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| Shoe Cups |
There was far too much to write about so here I have
included a few of my favourite moments and acts of the weekend.
Enjoy!
We arrived on a very hot Friday afternoon stocked up with
beers, ice and all the water we could fit in to Tommy’s van.
As we queued for our passes at the box office
I could hear
Candy Says beginning their set.
I was gutted to be missing it but the queue was long. Luckily we could
hear them loud and clear from our slow moving line.
I whistled along to Melt into the Sun as I started to melt in the sun...
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| Happy Truckers |
Once we were in we grabbed a beer. I decided to try the strawberry cider which was
initially refreshing but then left a strange aftertaste in my
mouth. It was easily fixed though by the
famous Rotary Club Donuts. I’ve missed
these guys! It was great to see more foodie choice in the form of The Food
Hall. Pizzas and smoothies, noodles and ice cream. And “SUSHI”, which was hard
to forget as it was shouted at you each time you walked past. I decided the only sensible thing to do was
to shout “Sushi” back and punch the air
in a kind of raw-fish appreciation cheer.
We (temporarily) escaped the sushi obsessives and headed to
The Saloon Bar to watch
Empty White Circles.
The Saloon Bar was incredibly authentic and immediately became my
favourite stage.
Small glass
chandeliers swung from the corrugated roof and the bar stools were made up of
blocks of wood topped off with a horse saddle seat to rest your weary butt in.
Amazing!
I’ve heard a lot of good things about Empty
White Circles and I have to agree that they are a great
band.
They totally rocked the small
stage in The Saloon and although the heat was rising that didn’t put them
off.
I feared for the Spasm band in the
evening, how would they cope in their suits and fine headwear?
Then I had to take a nap.
I’m a little gutted to admit it but it was just too hot to carry on and
the novelty cider had sought it’s revenge on my pounding brain.
I overslept but managed to race to the Virgin
and Veterans tent just in time to catch the end of
Ags Connolly.
As I listened to his sweet country songs I
felt somewhat soothed; I should have chosen to nap in here instead.
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| Huck & the Xander Band |
There was nothing much left to report on the Friday apart
from a great bit of nosh at the ‘Appealing Food’ stall run by the lovely Rotary
Club staff.
The ‘Trucker’s Meal’ of
lentil dahl, flatbread, bahjis and never-ending supply of sauces and chutneys is Truck
tradition!
Easy on the lime pickle
though, folks.
After a couple of beers
and little bit of Spiritualized we had built up enough stamina to enter The
Saloon Bar which was heaving with people enjoying
The Original Rabbit Foot Spasm Band.
There are a few new
additions to the band since I last saw them including a sax player who looks
like he was on loan from the mafia.
Everyone was gyrating to the beat and the mix of music and heat must’ve
been taking
affect as one woman was
wildly dancing wrapped up in a full fur coat. Sweaty.
The floor was vibrating, the floorboards
creaking, and I wasn’t sure if the Saloon Bar would withstand the entire set as
more people piled in through the swinging doors, but who cares if the floor
falls in when the music is this good.
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| Salvation Bill |
Hello Saturday and no hangover. All that hydration did the trick
and by 11.00am I had the energy of a young kitten chasing its tail (well, almost).
We headed to The V and V tent for
The Holy Orders who were a great start to the day and then headed towards the main stage
for iced coffee, more donuts and
The Arrows of Love.
These guys were incredibly captivating and are currently 'making waves' in
London. They were great on this stage but I imagine a more enclosed venue would
really show off the full intensity of their set.
Someone book them for Oxford please!
Next we quick-marched to the Barn Stage for
Salvation Bill.
Already a big fan of Ute
and Old Grinding Young I was excited to see Ollie’s new 5 piece band.
I didn’t expect to be so blown away as I was
by it though and their set became one of my favourite of the entire festival.
The 5 part harmonies are dramatic and the
songs are clever, witty and loud.
This
is definitely the best line-up Ollie’s had and I hope this composition is
around for the long run.
I also enjoyed
the taxidermy crow sitting on Ollie’s shoulder that appeared to head band as
Ollie and the rest of the band rocked out. Crawk!
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| The Epstein |
Next was an incredible set from
Swindlestock who got the
room dancing and proved that you
can
fit more than 8 people on the Saloon stage.
They were followed by
Huck and the Xander Band. You already know how
much I like them and it was great to see them get a spot at Truck in a venue
that seemed incredibly fitting to Huck’s songs about a young boy’s move from
Texas to NOLA.
After a mostly overcast day the
sun finally came out and the audience stood to attention and stomped their feet
(mostly) in time to songs of forbidden love in an evangelical State.
Afterwards we basked in the evening sun and
watched Co-Pilgrim in the V and V tent which fitted our mellow and chilled-out mood
perfectly.
They were shortly followed by
Thomas Truax, a true Truck veteran, and he told us tales of why dogs howl at
the moon and kidnapped butterflys with the aide of The Hornicator.
The guy in front of me seemed
a little put off by Truax’s comment “have you ever shaken hands with an unborn
child?” but then he also seemed put off when Truax sang about the time he took
his dog out for a picnic and the ants came and made mustaches on their
faces.
The rest of the audience loved it
though and by the end we were all howling at the moon with Truax and the
primitive beats of Mother Superior.
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| The Epstein |
We mingled around catching bits from each stage in
anticipation of the The Epstein who were the final act in The Saloon. You’ll notice from this blog post that The Saloon bar was
my favourite stage but that’s is also because it showcased some of the best and
local bands of the weekend. That is
mainly down to some great bookings by PinDrop who co-curated the stage on the
Saturday. The Saloon was now more packed
than the previous night and the sweat factor was high. As the band fought through the crowds to get
their kit on stage a masked couple poured each other gin martinis with a
cocktail shaker and olives for garnish. Very impressive and a sign of the madness to come. The Epstein have already had a great year
with a number of tours in the Netherlands and recently signing with Zawinul Records. The
crowd was with them for the entire set singing along to such favourites as
Calling Out Your Name and I Held You
Once; the atmosphere was euphoric. They
played songs from their new album ‘Murmrations’ and it was an incredibly tight
set. Not only that but you could see how
much the band enjoyed playing together.
At the end Olly unplugged to sing Leave Your Light On and the audience
gave him their full attention, eager to sing along with him and share this
moment in what had been an incredible performance. I caught the end on camera and have posted it here. So that was it.
We drank the bar dry of whisky and doesy-doed our partners until we spun
out into the night. Another great Truck
Festival bites the dust.
22 April 2015
All Tamara’s Parties had its 19th and final show
of the year last week in The Shed, Charlbury. Yes it is literally a shed; a
rather long one with toilets and a stage. A posh shed if you will. The music was seriously top notch,
but then what else would you expect from my nights? Roxanne de Bastion hot footed
it from London on the train to open up the evening for us. This was incredibly
good of her as she has just returned from a busy European tour and it was non-stop
raining all the way. Despite a guitar
string snapping mid-set, she lulled us with her beautiful voice and songs and an amazing cover of 'Hey Ya' which we happily sang along to.
The Shed looked absolutely bloody beautiful and this was all
thanks to Andy Pickard who runs this magical but versatile
space. He also delighted us with some
songs of his own in the form of upbeat and surreptitiously addictive guitar duo:
Billypure. By this time the booze was
flowing and our cheeks were nice and rosy, there was a faint scent of pine in
the air…wait a minute, it’s still only November?! But there was no denying it, the night had a
wonderful Christmassy feel to it, minus Santa’s creepy knee.
The Black Feathers closed the evening and I really was
speechless. The last time I saw these
guys play was a year ago when we both performed at The Ashmolean Live Friday
event. They are so so so excellent it
hurts. If you get the chance to see them then please go and take your friends,
your wife, your mum, dog, cat and anyone you pass on the street who looks like
they need something good to happen to them.
#amazeballs
The beginning of 2014 has been a
funny sort of fish. An interesting mix of gigs, recordings, putting together a
new band and the C word no less. 
And the C word? Well,
what more do you expect from an incredibly pleasant night of poetry and music
at the Albion Beatnik on International Women’s day? Not the C word said once,
but repetitively, over and over again like a sad old pet being called in for
its dinner. After I’d finished my set, a
woman from the audience invited herself on the stage to instruct us all that it
was imperative for us to reclaim this word.
It was an interesting point, and one the audience didn't seem entirely
adverse too (although some looked horrified as they tried to crawl under the
wallpaper), until the woman then emphatically announced her hatred for the word
vagina, accusing it of being a dirty word that we should cease to use from this
moment on. And, just when I thought I
was going to be enlightened by an intelligent and crafty poem, the
disappointment smacked me in the face like a dog being shown
a card trick…
Our 16th show is going to be incredibly special and this month we are hosting it in one of the oldest surviving buildings in Oxford: St Michael at the Northgate. Join us at 8.00pm for the following round up of great music:
My debut album, Girl Jokes about Boy Parts, has received its second review from the lovely folks at Music in Oxford. If you haven't yet got a copy then you can download it from my bandcamp site. There are also a few limited edition hard copies left which include some a lyric book which you can pre-order from the same site.
Girl Jokes about Boy Parts is released TODAY and not only that but this is also my 100th blog post. What a celebration! Tonight Tom and I will be playing a few songs at our label's Christmas party at the Wheatsheaf. Performing will be some great bands from Big Red Sky Records including Samuel Zasada, a personal favourite.
I did an interview for Nightshift Magazine and you can read it here on page 3. We had a lot of fun at the photo shoot as you can tell. Our album is due out in just over a week and we are mega excited. More news to come soon!
Since its release on the 26th June, the first single from our album has received a couple of great reviews. Thanks to Nightshift and Olly Arditi for their words. For the full articles go here for Nightshift and here for Olly Arditi. 
