CucosBlog

So anyway, that was the kind of mental baggage I brought along with me to the ATP festival. Being in that environment - the Butlins holiday camp in Minehead just south of Bristol - was not pleasant. I understood that it was supposed to be ironic, or could be understood to be tacky-cool. But in reality, it was just a huge out of control motorway services station – and just as ugly and harsh as that sounds. I’ve got it. I know why it was so horrendous: because it was so BRITISH. It wasn’t a place too feel good in. And that does impact on an experience of a gig for me. When you see a band in a carpeted bingo hall with pissed off bar staff selling candy shots and Carling Black Label – how much fun is that gonna be? It wasn’t sexy. Especially seeing as I wasn’t drinking that weekend.

As all of this was hitting me and Soren (who gamely agreed to accompany me) on the first evening, we awaited the appearance of Iggy and the Stooges. I shouted out what I felt: “Come on Iggy, save us from this fucking hell-hole”. And you know what? Five minutes later he came out with Ron Asheton and Ron’s bro on drums and Mike Watt on bass – and he did just that. He fucking saved us with rock n roll. Watching him, I understood what the big deal about Iggy is. He understood the situation – that the place was a nightmare and that quite a few people were having a nightmare dealing with the Butlins vibe – and he gave us his performance to make us feel better. He responded to us. And as an audience member I felt like he was really there, creating something in that moment. Not just playing a gig for his own benefit. I saw his enlightened nature in its glory. And Mike Watt was so on the case as well. Totally absolutely working his bass with everything he’s got. What a great guy. The only strange thing about that show was that they didn’t play anything from Raw Power, which has to be their best record. But my guess is they will be playing that whole record as an ATP-created tour in the future, as they did with Funhouse recently.

Sonic Youth came on next. Soren and I stood right up at the front, just in front of Lee Ranaldo. Their set list was beyond expectation: including 3 from SISTER (Schizophrenia, Catholic Block and – wow what a favourite – PCH) and Shaking Hell with Thurston on bass to end with. My overall impression was that they had tightened up their sound quality and perhaps simplified some of the arrangements to make them work more smoothly. They seemed very pro. And then I realised that through all these years - while I have been exploring every dark corner of Confusion is Sex over and over again, while I got into jungle and speed garage and left them behind for years, through all of those years from the mid 90s onwards, while I was getting married and then divorced, changing countries and lives, shit man so much has happened! – they have been playing their songs night after night, tour after tour. I would feel sorry for them, if I wasn’t already green with envy for what they have achieved.

It was great to see Dinosaur Jr again on the second day – I had never seen them before as the original trio line-up with Lou Barlow, and it was such a fucking thrill to hear them play legendary songs like The Lung - but it was at a high price: I missed MV + EE and The Bummer Road, a psychedelic rural New England rock band that have been honing their thing in obscurity and who now look like they were one of the most interesting bands on the bill, a band with a little balance … Think Rural Trux. That was one of the problems with having 3 rooms of music and 6000 people trying to get in and out of these venues. Also, for the popular bands you had to arrive for the set before to ensure you would be able to get in. Which also meant that to be able to see Dinosaur Jr we had to endure 75 minutes of fucking Gang of Four, the band that spawned the horrible spate of punky guitars with disco drums that is still upon us. Everyone else loved them too. That’s one band that is definitely on the wrong side of the fucking Venn diagram.

Sun City Girls were great: funny in their cabaret way, inventive with bits of free improv but then perfectly played Latin rock and jazz, and hilarious lyrics. What a great band. And the other really enjoyable band was The Melvins. Great big juicy riffs, and apparently their recent album after all these years is possibly their best.
Major Stars disappointed majorly, Comets on Fire looked good, but having just come out of the Dinosaur gig I could not hear them at all, my ears were just blasted. Notekillers were boring. All of the noise bands were boring

Final points:
Were there any nice girls there? I saw one during Comets on Fire’s show.
Would I go again? Probably

Why no Glenn Branca?