Another day, another festival. Or, at least, that’s how it seems in Scotland these days. Once the cheeky young upstart of the scene, The Wickerman is swiftly becoming one of the most exciting fixtures of the year. central to this is Skiddle’s Solus tent. No bitching, no back-biting and no beauty contest entry; just some of the best up and coming bands in the country today.
Opening we have Miss The Occupier who, typically, approach the slightly interested crowd wandering into a marquee at lunch time as if they’re playing Wembley and have every right to do so. And, who’s to say the don’t. Their confidence in performance is not based in some posturing and swagger but the assured knowledge that they have a pack of rocking power-pop tunes. (And, if you don’t have the confidence in your material what are you doing on stage?) I rather patronisingly said of this lot a few months back that they were a thoroughly entertaining live proposal, but with time they will be great. On this performance, they’re well on the right road. But, hey, don’t ask me. Just look at the milling crowd that never decided to mill away from this great opening set.
Falkirk’s Y’all Is Fantasy Island have very unfairly been regularly compared to a particular bunch of second rate Pixie-wannabes, IMO. While I can see the easy (lazy) very slight vocal comparison to draw, there seems to be so much more going on. Who knows, this could be an off gig. Doesn’t seem so to me. There’s a definite folksy backend to what they do (that I would love to tie into their fiercely proud Falkirk roots, but try as I might…); kinda like you always expected the folk at Fence to be like, but they never are, or an unpretentious My Latest Novel. What really blows me away is how they manage to be so intimate, so sitting-round-the-fire, but still so loud. There’s a tension to what they do that is frankly mesmerising. Kinda like the a psycho that can hold a level conversation and your gaze, because you know when they raise their voice, they’ll mean it. There’s a tension here that you just cannot ignore. you can feel yourself being suckered in by the dark side. Only in a completely fantastic way.
Did I mention they are fae Falkirk? They also have the best guitar of the festival.
Just your bog-standard rock band. This is what I’m told to expect from The Phantom Band. Well, either they really need to take control at their recording sessions or someone bought the a vanload of krautrock albums for their christmas. So, let’s get the comparison out of the way: The spirit of Julian Cope is invoked for me at several points through their set. This is a very, very good thing. But, recognisably their own band. Everything locked into a seriously driving (dare I say motorik?) groove. More percussion instruments than I suspect there are names for. And, the greatest doop-doops since…erm…Doop! Intense and hypnotic. The soundtrack to the greatest road movie you’ve never seen. Such is the joy of the Wickerman, I have a new favourite band.
Once again, I find myself musing on the time my mother told me if you couldn’t say anything nice about someone, don’t say anything at all. And, I’ve racked my brain for a proper ‘objective’ take on Little Doses. But, let’s be honest, when you spend the entire set merely musing on the singers shoes, it’s a lost cause.
I thought we fought a war to rid ourselves of this type of pedestrian rock nonsense. C’mon, no matter how much money was thrown at El Presidente, we just chucked back bottles of piss.
So: Nice shoes, then.
The name of this band is Frightened Rabbit. They have a song called Be Less Rude. What more do you need? OK, they are great. Another tense experience. Straining at the lead. It’s a difficult thing to pull off. Of course, they do. You cannot help but suspect that at any minute they’re about to smash their instruments and start using them as weapons. Against us. I’ve got some gabled notes about this set. They namecheck tons of cool stuff. None of which seems relevant in the cold light of day. Just put them on your list. You won’t regret it.
Best lyrics round these parts? Possible.
One of the highlights of last year was finally getting to catch Popup. They were, to say the least, damn fine. Tonight they are showing how, over the last year, if the Phantoms got a pile of records they got a sackful of rock ‘n’ roll attitude. Business usual, but oh so much more.
All the old favourites hare delivered with a serious edge. Strangely best exemplified by a cover. They do Dougie Maclean’s execrable Caledonia and manage to replace al it’s yuppie piousness with the near venom it deserves. This renders it akin to the it’s shite being Scottish speech from Trainspotting. Blinding. They then throw a dig at “some reviewer” (ahem) suggesting that Hey Lucy was a bit derivative by absorbing the source material and giving us a much darker take on it. They used to just be worth seeking out, now they could be essential.
I’m sure there are done things with this lot. First of all mentioning that they don’t really do what’s said on the tin. It doesn’t matter. There’s probably mention of The Flaming Lips for those with cloth ears. So, I’ll get that out the way. Their stage show (at least tonight) may be reminiscent, that’s it.
In an explosion of balloons The Kazoo Funk Orchestra take to the stage. At this point, they are up against notorious festival stealers FLC. They not only take a decent stab at it, but win IMO. It’s music as Playschool: bright, day-glo©, and totally irresistible. They are a grab-bag of everything with the added bonus that he crowd feel like honourary members for the set. They even do a song based on the losers that write to the Metro (or headlines or lonely hearts) and make a point of using the most recent edition. Brilliantly. I don’t know if they’ll ever change my life, but I expect to be making Festival detours to catch them for years to come. Definite the exquisite party band ending such a great day of music needs.
(day 2 review)
more Wickerman 2007 photos on Flickr