Tag: Barrie Masters

Preston Venue 41 New Continental – Part 2

Within the New Continental Arts and Events space the owners purchased a new PA and created a small reception area with its own bar and it doubles as the ticket checking area before entry into the gig room which has a capacity of around 250. The driving force behind the booking of the music acts was a local chap called Rico, and they have held a broad spectrum of events including World and Jazz bands and cinema showings.  

My first visit was at an all-day event on a swelteringly hot day on the May Bank Holiday weekend in 2011. Between bands we gravitated outside into the sunshine before returning inside for more tunes. First up was Seamus McCloughlin, a local singer/songwriter who has subsequently become a member of an alternative rock band called The Capital. Next up was Preston band Dirty Swamp led by Mark Whiteside, who is also the driving force behind Evil Blizzard.

They were followed by Australian born Viv Albertine, who was a guitarist in the legendary Slits from 1977 to 1982. She dropped out for a live scene for a long time before reappearing and was promoting her sole studio album ‘The Vermillion Border’ released the following year prior to her penning two autobiographies of her life. She cut a very enigmatic presence.

Viv Albertine. Image Credit flickriver.com

The headliners were the prolific Wave Pictures from London. They have a quirky quintessential English sound complemented by David Tattersall’s wavering vocals and are a staple play on Marc Reilly’s 6 Music show. I recall them referencing the ongoing World Snooker final ongoing at that stage between John Higgins and Judd Trump.  I walked home through the park with a spring in my step after an entertaining afternoon and the realisation of the birth of thankfully another commendable venue in Preston. 

My next appearance was a bonus one as it was on the Sunday where we have just returned from Wickerman Festival 2011 and decided for some inexplicable reason to drag our tired bods out to a gig. We initially caught a Sheffield Steam Punk band in the Dog and Partridge before sallying down to the Conty.

The first act was Best Friends Forever, a wonky bedroom sounding lo-fi band but not without charm and they are coincidentally not unlike the recently mentioned Wave Pictures.

The headliners were Let’s Wrestle, a three-piece band from London. They were promoting their second album ‘Nursing Home’ which was produced by Steve Albini of Big Black fame. They subsequently took a hiatus and disbanded in 2015. They had a plethora of influences in their sound, however for the best descriptor I would have to defer to a BBC’s Collective quote which memorably coined them as ‘the accidental 4am lovechild of eight bottles of £2.99 merlot and a wheelbarrow full of Cutter’s Choice’. This is arguably the best quote I have read since early Idlewild were described as ‘the sound of a flight of stairs falling down a flight of stairs’!    

The band were an engaging presence, but we understandably flagged towards the end of the set as the weekend’s festivities caught up with us and a taxi was called to curtail the evening.

At the tail end of 2012 we went to see the old punk band Eddie and The Hot Rods whose constant member throughout their existence was Barrie Masters prior to his death in 2019. Their famous top ten hit ‘Do Anything You Wanna Do’ released in 1977 still stands up to this day, but their set was a tad limp. They were supported on the night by Dirty Swamp.

In November 2011 there was an unusual event which piqued my interest. They showed a screening of the ‘Anyone Can Play Guitar’, a Jon Spira documentary narrated by Stewart Lee about the Oxford music scene covering the period from 1978 to 2007. The film name was derived from a Radiohead track, and they were naturally a key reference point alongside Oxford counterparts Supergrass. 

Alongside the successes, it also concentrated on other bands who didn’t quite make it, one such band was the Candyskins, who were about at the inception of Britpop. They had limited success but must have driven over a black cat at some stage because they could not have encountered worse luck, including legal disputes over royalties and record companies going bankrupt at inopportune moments. I am just listening to some of their back catalogue as I type this and I am hearing strong shades of Boo Radleys in their sound, which is never a bad thing in my book!

The Candyskins. Image Credit alchetron.com

Another band referenced was one of the shoegaze forerunners Ride and their guitarist Mark Gardener was in residence and after a Q&A performed a short acoustic set. That was followed by a decent set by another Oxford band Rock of Travolta who sat in the instrumental post-rock genre. 

Wickerman Festival 14

A degree of sadness pervades as I draft this week’s blog as it details the fourteenth and last ever Wickerman Festival to be held which took place on 24/25 July 2015. There were rumours for over a year around the future of the event, eventually resulting in the confirmation later in 2015 that Wickerman would be no more leaving a huge chasm in my annual gig calendar!

On the bill were the Waterboys, who I recall I first become aware of when they played the Tube on a Friday teatime on Channel 4, also playing were Squeeze whose set I enjoyed. Glasgow post punks Catholic Action and electronic synth band Ubre Blanca, bizarrely named after Fidel Castro’s favourite cow were also in residence, alongside Errors, Belle and the Beast, Beth Fourage, Be Charlotte, Wayne Devre Set, Sister Fox, Vaselines and the grungy Tuff Love.  

The punk contingent was covered by Amphetameanies and stalwarts Eddie and the Hot Rods with their timeless Top 10 hit ‘Do Anything You Wanna Do’, their only constant member being singer Barrie Masters, prior to his death in 2019. 

Cellist Calum Ingram headlined the Acoustic Tent and the reggae/ska corner had Jimmy Cliff with his ‘Many Rivers to Cross’. There was hip-hop from Hector Bizerk and main stage performances from Lulu, Stereo MC’s, the ever-impressive Neneh Cherry and Pere Ubu who I did once own one album by, namely ‘The Tenement Year’ however the only song I can recall is ‘George Had a Hat’.  

Neneh Cherry. Image Credit djdmac.com

Folk tones were ensured by Glasgow five-piece Washington Irving, John Bramwell, frontman from I Am Kloot, Chichester’s Tom Odell, Novantae! from Galloway and Rick Redbeard which was the solo performer stage name for Rick Anthony, lead singer for the Phantom Band.   

My notes also inform me that I saw SLUG who were promoting their debut album ‘Ripe’ though I cannot recall their performance. In the last two or three years they have received a lot more attention and received considerable radio airplay from the likes of Mark Reilly.

Aiden Moffett (of Arab Strap fame) and Bill Wells were also on the roster. We also headed over to the third stage to see the excellent Pains of Being Pure at Heart, who I was watching for the fifth and final time before their subsequent break up.

Many of my favourite Scottish bands had played this festival over the years including Teenage Fanclub, The View, The Proclaimers, Idlewild, Aerogramme and The Rezillos to name a few, however the cream of the crop Mogwai had never graced the festival.

This was partially rectified by Stuart Braithwaite, Mogwai main singer appearing for a solo set on the Acoustic stage which we obviously attended. I managed to have a brief photo shoot and chat with him and who knows if there had have been a following year perhaps Mogwai might have played, we shall never know! 

John Dewhurst, Uncle George, Stuart Braithwaite and me replete with dubious festival hat in the Acoustic Tent. Image Credit Mrs Braithwaite.

So, before we depart the South West Scotland amphitheatre permit me, if I may to take you on a final tour of the site. From the initial taxi/bus drop off point you would traverse through the tents to the wristband collection point then onto the main entrance which in reality was a hole in the wall.

Opposite the entrance you could purchase a stage times list before turning left past the funfair, circus or cinema, dependant on what they chosen to incorporate that particular year. Onwards past the Acoustic Tent, behind which in later years there was a craft beer and Mojito tent.

At the apex of the hill was the shop, Third Stage and Solus and Scooter Tents, of which the latter in the early years resembled a Mash Tent where they had stellar DJ’s playing. From here, you had a superb vantage to watch the Wickerman burning at midnight on the Saturday night. I seem to recall one year they had a little mini golf course next to the statue.  

Traversing down the hill rolled you past the VIP area and main beer tent, where occasionally bash em up bands would play. In the natural bowl was the main stage followed by the Dance and Silent Disco Tent. Just in advance of fully circling back to the main entrance you would find the fabulous Reggae Tent which was always erected on an incline. This tent was a regular final stopping point of the evening where you could purchase a hot mug of tea and a flapjack whilst being dually soothed by the Bob Marley inspired soundtrack and stoned by the pungent aroma permeating all around.     

A couple of years later, when in attendance at another Scottish festival, one of the gig brethren said the festival was good, but it is not Wickerman and we all murmured in assent, I can think of no more fitting epitaph than that!