Wickerman. Wickerman, Wickerman, Wickerman.
What a fucking weekend.
I got there on the day that we were playing (friday), so I missed the rager at the campsite that had everyone hung over at the 10am soundcheck. Matt: 1, rest of band: 0.
Soundchecked, left the tent for food, and juice (no alcohol before shows, children. Well, Girls 'n' Toys will be a different matter...).
Saw some reggae band called "Eek! A Mouse" who were pretty damn good. Not really into my reggae, but the band was made up of session musicians, so it was pretty impressive. Eventually got back to the World tent, where we were playing and watched and listened to a singer make love to the audience's ears with his voice and acoustic guitar (beautiful, beautiful music). So we were on next.
Apparently people were talking about us. We were playing to a packed tent (1500 people. That's 3000 ears! Well, give or take one or two...) and we rocked ass. Everyone had one helluva great time. The whole set was stunning. "Peter Gunn" was seriously badass and heavy for such a simple jazz piece, the musical arrangement behind "Wish You Were Here" was simmply stunning, our hard rock cover of "House of the Rising Sun" went down a treat and I held my highest note for the full 16 bars, as was my intention and ambition (and got one fucker of an applause after it ended, I was really taken aback). Chris (my bassist) played lead bass on Jaco Pastorious' "The Chicken", and everyone (trumpet, sax, guitar, drums, bass) got a solo in that number. That was the best I've heard those kids play that track, and that's saying something. In our rendition of The Kinks' number "All Day and All of the Night" we decided amongst the band to give little Stuart, who is 11, a double length guitar solo. After his initial 8 bars, I moved my mic stand and music stand and let him come to the front (the stage was pretty small) and just wail like no 11 year old should be able to. The kid's a prodigy, and seeing as he didn't know about our plan and it was his first time on stage, did himself extremely proud.
The last song with vocals was Alice Cooper's "School's Out", and who better to sing it than the guy who's already blown the audience's collective socks off and was currently sporting huge hair, a skintight white vest and leather trousers? I rocked out like the frontman is supposed to, and got everyone singing along. Hehe. I'm allowed to sound bigheaded about the things know that I do well. The band finished with Wipeout by the Surfaris, which was just fantastic, and we left the audience reeling.
We came offstage on a high, and as soon as we got to our bags to leave so the next band could come on, the "Encore!" chant started. I'd like to state at this point that the band I was playing with was the Loud And Proud School of Rock, based in paisley, and that it was mostly made up of students. The other 3 members of my band tutor there, and I was drafted in to sing. Now, we're all over 18, but the oldest age that's below 18 is 12. Twelve!!! A 22 piece band made up of 8 to 12 year olds, and we got the "we want more" chant. Those kids did themselves proud.
After we had performed, it was mayhem. Well, as much mayhem as there can be when there's a spliff going round literally every 10 feet. I smoked more this weekend than I ever have in my life (which to be honest, was not difficult.). Hey, "when in Rome...", eh? After we played on friday, we went back to the World tent and managed to get the sound guy to play the tracks from our CD that are finished to see what they sounded like through a big sound system. We half filled the tent again (seriously, this festival loved us, hehe) and went to see Samba Ya Bamba, which is always a blast.
Saturday was great, no-one had told me that the fucking Animals were playing at the festival, and thank god they hadn't, or I would have been too scared to cover "House of the Rising Sun" Haha. Actually, I'd proabably have enjoyed it even more. Yeah, the Animals rocked, and listening to them play live whilst stoned was one of the best experiences of my life.
Some awesome Glam-as-fuck, rock 'n' roll, Motley Crue and Guns 'n' Roses style band came on called Kid Ego, and they were absolutely fan-fucking tastic. Apparently they're playing Cruefest this year. Good for them. They fucking deserve it.
The burning of the Wicker Man itself was one of the highlights of the weekend, and it was magnificent. It had been standing in its field, watching over us all for the whole festival, and at midnight, it burned. The atmosphere was intense, and the roar that started when it was ignited was only matched by the roar when it collapsed. The perfect end to a quite possibly perfect festival.
Wickerman festival 2006. One of the best weekends of my life.
What a fucking weekend.
I got there on the day that we were playing (friday), so I missed the rager at the campsite that had everyone hung over at the 10am soundcheck. Matt: 1, rest of band: 0.
Soundchecked, left the tent for food, and juice (no alcohol before shows, children. Well, Girls 'n' Toys will be a different matter...).
Saw some reggae band called "Eek! A Mouse" who were pretty damn good. Not really into my reggae, but the band was made up of session musicians, so it was pretty impressive. Eventually got back to the World tent, where we were playing and watched and listened to a singer make love to the audience's ears with his voice and acoustic guitar (beautiful, beautiful music). So we were on next.
Apparently people were talking about us. We were playing to a packed tent (1500 people. That's 3000 ears! Well, give or take one or two...) and we rocked ass. Everyone had one helluva great time. The whole set was stunning. "Peter Gunn" was seriously badass and heavy for such a simple jazz piece, the musical arrangement behind "Wish You Were Here" was simmply stunning, our hard rock cover of "House of the Rising Sun" went down a treat and I held my highest note for the full 16 bars, as was my intention and ambition (and got one fucker of an applause after it ended, I was really taken aback). Chris (my bassist) played lead bass on Jaco Pastorious' "The Chicken", and everyone (trumpet, sax, guitar, drums, bass) got a solo in that number. That was the best I've heard those kids play that track, and that's saying something. In our rendition of The Kinks' number "All Day and All of the Night" we decided amongst the band to give little Stuart, who is 11, a double length guitar solo. After his initial 8 bars, I moved my mic stand and music stand and let him come to the front (the stage was pretty small) and just wail like no 11 year old should be able to. The kid's a prodigy, and seeing as he didn't know about our plan and it was his first time on stage, did himself extremely proud.
The last song with vocals was Alice Cooper's "School's Out", and who better to sing it than the guy who's already blown the audience's collective socks off and was currently sporting huge hair, a skintight white vest and leather trousers? I rocked out like the frontman is supposed to, and got everyone singing along. Hehe. I'm allowed to sound bigheaded about the things know that I do well. The band finished with Wipeout by the Surfaris, which was just fantastic, and we left the audience reeling.
We came offstage on a high, and as soon as we got to our bags to leave so the next band could come on, the "Encore!" chant started. I'd like to state at this point that the band I was playing with was the Loud And Proud School of Rock, based in paisley, and that it was mostly made up of students. The other 3 members of my band tutor there, and I was drafted in to sing. Now, we're all over 18, but the oldest age that's below 18 is 12. Twelve!!! A 22 piece band made up of 8 to 12 year olds, and we got the "we want more" chant. Those kids did themselves proud.
After we had performed, it was mayhem. Well, as much mayhem as there can be when there's a spliff going round literally every 10 feet. I smoked more this weekend than I ever have in my life (which to be honest, was not difficult.). Hey, "when in Rome...", eh? After we played on friday, we went back to the World tent and managed to get the sound guy to play the tracks from our CD that are finished to see what they sounded like through a big sound system. We half filled the tent again (seriously, this festival loved us, hehe) and went to see Samba Ya Bamba, which is always a blast.
Saturday was great, no-one had told me that the fucking Animals were playing at the festival, and thank god they hadn't, or I would have been too scared to cover "House of the Rising Sun" Haha. Actually, I'd proabably have enjoyed it even more. Yeah, the Animals rocked, and listening to them play live whilst stoned was one of the best experiences of my life.
Some awesome Glam-as-fuck, rock 'n' roll, Motley Crue and Guns 'n' Roses style band came on called Kid Ego, and they were absolutely fan-fucking tastic. Apparently they're playing Cruefest this year. Good for them. They fucking deserve it.
The burning of the Wicker Man itself was one of the highlights of the weekend, and it was magnificent. It had been standing in its field, watching over us all for the whole festival, and at midnight, it burned. The atmosphere was intense, and the roar that started when it was ignited was only matched by the roar when it collapsed. The perfect end to a quite possibly perfect festival.
Wickerman festival 2006. One of the best weekends of my life.
VIEW 8 of 8 COMMENTS
Why is it that I can see a week full of very late nights, consisting of getting drunk in the park and playing drinking games haha
I've hurt my wrist