In the beautiful setting of the grounds of Mount Ephraim House deep in the ‘Garden of England’, A New Day Festival has always intrigued me with some impressive line ups, mainly, though not exclusively, featuring classic bands from the seventies, or with links to that era.

For various reasons it always seemed to clash, but this year I attended for the first time as flight chaos meant this was a good year to have a staycation- of which this was the middle of three weekends spent at festivals in different parts of the country- North-West, East and South.

The festival originally started as an offshoot of the long-running Jethro Tull fanzine of the same name, fittingly in view of this year’s headline act, but has become a significant event in its own right.

Friends had spoken highly of the festival before and it is easy to see why. There were no clashes between two adjacent stages (though I could quibble at the relatively short 70-75 minute time slots from the headliners), it generally ran to time, and was friendly with a laid back vibe as you would expect with a mainly older clientele. The organisers know their market as revealed by the extensive stalls – real ale and secondhand vinyl for the chaps, bohemian hippie-inspired clothing for the ladies.

DAY 1- TEN YEARS AFTER, STRAY, JETHRO TULL, HUGH CORNWELL, HEAVY METAL KIDS

Originally I’d hoped to arrive in time for the John Verity Band. Unfortunately I was already running late, cabs were near impossible to get in Faversham and a surly bus driver took some of us in a wrong direction. Eventually after my partner and I arrived on site and made our way to the ‘glamping’ station, I could hear the former Argent man ending his set with souped up covers of ‘Purple Haze’ and ‘Rocky Mountain Way’.

The second stage boasted one of the best festival vantage points imaginable, from a terraced balcony in the gardens backing onto the festival site. It was from there that I caught my first significant action with the Heavy Metal Kids. One of those cult seventies acts- who still boast two original members in drummer Keith Boyce and guitarist ‘Cosmo’- latest singer Simon Gordon was a fine vocalist and frontman.

Their name (from a novel by William S Burroughs and apparently considered for Free originally) has always failed the Trade Descriptions Act. I’d considered the original Gary Holton fronted band a bridge between glam and punk in the seventies but this particular line up had a classic but slightly quirky sound pitched somewhere between UFO and Mott the Hoople.

‘Blow It All Away’ and ‘A Hundred Skeletons’, with beefy Hammond organ from Andy Fuller, were particularly impressive, then after ‘Hit The Right Button’ and ‘Chelsea Kids’, they stretched out more and showed that classic side in ‘The Big Fire’, a slow burner with an epic guitar solo from Cosmo and a cover of ‘Rock Candy’, before in spikier fashion, ‘Ain’t Nothing But a House Party’ and their trademark ‘She’s No Angel’ ended a surprisingly impressive set.

Of course no festival is perfect and moving to the main stage for Hugh Cornwell, I realised the biggest blot on an otherwise excellent festival layout was a stage that was slightly sunken with the effect that, other than for those right at the front, band members appeared about two and a half feet tall and chopped off below the torso.

Despite it being over 30 years since he left the Stranglers, he knew what a festival crowd (including myself) would be interested in, so, opening with ‘Duchess’, there was a regular selection of old Stranglers numbers dotted among solo numbers- ‘Hanging Around’. ‘Strange Little Girl’ (my favourite), ‘Skin Deep’, ‘Always The Sun’ and ‘Five Minutes’ among others.

He closed with ‘Walk On By’, featuring the one lengthy jam of the set. Somewhat surprisingly the set omitted ‘No More Heroes’ or ‘Golden Brown’, but I guess there are certain songs that shouldn’t be attempted with a three piece and no keyboards.

Without doubt Jethro Tull were the biggest draw of the weekend – the crowd on the first day significantly swelled by a number of day trippers – but despite being nominal headliners, they came on stage in the early evening. I’d heard dire things about Ian Anderson’s voice including from devoted Tull fans who would refuse to see him – on the other hand an unexpected new album ‘The Zealot Gene’ was critically acclaimed earlier this year. In truth, it was substantially thinner and reedier than in his heyday but still recognisably his – plus at 75 allowances need to be made.

Initially, the set was vaguely chronological opening with early songs such as ‘For a Thousand Mothers’ and ‘Love Story’, characterised by short bursts of his trademark flute playing off guitarist Joe Parrish-James and keyboard player John O’Hara. That meant ‘Living In The Past’ came surprisingly early in the set, true to form but with a few minor improvisations on the theme.

Those early eighties days where Tull sought to update their sound were represented by the Gaelic feel of ‘Clasp’ and ‘Black Sunday’ with some band jamming and Joe sharing the vocal load with Ian. It seemed odd though to see’ Bourree’ being performed without Martin Barre.

Old favourites ‘Too Old To Rock’n’Roll, Too Young To Die’ and a lengthy ‘Songs In The Wood’ where the band really hit their stride sandwiched just a solitary (and very good) number from ‘The Zealot Gene’ in ‘Mrs Tibbets’, a reference to the mother of the pilot of the Enola Gay.

A short set which had flown by ended with those two ‘Aqualung’ classics with the signature Tull sounds in the title track and ‘Locomotive Breath’, both with extended intros and improvised jams, the latter segueing into an instrumental that seemed to be modelled on the ‘Dambuster’s March’ (well, Shepherd Neame Brewery, famous for its war themed adverts for ‘Spitfire’ ale, is in the town). It may not have been vintage Tull but with opportunities to see them probably running out, it was still a memorable show.

If Ian Anderson and Tull are household names, Stray and guitarist and band leader Del Bromham would also be, on talent alone but have had to make do with cult status. Closing out the second stage they opened with ‘Pretty Things’ with second guitarist Pete Dyer on vocals, though Del took the majority, beginning with a seventies classic in ‘Jericho’.

Now expanded to a five piece line up with Simon Rinaldi’s keys adding colour, they have had a new lease of life in recent years and even played a couple of new songs from a forthcoming album: ‘Living The Dream’ had commercial appeal including a snatch of harmony guitar while ‘Black Sun’ showed a remarkably fresh heaviness.

Good though they were, they were eclipsed by a couple of memorable oldies- ‘I Believe It’ with its catchy call-and-response chorus but giving Del scope for a quite superb lengthy solo as the song probably got expanded to around the nine minute mark; and ‘After The Storm’, with a massive riff and some furious soloing.

However I sensed they had got rather carried away, and with less than an hour to play with in a set, we only had time for a couple more numbers in ‘Houdini’ – Pete reprising his tenure as lead singer in the mid seventies band line up – and the undoubted Stray classic ‘All In Your Mind’, ending with Del’s party piece, leaving a feedback-squealing guitar suspended in the stage rigging.

Ten Years After, even if not official headliners, ended up closing the first night’s action. Their appearances are rare in the UK, yet this was a treat for me (and a second this year) as they played the 100 Club in January. As on that occasion they nodded to the relatively present day by opening with ‘Land Of The Vandal’ with a more contemporary feel and excellent lead guitar and vocal work by Marcus Bonfanti, the latest to fulfil the impossible task of filling Alvin Lee’s shoes. He even played harmonica on the more conventionally bluesy ‘One Of These Days’.

Their material was always a bit patchy but three undoubted classics followed in quick succession- ‘Hear Me Calling’ saw Chick Churchill, a frail figure these days, showing the old magic was still there with some electric piano wizardry mid song; ‘I’d Love To Change The World’ mixed folksiness and the sentiments of the era with some furious guitar work; and ‘Love Like A Man’ saw them jam around that hypnotic heavy riff.

The newer ‘Silver Spoon Lady’, a typical piece of TYA boogie, was surprisingly good but, however well founder member Ric Lee is still playing at 76, his drum solo ‘Hobbit’ seemed an indulgence too far given time constraints.

The old standard ‘Good Morning Little Schoolgirl’ (let’s ignore these lyrics shall we! ) saw some great jamming particularly between Marcus and Colin Hodgkinson, the left handed bassist (and briefly Whitesnake member!) happily restored to action after an injury caused him to miss that winter show. ’I Say Yeah’ featured some crowd participation before ‘I’m Going Home’, complete with its rock and roll medley, saw Marcus replicating those rapid fire Alvin Lee licks in style. Time ran out so we were deprived of an encore but the band earned extra credit by staying out on a cold night to meet and greet fans.

DAY 2 – FOCUS, COLOSSEUM

Much of the second day consisted largely of a B-list of prog and folk bands, and these not being my favourite genres, daytime consisted instead of an escape from the festival site to the picture postcard historic market town of Faversham. However I watched from early evening onwards, starting with Colosseum. Despite being aware of the pedigree of the band members both past and present, I was not familiar with their material at all.

However acting on a tip off from a friend I was very glad I did, as the set was very listenable, much of it taken from brand new album ‘Restoration’ such as ‘No Pleasing’ and ‘Story Of The Blues’. Chris ‘Out of Time’ Farlowe may be a hunched figure these days, but that arresting R&B voice is still in fine fettle at 82, and apparently a song ‘Need Somebody’ was written especially with him in mind.

Their jazzy feel, with sax player Kim Nishikawara prominent, reminded me at times of early Chicago, mixed with a little Hammond-driven vintage Uriah Heep. Older progressive numbers like ‘Valentyne Suite’ tended to be longer jams with intuitive playing from understated guitarist Clem Clempson and bassist Mark Clarke, the latter boasting an enviably thick mane of hair. An encore of the 14 minute epic ‘Lost Angeles’ (sic) ended a pleasant surprise of a set and made me want to educate myself further.

I didn’t bother with Edgar Broughton’s acoustic set which was the second stage headline, though gathered second hand the delivery was depressing to say the least, focusing instead on getting one of the very few good vantage points at the front of the main stage for the headliners.

From looking at T-shirts of previous festivals there were a number of recurring names, none more so than Focus, who one of the announcers described as A New Day’s house band. It also meant that in successive nights we enjoyed perhaps the two most famous flautists in rock (pace James Galway and his hit rendition of ‘Annie’s Song’).

With Dickensian looking band leader Thijs Van Leer and drummer Pierre van der Linden still there from their seventies heyday, there were no surprises from a band who tour regularly, with a largely instrumental sound other than scat singing and musical interchanges, particularly between Thijs and seriously talented guitarist Menno Gootjes, a worthy successor to Jan Akkerman.

Lengthy songs like opener ‘Focus 1’ and ‘Eruption’ were broken up by shorter songs with as usual the highlights for me being ‘House Of The King’, with Thijs playing that memorable flute melody line, and ‘Sylvia’ with his organ feeding off Menno’s fluid guitar runs.

People hung on every word of that deep Dutch voice, especially when he paid tribute to recently departed former bassist Bert Ruiter with a downbeat instrumental ‘For Bert’. Inevitably the brilliantly bonkers ‘Hocus Pocus’ was the centrepiece of the set although while yodelling Thijs left the higher notes either to the crowd or to Menno to replicate on guitar. The latter’s solos also had an unexpectedly heavy raggedness to them. An encore of ‘Focus 3’ ended a predictable but excellent set.

DAY 3 – ATOMIC ROOSTER, SKINNY MOLLY, SWEET, DEBORAH BONHAM BAND

The third day was a good demonstration of the eclectic musical nature of the festival. World music – from N’Famady Kouyate – and even punk with the Ides of Sedition and Department S sat alongside more predictable festival picks, such as the current version of the Groundhogs led by drummer Ken Pustelnik. Surprisingly though the festival had relatively little blues rock, something that was rectified in style with Deborah Bonham and her band.

The genial rock royal family member played a number of songs from her new album, released under the Bonham Bullick moniker, and after an unspectacular start the set was a real grower as I found myself more and more impressed by the musicianship from each band member. When not coaxing every ounce of soul out of his Les Paul, guitarist Peter Bullick switched to mandolin and slide on ‘Feel So Alive’ and the same instruments featured prominently on ‘Fly’.

There was a moving moment when Deborah Introduced a Ukrainian family they had taken in, who were present in the crowd making the ballad ‘Painbirds’ (I think!) a poignant one.

In a diverse set, slower songs like that, ‘Bleeding Muddy Water’ and ‘No Angel’ were probably a better showcase for her voice which was a tad swamped on the rockier numbers, though ‘Grace’ saw the band in an excellent rocking groove with the drumming of Rich Newman mixing power and subtlety. Her band were chosen to back Paul Rodgers on his ‘Free Spirit’ tour, reflecting the choice of final song, Ian Rowley doing justice to Andy Fraser’s unique bass work on a cover of ‘Mr Big’.

For the second time in three days, the nominal headliners Sweet came on third from last in the early evening sun, to accommodate the fact one band member had a hospital procedure the next morning. Indeed they were faced by adversity, as their gear arrived late and bassist Lee Small was away at a family wedding. He was very ably replaced by Andy Scott’s guitar tech Adam, even though he opted out of those trademark Sweet high harmonies, with the rest of the band covering.

Opener ‘Action’ (in which surprisingly keyboardist/second guitarist Tom Cary played the solo) and ‘Hellraiser’ had those in abundance, but also showed just how well singer Paul Manzi has fitted in the band, utterly in command of the stage and with a great vocal range. Yet ‘The Six Teens’, one of my favourite Sweet songs proved there was substance behind that over-the-top, high camp glam image in the seventies.

A less than full length set was truncated even further by their equipment difficulties so I was expecting it to be restricted to the hit singles. I was therefore chuffed to hear a contrasting pair of songs – the lush melodic harmonies of AOR-ish recent release ‘Everything’, and ‘Set Me Free’ with Andy playing that gargantuan riff, then his party piece of using a baked bean can to play the slide guitar solo. On a lighter note Paul hammed things up to get the crowd up to join in on ‘Teenage Rampage’, while ‘Wig Wam Bam’ and ‘Little Willy’ had people jumping around in a great seventies party.

They say it’s an ill wind that blows nobody any good, and one consequence of cutting the set was that the superb ‘Love Is Like Oxygen’ was not diluted by the usual insert of ‘Fanfare For The Common Man’, Andy with a wave of a hand mid song indicating the band should skip it. From there on in it was fun all the way with ‘Fox On The Run’ with a brief twin lead break between Andy and Tom, and Andy lending the high pitched interjections to ‘Blockbuster’ and ‘Ballroom Blitz’.

This Sweet line up has breathed fresh life into their seventies classics, and delivered my favourite set of the weekend – certainly the energy levels were easily the highest and even those of a more musically snobbish bent were hopefully converted.

Skinny Molly, who closed out the second stage, were a slightly odd choice of band with less of a long pedigree than many of the other bands. It’s now about 18 years since I saw them in their early days when they still featured Dave Hlubek before his return to Molly Hatchet, hence the name. Band leader Mike Estes meanwhile I always assumed was happy to trade off his relatively brief tenure in a 1990s version of Lynyrd Skynyrd.

It was therefore something of a surprise that most of the opening songs including ‘Here For A Good Time’ and ‘Snakebit’ were originals, southern rock with a hint of outlaw country, gruffly sung by Mike and with a sense of humour (example ‘When the Going Gets Tough, The Tough Go Fishing’). Indeed the first cover wasn’t even Skynyrd but Steve Earle’s ‘Copperhead Road’.

His jovial guitar partner Jay Johnson was also a member of post-peak Blackfoot and sang lead on a song of theirs, after a fashion, the cover of ‘Wishing Well’ before at long last the Skynryd favourites a party hardy crowd wanted to hear, ‘Call Me the Breeze’ and ‘Sweet Home Alabama’. Given the originals benefit from a third guitarist and pianist, I thought these versions were remarkably good.

Even then they slipped in an original, ‘Better Than I Should’ , before after some trepidation a 12 minute version of ‘Freebird’ only strengthened that assessment , Jay taking the lead on the slow and Mike the fast part. As a previous sceptic, overall their set was something of a revelation.

So even though not officially headliners, it was appropriate that another iconic name from rock’s illustrious past in Atomic Rooster closed the set. Sadly none of their classic trio are still alive, but the current incarnation, which has been going for a few years now, features two who passed through the revolving door of their early seventies line-ups: Peter French who still has a fine voice at 73 and can carry off the tailcoat and leather trousers rock star look, and guitarist (and Kent resident) Steve ‘Boltz’ Bolton, boasting an extravagant quiff.

Songs like opener ‘Sleeping For Years’ and ‘Save Me/Friday 13^th’ epitomise the classic sound at the point at the turn of the seventies as psychedlia evolved into heavy rock. There was great interplay between Boltz’ guitar and the prominent Hammond organ playing of the talented Ross Munro, swishing his hair as he attacked his keyboards with gusto.

Peter fairly spat out the lyrics to ‘Can’t Take It No More’ while ‘Black Snake’ had a moodiness in its arrangement, and the instrumental ‘Vug’ showed off the talents of the band, including bassist ‘Shug’ Milledge and an outstanding drummer in Paul Everett.

The set became more accessible with ‘Don’t Lose Your Mind’, ‘Break The Ice’, with its ‘I’m The One’ chorus, and ‘Tomorrow Night’, brought to the tidiest of conclusions by Pete, while the full range of the original band’s material was shown back to back with the proto metal of the dark riff of ‘Death Walks Behind You’ and ‘Decision/Indecision’ showing their reflective side.

The one oddity- and again presumably a victim of time constraints – was that their big hit ‘Devil’s Answer’ was omitted. instead as we headed towards a close the jamming on ‘Breakthrough’ was quite brilliant, before – reflecting founder Vincent Crane’s stint with Arthur Brown – a cover of ‘Fire’, one of the seminal songs of the era that A New Day pays tribute to.

It’s not hard to see why this relaxed festival has inspired a large and loyal following – and the best acts of the weekend reminded us that the late sixties and early seventies really were the golden era for rock music. We are lucky to still be reminded of that, in the hands of the gradually declining in number, yet still masterful, veterans from those days.

Review and Photos by Andy Nathan

Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK

Since early 2020 Josh has been entertaining us with exclusive monthly live sessions, streamed via Facebook.
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Power Plays w/c 15 April 2024

ENMY The Ledge (FiXT)
KAROBELA Get Hard (indie)
KATH & THE KICKS Neptune (indie)
THE BEE TELLERS River Poem (Black Sand Records)
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09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003-2023
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