Tag: The Dangleberries

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.

See the source image

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!

See the source image
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.   

Wickerman Festivals 6 and 7

Wickerman Festival 6 took place in July 2007 with the usual suspects in attendance. The bill that year obviously contained the ever-present Dangleberries. The ska influence was well represented with Scottish band Big Hand providing a rousing energetic set and legends The Beat were in attendance led admirably by Rankin Roger and Junior Rankin.

Cider Spiders provided a New York inspired set in the vein of the Strokes and The Law were representing the fair city of Dundee. Neck was a Celtic punk band from the London suburb of Holloway and in the same ballpark were the Peatbog Fairies. John Langan from Glasgow played as a solo artist before he went onto to form the John Langan Band. Also, on the bill were Modus, The Targets and Xcerts from Aberdeen.    

The electronic element was covered with Somerset’s Eat Static and dance legends The Orb. Reggae collective Easy Star All Stars were on the bill who interestingly once recorded their interpretation of Pink Floyd’s ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ amusingly titled ‘Dub Side of the Moon’!  

Former Public Image Ltd bassist Jah Wobble and his English Roots Band also played alongside Hayseed Dixie from Nashville whose name is a linguistic tangent on AC/DC’s name and their first album was titled ‘A Hillbilly Tribute to AC/DC’ who unfortunately despite all that back story were pretty limp live. Huey Morgan and his Fun Lovin Criminals also provided an energetic set.

The Wickerman has over the years had a lot of old punk bands playing, many of them are very frayed and have seen better days, thus when a band who can still kill it on stage arrives, you take serious notice. One that met that criterion was Edinburgh’s the Rezillos who were absolutely superb with their prime single ‘Top of the Pops’ being the highlight.

I recall at this particular festival we all imbibed too much on the Friday and things became a tad hazy resulting in a tidy hangover the next day which slightly tarnished the Proclaimers headline set as they were in stellar form with ‘Cap in Hand’, ‘500 Miles’ and ‘Letter to America’ being rapturously received. The Proclaimer boys had digs at the Selkirk Arms, located 10 steps from Dewhurst Towers! 

See the source image
Wickerman Main Stage. Image Credit BBC.

The festival site was about 8 miles down a winding dark country road from the Towers located halfway between Kirkcudbright and Dalbeattie. There was shortage of local taxi firms which necessitated us having an uneasy alliance with Allens Taxis run by the larger-than-life character Mr Allen who we utilised for all the 14 Wickers we attended.  

He could at times be an obstinate chap. One time we were in a full minibus returning from the site and he received a call requesting a taxi and much to our chagrin he shamefully told the customer he was unavailable as he was in Lockerbie which was a mere 50 miles away!

Wickerman 7 saw KT Tunstall in town, there was some funk from the Cuban Brothers and the Kazoo Funk Orchestra and also Dodgy who were ‘Staying out for the summer’! Also, on the bill were Twisted Nerve, Colin Storrie, Rodan, Robin Cairns, Underground Heroes, AKA Ska, Parka, Underling and Beecake.

Annie Nightingale performed a DJ set and Lancashire Hotpots provided some light relief, and ‘Indie Disco’ was fun to hear. The Manc legends the Fall played on the main stage and rolled out my fave track ‘Mr Pharmacist’.   

Additionally, on the roster were Orphan Boy, De Salvo, Bass Syndicate, Peaking Goddess Collective and The Ads.

There was a decent set from Edinburgh’s Broken Records and some rousing punk from the old stalwarts Sham 69. The highlight of this particular weekend was the last act who played after the Wickerman burning on the Saturday night. This was namely Gary Numan who I though beforehand would be a tad one-dimensional, but he was terrific and created a real cacophony on the main stage post-midnight for all the ‘Numanoids’ in attendance!

See the source image
Gary Numan. Image Credit ukfestivalguides.com