Regular visitors to these pages will be familiar with Peter Richard Adams, whether it be from his time as frontman of Worcester DIY scene stalwarts And What Will Be Left of Them?, his more recent musical forays with Hey You Guys and Evilwitch, his recent solo album, the Christmas record he recorded with wife Rosie last year, his excellent Pod to Pluto podcast series or indeed his occasional writings for this very site. As you can see he’s a man who likes to keep himself busy.
As such we thought him the perfect choice to kick off our new Fantasy Festival feature, in which we hand over the promoter’s reigns to some of our favourite artists and see if they can breathe new life into a festival calendar that despite ever increasing breadth seems to be rather too keen on following established formats, with the same bands, the now standard pop-up gourmet food stalls and VIP glamping ‘experiences’. He came back to us with a spooky Cornish coastal village, an onstage resurrection and a guest appearance from The Grim Reaper.
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Festival Name
All Hallows Eve Parties. (Can you see what I’ve – badly – done here?)
What’s the theme?
If there’s one thing I love, it’s Christmas. But it’s silly to hold a festival then so I’d have a Halloween themed festival. Halloween is ace… It’s like Christmas in October except with more bones and blood. We could even do that old trick of getting all the bands to play a spooky song during their set to keep everyone on message. Dressing up would be compulsory for attendees and bands alike, of course.
Where will it take place?
As I write this I’m on holiday in the beautiful Cornish village of Portscatho. At night it seems suitably spooky with the rain, wind and booming waves in the bay. It also has an awesome church on the top of the hill, which looks incredible in silhouette at dusk. So let’s do the show right here!
Who are your headliners?
Despite Portscatho only being a small village, it does have at least three pubs. So as I see it that means I can have three headliners… and I’m going big. I’ll have:
- The Beach Boys (not the Mike Love version – the 50th anniversary “every man left alive” version).
- The Rolling Stones.
- Fleetwood Mac.
Imagine them in a pub by the sea! At Halloween! And these days most of the band members wouldn’t even have to get dressed up to look scary.
Who’ll be playing the ‘legends slot’?
The legends slot is for people who never stopped going right? In which case it has to be Wilko Johnson. Preferably playing on the beach at midnight and scaring the shit out of everyone with his thousand-yard stare.
Which up and coming new act is going to open the main stage?
I went to see Les Futiles the other week and really enjoyed them. Since then I’ve become quite obsessed by their new EP. So I’ll choose them please.
Also, as it’s my festival, I’ll have them followed up by Soeur. They’re great and we share the same hometown. In fact, if there’s one thing I can guarantee at a festival that I put on, it’s that they’ll be a LOT of Worcester bands on the bill.
As is the promoter’s perogative, you have of course booked yourself to play – you can invite one special guest to join you onstage, who are you going for?
Ooooh… Well it’s Halloween isn’t it? So I’ll take Bobby “Boris” Pickett. We can do the Monster Mash together.
Also, given that he’s been dead for years we could include his reanimation as part of the stage show. That’d be pretty cool.
These days festivals aren’t just about the music – what other surprises do you have instore for the revellers?
There’ll be shanty singing on the dockside, trick or treating, witches flying in over the coast and a visit from the Grim Reaper himself. BEAT THAT GLASTONBURY!
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Peter Richard Adams‘ new single ‘This Is Halloween’ is out now via all of the usual streaming sites. Check out the video below:
HEY YOU GUYS! recently unveiled their difficult second album. It’s called Difficult Second Album and is out now.
Evilwitch got back together on a stage for the first time in seven years a few weeks ago. It was lovely. We also released The Opposite of Art EP.
Interview by Paul Maps
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