So this is Crabstock
Crabstock, I hear you ask? WTF is Crabstock?
Crabstock is the brainchild of The Really Interesting Crab Company. Seafood festivals are traditionally held in seaside towns, because that's where the seafood is. The drawback is that everyone in these towns probably has a pretty good idea what seafood is anyway. So they had the idea, why not hold one inland? Amazing no one had thought to do it before.
Great Rissington is set in a part of rural Gloucestershire whish is all rolling meadows and stone buildings that have stood there for centuries. A proper piece of glorious English countryside, it was a joy to drive through as long as the rain held off.
The Lamb Inn has gardens in three levels. In the upper one were set the various stalls where the seafood would be prepared, the bar tents in the middle level, and at the bottom a covered stage where various bands would appear. Seafood would be served throughout the weekend, and in between the bands there would be several cooking demonstrations. Apart from the scale of staging the bands the event was basically the size of a small village fete, but if successful (and I'd say it definitely was) it will grow in future.
I was playing two bands on this occasion. Swallow are one of my regular bands, and they were playing at 6pm. And later in the evening I was standing in for the regular drummer of The Floydian Doors (two of whom are my Swallow bandmates anyway). I wasn't alone either; between the two bands there were actually a total of four dep musicians, and each band had only had one rehearsal to get their respective lineups into shape. So there there was a rare degree of apprehension among us as to how it was going to go.
Oh yes, and I was playing on the drumkit provided rather than having brought my own. Which is brilliant in terms of setup time, and allows us to travel in fewer cars, but it also means I have no idea what I'm working with until I get there. On this occasion it was a 4-piece kit, ie. 2 rack toms smaller than my own, which would make a few things a bit awkward. But nothing I can't work around. Probably.
In the event both sets went off remarkably smoothly, apart from a moment Spinal Tap would've been proud of in the Floydian Doors set. Having played through about half of Dark Side Of The Moon we were about to launch into Comfortably Numb when one of the organisers asked us to announce that a car was blocking someone in and could the owner move it? You guessed it, it turned out to be our keyboard player. So while he dashed off we started Another Brick In The Wall instead, and he made in back just in time for the second chorus.
Oh, and as the lead singer introduced the band members he managed to forget my name and had to be reminded. Classy. :-)
It's been a rewarding weekend in which I've gotten to work with a few new and rather good musicians, and also sample some very tasty shellfish. Oh, and I also got to watch these guys, who were on just before the Floydian Doors. They're called The Reaper, and they're aged between 11 and 14. They're disturbingly good.
Crabstock is the brainchild of The Really Interesting Crab Company. Seafood festivals are traditionally held in seaside towns, because that's where the seafood is. The drawback is that everyone in these towns probably has a pretty good idea what seafood is anyway. So they had the idea, why not hold one inland? Amazing no one had thought to do it before.
Great Rissington is set in a part of rural Gloucestershire whish is all rolling meadows and stone buildings that have stood there for centuries. A proper piece of glorious English countryside, it was a joy to drive through as long as the rain held off.
The Lamb Inn has gardens in three levels. In the upper one were set the various stalls where the seafood would be prepared, the bar tents in the middle level, and at the bottom a covered stage where various bands would appear. Seafood would be served throughout the weekend, and in between the bands there would be several cooking demonstrations. Apart from the scale of staging the bands the event was basically the size of a small village fete, but if successful (and I'd say it definitely was) it will grow in future.
I was playing two bands on this occasion. Swallow are one of my regular bands, and they were playing at 6pm. And later in the evening I was standing in for the regular drummer of The Floydian Doors (two of whom are my Swallow bandmates anyway). I wasn't alone either; between the two bands there were actually a total of four dep musicians, and each band had only had one rehearsal to get their respective lineups into shape. So there there was a rare degree of apprehension among us as to how it was going to go.
Oh yes, and I was playing on the drumkit provided rather than having brought my own. Which is brilliant in terms of setup time, and allows us to travel in fewer cars, but it also means I have no idea what I'm working with until I get there. On this occasion it was a 4-piece kit, ie. 2 rack toms smaller than my own, which would make a few things a bit awkward. But nothing I can't work around. Probably.
In the event both sets went off remarkably smoothly, apart from a moment Spinal Tap would've been proud of in the Floydian Doors set. Having played through about half of Dark Side Of The Moon we were about to launch into Comfortably Numb when one of the organisers asked us to announce that a car was blocking someone in and could the owner move it? You guessed it, it turned out to be our keyboard player. So while he dashed off we started Another Brick In The Wall instead, and he made in back just in time for the second chorus.
Oh, and as the lead singer introduced the band members he managed to forget my name and had to be reminded. Classy. :-)
It's been a rewarding weekend in which I've gotten to work with a few new and rather good musicians, and also sample some very tasty shellfish. Oh, and I also got to watch these guys, who were on just before the Floydian Doors. They're called The Reaper, and they're aged between 11 and 14. They're disturbingly good.