Far from it. This year too, the Bus1 association has managed to come up with a stunning line-up of names that will rock Salsomaggiore for five days of wild fun and relentless rhythm, where you’ll be powerless to control your enthusiasm and not dance.
The line-up of this 20th edition will feature the Barracudas from England, and their compatriots the Sorrows. From the USA, we’ll welcome the Paul Collins Beat, Kepi Electric and Gonn; from Scotland, the Poets; the Reverend Beat-Man from Switzerland; and the Kamikaze Queens from Germany. But that’s not all: we’ll also have the Midnight Kings and Tony Borlotti and his Flauers representing Italy, and the Twistaroos from Norway.
As at all the previous editions, the five days of the festival will also see a wonderful array of all things vintage. The stands have always attracted hordes of people associated with all aspects of the scene: journalists, managers of small record labels, fashion designers, advertisers, collectors, and general enthusiasts. You may even remember from past editions an authentic “guru” of the new garage scene: Liam Watson, owner of London’s Toe Rag Studios and producer of the White Stripes, the U.S. band that has dominated the charts throughout the world. Liam is now a mainstay of the festival: he’s played here a couple of times, had a dip in the pool, drunk beer with the fans, and sampled some of the local delicacies. An ambassador with few equals.
KAMIKAZE QUEENS (GERMANY)
A dash of healthy, tough garage, with some hard rock thrown in, two aggressive females, three males and the driving force that comes from wanting to emerge: that’s the Kamikaze Queens’ calling card, a group with a powerful live sound, whose popularity is very much on the up. Here’s a band that’ll go down a storm with lovers of the sixties, as well as with anyone who’s not averse to some serious hard riffing. The Kamikaze Queens will be opening the Festival on Thursday in Via Loschi, and those present won’t forget them in a hurry.
TWISTAROOS (NORWAY)
The most scorching sixties rock available hails from freezing Norway. It comes with the guarantee of the guitar expertise of Morten Henriksen (Yum Yums, Caroline And The Treats) and the organ and vocals of the lovely Vibeke Saugestad, a little Nordic blonde who really couldn’t be any more Nordic: you’d swear she came straight out of a 1967 film… but the truth is that she does a great job of dominating the stage in 2012. She’s as wild as they come, while the rest of the band is a sixties machine, tuned to perfection. And the Devil’s Den is the ideal venue for one of their shows. With the Twistaroos, you just won’t be able to keep still.
PAUL COLLINS BEAT (USA)
Back in the second half of the seventies, what we used to call “power pop” was really no more than beat crossed with punk. And one of the most legendary bands of the era was the Beat, captained by Paul Collins: a man who had already made history as a member of the Nerves (remember their worldwide hit “Hanging On The Telephone”, brought to success by Blondie), and has continued to do so right up to the present day without ever betraying his original love for pop and rock ’n’ roll. Paul’s latest album is called “King Of Power Pop”. Hard to argue with that!
SORROWS (UK)
Following hot on the trail of the Sonics, the Downliners Sect and the Pretty Things, another sensational band from the very heart of the sixties prepares to grace the Festival Beat stage: they are Don Fardon’s Sorrows, the English group that moved to Italy at the height of the sixties beat phenomenon to conquer the charts and the hearts of the ye-ye girls in our own country. So the Festival Beat 2012 is going to take us back to the Cantagiro ’66? When the skies around Salsomaggiore echo to the sound of “No, No, No, No” and “Mi si spezza il cuore”, the 46 years that separate the two events will vanish in an instant, as if by magic. Glorious beat, and satisfaction guaranteed… the Sorrows beat. So let’s all get ready to applaud Don Fardon.
KEPI ELECTRIC (USA)
The Groovie Ghoulies are something of a legend for the disciples of American pop-punk. Leader and multi-instrumentalist Kepi Ghoulie has always had both the sixties and a sense of melody in his heart, and this new project of his, Kepi Electric, is the result of his desire to express this retro verve. With surprising results. The stage of the Devil’s Den pub will host Kepi and his band, ready to delight all those who love the Ramones as much as the Nerves and the Chesterfield Kings. For people with refined tastes.
GONN (USA)
Craig Moore and Gonn have long been favourites of the Festival Beat, where they’ve stopped off on several occasions in the past. But that doesn’t change the fact that they remain a minor legend of the American garage scene of the mid-sixties, boys from provincial USA who played teen-punk as it was done back then: with innocence, naivety and the sacred fire of adolescence. Their “Blackout Of Gretely” is a priceless nugget, a tribute to the sounds from those years. And the Festival Beat audience never tires of hearing it.
BARRACUDAS (UK)
Yep, you heard me right. It’s them: the Barracudas, the most sixties-oriented of all the bands from the late-seventies and early-eighties. The only group in England that was wandering around with pudding bowl haircuts, Beatle boots and striped T-shirts while the punk rock hurricane raged on around them. Who hasn’t heard their “Summer Fun”? Who doesn’t remember their enthralling garage-surf sound? The band piloted by Robin Wills and Jeremy Gluck symbolised a whole era, with a series of truly memorable records and the courage to swim against the tide. They were playing sixties music at a time when it was hardly fashionable, and one of their most famous songs was entitled “(I Wish It Could Be) 1965 Again”: I don’t think messages come much clearer than that.
TONY BORLOTTI e i suoi FLAUERS(ITALY)
Veterans of the Festival and standard bearers of the Italian beat scene, Tony Borlotti e i suoi Flauers continue unperturbed to roll out songs that are melodic, tongue-in-cheek and very appealing. Their resourcefulness is the only real anecdote to the gloom of certain contemporary sounds, that so often seem contorted and pretentious. The Flauers perform with smiles on their faces, reminding us that light-heartedness is a rare gift. They’re back to renew the magic of our beat verb, safe in the knowledge that there’s nowhere better to do so than at the Festival. So they’ll have the honour of closing the 2012 edition, on Sunday in Piazza della Libertà.
THANES(Scotland)
It’s a well-know fact among enthusiasts of a certain type of sound: Lenny Helsing is nothing short of a marvel. Ever since the mid-eighties, Lenny and his fans have shared their obsession with the most obscure aspects of the sixties, and he has enchanted us with records that capture the essence of that sound and period. Fanatical, highly competent and with the enthusiasm we usually associate with teenagers, veteran Lenny returns to the Festival Beat for the umpteenth time with his favourite creation, the Thanes. Once again, we’ve got them to thank for transporting us back to 1966 and the heart of beat-crazy Europe.
C'MON BOYS AND GIRLS.........move your feets,make some noise,shake your hands at the 20th Festival Beat
