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RAUNDS Festival diary. 30th April & 1st & 2nd May 2004
After playing a gig in Shrewsbury on Friday night, Andy and I arrived at Ringstead
Northants, about 2 o'clock in the morning, where arrangements had been made for us to sleep in a campervan overnight as the campsite would be closed on our arrival. We were met by Bob & Dace? (pronounced Datsa, as in- dat's a nice name!) looking absolutely shattered, having been to their own gig earlier on, and then waited up for the arrival of two total strangers. After a very welcome cup of coffee we had a good nights sleep and were greeted in the morning with a huge pile of sausage sandwiches and more coffee. Everyone had more or less slept late so we all made a very hurried departure to Raunds where Bob, Dace and their band OCK'n DOUGH were due to start an 11 o'clock session while we found our bearings and our venue for the day.
 This turned out to be' The World Stage' which was in the courtyard of a pub called 'The World Upside Down'. Approx 80ft by 25ft it was the setting for the music with a small stage set up at the far end, a very well organised barbeque/grill/ food counter built as a permanent feature along one wall, and a bar & pub at the other end. The whole area was covered with a custom made marquee (also a permanent feature), seating was provided by plenty of bench tables which were interspersed by plenty of gas patio heaters (very welcome permanent features considering the weather). The other venues for the Raunds Festival were the 'Saxon Stage' at Saxon hall, and an 'ad hoc' venue at a pub called 'The Globe' (neither of which we saw for reasons which will become apparent!).
 Back at the World Upside Down, a wry, dry Scot called HAMISH CURRIE provided the P.A. system, and being one of the performers himself, elected that the running order for the afternoons entertainment would be - Himself followed by Ron Trueman-Border followed by Run dog run. Hamish's shameless self sacrifice at electing himself as the opener, was rewarded by a half full venue and competition from the beating of the rain! Being the accomplished showman that he is Hamish managed to deliver a superb performance. He delighted everyone present with both his music and humour, and left the audience more than happy at choosing Raunds as their festival destination. Next on stage was one of the folk scenes most prolific writers and performers. With 10 C.D.'s already to his credit, RON TRUEMAN-BORDER played some sublime guitar in various tunings, which only served to emphasise even more the true & gritty delivery of his vocals, and the attentiveness of his audience. It was at this point that we were wondering whether A).we had been booked to play at the right festival, or B).had we arrived at the right festival?. After a quick sound check we faced what was now obviously a very expectant audience and so we began our set.
All pretensions of grace and subtlety carefully crafted and built up by Hamish & Ron disappeared within the first four bars of 'Tri deg un, tri deg dau', and as the full force of 'Welsh Hardcore Accordion' hit the audience, the looks of panic and disbelief soon gave way to clapping, and the tapping of feet and banging tables. Although not the most accomplished delivery of our set, by the end of the afternoon most of the people present (including Pete the landlord) were quite happily and raucously singing along to our final song -Boozoo Chavis' 'Oh yeah'. Not too bad though for our first visit to this festival.
As the audience emptied out it was soon replaced by a dozen or more individuals eager to get to grips with a guitar workshop given by Ron Trueman-Border himself. As the workshop went through the complexities of various guitar tunings, Andy & I relaxed with a pint or two and were introduced to the manic charm of Ex-bomb disposal expert, fisherman, sportsman, raconteur, and landlord Pete 'Mad dog'???????, and his wife Diane, who invited us back to play a session in the evening for them. Things were just getting better and better (nothing to do with alcohol!) when Daces brother Janis turned up and offered us the use of his flat 20 doors up from the pub!, tent or flat?, tent or flat?, difficult choice!, and so we retired for a few hours blissful sleep, hot water and clean clothes before returning to the World (upside down). Upon our return, a music quiz hosted by festival organiser Matt was underway to a busy room. After the quiz and several pints;
Pete the landlord gave us an introduction to our new audience This gave us the perfect opportunity to explain to them that as this was just an informal session we wouldn't be using the stage, and we would sit right bang in the middle of them all. Surrounded by our audience they probably thought we chose this spot as the optimum place to distribute the sound of instruments playing acoustically, when in reality It gave us the opportunity of being surrounded by the optimum amount of heaters!
We played to a very appreciative and enthusiastic bunch of people (some of whom will have bruises in strange places from the tambourine!) and various ashtrays, beer glasses etc. were soon employed as percussion instruments, As the music flowed so did the beer, very attentive hosts our Pete & Di ! and the evening just descended into a very enjoyable blur, which culminated in a third and final rendition of Boozoo's 'Oh yeah', sung at its loudest ever ! (P.S. many thanks to Glen & his mate for doing a couple of songs).
Hey Mr Tambourine man!.. Pete the landlord gives us an explosive performance!
The following day the sun was shining, the weather was warm, the head was thumping and the stomach was doing somersaults!, so- we went back to The World Upside Down!-. Here Ock'n dough and many other musicians and singers were gathered for what in my experience was one of the most bizarre but enjoyable sessions I've ever heard. Accordion, melodeon, concertina, guitars, fiddle, bouzouki, hammered dulcimer, saxophone, clarinet, ukulele, snare drum, bodrhan, rub-board and triangle, (no banjo?) all present but not at odds with each other. A cultural extravaganza!. Side by side with the oral tradition of Olde English folk singing were Cajun music, Scottish country tunes, Irish whistle tunes, accompanied & unaccompanied songs, shanties etc. etc. The strangest spectacle being reserved for a particularly lovely old gentleman wearing the biggest cloth cap you've ever seen, thick glasses, a dogs nose (see picture!), and a poor memory, sing "The cats mee-ow, the dogs bow-wow, the hens go cluck, and the bulls all- oh, I've forgotten my lines again!". I've been to Glastonbury a few times, and believe me, You'd have to be on drugs to see this sort of stuff! A lot of the musicians present tried to persuade us to do a few tunes, even offering us the use of their instruments. I'm sure that our refusal to play came over as being slightly snobbish or aloof, but while the entertainment was diverse or bizarre, I'm sure that an accordion player projectile vomiting in their midst- while memorable- would not have been truly appreciated.
Many thanks to all involved in making Raunds 2nd music festival a success!,
Matt the organiser for the invite & Mick the organiser for the pint and a chat,
Bob & Dace, Janis & Jo, everyone we had the pleasure of talking to, the boat people (you know who you are you bootleggers!),Pete, Diane & the staff of the 'World Upside Down', and very especially.....the heaters!
Wishing you all the very best/ continued success,
Russ & Andy,- Run dog run.
P.S. apologies to all the musicians and performers we missed at the other venues!
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