Saturday
Saturday was a scorcher, both in terms of
the weather and the day’s line-up.
photo credit: RadioNowhere.org
photo credit: RadioNowhere.org
We were excited to start our Saturday with
an interview with The Manhattan Love Suicides, one of our most anticipated
moments of this year’s festival, we first met Darren and Caroline as part of
The Blanche Hudson Weekend at Indietracks in 2010 after TMLS split in 2009 and
loved them to bits and are delighted that they have reformed TMLS with the
original line-up. To us, their
noisy, fuzzy, feedback-drenched brilliance is a wonderful, soul-cleansing
counterpoint to the steady diet of sunny, twee pop provided throughout the
weekend. They’ll probably kill us
for saying this, but don’t be fooled by the 24/7 sunglasses and black outfits…
whilst they are über-cool (of course),
they are also the loveliest, friendliest people you could ever wish to
meet. Bumping into Darren,
Caroline and Adam at various points on Saturday and Sunday (Rachel sadly had to
head home early) were highlights of our weekend, always having a quick chat
about who to see next. Why they
were playing the Church Stage was a mystery, and we only got to see some of
their set as it was a bit of struggle to get in – never mind, we hope to catch
them in Leeds or somewhere soon!
photo credit: RadioNowhere.org
photo credit: RadioNowhere.org
Later was an interview with one of
Christopher Laird’s favourites, Linda Guilala. The band has grown since their last Indietracks appearance
in 2010, with the addition of guitarist Bruno to the original line-up of Ivan
and Eva. The lovely Jonas helped
with the translation (que pena por nosotros para no aprender Español), and it was lovely to catch up with them all again. A bit later on, on the Outdoor Stage,
the band played songs from their latest 10” mini-album, Xeristar, which showcase
a much fuller, spacier sound than their previous releases. The set was all too short after a bit
of a delayed start, but well worth the wait.
photo credit: RadioNowhere.org
Whilst at Indietracks,
we are kindly provided by the organisers with a quiet, disused shop building to
record our interviews. Our
presence in the old shop piqued the interest of Roy, one of the Midland Railway
volunteers who makes and runs miniature trains at the site (including the one
above).
photo credit: RadioNowhere.org
Roy popped over to see
us and find out what we were up to, and we had a lovely chat with him about the
festival and the museum site. A
train driver for over 40 years, Roy (pictured centre) told us he loves building the trains
and seeing people’s enthusiasm when they visit the museum, and it was very sad
to hear of thefts from the site and the arson attack on the miniature railway
that happened on his 82nd birthday.
photo credit: RadioNowhere.org
photo credit: RadioNowhere.org
Up next we caught up with Owen and Alanna
from Joanna Gruesome, the interview being slightly delayed following some first
aid treatment for Alanna after she sat on a wasp. Their set on the Indoor Stage later in the day was blinding
– the music channels early 90s guitar bands, coupled with a genuine
punk-political attitude that brings to the stage such power and presence that
you just can’t take your eyes off them.
Clearly untroubled about over-stimulating the delicate heart and sensitive soul of the average Indietracker,
Joanna Gruesome were joined onstage by the man himself, former Galaxie 500
frontman Dean Wareham, for their cover of Tugboat. Just before he came on stage, a woman standing in front of
us in the crowd saw him standing backstage and, despite the fact that she knew
he was headlining the same stage later in the evening, the look on her face was
one of complete and utter amazement and joy. When he came on stage, it might be said that Alanna had that
same look, she was clearly in awe and massively grateful, getting a selfie with
him after the set.
photo credit: RadioNowhere.org
Another highlight of the day was the chance
to meet some of the owls and parrots rescued by the folks at Woodie’s Wings,
two families who between them look after over 100 rescued birds, many of which
were poorly cared for by people who kept them as pets. The bird handlers were full of
knowledge about the birds and were happy to guide children to gently pet the
birds, whilst also explaining their power – the European Eagle Owl (in the
background of the photo below) could kill a small deer with its claws…
eek.
photo credit: RadioNowhere.org
photo credit: RadioNowhere.org
25+ years after the height of Galaxie 500,
we were honoured to be joined by Dean Wareham for an interview, with him running
over to meet Christopher spot on time at 6.00pm as arranged… no diva behaviour
here. Even when organizing the
interview, Dean replied directly – imagine the excitement at RN HQ when an
email from Dean Wareham arrived in the inbox!! A highly intelligent bundle of nervous energy, Dean
whizzed through the interview with some really interesting and insightful
answers about his various musical projects over the years – and he also
corrected some Wikipedia untruths for us! When we got to see him headline the Indoor Stage later
in the evening, with wife Britta Phillips and band, it was a truly breathtaking
experience. Heavily loaded with material from his outstanding new solo effort as well as a few Galaxie
500 songs for good measure, the set was an indie-rock masterclass, showing exactly why he is so
influential and revered by a huge number of artists.
Jessica 6 x
All of the artists
interviewed by RadioNowhere over the weekend will be featured in an Indietracks
special and some of those artists will also be serving time in The Vinyl
Dungeon very soon… visit radionowhere.org for more information or follow us on Facebook
and Twitter.
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