Chris Butler
The Tallington Ashes 2005
This year was the 5th year of The Tallington Ashes, Blyth Power’s
annual weekend of music and cricket in the village of Tallington, a few miles to
the east of Stamford in Lincolnshire. It ran from Friday 15th to Sunday 17th
July and I had the good pleasure to play again this year and make it every one
so far since the first in 2001. The venue is The Whistle Stop pub and the music
takes place outside in the beer garden where there is an outside bar too. There
is a field for pitching tents situated behind the pub/ beer garden/ stage area
and experience has taught me to get there early for a decent spot to pitch my
tent. This year was no exception such has grown the popularity of the weekend.
We set off from Derbyshire early Friday afternoon and just under 70 miles and
just over 2 hours later, we arrived at The Whistle Stop at 3pm.
The camp site was nearly full by early Friday evening and it was the biggest
crowd I’d seen so far for the acoustic evening which has come to be a tradition
for the Friday evening. The music started with Jessi Adams at 7pm. It was my 4th
gig with Jessi as well as 8 previously with the band he sings and plays guitar
for, Eastfield and he was the ideal act to kick off The Tallington Ashes 2005.
Though, later in the evening would have been perfect for him also. He’s just a
great act to build things up, he’s great fun on stage and has lyrics to make you
laugh, sing along or at least think about. Using my guitar with a guitar strap
he really couldn’t get on with and one of my flimsy plectrums he belted out
Eastfield songs such as God’s Plastic Railway, Mick Murphy’s Dirty Bar, Sharks
Against Surfers and Burt Reynolds. Jessi was my first highlight of the weekend.
Following Jessi, which isn’t easy to do, was Rosie Wilby. Rosie had recently
played at Belper The Queen’s Head with me and Phil Doleman at one of mine and
Phil’s occasional gigs we play at and promote together at the Derbyshire venue.
It was nice to see Rosie again and hear her acoustic playing and fine songs.
She’s a better guitar player than me and has a much bigger voice too. Mark
Hibbett followed and then from 8.30pm until 9pm, it was me. It was great to be
able to play again and the crowd was as appreciative, responsive and as
enthusiastic as always. The guitar was actually still in tune from Jessi’s
workout too! My set was: No Work Today, Football 1 Fascism 0, Just Do It!, The
Tallington Ashes, The Blackleg Miner and a new song never performed before,
Don’t Come Back. It’s about election times when candidates and political
parties’ supporters come knocking at your door or visit your high street to meet
the public for photo opportunities. Then after the election, when they’ve won
another four years or so in power, you never see them again. It’s back to the
crime, late public transport, over crowded hospitals and litter strewn streets
for the locals once the media circus has gone. Anyway, after my set was Wob who
I had played with at London Finsbury Park The Robey in April 1992 and at
previous Tallington Ashes in 2003 and 2004. Wob’s set went down really well with
the crowd. Pog was on next and then followed Mark Astronaut. I’d played three
times with Mark Astronaut before, all at London Finsbury Park The Robey in
December 1990, September 1991 and April 1992 (the same gig I did with Wob too)
Mark is a bit of a legend really. His band The Astronauts were on the anarcho-punk,
free festival and underground music scenes for many years and some of the early
records are classics. Mark sang some old Astronauts songs with some musical
support from a guitarist to compliment his distinctive voice. Such songs as
Getting Things Done, Protest Song, Seagull Mania and Behave Yourself were played
during his set. Mark was another highlight for me. Red Wedding then ended the
evening with a fine set of acoustic songs to send us to bed. Joseph’s reply to
The Raggle Taggle Gypsy traditional folk song is a joy to listen to and Steven’s
‘Goodnight’ is excellent and his song about being shallow made for yet another
highlight on the first night of the weekend. Just for the record, I’ve played 13
gigs with Blyth Power, 8 with Joseph Porter, 1 with Mad Dogs & Englishmen and
now 4 with Red Wedding. Brilliant!
Saturday arrived with some lovely warm sunshine and the makings of a hot day
ahead. I’d not had much sleep the previous night because of the noisy rabble
outside of my tent. I’d finally drifted off sometime around 4am and then awoke
as the sun came up sometime around 6am. Saturday mornings at the Tallington
Ashes have become a bit of a ritual for us now. We drive into Stamford where we
can get a cooked breakfast and clean toilet facilities. We had a wander around
the town and headed back to The Whistle Stop for the lunchtime music. We’d
missed the first band of the day (Verbal Warning) but were just in time for
Eastfield. I’d already talked with Jessi Adams a few days earlier about the
possibility of joining them on stage for the Gina G cover ‘Ooh Ahh Just A Little
Bit’ like I had performed with them at a gig we had done together in Cromford in
May of this year. It was great fun to do last time though frankly terrifying. To
get up on stage with a band and sing, without my guitar and in tune/ time with
other people isn’t easy for me! But it’s bloody brilliant. The Cromford gig was
my favourite gig of all my gigs and for that reason; I was certainly willing to
put any nerves to one side in order to enjoy rocking out with them again. It’s
daft really that I was so nervous about performing with them because I don’t
find it a problem getting up on a stage by myself and bashing out my own songs
on my acoustic guitar. It’s probably something to do with having the guitar to
hide behind to an extent, and also there’s never any real pressure when I
perform. Anyway, Eastfield were brilliant for an early Saturday lunchtime spot
and really got the crowd off the campsite and out in the beer garden listening
to great songs such as Drive On Henry, Aspartame, Port Talbot Transport Police
and Tingalpa as well as songs from the latest CD, Express Train To Doomsville.
With extra guitar player Steven from Blyth Power/ Red Wedding, I took to the
stage to help sing along with their last song. I was shaking like a leaf but
looking forward to singing with my fave punk band. So nervous in fact that I
hadn’t noticed that the band had quickly whipped off the tops they were wearing
to reveal t-shirts with yours truly on! Chris Butler- Folk Hero complete with a
picture of my ugly mug in a nice black design on red. It was such a lovely
surprise and a really nice gesture and made me feel really pleased and proud to
be up there singing with them.
Above: Eastfield (complete with Chris Butler - Folk Hero t-shirts! CB on far
left) 16/07/2005
Below: The actual shirt!
A massive THANK YOU must go out to Jessi, Bambi,
Trina, Chris and Steven for letting me join them on stage, for the t-shirts and
for making this year’s weekend truly memorable, it was my highlight of the
weekend and the best gig I’ve ever played at. The raising of my profile didn’t
do me any harm at all either, with my CD sales going through the roof and
demands for the t-shirts ( only 5 made!) something I’m not used to. Henry and
the Highbrows followed and then Rachel Pantechnicon returned this year with
his/her poetry. Due to the amount of people, cars and tents attending The
Tallington Ashes, there wasn’t any field space for the cricket. A smaller
version was instead played in the beer garden and unfortunately for Joseph, the
ashes were won by Chris from Eastfield’s team. Amateur Ninja Club kicked off the
evening’s entertainment after the cricket match and then General Winter playing
their last gig. I’ve always enjoyed playing with General Winter and will miss
their catchy songs and inventive riffs. Daddy Those Men Scare Me who are no
strangers to Tallington carried on with the diverse range of music that we have
become accustomed to at Tallington and then New York Scum Haters played their
set of Ramones cover songs. Anal beard (including Pog from Friday evening’s
acoustic night on vocals) played a full band set before the evening was rounded
off with Blyth Power. It was great to see Blyth Power again, I know I’ve seen
them lots of times but it had been a while. With latest addition and Joseph’s
brother, Jeremy on bass guitar they performed a great set including Pastor
Skull, Mary’s Mad Army, Stitch In Time and the Zounds song Dancing ( with Chris
of Eastfield playing drums). Blyth Power were excellent and a fitting end to the
day. I went off to my tent (and to a better night’s sleep!) with Stitch In time
buzzing around my head. Unfortunately we had to leave early Sunday morning. We
didn’t get a chance to say thanks or farewell to some people but I’m sure Sunday
was a great success also. Thanks to Blyth Power for having me back again, to
Eastfield for everything, to Loz, Gaz and Tracey for being there, to all those
who took an interest and to Mat for looking after Dylan. Thanks for the support
everyone and I hope we can do it all again next year.
Also see: Tallington 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004
The Tallington Ashes
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As you can see, after appearing at The Tallington Ashes each year, I’ve written some sort of diary or review of the event. It’s just a bit of fun and it’s good to put my thoughts onto the website for anyone who didn’t get the chance to get to those festivals. But I was thinking, really, I’m just this writer of songs. I’m no Patrick McCabe or Iain Aitch and I didn’t take any photographs to accompany the write up for the 2003 article so I thought I’d put the Tallington experience into song!
Written in 2003 © Chris Butler. Recorded live at Terry’s, Belper, Derbyshire on 20/01/2004. Thanks to Terry and Allan for making it possible and to Blyth Power for having me along from time to time.
The Tallington Ashes
It’s always nice to get away
A break from work, some rest and play
So with my clothes and my tent in the car
And not forgetting my acoustic guitar
I head for Tallington
I like to set off around mid-day
I like to take my time and find my way
Arriving sometime in the afternoon
It’s always over all to soon
In Tallington
Out on the campsite pitching my tent
There’s pieces missing and the pegs are bent
With our home fixed up we’re high and dry
It’s now that we’ve finally arrived
In Tallington
Meeting friends not seen all year
Laughing and talking over a beer
Sharing a joke or sharing some food
It puts us in a real good mood
For Tallington
I tune my guitar for my Friday night spot
And I think of all the songs that I’ve not forgot
Joseph’s on form and he’s sounding fine
With his tale of poor old Rubenstein
In Tallington
At the end of the night it’s back to the tent
It doesn’t really matter how my playing went
It feels so good when I play my songs
I’m on top of the world all night long
In Tallington
Saturday comes and no sign of rain
It’s time to start the cricket game
I’m soon bowled out, so much for winning
“ And with grace I retired from my innings”
In Tallington
Soon it’s time for the bands to play
And we sing and dance the night away
I love live music in the open air
But the trains roaring by don’t seem to care
Much for Tallington
As the sun goes down more bands do play
And beer and food is tucked away
Eastfield are playing faster and louder
With a grin and a guitar it’s Jessi’s hour
In Tallington
Now it’s the time we’ve been waiting for
Blyth Power playing for a hour or more
Alnwick and Tyne- It sounds just right
Marius Moves and Signalman White
Are in Tallington
It’s off to our tents for the final night
With our sleeping bags all zipped up tight
With a smile on my face and a buzz in my ears
We’ll do it all again- Next year
In Tallington.
