A 1977 punk festival in Bath? Damned right...

Bath, as we all know, is a city of festivals. Last week, for instance, we had our fantastic LitFest kicking off and throughout the year there are many other great festival events to look forward to celebrating all aspects of culture and business.

However, I’m sure one newly announced festival this week will raise a few eyebrows.

For a three-day festival to celebrate that peculiarly English musical tradition of ‘punk rock’ has been pencilled in to take place at the Bath Racecourse at the start of June.

It is designed to be an alternative way of celebrating the Jubilee because, as every pop musical historian will know, 1977 – which was the Queen’s Silver Jubilee – was also the year that punk rock really took over the nation to provide an unforgettable contrast between the pomp and circumstance of royalty and the rough and ready excitement of a glorious musical genre which genuinely frightened the establishment.

Now, as some of you who are regular readers of this blog will know, I am an unabashed child of punk and to me the news of this new festival is like three chord manna from heaven.

I can genuinely say that just as ’50s rock ‘n’ roll defined the life and lifestyle of many people who grew up with it and the ’60s pop culture left an indelible stain on all those who lived through it, the advent of punk and its gentler sister, new wave music, changed my life forever.

I was a spotty 13-year-old in 1977 when I first heard the strains of this new musical movement through my tinny (and decidedly non-digital) radio. To say it was love at first sight (or rather first aggressive note) would be an understatement and I went on to be an ardent fan (to this day) of many of the greatest exponents of this particular musical art form – including of course Bath’s own Stranglers who I’ve managed to see the best part of, ahem, 100 times.

The thing about the whole punk era was not just that I think it produced some stunning and challenging music at a time when pop really was in a pretty bad state but it also brought with it a sea change in how music should be perceived. The punk ethos was that bands shouldn’t be aloof, distant figures but everyone should be encouraged to pick up a guitar, learn three chords and form their own band.  And that is exactly what me and my small but proud bunch of punkified-teens in my hometown of Tamworth, Staffordshire, did and music took over our life and has stayed central to it ever since.

As I look at the line up of Bath’s three days of punk prowess at the racecourse (The Buzzcocks, The Damned, The UK Subs, Rezillos, 999, The Lurkers et al)  I know it will be a wonderful if bone-creaking trip down memory lane for both fan and artist alike and should be a loud and timely reminder of a truly unique and exciting period of music which really rocked the nation.

And the fact that the city is hosting such an event is amazing. What other cities could enjoy Mozart and Jane Austen festivals alongside one featuring bands like The Anti-Nowhere League and The Vibrators?

I always said this was a fantastic and eclectic city for music but even I didn’t expect to see a celebration of all things punk right at the same time as our legendary international music festival. 

So crank up the volume – and bring it on . . .

Time to get the old band back together again?

One of the many things that I love about Bath is that it really is a city that respects and reveres music. Whether your tastes are for the Mozart Festival or for Moles, there is something in this city for everyone. It truly is a community paved with melodies.

But it is not just the opportunity to get out and hear lots of different styles of music that makes Bath come alive – for this is a city that positively encourages people to make music all of their own. So, if you are in any length of queue with locals in Bath, the chances are at least one of them is in a choir, gospel group, rock band, jazz outfit et al.

Yes, this is a city of music.

It is for that reason that I am particularly thrilled this week to launch our Song for Bath competition to try to encourage people to write a tune that will encapsulate the city as it is now.

Inspired by the very enthusiastic brains behind the project, Paddy Doyle, it didn’t take long for us to see this as a wonderful opportunity to turn the creativity that is so evident in the Bath musical community into a fun competition. So, whether your tastes are for light orchestra or, err, the Electric Light Orchestra, we hope you’ll think about creating a tune which could lead to some great prizes as well as the chance to perform in a grand final.

It seemed apt to me that we should be running this competition right now because I am personally thinking about doing that classical middle- aged thing – yes, I’m thinking of “getting the old band together” again.

As I grew up in the punk era where the ethos was “don’t go and watch bands, form them and do it yourself”, nearly all my friends and I found ourselves starting bands – and having a fantastic time doing so.

Some of those bands didn’t last very long – I once fronted a group called the Vatican City Dance Band which went no further than coming up with a spectacularly good name – but my longest-serving band was called The Classified Ads (somewhat apt considering I’m now in newspapers!) who were together for the best part of my secondary days.

It was a thrilling time – we only played to youth clubs and relatively small venues in our home town area but, if I say so myself, I think we penned one or two pretty good tunes along the way. Now, some 25 years since we split (millions of teenage girls were NOT heartbroken) there seems to be a yearning among us to do something again.

Inevitably, the five of us have gone down very different paths but we’ve sort of discovered each other again and now have set ourselves the goal of doing a one-off something in the year 2011.

Of course, there are many reasons why this could be an utter disaster – but whatever those fears, even the thought of getting back together again and seeing four of the most important people in my life is enough to get us somewhere.

So, if a jaded old punky “singer” from the ’80s is thinking about bashing out a tune again, there is no excuse for all of you out there not to enter our Bath song competition.And, to make it easy, I promise The Classified Ads won’t enter.

Or The Vatican City Dance Band.

Local newspapers are not biased lackeys. Honest!

Every editor of every local newspaper ever will at some point, (and usually quite frequently), be accused of being biased.

Because we live in a world where everybody has an opinion on everything, a lot of people assume that local newspapers (and their editors) are equally one-sided in their views and will do everything in their power to persuade others to follow it.

Well, guess what, – you are half right.

Yes, we journalists are as opinionated and passionate about causes as the next man but we are also a pretty professional bunch in the local media and we all subscribe to the view that the only bias we can ever exhibit is to our readers.

Opinions can be made in columns, blogs like this or in our Comment piece (and we are not shy of launching campaigns on issues we care about) but the news is 100 per cent untainted and totally free of bias.
Period.

I say this today because last Friday Bath (and the Bath Chronicle offices) had a visit from David Cameron.

The visit of the Tory leader provoked a lively debate on our website, www.thisisbath.co.uk, and it didn’t take long for someone to accuse my erstwhile opinion-free deputy Paul Wiltshire for being akin to a Tory lackey.

This, we found particularly amsuing, as a few weeks ago he had been called a Lib-Dem lackey as well. He is clearly therefore a lackey – albeit one who is awfully confused about his politics

I suffered the same at a previous newspaper I worked at in Tamworth, in the Midlands. That was a very tight Labour/Tory marginal seat and I was frequently told by the Labour lot that they knew that I was a Tory while the Tories equally said that they knew I was a Labour man. This to be proved that I was doing my job right – if all politicians think you’re against them, then you’re probably putting the interests of the readers above the parties. And that’s how it should be.

Returning to Mr Cameron, I can’t deny that I was very grateful to our local Conservative hopeful, Fabian Richter, for bringing his party leader into our office where I was able to chat to him about issues of concern in our industry and our community. He was kind, generous with his time and tried to meet and talk to as many of our staff as possible.

Even one or two dyed-in-the-wool Labourites (for yes, shock horror, our office is the same as every other in covering all political persuasions!) were quietly impressed I think.

I then went to hear Mr Cameron address the people of Bath at his very interesting and informative public meeting. He was put on the spot by local people on a wide variety of important issues and he handled himself extremely well to my eyes.

It says a lot, I think, about how politics has become so centerist that I mentioned to my colleague Paul (he’s the Tory/Lib-Dem lackey remember) that I think if you analysed what was said , you would not have heard anything from David Cameron that Tony Blair would not have said. I’m sure both Mr Blair and Mr Cameron would be pretty aghast by that comparison but the truth is there is a consensus in our politics today that means that sometimes it is different suit, different party – but the same words, themes and ideals.

Friday’s visit also showed that Bath is very much in the Tory’s sights. We already have a very good sitting MP I think (oh my God I’m being biased again!) but we also have a very strong Tory challenger too now (oh my God more bias!) and so next May/June's elections suddenly looks very interesting indeed ...

Please send all your accusations of bias in this article to s.holliday@bathchron.co.uk.