GLASTONBURY 2010

So heres a story for you.....

a few weeks ago i was told that the tent we were playing in at Glastonbury had pulled out of the festival, which meant we had no means of playing at the festival...bummer when you have been booked for months already. However to make it even worse we had a gig in a place called the "rabbit hole" in the festival.... which is a funky psychedelic tent run by some forward thinking music and festival lovers.... unfortunately this tent only books bands who are already at the festival and does not give wristband allocations....

Basically WATP were fucked...

A day before the festival... sat there feeling sorry for ourselves... me and some very cool people (KEO, Rallentando and Westy) decided we were not going to take no for an answer and the biggest and best festival in the world needed our presence... or more-so we needed it's presence... so we got in the car on tuesday and decided to go and break in...

everybody advised us against it...

so we obviously went....

with just a jacket each (please be sunny please be sunny)

no tents (please don't rain please don't rain)

and our guitars.

Upon arrival a lovely fellow heard us jamming outside the superfence (not climbable) and asked if we had tickets... we said no... he walked us in... easy peasy lemon squeasy...

WE WERE IN!!!!

The weather was hot... and we had a gig booked tomorrow (upon turning up at the rabbit hole they let us in and stored our instruments, and gave us a lovely cold beer, thats more like it)

24 hours to our gig.... only one thing to do really... get quite drunk! i think i got too drunk... because at about 6am on friday morning i was stumbling around alone and asked to show my wristband (which i didn't have)... i tried running but was rugby tackled by a big polish man to the floor and thrown outside the gates.... my world had turned upside down very quickly...

i realised my phone had ran out of battery and this was going to be difficult!!! The beers had gone to my head and i fell asleep in a random field on my face...

Bad idea

i woke up 5 hours later with a very red back (should have kept my shirt on) and most importantly... on the wrong side of the fence....

I met a load of interesting characters in the barrow-lands... all trying to devise clever plans of how to get to the promised land where the grass was undoubtedly greener!! Talk of hooks and ropes to climb the fence and bolt in.. we spoke of hiding in suitcases (someone did that and got in).. we spoke of jet packs... the list goes on... but it was VERY hot and i was burning and in need of water and a cuddle. My luck was running out..

then my leg started vibrating and i realised i had Kate's phone in my pocket.. and someone was calling me!!! amazing!!! I picked up... and.... yes.... it ran out of battery!!

The first thing i did was walk and walk to see if i could find a charger....

The funny part of this all is i met people working as stewards and security who knew my band and couldn't believe i had been kicked out... it was rather ironic that i was sat signing autographs and taking pictures with people who had seen us last year... but couldn't get in for love nor money.... anyway in the end i found a charger and managed to arrange a little plan... someone very kind came out and got me in... the feeling was second to none.. literally like arriving in heaven after a long intense questioning at the big golden gates with the man with a white beard.... beautiful...

the gig happened and was cracking.. so many of the hi visibility jackets i had spoken to on the outside and said "6pm at the rabbit hole.. be there or be square!!" were actually there and it was a proper moment... the band was shambolic (in fact 2 new members were just people who i knew in the festival... half my band were not there... but it rocked) we had some fans there, we sold some CDs.. we spent the money on silly things like massive hats and weaved jackets and corn on the cob... it was a massive success..

So i guess i feel now like we achieved something... we said no to not having tickets and just WENT.... if someone says no and you want something badly.. just go and get it!! This year at Glastonbury was piping hot and literally how i dreamed it to be when i first imagined the biggest festival in the world with all of the best music from around the globe... It was my heaven and i think it is the best thing mankind has ever come up with...

Man that is the 60's... it really is.... who was at glastonbury this year??? you will know what i mean.... comment on this if you were and tell me your experience was shared with mine!!???

I am going every year... because id be a fool to miss out... I hadn't ever been to a festival until last year.... and i caught up 20 years in 4 days this year.. my legs are jelly and my face is brown... i am ready to take on the world!!

GO TO GLASTONBURY EVERYBODY!!!!!

Oh and Stevie Wonder was MAGICALLY romantic...

I love you

Will

stories...and eventually an album...

So…. I guess I always thought… why don’t I have a story? Maybe I do and I don’t know it… or maybe taking it all with a pinch of salt is just part of growing up.

The truth is I still don’t feel, compared to the people and cultures that inspire me, that I have what I would consider to be an interesting story… but what I do have is an endless list of people I have met and instantly become lost with in the world of music, whether it be fellow musicians/friends, other bands, producers or managers… record industry people… or maybe just people from a far away land who have nothing in common with me but everything to teach and learn.

The truth is I love meeting people, hence the name of my band. I dive in and out of other people’s worlds and feel I learn something every time. The musicians I meet carry me around. We play and travel together… it’s like we are on a little cloud which will float anywhere at any speed we want and it fucking rocks my little world. This is such a perfect situation for me, and that’s why I would like to keep doing this for the rest of my life. And some other stuff like it.

The other true fact I have realized is that people who love music just because they get lost in it, or it makes the hairs stand up on the back of their necks, or because it makes them dance for hours on end, even just a minute at a time it doesn’t matter because it is basically magic. It changes everything. People like that make me want to smile, have fun and live. The problem is that lots of people see music for the business that it is, and… well they want to make money… which is obvious and to be honest very understandable… however it is done at the mercy of the real artists, and it has created a very fake world filled with sharks and cretins who know nothing about the music industry as it is in it’s current state… they have too much money to learn about it too…

So…. That is how I see things at the moment. Be it right or wrong.

But that is so totally overshadowed by the people who love music and laugh with it… so thank you to those people!! From the bottom of my heart!

Oh also you can get my album now from www.baggytrousermusic.com

Please order one I will send it to you... it’s like modern day car boot selling… BUT… and there is always a but… Bradley Knowell the deceased singer of an amazing band called “Sublime” sold 60 000 copies of his album from the boot of his car… music works in wonderful ways… please do tell your friends!

Love

Will

Fucking Great Music

Well a fan has just informed me of a singer called selah sue....

Well this is why i love music... such a raw young talent... and she inspires me to come out to europe...

No offence England, and this is not a complete generalisation because some of us really do get it......

but out in europe they don't associate reggae/ska music with "sitting sown and smokin a spliff mun"

They associate it with Dancing, Dancehall, Ragga, And dubstep/ club culture... which means they associate it with partying... which means they REALLY appreciate the skankers.. which means twice as many people travel miles to see reggae influenced acts play all over Europe, which means its a part of culture (i will add it is meant to be/ supposedly is a HUGE part of British culture - but we are more interested in reliving the 80's at the moment... only with plant food and superheroes.... instead of cocaine and Bowie) which means that WATP are really being idiots not playing out in Europe....

So i just wanted to let you all know we are working arranging a tour asap... the album will be available very soon and we will be playing shows in Europe because... well we would just be idiots not to!!!

Anyway....

My favourite song in the world is "Chances are" by Bob Marley.....

It has this sense of longing that matches my head... longing to play to all the people who send me messages saying they appreciate my music... and a longing to travel the world and watch people sing back to me with the same look on their face as me... those moments when we are all in each others heads.. they are the best moments in the world...

Chances are what keeps me going...

I may have the chance to play to you one day again....

I may have the chance to speak reality.

I may have the chance to love..

I may have the chance to die a happy man...

i amy have the chance to build my own house..

I may have the chance to write a song which changes the mood..

I may have a chance to have lots of children and watch them grow...

Who the fuck knows...

But i am going to CREATE a chance to come out to Europe and play... because thats right at the front of my head at the moment..

i really do love you....

Will x