Month: October 2021

Wickerman Festivals 8 and 9

Wickerman 8 was held in 2009 and had a decent bill. The indefatigable Billy Bragg was in residence and was at that point going through his Woody Guthrie phase. There was some folk rock provided by Meersault from Edinburgh and Celtic folk from the Solus Tent headliners Pearl and the Puppets.

The Dickies belted out ‘Banana Splits’ for the umpteenth time, already thirty years old at that stage. Holding the punk flag were the perennial UK Subs, the Sharks and Penetration, Johnny Robb was in town with Goldblade and there were covers from the Counterfeit Clash.

Also playing were Root System, Mr Kil, Drums of Death, Luva, Anna, The Box, Marc Wilson, Kid British and there was glam rock and tartan attire from Glasgow’s Velcro Quartet. There were very retro performances from Candi Staton and Dreadzone. 

Idlewild, as ever, blasted out a solid set and I was impressed by Edinburgh’s We Were Promised Jetpacks as they were a refreshingly noisy bunch in the vein of Twilight Sad.  The Zutons covered the scouse angle and Magic Numbers are always soothing with their close harmonies and Californian vibe.  The headliners after the burning were the Human League who were very good value.  

The band of the weekend was an utterly joyous set in the scooter tent from Bad Manners. I think Buster Bloodvessel is the only remaining original and he is quite frankly nothing short of certifiable! He is now surrounded by younger band mates and the saxophonist was a revelation and the closing ‘Can-Can’ was riotous.

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The inimitable Buster Bloodvessel. Image Credit brightonsource.co.uk.

On the Saturday we always liked to have a communal bet on the horse racing prior to heading off to the festival. There was at one point in time a bookmaker in Kirkcudbright but now no more. In later years we also had enjoyable afternoons in Castle Douglas and Dalbeattie.

The absolute nadir was one year when it seemed we couldn’t even find the winner in a one-horse race and stacked our hopes on a horse called Tony Tie in the last. It didn’t even depart the stalls as it decided to eject its jockey! On the converse side one year we got the first three winners up in a Lucky 15, a fourth winner would have won us thousands, but the three timer was sufficient to cover the entire festival ticket costs for our five strong crew!

Wickerman 9 in 2010 had its share of slightly wonky legends as Tony Christie, Ed Ten Pole Tudor, The Saw Doctors, The Buzzcocks and The Undertones were in residence. Ocean Colour Scene ploughed their usual furrow; however Go Team provided their usual joyous jaunty set. Also on the bill were the nattily titled Earl Grey and the Loose Leaves, Mitchell Musuem, Midnight Lion, Fenech Soler, Lee Mottram, The Banana Sessions, The String Contingent, The Sex Pistols Experience, GoGoBot and Dr Huxtable.

There was a terrific set of post rock from Glasgow’s There Will Be Fireworks and Teenage Fanclub provided a soothing set with much of the material off their recent ‘Shadows’ release. Completing the Glasgow angle were the rock band Sons and Daughters. Tim Burgess and the Charlatans were in town alongside Sunderland’s Futureheads and 808 State played the main stage after the burning.

At one point we were ensconced in the Acoustic Tent, and I turned around and saw Alex Kapranos of Franz Ferdinand fame standing directly behind me. He later hit the stage to perform some acoustic FF tracks and he went down a storm with the audience.

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Alex Kapranos. Image Credit Zimbio.

Preston Venues 28 and 29 – Strettles/Bitter Suite

Down an alley on the left-hand side of the entrance to the Mad Ferret pub on Fylde Road lies the Strettles Bar. That was the original name when the bar first came into existence around the turn of the century.

I think it was linked to the Strettles Property Letting company which was located in Lancaster Road in the old Coconut Grove pub building. The Coconut Grove was a short-lived surreal attempt at a beach bar that endeavoured to resemble Club Tropicana, somewhat unsurprisingly it was massively under populated and subsequently closed. Opposite in the early 90’s was the Spindlemakers Arms which I recall had a commendable three pool tables located within.        

Strettles changed to a new moniker of Bitter Suite in February 2006 and was run by the former landladies of the New Britannia pub on Heatley Street. It quickly became a haven for real ale drinkers with a plethora of handpumps available. It was formally recognised by CAMRA and was twice a winner of the prestigious George Lee Memorial Trophy award. On 31/01/14 it became the Ale Emporium and was run by the previous landlords of the Sun Hotel on Friargate. It then became Speakeasy but unfortunately, the latest update I can find displays this venue now as permanently closed.

Strettles in its final incarnation as the Speakeasy. Image Credit blogpreston.co.uk

Throughout this twenty-year period the bar remained unchanged and always resembled to me a slightly spruced up social club. You could always obtain some fine ale in the downstairs area which stretched round to a decent pool table at the back of the bar, I also watched a couple of football matches in there. It was a regular venue for a break between bands when attending the adjoining Ferret.

My first musical outing there was in Strettles Upstairs Bar which was more of a function room that could be hired out for private events. In July 2002 I saw two local bands called Head2Wall and Freak Jesus.

In the Strettles Downstairs Bar I attended six gigs in total. The stage was immediately to the right as you entered the venue. It was mainly a blues-based venue and my first foray there was to see a band called Silvertones on 25/09/10.  

In Feb 2013 and July 2014, I saw the Band with No Name there. On the second visit, I witnessed our neighbours Jean and Bill Hunt jigging away at the front and discovered that their attendance was for a very justifiable reason as their son was in the band. They were an older couple who lived a couple of houses away at our last Preston house in the Withytrees area of the city and they were very accommodating when we moved by storing boxes for us. Bill was a real character and had a laudable musical heritage as he had been a member of many folk bands over the years.

The Band With No Name
Band with No Name on stage at Bitter Suite. Image Credit blogpreston.co.uk

Around the time was also saw Route 66, a five piece covers band from Barrow in Cumbria and Ramshackle, a four-piece blues band. I additionally saw a combo called Frayed at the Edges there.

My final gig I am covering from 2013 was a special one as it was to celebrate local musician and friend Jez Catlow’s 50th birthday. It was very well attended and what Jez had decided to undertake was sets by all three bands he had been part of. The first was Last Orders which I don’t think had played together for an age.

The other two were more instantly recognisable as Pike and Deadwood Dog. Jez played for about 2.5 hours that night but took a well-deserved rest as Dan Donnelly topped off the night.