Tag: John Robb

Wickerman Festivals 10 and 11

In 2011, I was astonished to realise that we had reached the 10th anniversary edition of the Wickerman Festival, because there was initial doubt if it would survive past the first event.

There were the usual old timers on that year’s bill including Echo and the Bunnymen, The Damned, Pigeon Detectives, James, King Kurt, and the Coral. There were two enjoyable ska punk bands, Bombskare form Edinburgh and Spunge from Tewkesbury, and we witnessed Department S playing their famous number ‘Is Vic There?’ track released way back in 1980.

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Department S ‘Is Vic There?’ album cover. Image Credit Discogs.

Also in residence were The Hoosiers, The Moonzie Allstars, The Sundancer, Loose Kites, Rock System, The Hostiles, Katy Carr, Modhan, Discopolis and Homework. There was some ear shattering metal from Glasgow’s Desalvo, dreamy indie from French Wives and 60’s infused sounds from the Noisettes.   

Also playing were Endor Gun, Twin Atlantic, Bioorchestra, The Frues, The Capitols and Jack Townes. The highlight that particular year was a very fine engaging set from Feeder.

I recall there was an article in the local paper, the Dumfries and Galloway Gazette at the time asking for ever present attendees over the last decade, we didn’t put our names forward but the four of us must have been part of a very select crew in that particular club.

Other members of that exclusive crew were a trio of lads who we spotted over the years in various tents and in the Kirkcudbright pubs and we begin chatting with them and gleaned that they travelled up from Mansfield and stayed at Olive’s B&B in the town. They usually travelled without tickets and purchased some on arrival however that particular year the festival for the one time only was surprisingly sold out, thus they lost their ever-present attendance.

One of the newer members of our crew approached them and mentioned Mansfield only for us to discover a huge misconception that we had been wrong all these years and they actually derived from Pontefract! However, despite that geographical anomaly they shall always be known to us as the Mansfield boys!

Wickerman 11 had Skerryvore, Bis, Cast, Levellers, The Cats, The Razorbills, Moon Hey, Parrot, Fat Goth and Anderson McGinty Webster Ward and Fisher on the bill. The daddies of Wickerman, Castle Douglas’s pipe band the Dangleberries made an appearance after 5 years away with Dougie and Wee Dougie still in their extensive line up.

The Sharks, a rock band formed by ex-Free bassist in 1972 were playing alongside the punk contingent of Peter and the Test Tube Babies, The Blockheads and Johnny Robb’s Goldblade. The most woeful act was Newton Faulkner with his faux intimacy even employing a dubious prop of a drink’s cabinet on stage. We muttered ‘ye gods’ before shaking our heads and tromping off in disgust up the Wickerman hill, though there were lots of people singing every word, so what do we know!

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Newton Faulkner! Image Credit viagogo.co.uk

Also, in residence were The Lafontaines, United Fruit, Xavia, Kassidy, Andi Neate, The Darcy Da Silva Band, Duncan Maitland, Chris Bradley, Pronghorn, Janice Graham Band, Aaron Wright, The Mirror Trap, Martin John Henry, Chris Devotion & The Expectations, and the always entertaining Bad Manners.

As ever, there was a strong contingent of Scottish bands represented including Texas, Brown Bear and the Bandits from Ayrshire, the brilliantly titled Fridge Magnets from Aberdeen, and the ever-irrepressible View from Dundee. The post burning finale set was provided by the glitzy Scissor Sisters.   

Preston Venue 27 – The Wheatsheaf

Preston Docks was a thriving metropolis back in the 1960’s and at that point boded well for the future of the town but its luminous period gradually faded and the whole area was regenerated in the 1980’s.

One of the famous spots that appeared in the area around that time was the Manxman, which was original a ferry between Isle of Man and Liverpool before became a floating nightclub which I frequented only the once on a Tuesday night in 1988 at Dave Keane’s 21st. It was also the venue where my pal Tony Dewhurst met his future wife Pam.

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The Manxman making its grand entrance into Preston Dock. Image Credit Flickr and Mrs J Fielding.

It was then towed to Liverpool where it remained as a nightclub in the Trafalgar Dock area before subsequently landing in Sunderland where it was dismantled in 2012. Two lesser-known facts I discovered are that it was used a location for the Barbara Streisand film Yentl and a pre-married Richard and Judy recorded a Granada series called Scramble there.  

I also spent 7 happy years working at Albert Edward House in that area in the 90’s. The building used to have a canteen where for the first time since school I re-encountered the culinary delights of Manchester Tart. They also used to have a pool room where I arranged a couple of large tournaments between work colleagues, I also now and then did a little bit of work!

When we used to venture out at lunch, we walked through a suite of industrial units prior to accessing Strand Road. The end unit was Oyston Mill which for a period in the 80’s/90’s was a band rehearsal space.

My good friend Paul Catterall was in a band at the time and used to frequent the there and a local metal band called Xentrix often occupied the adjacent rehearsal space. The band achieved some short-lived airplay with a Ghostbusters cover.  

The landmark breakthrough Dinosaur Jr track ‘Freak Scene’ was recorded in 1988 and within the wonky video there is a yellow Fisherman statue. I recall this video being played mercilessly at the time by Snub TV, a BBC2 teatime programme devised by Janet Street Porter. The video was recorded in a garden in a West Didsbury house which was rented by John Robb.

However, I have seen incontrovertible video evidence provided by Paul that this statue used to reside in Oyston Mill, though it remains unclear whether this was before or after the recording of the video. 

In those days there was a thriving work social scene, and many Friday lunchtimes were spent in local hostelries, one of the regular boozers was the Ribble Pilot sitting right on the dock side. As you progressed round onto Watery Lane you passed the Ship Inn which I believe used to occasionally have bands playing in their large function room. My one memory of that pub is watching Steve Davis beating Joe Johnson in the World Snooker final in 1987. Behind the Ship was located the West Orange recording studio where reputedly Cornershop recorded some material.  

Further down, you pass the longstanding Curry House King Karai which I frequented regularly in the 1990’s before you then reach Umberto’s chippy which never seemed to be closed. Also, in close proximity was Jing Jing, in my view the best Chinese takeaway in the city.   

Up Tulketh Road lies a little homely pub called the Wellington, a couple of mates have an advantage on me there as they saw local band Deadwood Dog play there.

At the bottom of Tulketh Road are two adjacent pubs. On one side is the Grand Junction, not a regular haunt but I recall a group of us scrambling out from work at lunchtime in 1992 to watch the last few overs of England losing the Cricket World Cup final to Pakistan.

Much preferred is the other boozer The Wheatsheaf. It has also been under the moniker of Last Orders and for a spell a Mighty Muldoons. I have always been fond of this pub as it has a variable clientele of ages ranging from 18 to 80.

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Preston Wheatsheaf public house. Image Credit unspecified.

It was a regular venue for watching football including England in World Cup matches beating Columbia in 1998 and Argentina in 2002 and several PNE matches. I recall also watching an England v Scotland where it was so heavily populated, I had to go out the front door and return in via the back door to reach the loos.

The pub periodically had bands on there and my one occurrence was to see a rather noisy local covers band called Contraband.