Friday, 20 August 2010

#5 - All Tomorrow's Parties


Todays picture represents how class All Tomorrow Parties is. If you don't know what ATP is then here's a brief background. 10 years ago when I tiny as, Stuart Murdoch of Belle and Sebastian fame decided it would be a class idea to put on a festival called the Bowlie Weekender at Camber Sands holiday camp. Loads of bands they like played and I'm assuming a lovely time was had by all. Barry Hogan (current ATP mastermind) thought this weekend was a bloody success and fancied carrying it on. Thus the birth of All Tomorrow's Parties. It's now held numerous times a year at Butlin's (another holiday camp) in Minehead and also various places across the world.

 
ATP Breeders. This is the ticket to the first ATP that I attended. Fajita's were made, class breakfast happened pretty much everyday. I met loads of class people and saw Kimya Dawson conduct a massive group hug in the upstairs room. I pretty much fell in love with the artwork by Michael Motorcycle that you can see in the instax up there. The merch stand at ATP is the most wonderful merch stand I've ever seen. Not even going to get started on that. Anyway, most  prints like this sold at ATP have two versions (one with a band list/event on advertising something and one with just the artwork). At ATP #1 I saw this print for around £100, way out of my price range. Then at ATP #2 I saw the cheaper version for £15. Bargain. It's my favourite piece of artwork I own and really should be in a frame at the minute.

 
WRISTBAND
 

This was ATP numero 2 for me. Because it was a big anniversary, pretty much all of the lineup was class bands with class songs. I could write a blog post about each one. I'm glad I got to see Battles at this one, pretty much the only chance I had considering the main guy has packed up shop and left them. Explosions in the Sky were pretty awesome too. This was the ATP where the biggest BORO ring of fire was held. Very fun. Didn't enjoy the mushroom based sick though. Mushrooms are not a good drunk food.


As good a festival ATP is, their wristbands are pretty rubbish. But I suppose we'll let them off?


Pavement ATP. Where do I begin with this one? Shared a chalet with three people I'd never met before. All of them turned out to be class. I ended up sharing a double bed with Dean and watched many depressing early morning tv programmes with him (see Working Man's Death). I don't think I've mentioned that ATP have their own TV channels. I saw some bands too, highlights were probably Grails (who no one else liked) and Boris x2. People take their children to ATP. One baby loved Boris. She was then named Boris baby. The wristband was a cloth one this time and is still attached to my wrist so that's why you haven't got a scan. This was the ATP that Monotonix were supposed to play then got cancelled. I was second in the queue. So close to seeing them. I won't go into how disappointed I was.

I've put myself in a position where I can't go to either of the December ATP's, which is pretty rubbish. But I'm going to get to see Belle and Sebastian at the Sage and Arcade Fire in Manchester instead. Can't really grumble. I'm going to miss Dean though, I hope he misses me.

I could sit here for hours and tell you why I think ATP is class but I'm going to stop now. You should definately read up on it and visit if you are a friendly person and have an open mind when it comes to music. What other festival can you play poker with Steve Albini of Shellac and see members Monotonix chillin' near the arcade with their laptop?

p.s. the ATP film is class and can tell you alot more about ATP than I ever can.




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