CELEBRATE HALTON MUSIC WEEKEND 6
On the 4th of September, at roughly 6:30 pm, I ushered myself out of my dad’s car, arriving at The Studio into a bout of pre-gig gardening in preparation for the arrival of the public. My main objectives were thus: listen, dance and litter-pick. As I moved inside to see bands crowding the stage with equipment, I began to scout the scene with my good friend Ez, looking out for faces we would later see under limelight – it just happened that he knew a good few of them, and as we had time to kill, we thought, what else is there to do but shoot the breeze?
Around 7 O’clock, Ike Thomas enters the building, and greets us with a grin. He bears an acoustic guitar across his back, and is one of the coolest, kindest people you’ll ever meet – Ez regales his music, so I know it must be good. Next to arrive is psych-pop duo Seagoth, struggling to transport an expansive pedalboard and bass to the stage - we spoke to them at length somewhere else in this issue; they’re brilliant, they’re touring, and they’re bloody lovely people! People are starting to pile in about now – we catch glimpses of Man &The Echo, at this point lugging a keyboard onstage, and I’m taken aback by just how professional they come across. With headliners A Certain Ratio waiting out of sight, anticipation is steadily building. First to take the stage is Ike, and he’s just as brilliant as Ez described him – in fact, he was better than I could’ve expected. Ez likened his song ‘The Haunted’ to “your heart getting home after a long day’s work and putting its feet up with a cup of tea”, and I think that’s a brilliant analogy for all of Ike’s music – he writes the songs you wish you could’ve once you’ve already failed to pen them. Seagoth were on next, and as the bass kicked in on “Internet Café”, I knew it was time that people started dancing.
