My Exciting Life In ROCK (part 1): 25/4/99 - The Bowlie Weekender

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The world of Indie, it was a DIFFERENT place in the closing years of the last century, a more delapidated, unloved, and largely uncared for world than the pork-pie hatted one we enjoy today - you certainly didn't get Big Brother contestants talking about it back then. OK, you didn't get Big Brother contestants either, but it wasn't mentioned on the WIND UP RADIOGRAM or whatever it was we did for entertainment in those dark times before digi-boxes and text messaging.

It wasn't all emphesema and serfdom of course - the lack of interest in Indie meant there were precisely NONE of the godawful whingeing "piano-led" dreary old Corporate Indie Bollocks bands that we're deluged by now, but then there weren't really and GOOD Indie bands either... that is, until Belle & Sebastian came along and shook the whole thing up. It seems strange now that we all got SO VERY EXCITED about such a twee, unassuming band, but EXCITED we certainly DID get, helped along by the sudden appearance of the interweb and especially of the sort of email lists, as discussed in a previous instalment. These lists meant, for the first time, you didn't HAVE to know people nearby who were into the same bands as you, nor did you need to hunt down fanzines or get pen-pals, you could instantly share the GLEE with likeminded people all over the WORLD, and Belle & Sebastian attracted a HECK LOAD of GLEE.

The first time I ever saw them was in Glasgow, by mistake. I'd gone up with some pals to see the support act, Adventures In Stereo, but we'd all been completely GOBSMACKED by how UTTERLY AMAZING the headline band were. All right, i admit, we HAD been staggering round Glasgow all day getting PROFOUNDLY DRUNK, but still, it was AMAZING . At the venue we all got seperated, and I remember standing STUNNED during the entire gig, dumbstruck by how RIGHT every single note of every single instrument sounded, and being (even more) PROFOUNDLY MOVED by the words and emotion coming towards me. I'd heard music of this genre before but it had always sounded limp and can't be bothered, never this SOULFULL. Unable to contain myself I turned to the group of people next to me and said "I'm sorry, I don't know you, but i've got to tell somebody - this band is FUCKING AMAZING." Rather than FLEE they all looked equally astounded, and nodded fervently.

After the gig I spotted Stuart Murdoch wandering around, so I rang over and gave him a MASSIVE HUG. I don't think he enjoyed it.

In the months that followed I travelled the country to as many of their gigs as I could get to, none of which were ever as good and many of which were FRUSTRATING due to the band's insistence on playing "unusual" venues with VERY "unusual" sound systems, but they'd always have at least one moment of BEAUTY that reminded you exactly why you'd fallen so KRAZILY in love with them in the first place. THUS, when we heard about The Bowlie Weekender, we BOOKED ourselves tickets, and set off for a weekend of INDIE FUN.

The idea of the weekend was pretty much the same as the old Northern Soul Weekenders - it took place at a holiday camp so all the attendees got to stay in CHALETS, popping out to the central venue(s) to watch bands of a similar ILK. It was a GRATE plan, though it didn't get off to the best of starts as there was a MASSIVE queue to get in. It took HOURS and HOURS of standing around to get to the ticket desk, goodness knows why, but happily The Indie Nation took it well in their stride. As if by magic, BOOZE appeared and people gradually got more and more sociable. There was chat, there were singalongs, and after a while a SUPER GROUP led by Stevie From Belle & Sebastian came out and busked for us. It was LOVELY.

The whole weekend went on pretty much like that - i can't really give you a proper review of the bands, as i was REALLY VERY DRUNK for most of the time, so much so that I fell asleep in the middle of the MOSH PIT for Divine Comedy. I know a Divine Comedy moshpit is hardly the same as Metallica's but it WAS quite loud - earlier that day we'd stood at the front for Teenage Fanclub and nearly got KNOCKED OVER by the SONIC POWER of the bass speakers.

All Festival Bores will tell you It's Not About The Music, but at this festival it was TRUE. Staying in a CHALET is much much much much MUCH better than in a bloody tent - you have your own fridge full of beer, a SHOWER, a dry bed to sleep in, a KITCHEN, a TELLY, and most importantly a NICE CLEAN TOILET. It was festival HEAVEN, the only slight downside was that I ended up having to share the sofa bed with my friend Mileage, but we HAD known each other since we were eleven so it wasn't too bad and anyway, we come from Peterborough, where BEDS are considered a MAGICAL DEVICE of THE FUTURE.

The other GRATE thing about it was that everybody was pitched in together for the weekend, including all of the bands. By the end of the weekend one was almost BORED of seeing Jarvis wandering by (almost) and we soon TIRED of shouting abuse at passing disc jockeys. There was one slightly sad moment when Douglas From The BMX Bandits appeared, wearing a Pontin's Blue Jacket. HE thought "Oho! How amusing of me to pretend to be in charge of fun for all!" WE all thought "How sad, that he should end up having to work in Pontins, ESPECIALLY on a weekend like this."

Over the course of the weekend MANY relationships, romantic and otherwise, were formed, not least between the indie label types who were there. We agreed to gather at the picnic tables in front of the festival PUB on the Sunday afternoon to set up a record stall, and it was HERE that I had a milestone in My ROCK Career: I spoke to someone who owned and liked one of my records who i'd never actually MET before. This was IMMENSELY exciting, and was even more so shortly afterwards when somebody ELSE came over and revealed themselves to be the similar. It was like being MOBBED, very very slowly.

Bouyed up by this, also by DRINK, when someone appeared with an acoustic guitar I decided it was time for me to do a GIG. Oh yes, Peter Doherty may THINK he is the inventor of The Guerilla Gig, but it was going on long before he even THOUGHT of wearing a silly hat and pretending not to be REALLY POSH. I shoved some records off the picnic tables, clambered up onto my makeshift stage and proceeded to BELLOW my songs, to RAPTUROUS applause. Nobody seemed to mind that I couldn't remember any of the words, or chords, or how to even PLAY chords, it was all part of the jolly FUN of the festival itself.

Bizarrely this also turned out to be my first Mainstream Review. A couple of months later, when we'd long since geographically (if not emotionally) left the festival, someone showed me a review of the festival printed by Loaded Magazine. There, right in the middle, was a sentence mentioning "some bloke shouting songs about how London bands are shit"!

THAT WAS ME!

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