Just a matter of time...

Photo: Elliott Morris by Chris Vaughan
I'm rubbish at playing the guitar, I don't like practising, and to be honest, learning things takes patience, something I am wholly without. However occasionally I come across something that will make me try to play until my fingers bleed. (Yes I have a blister on my little finger...Dire Straits reference go me!)
I was lucky enough to spend some time hanging around the BBC introducing stage in the Quarry tent at YNOT? festival last weekend and found a couple of gems, that pushed me to wanting to play to blister level.
Elliott Morris was one such gem. I was captivated when Morris took to the stage alone and proceeded to provide not only his own guitar music but by deft changes from playing the neck of the guitar, striking its body and stamping his feet Morris managed to provide the aural illusion that there was an entire band on stage. It really has to be seen to be believed. Seemingly long gone are the days of learning three chords and starting a band; Morris is joining a tradition of talented guitar-playing songwriters that precede him. Morris names the likes of Frank Turner and Andy Roach as influences, and the Newton Faulkner comparisons are almost too easy to make but what Morris brings to the party is a youthfulness and a raw talent that cannot be underestimated. He's the kind of musician that makes you go home, pick up your guitar and play until your fingers bleed.
Morris' songs are catchy, better live than on tape and he is totally worth checking out. May I recommend heading over to his MySpace (nope, not dead yet) page and checking out Man On Wire.


For now I think I'll stick to the three chords I know, keep trying to start a band and leave the good stuff up to the experts.

Festival Season

At last count I have been to eight or nine different festivals. I'm always on the search for the ultimate festival.
Obviously certain festivals remain classics, however I'm not normally organised enough to get myself tickets for a festival ten months in advance, pay £200 for said ticket and travel half way across the country. I'm just not that kind of girl. I like things a bit more off the cuff, nearby and most of all cheap. The 'boutique' festivals have been popping up throughout the country, and until this year have done little to hold a torch to the bigger festivals in my opinion. Lattitude became a turn off last year, it just suddenly felt a bit over large, a bit too commercial, and frankly it sold out too early in the year. My friend C and I went in search of an alternative, and having examined the line ups we decided on Hop Farm, Bob Dylan, Van Morrison and Blondie...SOLD. We trekked down to Kent for what should have been an amazing festival, and instead spent three days in a field that was over full, the water ran out, and the beer was expensive. I should have expected it, Vince Power did after all make his name organising the corporate wonderlands that are Reading and Leeds but the event seemed to be more about selling tickets and less about the weekend. That and Kent is a bloody. long. way. away. Also, the main stage was AWESOME, but to be quite frank the smaller stages were nothing exciting. So this year the search began again. Which is what led us to YNOT?
I don't like abbreviations, or text speak, but for YNOT? I'll make an exception. It is a gem of a festival. Small, cheap and with a brilliant line-up. Tickets were £65, beer was £3.50, T-shirts were £12 and it was fantastic. Set in the picturesque Derbyshire countryside, in between Ashbourne and Matlock Bath about an hour and a half from Leeds. It was honestly one of the most lovely festival sites I've ever seen, rolling fields, sheep and cows, two small stages in top hat tents, one large outdoor stage, and loads of tee-pees and smaller tents, hiding an acoustic stage, ska tent, story telling tent and loads of other things.
Music wise I've got loads of reviews coming, I saw some amazing acts, and the various stages did not disappoint. The line up on the main stage was phenomenal including Feeder, Maximo Park, Admiral Fallow, Miles Kane, and the Rifles to name but a few. The Quarry tent and Allotment Stage were both fantastic. The Quarry was headlined by Beadryman and Dananananakroyd and the Allotment comprised of local bands with a series of unsigned acts. What the organisers had done really well was make sure the bands all fitted together on each stage. There was the added bonus of a BBC introducing stage and who can resist a late night white-girl bogle session to the taped delights of Aswad and Bob Marley in a reggae tent?! In short this was the best festival I've ever been to, and has re-kindled my faith in small local festivals. After the Hop Farm debacle I was sceptical, but YNOT? proved that it can be done, and three thousand people in a field is enough.
With the festival scene getting more and more cluttered it is these festivals that need to be looked after, and attended. The truely splendid Beacons festival had to cancel this year due to adverse wether conditions on site (it looks like a swimming pool) and as such they are holding vatious fund raiser gigs all over Leeds. Check out their facebook page for more information, I've got my eye on Willy Mason tonight at a Nation of Shopkeepers! And for next year, may I recommend YNOT? and Beacons for two truely awesome North of the M4 corridor boutique festivals.