25-27 February 2005
This is my first ATP experience so I'm not as miffed as some people who are already complaining as soon as the running order is announced. The issue isn't with the names that are appearing - most people have had a few weeks to prepare for this and seek out music by the more obscure acts - but with the numbers of acts on the bill. The scarcity of bands results in two quirks - there are no clashes, and the live action alternates between the upstairs and downstairs venues all weekend - which, my fellow ATP veterans tell me, is not normal.
Another thing which isn't normal is the weather. It's not the best idea to go to Pontin's in February but given the mild winter we've been having we could have been forgiven for not expecting the sub-zero conditions we actually got!
BORN HELLER are on first in the smaller venue and it seems like everyone has come out to watch them. They come across as a fairly old-fashioned folk act and they don't really grab my attention.
LOVE AS LAUGHTER open the proceedings upstairs and, in keeping with Born Heller, they come across as a fairly old-fashioned indie-rock act somewhere between Pavement and Neil Young. I do recognise a couple of their tunes, but again I am a bit nonplussed.
EARLY MAN at least drive me to have an opinion, as I can only stand the first three songs and I leave to make some phone calls. Early Man have a great name but what they play is 80s speed metal not unlike Helloween and I have no interest in them at all. My venture outside did raise an early alarm bell that the bouncers were not letting you outside with your drink from the bar, therefore disabling you from refilling in your chalet and upping the amount spent over the bar by quite a bit.
Back upstairs for
DEERHOOF, who are as far as I'm concerned the first really impressive thing all day. You never quite know what they are going to do next as they flip around between hardcore and psychedelic music. One of the few bands on all weekend to use their full hour in an interesting way, but then I guess they have a bigger back catalogue than a lot of these acts. The singer wears some giant fluorescent fingernails for the final song, and by this stage it seems anything is possible.
BAD WIZARD may have the sort of name that may make you avoid them, but they put on the performance of the weekend downstairs and win a lot of people over. They play unreconstructed classic rock with such a passion that you wonder why it went out of fashion! They've got big afro hair and a girl on bass who looks like she could be in the Ramones, and they evoke prime AC/DC, MC5, ZZ Top, Thin Lizzy, Cheap Trick.
Upstairs, the previously unheard of
SEAN GARRISON (long term friend of Slint) plays some dull pedestrian country which I'm too busy chatting to bother with then he just changes things around, gets louder and starts making people pay attention. For a couple of my chalet mates Mr Garrison was actually the best thing all weekend, so naturally I'm cross that I was ignoring him.
I wasn't sure what I would feel about seeing the
MELVINS as I last encountered them in '92 and I haven't listened to a lot of their music since but they blew me away. Apparently some of their recent music has edged towards industrial/ electronic sounds, but tonight they are just classic stoner grunge. King Buzzo has the best hair all weekend and he makes a lot of people happy by announcing their surprise guest - David Yow of the Jesus Lizard - who wears a toga and does his best to lose it during his crowd surfing! Awesome.
I pass on the first Staremaster heats downstairs (it's a staring contest in case you wondered) and head back to the chalet for some more booze, fully intending to return for the late DJs, but Slint TV is showing Turkish Star Wars which is easily the worst thing I've ever seen, and I'm too worn out from laughing to do anything but crawl into bed.
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Given the relatively early night last night, we gear up for Saturday checking out Camber Sands (most things are shut) and walking for over an hour along the beach. Although it is seriously cold, the sun actually comes out for a little while and you can nearly kid yourself that you are on holiday!
After this burst of healthy activity it's straight to the ATP pub - The Queen Victoria - originally for the Arsenal match - and as it wasn't on we settled for some early afternoon drinking instead. Each of us interrupt this at various points to check out today's first band
BRIGHTBLACK. They do sound a lot like Low, and are therefore a reasonably pleasant start to the day's music.
MOGWAI continue the Shellac ATP tradition of going on early to get the crowd in (although to be honest there isn't much else to do!) and they are introduced by two loudmouths who have been going around the festival filming and generally hassling people. They intro Mogwai as "some people from a country called Scotland who like to hunt deer - ladies and gentlemen - Mowgli!" which made me laugh as that was the name we used to call them in our house years ago. It's an in-joke not worth going into here! I've seen Mogwai loads of times and I have to say this was one of the best gigs I've seen them play. There is at least one new song, 'Hunted By a Freak' is awesome and they bring on Aidan Moffat from Arab Strap for the long lost 'R U Still In 2 It' from the first album. I'd never seen them do that before. Best of all is the closing 15 minute 'Like Herod' which is one of the highlights of the entire weekend, the excellent sound system really did this arrangement justice - the bits where it jumps from quiet to ear-splitting were really powerful.
I skip the
NAYSAYER for some food, I heard from different people that it was one of the best sets of the weekend, and from others that it was really awful, so I guess you had to be there. Whatever, they featured Tara Jane O'Neil (Rodan, Sonora Pine), so I tend to believe the former and I regret missing them a bit.
When I return to the venue
NEED NEW BODY are playing some unhinged psychedelic music on the main stage. Some of it is just short bursts of lo-fi pop, occasionally they get noisy and they even throw in some dub-reggae for good measure. Although I enjoyed them I got the impression that the band were having a lot more fun than most of the crowd. They were well worth checking out though, yet another act that I had never heard prior to this event that I will be listening to again.
Ditto
FAUN FABLES in the downstairs venue, who in my opinion are the best of the 'nu-folk' acts this weekend. They are a duo - a singing guitarist and a percussionist - and they play a kind of unhinged and slightly creepy folk music that oddly reminds me of Slint. It doesn't sound like them, it just inhabits that same kind of eerie, gothic space. They are the first band to make me think about Slint's skills in curating this event, in creating an odd little world full of talented but overlooked musicians.
Faun Fables are charming too, and their set includes costume changes (headscarves mostly), cutlery and some truly dynamite yodelling.
SPOON are the most mainstream act here, and for some people they are a welcome break from the experimental acts. I've always had a lot of time for Spoon, going back to the mid-90s, and it's interesting to hear how they have matured. 'Lines in the Suit' is a great pop song and one of the highlights.
Back upstairs there is a lot of anticipation as Slint are getting close and
MATMOS have the thankless task of providing background music to people's conversations as they try and decide where they are going to stand later on. I've seen matmos once before, I quite like their records, but this show was lost on a lot of people. Although the visuals (endoscopes, eyeballs) were designed to grab your attention I got the feeling that a lot of people were ignoring them, which was a shame because along with Mum they were the only electronic acts on the bill.
Naturally, everyone is here to see
SLINT, in fact the running orders we were given when we arrived have an asterisk beside the 11.30 slot in the bar which just says 'go upstairs - that's why you are here'. Despite all this some dumb people attempt to ruin the show for anyone near the bar by talking all the way through. Quite amazing really, £120 a ticket, severe guest list restrictions and these people still manage to drown out the quiet bits.
I mention this because the overall impression I get from this Slint show, (and the Dublin show I caught a week later) was that it was a recital. The music from 'Tweez' and 'Spiderland' is faithfully and impressively played but there is little interaction between band members. Having said that I have to agree that they were awesome. 'Breadcrumb Trail', 'Charlotte', 'Nosferatu Man' are three early highlights, they sound every bit as good as you would expect. In fact their sound balance is excellent. Brian only plays guitar on the instrumental songs, preferring to call up his brother to play when he is singing which works well. The new recruit on bass is superb. Britt comes out from behind the drums for a superbly spooked version of 'Don, A Man' and for a little while it becomes my favourite Slint song. The third guitar comes out of nowhere at the end and sends shivers up your spine. They save the best 'til last of course and 'Washer' and 'Good Morning Captain' are easily the highlights of the weekend.
I miss Staremaster again due to chalet-based partyin' but I do actually manage to return to the venue for some truly great music from the downstairs DJs. All-time classic masterpieces loud as anything until 6 am. You can't really beat that!
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Sunday morning doesn't really happen and I am barely conscious in time for the Ireland v England rugby match (and the Chelsea Liverpool match at the same time). We watch the first half then head for the venue, just in time to get caught in the first blizzard of the day!
I watch a bit of
MIIGHTY FLASHLIGHT cos I like some of their records but this venue is a bit big for them to really carry well in and I head back for the rugby. I would say that the temperature doesn't get much above freezing today so I'm amazed to meet someone wearing shorts on my way back to the chalet!
I see most of
KING KONG, featuring original Slint member Ethan Buckler, and although it's a long time since I've heard their music they don't deviate from their original blueprint of simplistic, almost kid-friendly melodies and lyrics. They play a bit too long for my liking, but as most of the crowd are nursing hangovers, King Kong are thankfully not too demanding. More people are watching the extra time in the footy in the bar, and you can hear King Kong's bass lines through the wall so I opt for this for the latter part of their set.
An even better hangover soother is Arab Strap DJ Aidan Moffat filling the gaps between the bands upstairs. I'm lazing about up there when
RED NAILS come on. They're a quite ordinary indie band from Louisville and I only stay for a couple of songs.
Some late afternoon food and drink is very welcome and we return for
PEARLS AND BRASS back upstairs. They are a cross between a classic rock power trio and a post-hardcore band and they sound pretty good. One of my chalet mates compared them to Cream, and I've since read another review which said the same thing. I'd have said they were a bit more left-field than that, but what do I know!
WHITE MAGIC come across like a slightly folkier version of Cat Power (without the stage fright) and some of their songs are quite interesting, although some of it sounds a bit sloppy - the percussion on the last song was miles out of time! No-one really has the stamina for this on the last day.
SONS AND DAUGHTERS are filling the empty slot on the main stage caused by Mark Kozelek's illness, and although they may stand out a bit from the rest of the bill, they put on a good show, much better than their recent show in Belfast. Less of the posing and more concentration on the songs, and of course 'Johnny Cash' is awesome.
Another awesome thing is the return of
BAD WIZARD to finish off the second stage tonight. Maybe twice in a weekend was a bit much and the surprise factor has worn off, but they still rock the place better than anyone. It was also a chance for everyone who missed them to check them out, as they really have been one of the talking points of the weekend.
MUM take things to a gentle conclusion upstairs. Again this kind of ambient electronica struggles to fill the large ballroom and a lot of people are distracted during their set. I don't recognise a lot of the material so I assume that it's from their new album. 'Green Grass of Tunnel' is right at the end and makes me very happy.
I actually manage to catch Staremaster which has reached the grand final and is surprisingly entertaining, then it's into the Queen Vic for some flat-out classic rock, then next door for some excellent DJing from Stereolab and Lisa Capsule. I will probably never hear MBV's 'You Made Me Realise' at this volume at this time of day (approx. 4.30am) ever again!
The bar shuts at 5am, people are dancing on the outside tables in the snow and we end up in a posh chalet with Need New Body and some Irish people until we get ejected by the bouncers. Apparently we were partying underneath someone important and we had to go. The snow is about an inch deep, and after a detour via a chalet occupied mostly by San Franciscans I watch the sun come up on a snow covered beach with some people twirling batons of fire.
ATP veterans may not consider this to be the greatest ATP in terms of line-up, weather, or non-music related activities, and while I can kind of see that, it was still a brilliiant experience. Slint were worth it, and while their curation of the festival came in for some criticism, I saw it as their creation of their own little world. They gave us classic rock, punk rock, post-rock, creepy folk and some very strange TV, and the whole experience was unforgettable. There was something about a holiday camp covered in snow but full of people that fitted perfectly with this whole event. It wouldn’t have been the same if it was sunny.
