MUSIC

The beer’s the same but the music’s far more varied than you’d expect from a weekend at St George’s that calls itself Bristol Acoustic Music Festival. Julian Owen pulls the plugs out.

The Bristol Acoustic Music Festival isn’t what it used to be. Jelli Records head and co-organiser Steve Parkhouse admits as much himself. “It was very safe in the early years,” he says now. It’s no disservice to performers past to suggest that, taken collectively across the weekend, one guitar-wielding singer replacing another, and another, could be a little... samey. “We knew everyone [‘we’ denoting fellow organiser, Tony Hutton of TinHut promotions], and there was nothing different, we didn’t experiment too much. That’s in the past.”

With the event about to enter its eighth year, things are indeed rather different. Nothing too loudly abrasive, of course (this is still an acoustic festival, after all), but rather an eloquent showcasing of just how broadly flavoured predominantly un-electric music can be. Last year, for example, Three Cane Whale wove bone saw, trumpet, harmonium, mandolin and more with astonishing intricacy into what we termed a “dolls’ house ballet”. A fortnight into 2010, Rock Desk doubted it would see a finer acoustic performance all year. It was right. Pete Judge was that trumpeter, and it’s safe to expect similar depths of jaw-drop when he takes the stage as 50% of Eyebrow, the loop-espousing jazz-based project he shares with drumming ace Paul Wigens.

The full line-up lies thataway in the music diary but, while we’re here, a couple more card markers. Moscow Drug Club are a fine choice of Friday night headliner, with brilliantly rendered, crowd-pleasing cabaret tuneage raised to the level of magnificence by virtuosic violin. Suzy Condrad’s acute songwriting and snappily rhythmic songs fair blew our socks off when the ‘Sea of Me’ EP was released at the back end of last year, while the beguilingly unsettling Duckworths are well overdue an Acoustic Festival outing. And speaking of overdue... “Every year I ask [Radio Bristol stalwart and blues harp ace] Keith Warmington to play,” reveals Steve, “and every year he says ‘Oh, I’m too busy’. I said this year he’s got to do it and didn’t give him chance to say no. I’m really pleased we’ve got him, he’s a local music legend.”

At the other end of the experience scale, Lewis Jones. Back in October the Cheddar-hailing acoustic guitarist/singer was at St George’s to see Badly Drawn Boy, picked up a leaflet advertising the youth-centric Voice of Choice competition, entered, won and booked his slot. If he follows in the footsteps of last year’s entrants, Two In A Boat, come summer he’ll be playing Glastonbury. Another pointer to the future, says Steve, comes in the form of French singer Isabelle. “We’re trying to get in league with Paris so we can get some Bristol musicians over there – The Cedar have been over a few times – and get some Paris musicians to play Bristol. Isabelle is the first one.” This year’s Sunday curtain call is a little different, too. “Traditionally we’ve always had a choir starting things off on Sunday, but the jazzy, bluesy Bath Community Big Band will wake people up a bit.”

Some traditions, however, aren’t for turning. The beer, for instance. “Bath Ales have been with us from day one; they supply drink to all our performers. They’re local and we love them.” Also, the charity collecting, with this year’s beneficiaries being the Cots For Tots appeal (ffi: cotsfortots.org.uk). And Steve would be remiss in his role as host of the station’s Bristol Music Show if he didn’t remind us that “BCFM will be recording the whole festival. The logistics are too big to do it live, but we’ll put the whole thing out over time.”

The seeds of each year’s festival are sown when Steve and Tony complete their share of staging BrisFest in September and compare planning ideas. Now the harvest is upon us. “It’s always scary,” he admits, “as we never sell a lot of tickets in advance. It freaks me out sometimes. But it’s a big event, and everyone just turns up on the day. People can come in and out – see the first act, pop out and do some shopping on Park St, pop back in, have some of our famous festival soup or cake. We sell CDs, don’t take a percentage on them. If there are any profits, it all goes to St George’s because it’s a charity, just like [former original festival host] the Folk House. Everyone plays for free.”

BRISTOL ACOUSTIC MUSIC FESTIVAL WAS AT ST GEORGE’S BRISTOL FROM FRI 14-SUN 16 JAN. FFI: WWW.STGEORGESBRISTOL.CO.UK CLICK HERE AND HERE FOR VENUE REVIEWS
 

Copyright Julian Owen 2011

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