Cromer 2008
We had a few friends from Suffolk came north for the weekend. Carys, Cerne and Pete came to stay with us and attend the Cromer Folk Festival. Jenny and I took the afternoon off from work and went to the start of the afternoon's performances.
Things kicked off with The Churchfitters. They were having fun up there with some fine voices and plenty of different instruments. They are the band that put the 'rock pose' back into folk rock. I am not sure that it quite works with a dulcimer but hey it was fun and a good start to the day.
Next up was Mor Karbasi. She is a singer with roots in Israel and Spain. There were also some Islamic and North African influences in her music as well. She was joined on stage by an acoustic guitarist, an electric violinist. She had some fine red high heeled show to stamp along, in a la flamenco style.
Next up was Bob Fox. We missed a little of his set as the others arrived and we had their tickets. Still I managed to hear Big River and sing about the AEC trucks that I used to drive. Thinking about them made me remember why there is no longer a truck building industry in this country.
Time for tea then. Despite the folk festival being in town there were quite a few places that were not serving evening meals so it was down to the chips shop and eat chips sitting by the church tower.
Back in the theatre it was time for Julie Ellison. She has a nice country blues style of guitar picking. It reminded me of Chet Atkins and Steven Grossman. Then came the stars of the day for me Spikedrivers. They are three musicians who enjoy playing their music and they are good musicians too. Their instruments included a Zydeco washboard that looked more like Boudicea's breast plate and a drum that looked more like , well I will let Carys described it. Most of the songs were based around the slide guitar. I could have listened to them some more -- oh they are playing tomorrow oh goodie.
Next it is The Hamsters. Or should that be THE HAMSTERS. BLOODY HELL THEY ARE LOUD. They have found the 11 setting on the amps, added the overdrive pedal, the go louder switch and the every other pedal as well. Some people were put off by their first song about running over the girlfriend with the Chevrolet because she wouldn't get out of the way. Others thought it a bit strange given that there were tales in the press all week about someone in Austria keeping his daughter locked up for 20+ years that you perform a song called come to papa. Given the volume perhaps they are trying to impress the people at the far end of the pier. Unfortunately they are the people who were leaving. Time to go back home for a coffee then.
Saturday morning and there were workshops and sessions to go to. Jenny and I opted for Tom Bliss singing songs of the sea in the lifeboat station. Someone joked that the RNLI was a little short sighted in not having a proper performance area built in when they did the place up. It was brought back to earth later in the day when the lifeboat was scrambled to go out to a boat in trouble 6 miles off the coast. Next it was time to go and have a bit more Spikedrivers who were doing a laid back set in a pub to gently start off the day.
Back at the theatre they started off with a short set by David Hopkins and Jean Luc Thomas. We had thought that we would go and see them later in the day so that has saved us a trip up the hill to the hotel. OK but not great Next up was Sid Kipper. A great comedy act with tales of Norfolk life. He had the audience laughing away. This was then followed by Lark Rise. This is Ashley Hutchins new band playing the music that he put together several years ago for a production at the National theatre. It was just good fortune that the BBC has put on a series to co-incide with the re-release of the album and him touring it again.
After a quite sit in the evening sunshine on the pier chatting to people as they passed it was time for the songs of Nick Drake. If Laughing Len Cohen is music to cut your wrists to then this is music to take your vallium to. John Martyn should beware as he is the only living musician that was covered tonight. We all decided that we would go and catch the last of the evening sun in preparation for Tanglefoot. We had not heard Tanglefoot before and were very impressed with them. We were even more impressed when we heard that the keyboard player had joined the group 9 days ago purely on the basis of his cv. From the vocal harmonies you would not have been able to tell. Shooglenifty were next up and finished the evening off with some good dance tunes.
We started off Sunday with a set of acoustic jazz and blues guitar in a pub. It was from Pete Smith and guest. A pleasant way to start the day as lunch came while they were playing. It was then down to the main venue for Mawkin:Causley. Gosh some folk music played by someone under 40. They were enjoying themselves which was good to see even if they were suffering from having had a late night the night before. They were followed by Truckstop Honeymoon. I had seen them before at Cromer. They have progressed from single string bass to an electric double bass. When asked about this it was explained that their former home in New Orleans had the old bass in it when the hurricane came and the old bass was last seen floating down the Mississippi. They now live in Kansas as it is the part of the US that is furthest from the ocean !
Whapweasel were up next. There are plenty of them including a brass section. For some reason I can cope with the sax solos but when it comes to trombones and trumpets it does not work for me. Anyway another Truckstop Honeymoon session is due on up at the hotel so we leave for that only to run into Mike asking for directions. We act as roadies and direction advisors and go with him up to the hotel. The first part of the act was just Mike as Katie was on child feeding duties. It must be the joy of bringing 3 children on tour with you. There were more tales of the hurricane and New Orleans until Katie joined us. At the end of the set mike went off and was seen in one of the front room looking after the kids whilst Katie packed up the gear and did the cd signing and talking to the fans -- the joys of life on the road !
We had a supper on the pier and then on to the final part of the weekend. To start with there was the Cromer Smugglers. As Pete pointed out you can not be a shanty group if you have instruments and personally I prefer them when they are voices only. They do have competition though from the Sheringham Shantymen who are just 6 miles round the coast. For rivalry think Everton or Liverpool, Norwich and Ipswich, Manchester united and city etc etc.
They were followed by Little Johnny England. A busy night for Miranda as she was on bass for them. The band as a whole were on fine form and you could easily argue that they are the best folk rock band around. After the interval came the final act of the weekend -- Show of Hands. Given Steve's family troubles recently I was not sure what the performance would be like. I need not have worried they were on good form and were in my opinion better than at Cropredy last year. Before the start of the encores Phil announced that he was on a sponsored slim. He is raising money for the children's cancer unit at Exeter hospital, Alzheimer's and another charity that I can not remember. The reason for this is that next summer he is going to sail on a tall ship is a race. His joke was that you don't want someone 18 stones in the crows nest, but this will reduce his involvement with the band next year. This was the cue for Tall Ships and a couple of other encores the names of which escape me.
It was a fine weekend with some surprises, some favourites and the odd howler. What more could you ask for but more of the same next year.
