Darwin Deez at Truck Festival. Photograph by Sabrina Morrison
It was only a matter of time before Amelia’s Magazine and Truck Festival became the firmest of friends. With circles overlapping so far and wide, we might as well be kith and kin, our relationship was cemented and documented by Amelia at the Climate Camp gathering in Glastonbury (understand that Truck is kind of a generic description – the creators of Truck – the brothers Joe and Robin Bennett also play in the utterly fab Danny and The Champions Of The World) in a memorable performance where Joe played part of the gig on his back. ‘Cause that’s how he rolls.
Photographs by Sabrina Morrison
Pulled Apart By Horses perform. Photograph by Caitlin Mogridge
Truck is known for being somewhat of an anomaly; it’s a thoroughly strange hybrid of a bucolic Oxfordshire village fete, complete with a rotary club flipping burgers, a vicar serving ale and – no village fete is complete without this quintessentially English phenomena – cross dressers behind the bar, all of which serve as the surroundings to a musical line-up that is so hip, cutting edge and au courant that it makes SXSW look tame. The place was teeming with journo’s from every major publication, all of whom professed a long standing love for Truck. I had pitched up with a little crew of fellow Amelia’s Magazine colleagues and friends of mine from the band Amber States. By the time we arrived at 1pm on Saturday afternoon, the weather was glorious, the sun beating down on the 5,000 revelers who had already assumed the position of the day; lying flat on their backs (clearly taking a cue from the founder Joe). We quickly discovered that the festival was pleasingly manageable in size. Taking up no more that roughly three fields, the onus was on being able to bounce (I mean amble) from one stage to the next with the minimum of fuss.
Is Tropical in session. Photograph by Sabrina Morrison
So we quickly settled into a routine. Fuel up with a drink, and go find some music. From an extremely horizontal position I watched ex- Beta Band singer Steve Mason do a rousing Beta Band-esque set, followed by Stornoway who actually got me standing up (high praise). Although at some point I realised that that the hottest spot at Truck was by far and away The Barn, which receives the accolade from me as being The Hottest Music Venue In The World Which Also Smells Of Manure. It seemed that the rest of the festival agreed with me, and due to it’s cult like status, and the fact that the bands playing inside were off the charts, there was a constant queue to get into this converted cowshed. But I would stand in line all over again just to see this man play again.
Darwin Deez auditions for So You Think You Can Dance. Photographs by Sabrina Morrison
Mr Darwin Deez, New York hipster, sporter of the finest curls in the contemporary music scene, and creator of mid-song dance routines that even have their own narrative. My favourite bit was the dance that finished Radar Detector where his band mates engaged in what can only be described as a homage to West Side Story and the unfortunate Darwin was pushed to the floor (don’t worry, it was all part of the routine) but heroically sprang back to complete the rest of the dance/mime show. Why don’t more bands do this?
YouTube Video courtesy of John Pullman
Mew headlining, photograph by Sabrina Morrison
The evening was given over to watch Mew headlining. I had high hopes about this Danish group because the previous week I had been fortunate to have a long chat with Sune from The Raveonettes and he was in raptures over them. Truthfully, they were technically very impressive, but I wasn’t hooked. I think I was spoilt by watching smaller bands whilst scraping hay off of my converse in the cow shed, so this stadium-esque performance left me a little cold. Actually, I think I may have just simply been cold – it was 11pm by this point and the temperature had dropped. I wandered off to find my friends playing table football in the techno tent and concluded this very pleasant evening by not scoring a goal. Story of my life!
I got to meet the strange Truck monster; he was a bit monosyllabic but gave good hugs.
The next day was given over to more of the same thing. Naturally some lazing around had to be done. (We are not lazing in this picture, we are trying to figure out how to play the game where you lift someone up using two fingers, we didn’t succeed.)
Amber States do a collective i-phone check to find out how it’s done. Test study remains rooted to the ground.
Blood Red Shoes perform. Great live set, but inbetween song banter needs be improved; “We love sharks!” yells Laura-Mary. Photo by Caitlin Mogridge
Los Campesinos! Photograph by Caitlin Mogridge
Teenage Fanclub close Truck 13. Photograph by Caitlin Mogridge
Everyone found a band that we had previously not heard off but now had to IMMEDIATELY rush off and buy their tracks. A friend of mine was delighted by A Silent Film, which reminded her a little of The National. I really enjoyed the synth pop of Miaoux Miaoux, Sabrina discovered the joys of Egyptian Hip Hop, another mate stuck to the front of the stage while Blood Red Shoes performed and we all had a bit of a rousing moment to Los Campesinos! and Teenage Fanclub. Personally, Sunday afternoon was all about Danny and the Champions of The World. I’m not just saying that because of the aforementioned connections but simply because they put on a blinding performance. Plus you never know who you are going to get when Danny plays; later he performed a set in the little acoustic tent to a full house of little kids and was joined by the lovely Trevor Moss and Hannah Lou. Everyone clapped along to the songs – one toddler in the front helpfully kept time with the aide of his drum sticks and to me, this summed up Truck entirely; the ethos is collective, without pretension, kid friendly and all about the music, even when the music consists of two acoustic guitars, no mics and a two year old with drum sticks. Thanks again to Truck, for reminding us that this is what life is about.
Danny and Trevor Moss perform
Photograph by Rishi Mullett-Sadones
With thanks to Sabrina Morrison, Caitlin Mogridge and Rishi Mullett-Sadones for the photos.
Tags:
Amber States, Blood Red Shoes, Climate Camp, Danny and the Champions of the World, Darwin Deez, Egyptian Hip Hop, festivals, glastonbury, Is Tropical, Los Campesinos, mew, Oxford, Pulled Apart By Horses, Rishi Mullett Sadones, sxsw, Teenage Fanclub, Trever Moss and Hannah Lou, Truck Festival
