Sunday at Wood Festival began with a stint of harmony singing led by Katy, capsule the talented teacher of the Bennett family. It’s rare that I get to sing these days what with so much else going on in my life, price so I relished the opportunity to exercise my lungs with lots of (mainly) like-minded women.
All photography by Amelia Gregory.
A noisy samba parade was the culmination of the morning’s activities, travelling the length of the site to entertain campers. At many points Wood Festival felt more like a family camp than a festival, which was no bad thing as it ensured that there was a real sense of friendliness which can often be missing at other festivals, and it felt like a safe place to leave children roaming wild in packs.
Polly and the Billets Doux kicked off proceedings on the Wood Stage with their double bass heavy blend of jazz, gospel, country and folk. I particularly loved their painted double bass, which was passed around the band.
To Be A Fighter by Polly and the Billets Doux.
Two Fingers of Firewater took the tented Tree Stage during the lazy post lunch hour for keyboard soaked country folk.
During the afternoon my merry group of adults decided to join the kids in some lino printing: at Wood all ages muck in together which is something that happens rarely in our modern society. It was really wonderful to have the space and time to indulge in a bit of creativity.
She had warned her morning singing group that we might be asked to join her on the stage for the final number but I was off visiting the compost loo and missed the callout. Woops! Katy Rose is a super singer and songwriter who you can hear on this old youtube recording since I currently refuse to link to myspace (they won’t let you hear anything unless you log in)
Kettle Making by Lorna Scobie. Lots of green workshops for the kids (and adults) to attend.
Canadian rockers Zeus took to the Wood Stage during the mid afternoon lull, which meant that a large part of their audience consisted of excitable children wielding hand made fake fur snakes at the foot of the stage. I’m not really sure what they thought of it all (the band, or the kids).
Treetop Flyers were a great evening time discovery: more tight boy harmonies in a bluesy country stylee. They won the 2011 Glastonbury Emerging Talent so expect to see a lot more of these boys. Super.
Last up we caught folkstrel Eliza Carthy, who was predictably quite fantastic live – switching between fiddle, guitar and voice with perfect ease and chattering away about her dad’s 70th birthday celebrations. Eliza’s new album Neptune came out in May and it’s a rollicking narrative ride through her life.
I was very sad to miss Robin and Joe Bennet’s band Dreaming Spires, who closed the festival as we sped back to London. By all accounts it was a perfect way to round off what was one of the most relaxing and enjoyable festivals I’ve been to in some time. After all, there aren’t many festivals where the people who run it get up on stage to remind everyone to put on suncream. Wood Festival was invented for and is undoubtedly best suited to families, but I for one hope to return, with or without children.
The Weather Camera is Kjen Wilkens response to her search for a human presence within this deluge of electronic readings. Instead of taking a photograph to a record a special moment, the user of The Weather Camera can record the atmospheric conditions, weaving these into autobiographical memory. In time encouraging new methods of narration, titled by the designer as “Sensor Poetics.”
Described as “object of empowerment”, Becky Pilditch‘s prothestics showcase how functional pieces of designs can be both a thing of beauty and an extension of the wearer’s personality. Becky worked and developed the project with Holly Franklin .
Hand 8 the final part of the project, played with ideas of gesture and personality by creating numerous arms that related to Holly’s actions as she spoke or moved around a space. A fantastic aspect of the website is the blog, which can be used by other prosthetic limb users to feed back directly to the project.
In the Animation section of the exhibition Lauri Warsta’s Traumdeutung awaited. A wonderful animation baring the hallmarks (whatever that may mean…) of a “documentary,” the calming, not too dissimilar to the 1940′s DONT PANIC! voiceover narrated the data currently available on the subject matter: The Global Reserves of Dreams. The beauty in this short is it bared the possibility that it was itself entirely a dream.
The subtle block coloring of the animation maintained a ‘warmth’ more similar to hand drawn animation, that can sometimes be lost in 3D animation. An outcome of the animator’s experiments in combining ” two extremes (3D and Handmade) clash and merge. For example; bringing the uncontrollable movement of real hand-held footage to an otherwise sterile computer animation”
Adnan Lalani‘s experiment with augmented reality catches the attention, through being something the viewer can interact with. The action of turning the Pop Up Book’s pages is suplimented by additional narration appearing on the screen placed directly behind the book and inline with the viewers eye.
Below is a video documenting the Pop Up Book’s Prototype. Earlier this week Adnan kindly took a few moments to explain the idea behind combining the narrative structure of a Pop Up Book with Augmented reality: “The pop-up book felt like a natural compliment to augmented reality. I was hoping to see how AR could be used in a more tactile, playful context… i.e. take something we already know and play with, and allow it to be enhanced with animation and digital interactivity.”
Eventually Adnan hopes that as we grow more comfortable with the idea of Augmented Reality, ideas like the Pop Up book ” can allow a progression from the magical, novelty nature of AR, into more of a direct tool by which to communicate narratives and story telling”
The eye catching work of Design Interaction Graduate Louise O’Conner; used experimental dance to convey the movement of the smallest particles, for example: Atoms, in an attempt to connect us to movements that are beyond our physical awareness. Visit the exhibition to watch the film!
A particular lovely idea was the mapping out of the distances of the solar system along Kingsland High Street leading up to Stamford Hill. Eight Shopkeepers were asked if their shop would host one of the planets…
Photography by Mark Henderson
You can find the map and information about the project here:
Katrin Baumgarten’s Aesthetics of Disgust explores humans’ relationship and our reactions; both emotional and physical to the things or materials which disgust us. Using inanimate objects all too often taken for granted, (i.e. Light Switches) Kartin added disturbing features such as goo or hair that moved as the light switch is pressed. By ‘touching’ us back, the presence of these inanimate objects is brought back to the forefront of our attention.
In the installation at the Royal College of Art a screen documents the level of the reaction of each user.
Another subject explored by Katrina is Intimate touch or sexual disgust and how these feelings can be created “merely by inappropriate behaviours in society, such as touching another person in an intimate or sexual way in public, even though that might comfort the two persons involved and is a part of our human nature.” The outcome of which is the Intimate Touch Object, an item which enables you to touch another person secretly…
FINALLY on my second trip (yes second, it’s that big and really worth the time) I came across the brilliant work of Sivaprakash Shanmugam’s Expressive Scribble. Children draw onto the projector screen (this could be the kitchen floor, wall etc…) and an bring their drawings to life by clicking the ‘movie’ button. The idea being to “enrich their visual vocabulary,” sense of narrative and most importantly encourage children’s creativity.
Part two of the RCA show continues until 4th July 2010. It’s open from 11-8 daily at the Royal College of Art, Kensington Gore, London SW7 2EU. Admission is free.
Images Courtesy of the Students and addition photographs by Sally Mumby-Croft
A particularly creative course of action was required from all the percussionists who visited the Tripod Stage and, in between rattling and banging a wide variety of objects, Kirsty’s drummer once again stole the show… dancing and gurning in accompaniment to her song about the “wrong Mr Right” in a thoroughly endearing fashion.
cheeky drummer!
One of a breed of strong female musicians who have no desire to fit the normal pliable record label mould, Kirsty was relaxed and chatty during her songs: an absolute delight. Her album Pure Blue Green comes out on Decca on 31st August, and she finished painting the album artwork just last night!
Kirsty on the Tripod Stage: I loved how creative yet peaceful the area was. The stage was so beautifully bonkers it brought our bonkersness out of us and gave us a licence to be cheeky too. Kirsty’s favourite part of Glastonbury: Definitely all the street entertainers. I loved The Dead Weather too but for us as performers the highlight was definitely the chance to entertain and share our music.
Following Kirsty we had a session from Newislands, who despite worries that they would not be able to make a big enough noise managed to wow a small but perfectly formed mid afternoon crowd with their melodic post rock.
It was only after the gig that I discovered they were missing their bassist Bogart…. we are mutual friends of the Mystery Jets and met many years ago at a small festival called Blissfields that we all went to together. Later that night Bogart called on me in my tent with Marina Pepper. I was fast asleep and woke with the fear of God in me…. it wasn’t the best way to be reintroduced but apparently he insisted on seeing me “the nicest person he knows” – I look forward to meeting Bogart again one day when I am wide awake.
Lead singer David’s best bit about playing the Tripod Stage: Well apart from the lovely stage itself, complete with the best speaker system I’ve ever seen, receiving a cup of tea from yourselves midway through the set, was pretty special. David’s Glastonbury highlight: Apart from playing two amazing gigs, (one for you and one for BBC Introducing), seeing Thom Yorke and Johnny Greenwood on stage together was ace… “For a minute there I lost myself…”
Newislands are playing at Napa Live in Cyprus and then return to the UK to play the Farm Festival. A new single, followed by their debut album, will be released soon. You can watch their other Glastonbury performance here.
We then had our first session from Climate Camp poets Danny Chivers, Claire Fauset and Merrick – all of whom deliver brilliant spoken word commentaries on the state of the world. Danny and Claire have a way of making the environmental/political mess we are in make complete and simple sense, and Merrick takes on the whole system. Why do we work? If you’ve heard Merrick speak you’ll question the sense in ever getting a job.
After a somewhat more subdued ceilidh we were then treated to the most extraordinary live set from Danny and the Champions of the World, who decided to ditch most of the electrical amplification and instead sprawl towards their audience in a great acoustic morass.
This band was made for live gigs…. myself and Dom, the banjo player in Green Kite Midnight, were so enthralled by the set that we dusted ourselves down after dinner and set off to hear them once more at the Croissant Neuf bandstand. Danny is a massively confident and skilled musician who has clearly been playing for years: talents like his ought to be better celebrated.
Danny liked playing the Tripod Stage because: the audience was really great and there was an atmosphere that seemed very ‘other’ to the mad hustle and bustle of the rest of the festival – like a haven of good vibes and togetherness, like a family or maybe like what my minds eye would conjure up when I think of festivals in the 60′s. We really just love playing and it’s always great to pass the instruments around, have fun with friends and sing a bunch of songs, and it felt like the perfect time for that – we could’ve played for hours. The lentil dal [for supper] was a treat too!
Danny’s favourite part of Glastonbury this year: I guess the best part of it was getting to play music with friends to loads of folks. We were lucky enough to play on a bunch of different types of stages so we got a pretty broad experience of it all – we played about seven times which was amazing… but my feet still ache! It’s what we live to do: drink a few ciders and pass the guitar around.
Danny and the Champions of the World on the road: Our band really lives and breathes on the road, meeting good people and having a great time playing tunes. We’re doing… Maverick, Cornbury, Lounge on the Farm, Deershed, Secret Garden Party, Port Elliot, Truck Festival, Summer Sundae and Greenbelt – and maybe a couple more that I’ve forgotten. We’ll probably start to record a new record at the end of the year.
But, it didn’t end there…. like a magic jack-in-the-box, there were more surprises in store. Out of the band popped a duo who’s music I have loved since the very moment their album plopped onto my doormat. Like a butterfly emerging (from a particularly sexy and gorgeous caterpillar) Trevor Moss and Hannah-Lou shed the rest of the musicians to perform a few gorgeous tunes of their own. I was beaming like a motherfucker by this point.
A surprise performance from Trevor Moss & Hannah-Lou.
And then… I discovered that the band line up also features the delightful brothers who run Truck Festival, a great independent music festival near Oxford. They also run the smaller and folkier Wood Festival which takes place at the gorgeous Braziers Park, a sustainable community where I have camped on many an occasion. I really hope I can hook up with them some more. A nicer and more talented bunch of folk I have seldom met.
This man runs Truck Festival.
Moving on, my next blog tackles a very busy Saturday on the Tripod Stage – read it here.
Written by Amelia Gregory on Thursday July 1st, 2010 3:55 pm
I catch up with prolific musician, writer and seaside dweller Mike Gale, Co-pilgrim frontman and now solo artist, with one album out and another on the way.
Why did you decide to release a solo album, and what have been the challenges and distractions?
I’ve always written a lot of songs, about 3 or 4 a week, but I didn’t really record them unless it was time to do a Co-pilgrim album, so a lot of songs have been lost or forgotten about through the years. I started doing a duo called Pelotons just over a year ago with my friend Tina from Finland and needed a way to record songs to share with her which is when I bought a tascam 8 track recorder. I got to grips with it and have been recording everything I write since then. I was getting frustrated with the time it takes in between Co-pilgrim albums with all the promotion and build up etc and asked Darren from the label if I could just release a couple of low-key solo albums a year as well to keep me busy. I don’t really get distracted by anything, my days are mostly spent writing and recording.
What are the inspirations behind your lyrics?
I have had it pointed out to me that I write about the ocean, birds and the weather quite a lot. I think that the influence of the ocean is the biggest for me. Wherever I’ve lived in the world, it has always been by the sea. I find the ocean endlessly mysterious and romantic.
In what way would you say your solo sound differs from that of Co-Pilgrim?
It’s probably a bit weirder than Co-pilgrim, probably due in part to my limited musicianship and production skills. It’s definitely more lo-fi sounding.
Who are your vocal idols and why?
My favourite voice of all time is that of a Brazilian singer called Elis Regina, her album with Tom Jobim is the one I always reach for to find some peace. She was incredible. I’ve never felt such an emotional connection while listening to a singer as I do with her, even though I can’t understand what she is singing.
Who else made this solo album possible and will you do it again?
I’m always grateful to the help that Battle give me. I’m lucky. Yep, this is going to be a regular occurrence now, I’ve finished the new solo album ‘Another Planet‘ and it is the hands of the label now, hopefully it will be out in a month or so. After that, the new Co-pilgrim album is out in Sep/Oct followed by another solo album….repeat until people are sick of me and then repeat some more.
Where can we see you play live in the coming months?
I have a solo show at The Great Escape in Brighton next month, then Co-pilgrim at Wood Festival a couple of days later.
Hidden away between Mornington Crescent and St Pancras railway station, in that relatively little known area of London that is Somers Town, St Pancras Old Church seems to be undergoing a bit of a reinvention. A church with a long and interesting history (and that’s before we get to the impressive churchyard, with its links to the Romantic Poets, the American Revolution and The Beatles), over the last couple of years it has begun to put on small gigs by many an up-and-coming artist.
Escaping a bitterly cold evening, I was immediately struck by how small the place is (apparently a capacity of only around 100 people), especially compared to Union Chapel, another church-cum-music venue about a mile or so to the east. With the scent of incense wafting through the door, I could see that all the seats were already taken, with any late-comers making do with standing room only at the back.
Playing a venue such as this must have been a bit of a contrast for Mary Epworth, having been at SXSW in Texas a couple of weeks before. Tonight was the first appearance on a whistle-stop UK tour, before some festival dates into the summer. Epworth has been ploughing her own particular musical furrow for a couple of years now, influenced by as much by English folk as by 1960s West Coast psychedelia. She gained recognition following an appearance at a tribute concert to Sandy Denny, and the release of her debut album, Dream Life, last year received widespread praise.
With a slightly reduced version of her trusty Jubilee Band (certainly compared to the gig I saw at the Lexington last summer), Epworth took centre stage in a sparkly black dress and with drum sticks in hand, leading the beat on a snare drum and (drummers may correct me here) a tom-tom placed either side of her. With support from Jim Hanner and Will Twynham, variously swapping bass, keyboards, drums and an upright piano and the redoubtable Citizen Helene supplying guitar and harmonies, she led us through a selection of songs largely drawn from Dream Life.
Playing with a more compact band meant that a lot of the songs felt more, not necessarily stripped down, but intimate, which certainly suited the setting (especially with the low level lighting, which added to the atmosphere). That said, Epworth’s soaring vocals, particularly on Heal This Dirty Soul, could more than fill the room. There was a mournful Two For Joy, with its simple organ chords feeling suitably “churchy” (as Epworth quipped when describing some of her set tonight), and the country tinged Sweet Boy, which sounds not unlike something that Caitlin Rose might come up with. Rather unexpected was a cover of The Four Horsemen by Greek prog-rockers Aphrodite’s Child. Don’t think anyone saw that coming!
The most well known songs, Black Doe and Long Gone, popped up towards the end (Epworth admitting that she actually wrote the latter about a dog), and there was a brief encore, accompanied solely by Twynham on keyboards, to round off the evening for a most appreciative audience.
After a bit of a break, Mary Epworth and the Jubilee Band will head off to play at the Great Escape Festival and the Wood Festival, followed by the Lounge On The Farm Festival. There don’t appear to be any new records ready for release on the immediate horizon, but I’m sure that when they do appear, they will be just as special.
This year I was soooo looking forward to camping with our baby Snarfle at Wood Festival, my favourite family friendly small music festival in the whole world.
Sadly it was not to be. The gremlin that is teething reared it’s ugly head in dramatic fashion a few days before the festival, and I couldn’t bear the thought of dealing with incessant nighttime screaming as our induction into camping as a family: not to mention how unfair it would be to everyone around us. You know that baby that keeps you up all night on a campsite? Yup, that would have been us. So we decided to cut our losses and drive up for a day of festival time on Saturday.
Wood Festival does everything with a big hearted ethos of responsibility: just check out the wonderful pricing system for parking fees at Braziers Park. Fortunately we are now three so I don’t feel so bad about our choice of transport! We had been worried about the weather but a grey start soon gave way to a sometimes blustery but often sunny day: perfect for camping as we dolefully noted a few times. Still, we’d made our decision, and arrived tent less.
This year the kids’ tent was hosted by Barefoot Books, a perfect fit for Wood Festival since they also host a cafe and community space at their main UK offices in Oxford. The friendly space featured a book stand (naturally) and plenty of areas for babies and children of all ages to hang out and play. We attended a singing session and a puppet show put on by a children’s theatre company.
There was also a book signing session, and for older kids an iFOUNDSOUND workshop with musician Dan Mayfield, where old 7 inch records were given a new lease of life as a homemade miniature record player – constructed out of cardboard, coins, a needle and goggly eyes. Yes really.
There were events going on all day in a plethora of tents and casually marked out spaces on the grass: too many to list here, and too many to attend with an irritable baby, though we did try the spoons workshop (he wasn’t feeling that, but then he wasn’t feeling much to be honest, CURSED TEETH). So instead we tanked up on delicious seasonal local organic food from Vaults & Garden and lazed about on the grass listening to music. Here’s a selection of what we heard:
Adam Barnes is the King of Sunshine and Rainbows according to his twitter bio, but was quick to apologise for the downbeat nature of most of his songs. We enjoyed his beautiful voice and tales of woe, accompanied by only the lightest of guitar strums and keys.
House of Hats hail from Brighton, with wonderful folk harmonies shared between the female lead vocalist and her male cohorts: the perfect thing for a relaxed festival setting. I love the artwork that accompanies their free download, why not check it out?
Flights of Helios wooed me with their woozy tunes; moody synth sounds topped off with yet another gorgeous male voice. I can’t wait to hear more from these Oxford based boys.
In the Tree Tent I stumbled on the delicious voice of singer songwriter Liz Lawrence, who had a rapt audience hooked on her lilting tunes.
Oxford is a hot bed of creativity, and the more I discover about the wonders of this little town the more I think, hmmmm, what a nice place to live that would be. In the meantime I’ll have to content myself with the wonders of Wood Festival: the most delightful small music festival that ever there was. Why not make it your destination next year? The quality of music is always awesome, and there’s no other place I’d rather take a small baby. We look forward to a more successful visit next year.
Written by Amelia Gregory on Thursday May 23rd, 2013 10:04 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
This year I was super excited about taking Snarfle to Wood Festival – last 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…
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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).
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.
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.
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.
In the Kindling TentPhil 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.
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.
Written by Amelia Gregory on Thursday May 22nd, 2014 5:47 pm
I woke to a parent discussing the merits of dressing up as a crocodile with her child, viagra buy and when I peeked my head out of the tent a man was relaxing across the way with a book emblazoned with the immortal phrase Do More Faster. Perhaps not at Wood, medications eh?
Wood Festival 2011. All photography by Amelia Gregory.
Wood Festival on Saturday was like those days you dream of… breezy sunshine, children running through the grass, plenty of good music. And no trouble in deciding what bands to listen to – for the very simple reason that nothing ever clashed at Wood. From the workshops to the music acts everything was timed to fit together and allow for maximum participation without boredom.
And so in the morning I was able to take my boyfriend on a mini tour of Braziers Park – a place that I have often visited with FSC camps, but which I have never really seen inside of. It’s an inspiring community founded on principles of sharing for a better world that was formed in the wake of two disastrous world wars. And it has some truly wonderful gardens, not to mention an ancient listed barn house that I am lucky enough to have called ceilidhs in.
Trevor Moss and Hannah Lou at Braziers Park.
Acupuncture is something I’ve wanted to try out for ages so for a tenner I decided that Wood would be the perfect place to experience acupuncture in the ear and in the feet. It was meant to help my sore back but I think that my lifestyle, sat in front of the computer for hours every day, is going to be hard to cure in one session. Despite my boyfriend’s disparaging opinion of alternative therapies I definitely felt a bit soozed once I had the tiny pins in my ear from Abingdon based Ana at Acuabi and I’d like to try it out again.
Acupuncture for a teddy at Acuabi.
Our first musical stop of the day was the dulcet alt country tones of Owen Tromans, joined on stage by Joe Bennett in what was to prove a bit of a common theme – one or other (or both) of the Bennett brothers taking their place on the stage with a band.
Joe Bennett on keys and vocals with Owen Tromans.
In the afternoon we went on a sound tour with Dan Mayfield of Enderby’s Room, who encouraged us to listen to all the sounds around us, not just the background music. He started to explore alternative sounds after moving from rural Lincolnshire to London, and he referred us to his well battered copy of Wild Soundscapes: Discovering the Voice of the Natural World, which I am very tempted to hunt down and read.
And then we headed into the afternoon’s entertainment. In typical multi-tasking Wood Festival style the keyboardist with Co-Pilgrim was the girl who sorted out my press pass. Police Dog Hogan offered more soothing British Bluegrass sounds under canvas.
Co-Pilgrim.
Police Dog Hogan. And children skipping.
Then it was time for Sarabeth Tucek, much championed in these very pages. She sat beside her partner (apparently a very well known music producer) head bowed, slightly nervy, apparently a bit uncomfortable with performing. But as on record it was her voice and songwriting that shone through, a wonderful mix of languid folk and bittersweet lyrics.
Uiscedwr, pronounced Ish-Ca-Door, were at pains to explain their strange name, which means water in both Welsh and Irish. Badges bearing the explanation ensured a pint sized riot as the younger members of the crowd deluged the stage. The bouncy lead singer was very engaging and a brilliant fiddler who soon got the sleepy afternoon crowd bouncing along.
Uiscedwr.
The Truck Monster proves a great distraction to everyone, including former Amelia’s Magazine music editor Cari Steel.
Cari Steel chatting with festival organiser Robin Bennett.
Khaira Arby is not exactly a sprightly young thing but in her gold medallion encrusted headdress she was certainly giving it some as she shook to the Afrobeat sounds. One of the festival highlights for many if the party mood of the Saturday night crowd was anything to go by. Impressive!
Then it was straight on over to the Tree Tent to hear Amelia’s Magazine favourite Trevor Moss and Hannah Lou, who gave us an assured set of new songs from their new album Quality First, Last & Forever! Their harmonies may be deceptively simple but the way that Hannah’s voice occasionally curls over the top of Trevor’s falsetto is really quite special.
Headliner Willy Mason then took to the stage in his jeans and braces, dusky orange shirt tucked in. Despite his laid back demeanour this was a crowd pleasing set from a very confident young man, who is clearly happy with his lot as underground folk festival pleasing favourite. You can read a great write up of Wood Festival on Green Wedge, which features a soundcloud interview with Willy Mason about offshore wind turbines in New England. Love it.
Robin Bennett playing with Willy Mason.
Back on over at Tree we finished off Saturday with The Epstein, whose keyboardist managed to freak every single member of my group out with his somewhat spooky stare. Granted this might have been because we were all lounging around on the ground in a rather sleepy way when he might have preferred us to be hopping to the beat, but no matter what, it was a lovely way to end a lovely day at Wood.
Wood Festival is billed as one of the greenest festivals in the UK, treat a fully sustainable event that takes place in the lovely sun dappled meadows of Braziers Park in Oxfordshire. It is the brainchild of the Bennett brothers, dosage who started having babies and decided that they needed a more family friendly festival than their longer running Truck Festival, now entering its 14th year.
All photography by Amelia Gregory.
We arrived as dusk was falling after a hellish drive out of London, parked in a bordering field and walked past an immaculate recycling point with signs made out of old records to enter the festival a few yards down the track. As we waited for our press passes a man with his bike picked up a free beer token with his ticket, a thanks for cycling to Wood. It’s the special touches such as this that make Wood Festival quite unique.
Once our tent was up it was time to check out Goodnight Lenin in the Tree Tent, where a protracted soundcheck was made light of with a humorous discussion about the various merits of certain crisp flavours.
Goodnight Lenin.
If you’re a fan of Mumford & Sons and ilk then the sweet harmonies of this Birmingham based band should be right up your street. A real find, catch Goodnight Lenin again soon at the Moseley Folk Festival.
Then it was a short trot over to the main Wood Stage (when I say main, I mean it wasn’t inside a tent) for Thea Gilmore, who from afar sounded a bit 80s but up close was a bit middle of the road folk for my tastes. But she’s got a great voice and she had a good line in banter, bemoaning her lack of festival cider due to pregnancy.
Thea Gilmore.
Back at the Tree Tent the last set of the night came from Telling the Bees, at which point I must confess that I have a bit of a soft spot for protest folk. Telling the Bees are best described as Levellers meets Circulus – a mix of tuneful folk, protest lyrics, unusual instruments and a certain sartorial extravagance. Bagpipes and pearls should be obligatory at all festivals.
Telling the Bees.
Before bed there was just time to hang out for a bit at the central camp fire, a lovely way to end the evening.
A few weeks ago the final showdown between 8 finalists was held at Pilton Working Men’s Club, with the ultimate winner of the 2014 Glastonbury Emerging Talent Competition announced as M+A with their super catchy tune Down the West Side, below.
When I wrote about my top picks for the Glastonbury Emerging Talent Competition I promised to also share some of the great bands and tunes that did not make it on to my short list. I was given a long list of 140 bands and musicians to listen to, from the genres of folk, country, dance, electronic, dance, indie, pop, acoustic and singer/songwriter – so obviously this selection reflects that choice. The eagle eyed amongst you may note that I was mainly given those bands with names starting in the early or late sections of the alphabet. I hope you’ll enjoy these finds as much as I did – you can hear all the tunes I like in no particular order on my soundcloud playlist, embedded directly below. I have a feeling I might be making more of these, and I am certain we’ll be hearing more from a few of these bands too.
Sunsets is a great tune from Irish singer songwriter Wendy Jack, based in County Tyrone. Over the years she has worked widely to raise awareness of human rights and environmental issues.
Beautiful folk with a harp; Low is from Brighton based Ellie Ford, who is playing at this year’s Wood Festival (listing here).
Who Made Heaven is a beautiful slice of subtle country infused folk from Charlie Law, released through the The Davenport Collection folk label late last year. Despite a foundation in tune making of yesteryear the bittersweet lyrics tell a very modern tale of cross cultural love.
Bless is a slice of Japanese ambient electronica by Akisai.
Empty My Head by Youdid is a catchy piano tune with a female vocal from German singer Judith Severloh.
SwanSong is another cool indie tune featuring soaring vocals and a curling fiddle, from the London based Amberlandband.
There’s something about this that I quite like… Blackpool based Avishek Choudhury sings of the Journey Of A Lifetime in this jaunty tune featuring a female backing singer with bleeps and sirens set against a piano and driving electrobeat.
I like the jazzy big band sound and sultry vocals from rising star Ally Kemp in The Tardis.
Freya Roy is a very young Suffolk based singer songwriter with an ear for a bouncy tune, as shown in her entry Tomorrow.
“They’re going to turn me into sushi & chips…” So goes The Whale Song by All At Sea… overly chirpy or an apt way to draw attention to a big issue?
Kids from the Sky by Young Stadium Club features jangly guitars aplenty in a soaring tune that features a veritable choir of backing vocals.
A Drastic Love by Younger Hallfeatures a grungy baseline combined with a pounding piano. They hail from St Andrews in Scotland.
I loved the soaring Ten Years by Baby Gold, a duo from Leeds, but for some inexplicable reason it’s a private link on soundcloud so you will have to trust me on that one. Their lack of an online presence is a serious down point, but I look forward to hearing more from these guys.
Similarly I can’t share Only One by Devon based Alice Jemima, featuring a lovely breathy vocal over carefully picked chords and a nice little beat.
Finally, I can’t finish without including my favourites: firstly the clever Memphis by Alev Lenz.
Sadly my first choice disbanded just as I chose them to go through (brilliant timing!), hence my renewed desire to give some promotion to all the other bands that impressed me.
Written by Amelia Gregory on Thursday April 24th, 2014 9:56 am
‘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
