a rather strange one for a folk night, but taken on his own merit, Zelada deserves to be huge. He is a perfectly polished pop package just waiting to be shot straight into the mainstream and by god, does he deserve it.
And there ended TV Nights at Upstairs@Ronnie Scott’s. A brilliant platform for unsigned artists, a melting pot of serious new talent and refreshingly ego free, Vaz and chums have a seriously good thing going here, which deserves to be a regular fixture for all serious nu-folk fans.
‘Glass Gun 2′ by Julie Hill
CRASH at Artsadmin: experimenting with sustainable alternatives to financial and ecological crises
Image courtesy of Artsadmin: ‘Quantitative Teasing- A benchmark in post-capitalism’
Beth Whelan at CRASH
