Wickham Festival News

St. Vincent College Music Dept.

They will be performing at Wickham Festival 2022 on both Saturday and Sunday, showcasing the musical talents of students at St Vincent College in Gosport.

Steve Wickham & Joe Chester

Steve Wickham is recognised as Ireland’s premier rock fiddler since the mid-1980s. His distinctive playing has been a major contribution to the Waterboys groundbreaking records over the years. He will be performing at Wickham Festival 2022 on Friday 5th August with special guest Joe Chester. You can expect musical mischief, songs and tunes from both their repertoires.

Steve became a member of The Waterboys in 1985 shortly after playing on their seminal album “This is The Sea”. He continues to tour and record with Mike Scott and The Waterboys. Writing songs and music has always been part of his musical life. He continues to explore new musical territory composing for Film and Theatre and other eclectic projects, such as a crossover suite of music with Sligo Baroque Orchestra and Congolese soukous band ‘Tropicana Musica’.

He has recorded and performed with U2, Elvis Costello, Sinead O’Connor, Bob Dylan, Sharon Shannon and many other artists in the worlds of rock and traditional folk music. He made his recording debut with U2 in 1982 on their break through album, War, playing on “Sunday Bloody Sunday” and “Drowning Man”.

Steve also writes and records with world music group NoCrows. The ‘Crows’ have released six albums to date and continue to tour extensively.

He composed the score for Tom Mc Intyre’s plays ‘The Midnight Court’ and ‘Caoineadh Airt O’ Laoghaire’, both performed at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin. He also collaborated with Michael Harding on his plays ‘Bog Dances’ and ‘Sleeping a Lovesong’.

Steve scored the film ‘Witness to the Future’ (2016), and the documentary ‘Prisoners of the Moon’, both directed by Johnny Grogan.

The Saw Doctors

Celebrating 30 years of touring the UK, The Saw Doctors will play four major concerts in London, Leeds, Manchester and Glasgow at the end of this year. Before that they are performing at Wickham Festival on Friday 5th August 2022 in a UK Festival Exclusive. They haven’t played a UK Festival for almost 10 years so this is a real coup for us!

This will be the Irish band’s first visit to the UK in five years. Back in 2017 The Saw Doctors played sell out shows at London Shepherd’s Bush, Manchester Apollo and Glasgow Academy as part of a fifteen date UK tour.

“To quote John Belushi’s character Jake – ‘We’re putting the band back together’. What a relief it is to go playing live again after two years of Covid restrictions”
Leo Moran

Starting out playing in Galway pubs, The Saw Doctors were invited to tour with Mike Scott of The Waterboys, spending six weeks on the ‘Fisherman’s Blues’ tour in the UK in 1989. The Saw Doctors went from strength to strength when their second single ‘I Useta Lover’ spent nine weeks at Number One and became Ireland’s best-selling single of all time, outselling U2 and Sinéad O’Connor.

Over the years, The Saw Doctors have built up a reputation as an unmissable live band with sold out tours and an abundance of festival appearances, including Glastonbury & T in the Park. Famed for their unrelenting energy, a Saw Doctors live show is performed with as much passion and fervour today as at their small-town pub gigs 30 years ago.

“If The Saw Doctors could bottle the sort of bonhomie that can make an entire concert hall feel better, they would have the medicine show to end them all”
Paul Sexton, The Times

“The Saw Doctors are one of the great live bands”
Chris Evans

Blue Rose Code

Blue Rose Code AKA Ross Wilson, appearing on Friday 5th August 2022, was formed and soon started to get rave reviews for early live performances. Through 2009 and 2010 Blue Rose Code shared the stage with many celebrated writers including Bert Jansch, Kris Drever, King Creosote, John Renbourn and James Yorkston.

The debut album, North Ten, was released by Reveal Records (home to Lau, Joan As Police Woman, Kris Drever, Roddy Woomble etc) a perfect fit for an artist’s who’s debut features legendary bassist Danny Thompson (Kate Bush, John Martyn, Talk Talk etc). The first single from the album, ‘Julie’ was released on January 28th 2013. The ‘Julie’ E.P also features three exclusive non album recordings, including a cover of Gillian Welch’s ‘Everything Is Free’ (a song Blue Rose Code first aired live on a recent UK tour with label mates Lau).

The Mary Wallopers

The Mary Wallopers are a folk group from Dundalk, breathing new life into both well known & rare ballads. Travelling the length & breadth of the country singing & collecting songs, they exude a raw energy that could be described as the Clancy Brothers meet John Lydon.

“Isn’t there hope for the country with the mary wallopers in it”
Tommy Tiernan

“The Mary Wallopers’ trademark charm and irreverence is matched only by their staggering talent”
Hotpress

Chris Difford (“Squeeze”)

We are delighted to announce that Chris Difford, singer-songwriter and co-founder of Squeeze fame will be performing on Thursday 4th August 2022. Squeeze proved extremely popular at Wickham Festival 2018 so it is a real treat to welcome his return for 2022. He has written lyrics for over 40 years, of course most prominently in partnership with Glenn Tilbrook. The two were primary members in Squeeze and Difford & Tilbrook.

After the break-up of Squeeze in 1983 Difford continued writing songs for artists such as Elvis Costello, Helen Shapiro, Billy Bremner and Jools Holland. He has also written lyrics for music by Elton John and Wet Wet Wet amonst others. In 2017, Chris published his autobiography Some Fantastic Place: My Life In and Out of Squeeze.

Johnny Kalsi – DJ Set

Not only will our Festival patron Johnny Kalsi be appearing with The Dhol Foundation on Saturday, he’ll also be doing a DJ Set on Friday August 5th 2022.

Back in 2019 the wonderful Johnny Kalsi of The Dhol Foundation and The Afro Celt Sound System agreed to be our first-ever Festival Patron. Johnny has performed at Wickham in several guises over the years and says he loves our Festival.

Johnny commented:
After being associated with Wickham Festival for many years, it’s an honour to become the first Patron/Ambassador of this Incredible family festival that has been voted the best Family Festival in the UK. I feel proud to wave the Wickham Festival Flag and I sincerely hope to uphold the reputation of the festival as the “Face of Wickham Festival”.

Will Varley

Will Varley is a singer-songwriter, musician and visual artist. He is one of the founding members of the arts collective Smugglers Records. In 2011 he recorded his debut album ‘Advert Soundtracks’ with Smugglers, and then set out on the road and walked a hundred and thirty miles with a guitar and tent on his back. Starting the walking tour at London Bridge he headed south east, strolling through the rolling hills of the Kent wield and singing songs to whoever would listen. He slept in barns, camped at the side of canals and played gigs in the corner of crowded pubs. By the time he strolled back to deal, despite the blisters and the aching muscles, word of his album had begun to spread and he had many a story to tell.

Since then he has toured extensively across the world as a headline act and opened for the likes of Billy Bragg, The Dead South and The Proclaimers. He has headlined venues including Union Chapel and Shepherd’s Bush Empire.

His live performances have become more and more anarchic over the years. Audience interaction, surreal improvised comedy between songs and chaotic stunts like playing two songs at the same time are now more often than not included in his shows, though he will just as quickly deliver a melancholic and heartbreaking ballad or a fiery protest song as he will a shaggy dog story or an amusing talking blues.

Will’s songs have been covered by acts as diverse as The Pretty Things and Frank Turner. In recent years Will has co-written songs with numerous artists including Skin of Skunk Anansie and Shae Dupuy. His sixth studio album The Hole Around My Head was released in 2021.

Naomi Bedford & The Ramshackle Band

Naomi Bedford’s unique voice has long gathered support from all corners of the musical fraternity. Her emotive hybrid of plaintive British folk and high lonesome Americana has gained plaudits from such diverse artists as Peter Buck, Shirley Collins, Chris Difford, Linda Thompson, Iggy Pop and many others.

In a series of albums with musical partner Paul Simmonds (TMTCH), Naomi has forged a clear modern identity as both an interpreter and creator of folk song. Her last album Singing It All Back Home was a Guardian Folk Album of the Month and she is a previous BBC Folk Award nominee in Best Original Song category.

Her latest project, The Ramshackle Band, brings all her influences into a larger ensemble setting; a mix of Transatlantic Session and Country Fair revue. In the Ramshackle style, a rolling cast of musicians come together to create a vibrant celebration of both Bedford’s voice and the folk and country styles that she inhabits so authentically.

The Bullet Catchers

We are working on updating a profile for The Bullet Catchers!

The English Fiddle Ensemble

Four of England’s finest traditional fiddle players, Bryony Griffith, Jim Boyle, Ross Grant and Rosie Butler-Hall, have joined forces to create The English Fiddle Ensemble, bringing joyous harmonies and striking rhythms to traditional English tunes.

The Trouble Notes

To reduce cultural barriers, The Trouble Notes have made it their mission to create their own cultural universe. Their self-described “Acoustic Dance Music” is a unique blend of the genre that sits at the crossroads of the raw energy and organic instrumentation of Folk music and the modern sounds of contemporary rock, roots music, and new-age electronica.

It’s a sound informed by The Trouble Notes travels. The band spreads its message by building bridges across musical cultures in their own unique way.

The Berlin-based trio is composed of violinist Bennet Cerven, guitarist Florian Eisenschmidt, and percussionist Oliver Maguire. Hailing from different countries, each member of the group brings a different musical training and perspective to the band.

Since their formation in 2013, the trio has performed at some of Europe’s largest festivals and videos of their performances have been viewed more than 100 million times on social media. They have scored multiple award-winning films including Als Paul über das Meer kam and Carracci: La Rivoluzione Silenziosa and have toured in support of the Grammy-winning artists America & Rodrigo y Gabriela.

Everyone that joins the universe of The Trouble Notes remains a part of it and often morphs from a normal concertgoer into a true Troublemaker-sharing in the journey of the group.

Admiral Fallow

Admiral Fallow are a band from Glasgow with four beautifully diverse albums to their name: Boots Met My Face (2011), Tree Bursts In Snow (2012), Tiny Rewards (2015), and The Idea Of You (2021). In 2018 they developed an ambitious new opera, Navigate The Blood (co-written with Gareth Williams and Sian Evans).

The Idea Of You (out now on Chemikal Underground) can be Streamed / downloaded here.

Purchase from Chemikal or Bandcamp (includes T-shirts, tote bags and electric blue vinyl).

Admiral Fallow’s line-up consists of:

Louis Abbott – vocals, guitars
Kevin Brolly – clarinet, keyboards, vocals, percussion
Philip Hague – drums, percussion, vocals
Sarah Hayes – flute, piano, accordion, vocals
Joe Rattray – bass, vocals

Swill Odgers

Phil ‘Swill’ Odgers is one half of the legendary joint vocal strike force of UK folk rebel rockers TMTCH. Audiences around the world from Cairo to Reykjavik, Brisbane to Vancouver and Berlin to London have submitted to his effervescent and heartfelt vocal style in stadium, theatre, hall and after hours lock in.

His writing style tells life stories with a conscience and a heart and he addresses political issues of inequality, unfairness and a political system that rewards the rich and penalises the poor.

Yves Lambert Trio

Yves Lambert is well known for his charisma and generosity on stage, and is considered a reference point when it comes to Québécois folk music. Certain Québécois critics even regard him as a guiding light on the whole subject of Québec’s cultural heritage. Through his long-time association with the band La Bottine Souriante, Yves Lambert was a founding member and pillar of the group from 1976 to 2002. For the past 40 years M. Lambert has been a driving force in giving traditional music the place that it deserves beyond the Québec and Canadian borders. From 2002 to 2021 Yves Lambert released 7 albums, earned 3 Album Traditional of the Year at ADISQ, Group of the Year at the 2008 Canadian Folk Music Awards and Singer of the Year at the 2010 Canadian Folk Music Awards. For his last release “Lâche moi l’tordeur” in November 2021, Alexandre Vigneault, Canadian journalist from La Presse, called him “a National treasure”.

In 2022 he was awarded the “Order of Canada” for his role in the revival, modernization and promotion of traditional French-Canadian music.