The first music festival we ever gave away ice cream at was the third US installment of All Tomorrows Parties in my hometown of Long Beach, CA. It was November of 2004 and a few months before that was when we threw the first annual Ice Cream Social in Ashland, Oregon which started the mission to give away tons of free cream. At the time we were still figuring out how to afford to give away free ice cream. We pulled Bessie into the middle of the festival and setup shop a few hundred yards back from center stage so we could see and hear all the bands playing the main stage. We sold ice cream to the attendees for a buck or two and made some signs to put up backstage that said, Free ice cream at the ice cream truck for all artists and crew. Throughout the weekend the term crew grew to include anyone that was helping to make the festival happen and thats when we realized our calling. After all was said and done, we sold enough cream to pay for what we gave away and my friends and I got to rock out to dozens of bands for free.
So, as you can imagine, I have a soft spot in my heart for all things ATP. That was the last time they did an event in America until they brought their Dont Look Back series to the Friday before Pitchfork Fest in Chicago last year. The series features bands performing seminal albums in their entirety live. Slint played Spiderland, GZA did Liquid Swords, and the headliners were Sonic Youth rocking Daydream Nation. Ticket prices were super cheap and 10,000 fans came out for the this once in a lifetime event. Pitchfork Festival is one of my favorites and we continued to sling cream all weekend. Eventually I met Deborah and Barry with ATP and they invited me to sling cream in England. Hot diggity dog!
Flash forward about a year and sure enough, Im in England and driving down to Pontins Resort in Camber Sands. The great news was I was HERE. The bad news was our budget got cut right before I left the states and wasnt able to afford to purchase a ton of ice cream to give away. I emailed Deborah and mentioned Id be willing to help work or, if they had a waiting list, they could sell our room. Lucky for Seb, Zaida, and I, Deborah said, Dont be silly, come down and have a good time. Hence the start of Ice Cream Mans first European Vacation.
Pontins consists of over 600 chalets which resemble summer camp accommodations at a beach side resort. In the middle lies the extra large Central Facilities which houses two stages, the Queen Victoria pub, and an arcade. Upstairs is the main stage which can prolly hold all 3000 people in attendance. The secondary stage downstairs is roughly half the size and the set times were staggered so that from two or 3 in the afternoon until 1 in the morning, there was always live music going on. This is similar to other music festivals but the bill, curated by Pitchfork and ATP, didnt have any filler. This made it hard to find time to relax or head to the beach for a sun or swim.
Im staying with my friend Lizzie in London and her two friends Seb and Zaida were set to accompany me for the weekend. Sebs a photographer so he would be shooting and Zaidas job was to have a good time. Since they both had to work on Friday we got a bit of a late start and didnt arrive at Pontins til Ween was most of the way through their two and a half hour set. Id recently been a lil sick and on some antibiotics so drinking all weekend wasnt going to be my form of partying. Instead, I decided I was going to dance more than I ever had before. I quickly learned that dancing in England was much more common than in the US. The dance party setup had DJs spinning in the pub and on the second stage. Two of the guys from Hot Chip took the stage around one-ish and kept the party going til four or five in the morning. Seb, Zaida, and I were all getting down in front of the speaker and we met up with Damian, a young skinny kid whose dance moves couldnt help but make us smile. By the time we got back to our Chalet that night the sun was coming up and it was time for me to turn in.
The ATP staff took great care of us and the next morn we had meal tickets that allowed us to get some brunch from some of the best catering Ive ever had at a festival. We werent able to sling the thousands of creams to the masses like Id hoped but that didnt keep us from kicking down at least a few dozen to the production crew, caterers, and some of the artists. We headed over to the onsite market and filled up an empty Stella box with a bunch of treats then headed back to the artist and production area. Dave from Ween was chillin outside his chalet and was one of the first takers. Some people on the second floor saw the treats and I started tossing some up for them. A few minutes later everything was gone and I headed back to our chalet to get set for the day.
Yet another cool thing about ATP is that they take over two TV channels. ATP programs one and Pitchfork did the other. While relaxing on the couch I got sucked into the American Hardcore movie about the history of US punk rock from 1980-1986. I didnt have a clock and ended up missing the first half of Times New Viking which was one of the bands I wanted to see most. Since there were no bands playing upstairs at the time the bottom room was packed full and I squeeeezed in up against the back wall for the last few songs. They sounded amazing and missing the first half of their set was my biggest uh. only regret of the weekend.
Bon Iver, one of the many Pitchfork darlings on the bill, doesnt even have an album out in the UK yet the main room was near packed for their set. Their slow-building ethereal tunes were perfect to start things off upstairs. Its hard to believe they are only a three piece with so much sound and harmonies going on. I woulda liked to stick around for their whole set but Born Ruffians was playing downstairs and I wanted to be front and center for that. Their new album, Red, Yellow, and Blue is possibly the album Ive listened to most this year. Similar to Bon Iver, the album still hadnt been released in the UK though. So, I was the mad American singing along. This was when the dance party, that ended around 5 in the morn, started for me. Born Ruffs set was a lil roller coastery but by the time they got to the two closing numbers, Hummingbird and I Need A Life, most everyone up front was getting down.
Time flies when youre having fun. We wanted to be sure not to miss out on dinner so after Los Campesinos played upstairs we met back at the chalet then I filled up on turkey schnitzel and raspberry sponge cake with coconut and hot custard before getting back to rock. I was so excited about the night to come, I wasnt really paying attention to anything else. With a full stomach, I added a cup of coffee to get me going a bit. Then, right after that ordered a pint of Guinness before heading upstairs for Les Savy Fav. As soon as the music started all I wanted to do was dance so I pounded the Guinness then jumped in the pit. I felt a bit like Lard Ass in Stand by Me as my stomach rumbled. Of course LSF were great and lead singer Tim Harringtons antics were in full effect. For the record, dont show up to a LSF show in a Pink Panther costume and expect to leave with it especially in one piece.
Black Lips were going on downstairs right after LSF and I got down there as quick as possible to make sure I got a spot near the front to continue the dance party. Most of LSF headed down too with a couple drums then hopped up on stage and kept the beat going until Black Lips kicked thinks off with Veni Vidi Vici. Im not sure the crowd knew what to expect from Black Lips and playing after LSF is not a slot that most bands would envy. By the time Bad Kids rolled around everyone was hopping around proper though. By the end of the set I was completely drenched in sweat. My shirt was unbuttoned and my hair was near-dripping as I stepped outside for a mini break. Since our chalet was less than a minute away I headed back to use the facilities and freshen up with some water before quickly getting back to the main stage for Saturdays headliners Hot Chip.
Hot Chip have a rather large following in the US and I assumed, since theyre from London their following here would be even bigger. Theyve perfected their live show in the last year or two and the five-piece band had the whole house groovin in no time. The mix of keyboards, electronics, drum machines, and live instruments (bass and guitar) provided a unique mix of tunes that range from down tempo pop (In The Privacy Of Our Love) songs to their block buster dance track Over and Over. One of my favorites was he somewhat twisted track Wrestlers. For their encore they finished things off with a cover of Nothing Compares 2 U as an anniversary dedication to the drum machinist I think.
The live music finished around one in the morn which meant the dance party was just getting started downstairs. The staff at Pontins was pretty top notch. They cleared the floor of beer cans and glasses after each set which made dancing a lot easier. There were still plenty of hard plastic cups around and every so often youd hear a loud pop when someone would step on one perfectly and itd smash to pieces. Even more often was the sound of the cups getting kicked around the wooden dance floor. Im certain therell be times in my life when Ill hear that sound and itll bring back fond memories of Camber Sands.
The DJs in England are much different, and Id say better, than in the US. With so much experimental music being performed during the day, the DJs stuck to more familiar tunes mixed in with plenty of 60s and 70s British hits and some Northern Soul style tracks that were sure to keep the dance floor bustlin. Among my favorite tracks on Saturday were Os Mutantes, A Minha Menina and Minnie Ripperton, Les Fleur. Ok maybe those arent really hits but they were surrounded by plenty of other songs youd find familiar. Im not one to usually stay out til daylight, especially two nights in a row but once again, I was heading to bed as it was getting light out.
If we would have been in tents, the whole experience would have kinda sucked because the weather was the best theyve ever had at an ATP and the sun and heat wouldnt have allowed us to sleep til noon. or later. I was determined to check off some more boxes on my imaginary list of things to do in life so Seb, Zaida, and I headed down to the beach where I stripped down to my boxers and hopped into the English Channel for a dip. It was a lil bit chilly but that just helped wake me up a bit. We got our bronzin on in the sun for an hour or so then Seb and I stopped by the market and loaded up on cream again for Sunday slingin. The selection had dwindled a bit but there was still enough selection to take care of production and catering. I think free ice cream might be even a bigger hit in England than in the states. People everywhere like free treats but it seems a bit rare in the states when everyone takes a treat.
Oh. I forgot to mention that Jens Lekman kicked off Sunday on the main stage. Before the swimming we pit stopped by there. Like Bon Iver the day before, there couldnt have been a better artist to get things going. Before the music even began Jens was talking to the crowd and informing the sound man, Stefan, that the he wanted the sound during the first song to remind him of the first time he had his heart broken. Im pretty sure Jens in the king of Swedish pop music and his set was one of the best of ATP. It made me feel like I was in the main ballroom of a cruise ship and they were the highlight of my time at sea.
The rest of the day I found myself constantly shuffling between up and downstairs. Prolly not in the right order but Meat Puppets, Howlin Rain, and Wooden Shjips, kept American rock n roll alive downstairs while Girls Against Boys, The Hold Steady, and of Montreal did the same upstairs. Ive got mixed feelings about of Montreals live show but they finished with what seemed like a 15 minute version of The Past is a Grotesque Animal. That song put me in a trance at Pitchfork Fest last year and it did the same again here. The headliners upstairs on Sunday were Harmonia who are a krautrock band from back in the day who rarely, if ever, play live shows. I checked them out for a couple songs but it was a lil too mellow for me on Sunday night and I wasnt ready to call it a night.
Caribou was performing downstairs and, although Ive been a fan for a long time, I had yet to see them live. Earlier incarnations of Caribou, AKA Manitoba, sound like the music was all created in lead man Dan Snaiths bedroom by himself. Caribous live show has morphed into a four piece rock band that destroyed the downstairs stage and capped off the live music portion of ATP. Need not worry though. the dance party was just getting started.
Everyone was a prolly a bit more tired on Sunday but it was hard to tell. Every time I thought about heading back to the chalet Id walk through the pub and second stage area and get sucked into all the dancing that was going on. Highlighted tracks from Sunday night were walking in as TV on the Radios Wolf Like Me was playing and Pavements Shady Lane which I dont think anyone had ever heard mixed in with a dance party set before. I didnt keep the sun-up tradition going Sunday night and ended up passing out around four in the morning. Apparently a lot of people had to work on Monday or everyone was supposed to check out early because when I opened my door around eleven, it was like a ghost town out front. Figuring Id be getting kicked out right quick, I threw my belongings into my two bags then headed over to production where I hooked up with Snug, Nicole, and Manish for a cab, train, and bus ride back to London. Taking it easy all day Monday was the icing on the cake for one of the best weekends Ive ever had.
The best part is I get to do it all over again this weekend when Explosions in the Sky curates ATP in Minehead. Hopefully well be able to sling more than a few dozen creams this time around. Its a bit tough when treats cost at least three times as much here as they do in the states. Well live for today and figure out the rest once back home next week.
Super dooper huge thanks to Barry and Deborah at ATP. Thanks to all the helpers there too. Without Seb wed have no photos and without Zaida, wed have no dance party. Thanks to Liz for the place to crash, to Sarah and Hermana for the photo pass, Eat to the Beat for the yummy grub, Stone for being cool, Damian for the dancing inspiration and to the store in the arcade that carried the all star supply of candy (mmm Fizz Wizz),
Cheers!
Check out the first Ice Cream Man adventure: ATP 2004 in Long Beach.
