North Of Watford Gap Page

Our Intrepid Explorers Venture ...

North of Watford Gap

Stackridge Live: Autumn 2000

In which the lads battle through illness, broken-down vans, gales, floods, road and traffic chaos and finally ... FINALLY ... quaking in their shoes ... (Remember, we come from Somerset. The Mendips are a world unto themselves. The Smoke is one thing, but North of Watford Gap ... THAR BE DRAGONS!) ... they venture into the wilds of t' North of England.

With weather and transport chaos combined, getting from A to B in England began to take on profound similarities with attempting to make one's way from Madrass to Katmandu in the mid 19th century. But we're Stackridge, and we're English. We remain undaunted. Click here for the lowdown on the concatination of events that occurred when Stackridge ventured North Of Watford Gap. All things considered, the band were delighted at the wonderful support you gave them to make this series of gigs a real success. It was a joy to see whole families in the audience. In fact it is the warm, good humoured feel of the whole run of gigs that remains most strongly in my mind... and as for the Christmas Party at East Coker... it really started Christmas with a bang! We thoroughly enjoyed hosting Mutter Slater's new band.

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First, The Y Theatre, Leicester. The Thrashers come from near and far. There's real excitement in the air. Here's a sample from The Chatroom ....

"i'm coming! she who must be obeyed has consented to drive from rotherham, but i have a slight problem, my rhubarb has wilted.
does this matter? will we still be allowed to see the gig?
the 25 years have just rolled by. how will we recognise each other?
anyone else from this area going to the gig? 2or 3 spare places in
the car. leaving rotherham at 1830 ( i'm a european, honest), anyone wanting a lift call me.

regards mick"

Ah, STONELEIGH!

It will be etched on Jen's memory for ever. It's a cold dark wet Wednesday ... and Stoneleigh Village Hall? It's in the middle of nowhere. The van breaks down twice.

This gig's a well kept secret. The band play manfully to two men and a dog.

Now Jennie has organised this. For once in her life, she stays very quiet. The band, to their great credit, remain gentlemanly throughout.

They refrain from braining her.

A few intrepid Thrashers brave the dark and windy wilds and find us.

Here's The Chatroom report from Jim Timothy ...

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Katrina Timothy drew this on the night. Framed, it became Jim and Katrina's Christmas present to Jen. It's now on the wall in the Stackridge Office.

"They say you couldn't make it up ....and they're probably right, so here's my version of the evening at Stoneleigh. Others may mock and differ but I'm convinced that this is one of the best gigs that I've seen EVER.

Sonia, Katrina and I arrived at the village hall car park at a quarter to eight and pulled up alongside the bands van (you could tell by the Frome address), a couple of cars and a horse transporter. We disembarked, hearing the sound of the new Stackridge song ( I Could be Happy ? ), thinking " S**t ! we're late " and hurried into the hall. We then ran smack into Frankie, Ade, Alan (Marzo) and ..er, .....that was it, just us. Incredibly the gig was due to start at eight and, by that time, the figures were band members 6, audience 6, a score draw by anyone's reckoning. What we heard was the sound check, running late because, as Jennie explained " The van wouldn't start ". Well, we ardent Thrashers don't expect things to go smoothly anyway so we just ordered a round of drinks via the back door of the bar and talked amongst ourselves 'til kick-off. After ten minutes or so, another couple arrived ( Hooray !!, we outnumbered the band). They had seen the lads at Cropredy, liked what they saw and came back for another dose. That's the way to do it !!. It transpired that the female of said couple remembered " The Stanley " from the seventies,but didn't, at the time of Cropredy, realise that it was Stackridge that were responsible for it and, subsequently finding out via (the web site ?) that it was, indeed, them.

By the time Jennie officially opened the doors the audience had swelled to an accountants dream of ten. The hall was very tidy and neatly laid out and, not surprisingly, seated everybody comfortably. "Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence" by Ryochi Sakamoto (or whatever) was playing in the background when Johnny introduced our heroes on to the stage. By that time the audience numbered fourteen, count 'em FOURTEEN !!. Now, If I were an artiste, musician or whatever in those circumstances I would've said bollocks to it, got drunk and made my way back home pretty darned quick, but hey this is STACKRIDGE.

What did they do ??.....Well they dusted down their boots, rolled up their sleeves and played their socks off. In a sentence they were bloody brilliant !!"

(At The Riverside, later in the tour, Jim turns up in a tee shirt with "The Stoneleigh 14" emblazoned on the back ...)

On to the Fizgig, in Exeter. The West Country contingent are there in force. It's a super night.

Then illness strikes. Crun goes down with a virulent bout of food poisoning and Derby and Wrexham have to be pulled ...

Now The Witchwood, in "Thar Be Dragons" Manchester.

Mick Booy had this to say:

"Arrive at the gig to hear the strains of Slark as a warm up. Now for a testimony from my daughter (as she wrote it):

Dad, here's a comment for your web friends after hearing only a couple of songs. Probably the most fabulously talented musicians I have ever seen from one who was once on her way to becoming the same (a talented muso that is). Giving it up has become a regret after tonight. What a band, what talent, what songs and music.

PS: Any chance of a clarinet for my 25th birthday ?

I saw a fellow thrasher from 25 years ago. (Welcome back to the fold, Sharon.) She was ecstatic and talked me into giving her a lift to Yeovil. I think that there are a lot more converts in the North of England this morning.

Mick and Pat"

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Cecil Sharp House, Marlborough, Banbury, The Folk House all go by in a successful haze, with growing crowds. The band continue to go down a storm.

Next, The Riverside. It's right beside the river in Bradford-on-Avon. In the October storms, 14 inches of river water engulfs the bar. The week before the gig, Jen and Mike pop over to check it out and find Peter (the landlord) still up to his neck in soggy carpets, defunct electrics and wet furniture. Luckily, the function room is just that little bit higher so has been spared from flooding. The gig can proceed.

The day before the gig, it rains in earnest. It rains and rains and rains. The river is rising dangerously.... . THIS time (after the Saturday rugby match) they open the Ł2,000,000 sluice-gates in Bath, and although the rain continues the river level in Bradford drops ....

The gig is on!

Finally, the Christmas Party at East Coker Village Hall. We've got the whole Stackridge Festival Show here, including Nina and Ruth , also Mutter Slater's blues band - "Little Dixie and The Kickass Rhythm Section". The East Coker Village Players muck in and help out by building a special extra apron in front of the stage to give us enough room to perform comfortably.

And despite rail-travel chaos, traffic jams, mud and floods, crowds of people brave the elements and trek out into the wilderness. The hall is packed for a cracking show ...

Here's Marzo's version of events:-

"Atmosphere in the gig was the best I've known this year (and I've managed 19
gigs during 2000!)
The evening will remain firmly in my mind for ever. The return of Mutter was
amazing. I had already seen him last year at the Fiddlers, so the bald head
no longer surprised me. What did surprise me was, wait for it THE VOICE!!! As
he broke into the first song, everyone around looked dumbfounded to hear the
power and feeling that Mutter put into each and every syllable. When I heard
Mutter in the 70s I had listened to that voice, but never did I expect what I
heard last night! "

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You've only just found the website and you didn't get the chance to hear this fine new band? No matter. "Pick of the Crop" - the CD of the band live at Cropredy 2000 is available from the merch page.

Don't miss it!

This page was updated on May 27th 2001 by Jennie Evans