West Country adventures

Kozfest: 27th—29th July 2018
near Uffculme, Devon

I got a lift to this wonderful little psychedelic festival with 3/4 of Lapis Lazuli. Despite it being one of the hottest days in recorded UK history, by the time we got into Devon it was clouding over, becoming chilly and drizzly! The site features just two smallish stages (in marquees), no separate performers' camping, just everyone enjoying themselves together. No heavy-handed security, no commercial nonsense, it had the feeling of an old-school free festival. Lapis played not long after we arrived, really blew everyone away. They'd sold out of merchandise halfway through their set! (Who buys merch during a performance?) The compere/organiser announced at one point that they were his favourite act of the weekend.

As well as just having an excellent, floaty weekend in a beautiful setting, I got to enjoy sets from The Cosmic Dead, Beastfish, Zetan Spore, Deviant Amps, Nukli, Sumerian Kings, The Dials, Skeleton Gong and others. There was a tiny little jam tent for the late night crowd (lots of gliss guitar and squelchy synths), a chill-out grove with little memorial stones to those we have lost (I chalked one up for Gilli, who'd been overlooked) and a Krautrock disco with a DJ from the Future Sound of Exeter (who were my gateway into the music scene there when I moved to the city). My old Avalonian friend Tim Hawthorn and his flautist sidekick played a wonderful little acoustic set in the jam tent one afternoon as the Anarchetypes, ending with a rollicking "A Maid in Bedlam".

The Lapis crew dropped me in Taunton where I spent some time with Amanda (including a trip to Bristol), then a bus to Glastonbury to connect with Emilia and Juliet. We immersed ourselves in the waters of the White Spring (a new experience for me), didn't make it up the Tor, but I did run into Pok and went back to a trailer he was borrowing on a nearby travellers site where he filled me in on his latest ventures. He's currently rehearsing regularly in Frome with Ron Tree (ex-Hawkwind) and Elmer (ex-Loop Guru) as "Unit X", which he was excited about, also reissuing a lot of his back catalogue with new artwork, helped along by some energetic new allies. Emilia, JJ and I cycled out to Cam's family home in Cossington (with reggae pumping out of a MiniRig on the back of Emilia's bike), had a jam (saz/guitar/whistle) and a meal there, then made my way to the nearby M5 junction to catch a lift with Joel and his son Pip. They'd been at a We Are Scientists gig in Gloucester (young Pip's favourite indie band), were heading back to their home on Dartmoor. Our friends Ruth and Gav (fabulous folk musicians) were also staying, and more mutual friends — Kel, Heather, John and kids — arrived separately. A Lammas gathering came together effortlessly, involving much tune playing (I sat out, rather tired, and unfamiliar with the complex Scandinavian repertoire they're getting into these days) and a trip to nearby Grimspound. I did have a little saz/guitar jam with Joel the next day, although that was unrecorded.

Sarah was going shopping in Exeter, so dropped me there. I got to spend a weekend with Vicky (including a lovely coastal walk), saw my old Children of the Drone/Orbis Tertius friend Henry and his wife Lucy briefly, no time to jam though. Vicky was driving to Bristol, so I went along, had dinner with her and her son Thom at his new place in Fishponds, listening to some crazy Japanese mathrock. I was raving about seeing the Cosmic Dead at Kozfest (a Scottish super-heavy psych band, possibly the most intense rock experience of my life!) and it turns out his partner Joanna knew them, and they'd even stayed at their old house in Bristol! We wandered via Eastville Park to the unofficial BLOOM collective HQ (where Leon and Dan from The Evil Usses live) just in time for me to catch a lift into town to see the gig they've been waiting years for: support Deerhoof(!!!), on the Thekla (the famous boat/venue once which once belonged to Viv Stanshall). Guitarist Conrad was hoving on the quay when we arrived, handed me a can of Red Stripe from their rider and then went in to soundcheck. The Thekla's not quite what I imagined — the interior is rather soulless and industrial, the floor is really sticky and clearly the venue is now being run with a student/alcohol focus. Butno mind. The Usses played a blinding set to a packed out and enthusiastic audience, then were followed by the rather lacklustre shoegaze-y Quodega, before Deerhoof came on and very nearly sunk the venue with their unparalleled energy and sonic insanity. Every time I see them I can see why Pitchfork described them as the best band in the world! This was a happy occasion for everyone involved, and had come about partly as a result of me putting the Usses in touch with John Dietrich, Deerhoof's guitarist, whose older brother Dan was a schoolfriend of mine, and who went on to mix a couple of their records.

The next day was spent back at BLOOM HQ chatting in the garden with Conrad and their faithful ally Captain Chris. Indoors, Dan from Spindle Ensemble played me a new orchestral thing they've recorded, and the new Dubi Dolczek Dubi In Space, vol. 2. Then it was down to Devon with Rosy, breaking down on the A38 in the middle of the night. I was 'DJ', working with a random selection of charity shop CDs she'd acquired. Destiny's Child's "Survivor" was on when her tyre blew out. We put the kettle on and stayed calm until the AA man arrived. We survived. A few lovely down near an estuary near Kingsbridge listening to her Deerhoof boxset and other vinyl wonders. She's been writing songs, so one night we had a bit of a session, some of which got recorded. My last day in the West involved a trip to Schumacher College to visit my friend Andy Letcher (founder of World Bagpipe Day and author of Shroom, among many other things). While I was eating lunch with everyone there, Stephan Harding, one of the founders of the place, asked if it was my saz leaning against the wall near the entrance. Excitedly, he went to get his guitar so we could have a jam. And we did, a really nice spacy raga jam (he's inspired by Rumi, Taoism and his childhood in Venezuela). He has a background in biology and we also ended up deep in conversation about termite mounds, and social insects in general. He seemed to have me come back to get involved with the place, which would be nice. Here's a picture someone took from the balcony:

Someone recorded part of the jam on their iPhone and forwarded it to me, so here's that + some of Rosy's songs with tenuous saz accompaniment:

Listen Here

And while having a cup of tea sitting outside Rosy's van in Totnes railway station car park (just by the path to Schumacher that runs along the River Dart), the one person I'd have loved to have seen in that part of the world, but hadn't managed to fit in — Josh Z — came cycling towards us! Perfect! We shared tea and had a quick catchup before I had to run for the train. A couple of people were playing mbiras together on the station platform too, but then this was Totnes, so that's hardly remarkable...

Within 24 hours of getting back I was in Deal watching Count Bobo (another BLOOM band, who play old rocksteady and ska, very beautifully) with Angela, Adam, Kim et al. at the Lighthouse. They were ace, as always. Nice to catch up with Graeme outside, within earshot of the waves crashing on Walmer beach.