Mention to anyone in December you are going to a music festival in December and they look at you like a weirdo.  Camping in December you nutter!  Well no I was going to ATP, All Tommorrows Parties.  For those who don’t know the idea is simple, pick an awesome band(s) to headline the whole thing then get them to pick every band they want to support.  Previous years have been curated by Sonic Youth, Mars Volta, Mogwai, Shellac, you get the picture.  The beauty of these things is that they are held at Butlins/Pontins venues in the South of England and that means a holiday chalet filled with all the things normal festival goers dream of, a kitchen, a warm bed, a shower etc. This Decembers was curated by the Melvins and Mike Patton so I knew I was going to be in for a treat.

ATP NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS, BUTLINS, MINEHEAD
5/6/7 DECEMBER 2008, CURATED BY MIKE PATTON AND MELVINS

First things first, Hastings to Minehead is a pretty long way.  Previous ATP’s have been at Camber Sands which takes all of 30 minutes, this was 4 ½ hours but due to a comfortable car seat (thank Alena and Darren) it went past pretty fast.

Following arrival, friends met, chalet settled into, food eaten so it was off to go see the first of the bands. The main pavilion at Minehead is huge, and it’s sort of like a giant circus marquee with a ton of giant nipples sticking out of the top.

What a start with Melvins 1983 line up opening the proceedings on the main stage.  Didn’t get to see a lot but enjoyed what I did.

Following on from the Melvins was Big Business, a band I was really looking forward to seeing.  However upon entering the photo area I was told I had the wrong pass and had to then follow security down to press room to get it sorted.  A conversation later and back up to the main hall, gutted not to see the whole Big Business set, the sound was fantastic for the final 3 songs I did catch.  Sweet but short lived.

Eating at the chalet meant missing a few bands but my stomach was happier for it.

Next up the mighty mighty Torche.  They were simply awesome, The sound was big but not as big as the smile on Steve Brooks cowboy hat wearing face.  Crowd surfers a plenty this was the biggest crowd I’d seen Torche play to and they seemed to be loving every single minute of it.

First highlight of the festival over, it was off to go catch the last 10 minutes of The Locust.  Having previously seen them at the Mars Volta ATP a few years back it was clear a lot of the crowd had come to see them walking into a seriously packed main room.  Still blown away at Torche’s performance it was hard to get excited by their casio screaming madness and I just wished Torche had a longer set.

Isis, what should have been another huge highlight was ruined by the sound which was simply not loud enough.

White Noise, very interesting not my normal thing but if you are a fan of kraftwerk and don’t know them I’d suggest going and checking their pioneering electronic music out.

End of the last day but not before Porn played (with 2 drummers yes!).  Described by ATP themselves as “creating the aural equivalent of shooting heroin while peaking on blotter acid”.   SERIOUSLY did not disappoint with the biggest sub bass sound of the weekend  Playing beyond the lowest and heaviest of sounds they continue to push the envelope into bass noise experimentation much to the security guards amusement who were daring each other to go and stand in front of the PA stack which was moving everyones hair and clothes, making you think your ribcage was about to explode and shaking your eyeballs from their very sockets, F-ing awesome.

The following morning it soon became apparent that even with ear plugs standing in front of the PA stack for Porn’s whole set was not a good idea as I woke up with not a hangover but the mother of all way too loud sub bass headaches.  Thanks guys you still rule though.

Following some Saturday lunchtime bowling fun it was music time again and due to a few last minute changes Vocal Sampling who were due to open the second day had been switched to the Sunday with Bohren and Der Club Of Gore. Headache tablets had done nothing to shift Porn from inside my head but I wanted to see Bohren again.   As beautiful and soothing as their music is, it’s delicately balanced with yet more heavy as hell bass to counteract the smooth jazz saxophone.  Described by some journalists as Horror Jazz I think more of it as the soundtrack to Taxi Driver had David Lynch and Darren Aronovsky jointly directed.  I just wish they were on a little later when my headache had cleared.

More food, bit of arcade fun and time for Mastodon…..oh Mastodon it’s been I don’t know how many times that I’ve seen you live, too many to remember but I did not expect that set.  They took the stage and controlled it from start to finish.  Due to Bill Kelliher currently being in hospital (various reasons depending on which website you read) the sound was lacking at times and they did seem a little preoccupied but they seemed to step it up a gear to try and make up for the lack of second guitarist, it was a blinder set.  Drawing heavily on songs from Blood Mountain for the majority of their set with the obligatory March of the Fire Ants and finishing on Thin Lizzy’s Emerald (joined by their Irish roadie Paul).  Nothing however prepared me for their set the next day, read more about that later…

Butthole Surfers – not really my cup of tea, but it passed the time.

Fantomas opened with The Godfather and then continued to slay through the whole of Directors Cut from start to finish with Patton’s crazy as vocals sounding fantastic and backed with 2 drummers they ruled.  The Directors Cut works well on record but makes even more sense live, if you ever get to see Fantomas go, they do not disappoint live.

Outside we got hindered by a huge crowd all cheering someone or something.  Closer inspection revealed it to be Taraf De Haidouks who had decided to bring their set out from the second stage to the outside area.  Speaking to people I heard stories of the biggest pits of the weekend going down to their set inside.  Check out their myspace it must have been surreal, shame they were on the same time as Fantomas.

A break from music on the main stage followed with Neil Hamburger.  Maybe they didn’t get it but he seemed to piss off most of the crowd.  About a quarter found it the funniest thing ever whilst the remaining ¾ just looked on shocked as he repeatedly threw drinks at people in the audience and told jokes that were a little close to the bone.  Why did god event dominos pizza?  To punish mankind for it’s complacency at the holocaust?  What do you get if you cross a hockey mum and a pit bull terrier?  Apparently a downs syndrome child.  Clever stuff I think it went over quite a few peoples heads.

The godfather of noise Rahzel came on next, with his beatbox wizardry but suffered again from a bit of a quiet sound, though he did seem to enjoy making fun of Neil Hamburgers previous set much to the crowds amusement.  Very enjoyable though I finally got to see him do the bassline, melody and vocals without having to dash for a last train (damn those late running London shows!).

Squarepusher was one of the main none metal reasons for going to this ATP in the first place.  A ton of extra lights and screens were brought on stage and arguably one of the best living bass players and dance music creators took to the stage.  With a set lasting over an hour Squarepusher commanded the legion of remaining drunk, stoned, illegally enebriated or completely sober (very unlikely at this hour) fans into a frenzy of dancing through to the wee hours leaving a smile on everyone’s face that I saw leave the sweat drenched and messy main stage area at gone 3am.  Drawing mainly on stuff from his new album he did however manage to pull A Journey to Reedham out of the bag and make me very happy indeed.  AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME.

Sunday ah the last day, the weekend seemed to fly, Sunday had come around way too fast.  First up was James Blood Ulmer and what a great start to the (hungover) day.  His laid back one man blues show was the perfect start to prepare for the final day of a great ATP.  Next up Joe Lally (Fugazi) on second stage. A really great chilled set from Joe Lally but again the sound suffered a bit and it seemed very, very quiet crowd wise, maybe people were still in bed nursing hangovers.

Back to the chalet for more food meant missing Farmers market and Butthole surfers.  Arriving back having eaten I wanted to see Monotonix having heard their live show was pretty wild.  They were due on at 18.00, but upon my 18.10 arrival at second stage it seemed to be 1 in 1 out and there was a big queue so I went and checked out Fantomas for the second time that weekend.

Next up Mastodon but not before going and checking out 10 minutes of Dalek.  They sounded really good but having seen them before at previous ATP’s I wanted to go get in the main room ready for Mastodon again.

This set from Mastodon really was the highlight of the weekend this time.  Playing a similar set to the day before but then for the last but they ended up with a Mastodon/Melvins big band playing “The Bit” with 2 guitarists and even better, 3 (yes 3!) drummers.  Absolutely amazing made the long journey to minehead worth it on it’s own, I couldn’t have asked for more.

I was really looking forward to Black Heart Procession since sorting out going to ATP but they were just on at the wrong time.  Their chilled out piano led sound  simply lacked punch (obviously) following that Mastodon set.

Next up Ghostigital, I wasn’t sold but I think I was trying to get into it cause I didn’t want to go upstairs and face The Damned.  I some how missed most of Boss Hog mainly down to the flashy lights of the arcade machines.

Finally it was time for Double Negative, there’s a special band or a special gig that makes people travel far and wide and spend a lot of money getting there. Double Negative were that band at ATP.  There were a lot English at ATP over the weekend that I spoke to that had come just for that band.  There were Italians that friends had spoken to that had flown to the UK just for this band.  As soon as they started for our own security, I along with everyone else in the press photo area were removed quick sharpish.  A sea of crowd surfers had come to plonk themselves on our photo taking heads.  Out in the main area of the crowd it was the weirdest sight.  There was a mass of non hardcore fans going nuts to this awesome hardcore punk band.  There’s something you expect from a hardcore pit but this was different, no pile ons, no kickboxing, no really finger pointing to speak off, just drunk people running into each other looking like they were having the time of their lives.  It was rad but just too too short, finishing with a cover of Minor Threat’s Straightedge was kind of ironic looking at the state of everyone.  Shockingly good, I just wish they had more songs!

The weekend finished with a very late running main stage as when we got up their Kool Keith was still on and he was meant to have finished before Double Negative had started.  Again not my cup of tea.

Squarepusher once again entertained this time with a bit more of a mixed set including the crowd pleaser Come On My Selector. Finishing over an hour overdue at 4.20 am I walked my happy ass back to the chalet feeling satisfied at another extremely awesome ATP weekend. So to sum up this ATP it ruled.  If you are a drummer and didn’t go I’ve never seen so many bands plays with 2 (and 3) drummers in one weekend and the standard of every drummer was sick.  If you haven’t been before and you like good talented music I SERIOUSLY recommend heading to the next ATP.  Even if you only like a little bit of the line up.  You’ll find a ton of new bands that become firm favourites, make some new friends, and have a seriously great time way different to any camping festival. There’s also the other side of ATP that happens away from the bands, in the bars, and the chalets late at night, but that’s a whole different review all together, head to the next one and you’ll discover it for yourself…