Nige Buckland on Wickerman Festival 2006

He's a film-maker, a journalist, a comedian, and the former presenter of the greatest film show (yeah, fuck off Wossy) ever called 'Vids.'  Nigel Buckland is many things to many people.  He's also the MC for the main stages at The Wickerman Festival, and yes, this bit was stolen from the fest website but seeing as Skiddle's hosting the forum....When you're done here, check out Nigels own website - http://www.dogsizedcat.com

The Wickerman Festival 2006 - Nigel Buckland reveals all!

Attracting the right line-up for a music festival is a hallowed grail akin to modern alchemy. That perfectly proportioned programme is often a heady mix of sweat, sports-science, veiled threats and outright old-fashioned strong-armed thuggery.

Seasoned acts and new talent are all part of the raw festival ingredients, ingredients that get whisked together into the basic recipe for an outdoor line-up. Cooked in a rich stew of music and poached punters, zizzed together and pickled with alcohol, tenderised under star-lit skies and browned off in 2 person tents.

That’s quite enough cooking metaphors.

Indeed this need for a broad mix of artistes is doubly important particularly when you consider the multi-aged many-facetted inter-generational make-up of the annual Wickerman-festival audience.

The Wickerman festival has more than a fair share of Punks, Skins, Rastas’ Mods, Suedes, Rockers, Greasers, Greebos, Teds, Metallers, Soulsters, Skalites, Morris Dancers, Jugglers and White Witches are all in attendance. AND they’ll ALL need some form of musical representation. That’s why this year the Wickerman festival 2006 programmers have outdone themselves with the sheer breadth of on-stage talent and broad eclectism of the line-up. There’s genuinely something for everyone.

Nige’s Faves

From Jamaican toaster and dancehall DJ Eek-A-Mouse, to the classy Brit post-punk-funk of The Blockheads and NME Indie legends New Model Army. You will be hard-pressed not to find something to get the muso-juices flowing.

Steve Hillage: Hillages’ Motivation Radio, released at the height of the punk era, can now be appreciated for the wonderfully creative album it is. Or was. Hillage was creating ambient-extended-soundscapes before the term ‘ambient-extended-soundscapes’ was coined, and pushing the boundaries of possibilities on guitar like no other. It’ll be a rare treat to hear his ethereal notes floating over the Woodward Stage Saturday night.

Eddie and the Hotrods: Eddie and the Hotrods are responsible for one of the finest 3 minute slices of punk-rock-teen-angst-alienation every released on green vinyl: The superlative Do Anything You Wanna Do.

The song has the classic coda: "Don’t need no politician to tell me what I ought to be, neither no optician to tell me what I ought to see’…

Obviously Edward and the band was so very punk that they didn’t even have any truck with opticians. That’s Punk as FUCK. It’s only a matter of time before ‘Do Anything’ ends up on a GAP, Coca Cola or Starbucks advert and the band become multi-millionaires. See them at Wickerman before it happens.

Marky Ramone: Living legend and member of The Ramones: a band that to shaped the sound and look of Punk Rock like no other. Forget Malcolm McLaren, this is where punk-rock really came from. The Ramones ripped-knee Levis’ and leather bikers jackets’ ARE the bona-fide Punk-Rock uniform the world over. The Ramones enduring image, is still the most iconic and potent emblem of rock’n’roll that has ever existed. That’s some legacy.

The Alarm: Mike Peters will be hoping we all still love ‘Rain in the Summertime’, I’m sure there’ll be a few clipper-lighters held-aloft in emotional tribute to the anthemic stadium grandeur of 58 Guns. Global warming has meant it’s not entirely environmentally friendly to burn fossil fuels today but back in the 1980’s even Bono encouraged it. Get those Zippos lit!

Alamos: Hybrid metal/post-rock faves of Kerrang Magazine at the Solus Tent.

Wilco Johnson: Dr Feelgood’s static Telecaster riffmiester playing a rare set on SummerIsle Stage Friday. Ian Curtis copied Wilco’s spasmodic ‘dancing’. Wilco’s not simply a ‘guitarists guitarist’, he’s a guitarists, guitarists guitarist.

The Animals: Can you believe it! We’ll ALL hear House of the Rising Sun

SAHB: I had my Alex Harvey styled black & white striped t-shirt & faded jeans ensemble in the 1970’s, as did every self-respecting music mad-lad. Vambo Rools! Alex Harvey: The Scottish Frank Zappa. His band went beyond musicianship they’d create rock operettas of unbelievable beauty mixing baroque with rock. The list of classics is too long; Tomorrow Belongs to Me, Framed, Faith Healer, Delilah, Ribs’n’Balls the songs/riffs/refrains are still sophisticated even today. There’s more variety on ONE of SAHB’s middle-eights than you get in most modern bands whole sets! Yes. I can’t wait. Giddy Up A-Ding-Dong!

Arthur Brown: Arthur enjoyed himself so much last year that he decided to stay. He’ll be waking from his druidic hibernation in an abandoned badger-set and donning his flaming metal headgear and dancing like only Arthur knows how with his glass-piercing falsetto primed for action.

Pama International: Boast an all-star line-up including The Specials' Lynval Golding, Madness' Lee Thompson alongside members from Galliano, Andy Hamilton band, Bentley Rhythm Ace, Crunch! aka Nutty Boys & Pop Will Eat Itself. Crowd pleasing party music par-excellence

The Aliens: Recently won prestigious MTV best video award. The Aliens were borne from the remnants of the legendary Beta-Band. See them live @ Solus tent see what all the fuss is about.

And as usual there’s tons of others acts on at the acoustic tent the dance tent and all the other tents and stages around the festival site. So you can always stroll around and take pot luck. See you in the field! NiGL www.dogsizedcat.com

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