how about a guitar festival? (part i) by bob hardy

7/25/2019 How About A Guitar Festival? (Part I) by Bob Hardy

1/24

HOW ABOUT A GUITAR FESTIVAL?

By Bob Hardy

INTRODUCTION

AUTHORS NOTE: The 'Euro-Wirral International Guitar Festival' is the festivals current title. However

from 1989 (the first year that it was staged), until 1992, it was known as the 'Wirral International Guitar

Festival'.

Relevant information about other musical events in the Merseyside area which have taken

place over the past 21 years or so are also included in this study.

Broadly speaking, I have attempted to place my area of investigation between the O.E.D.

definition of policy',

5. A course of action adopted and pursued by a government, party,

ruler, statesman, etc.; any course of action adopted as advantageous or

expedient. (The chief living sense.)

and the broad aims and objectives contained in the paper Music Policy, The Music Industry

and Local Economic Development, which is quoted at the very beginning of this study

The 'Conclusion' of this study will attempt to summarise those major aspects of music policy

which are contained in the following interview material.

It is my hope that this study might prove to be useful to other organisers engaged in the

production of an effective (in the sense of successful) music policy for similar events.


2/24

NOTE: The bulk of this paper takes the form of transcribed interviews between myself, and

Merseyside guitarist Brendan McCormack. These transcriptions were then checked, and

subsequently amended where necessary, by Brendan. I have known Brendan since the early

60s and we have worked together since on many occasions, the last time being at Montreux

in the mid-nineties when I was working at the festival as a member of the production team,

and he accepted my offer to work as Quincy Joness Personal Assistant for his 50 years in

Music concert.


3/24

INTERVIEW

" the [Guitar] festival was merely a reflection of my

own interests" ".there were no models.

Brendan McCormack

The brochure for The 10th Euro-Wirral International Guitar Festival of Great Britain, held

between the 13th-22nd

, November, 1998, begins with the paragraph:

It is only ten years since Brendan McCormack spoke those

five important words - How about a guitar festival?...

There was of course considerably more to it than that, and I hope that the following

transcribed interviews between Brendan McCormack (the original Festival Director) and

myself, which took place during the period, early December 1998 to mid-January 1999, will

provide some understanding of the process of formulating the music policy for this

particular festival - which now enjoys an excellent local, national, and also international

reputation.

The Euro-Wirral International Guitar festival (as it is now known), is a yearly event held

sometime during the month of November. In the past ten years, it has presented almost two

hundred concerts, utilising guitar players from a variety of musical backgrounds. These

include Chuck Berry, Bert Weedon, Louis Stewart, Charlie Byrd, Paco Pena, Woody Mann,

Barmney Kessel, John Duart, Stephan Grossman, Catfish Keith, Jan Ackerman, Bert Jansch,

Martin Carthy, Steve Howe. To say nothing of Willie Russell and Roger McGough! As well

as a host of local players.


4/24

As Brendan McCormack explains in the following interview(s), he began with a clear policy

- and then looked around for the most efficient way of putting that policy into practice.

BOB

From previous conversations with you, I believe that your ideas concerning the organising

of music festivals are particularly succinct, and that you have now evolved a clear musical

policy in this area. I would also suggest that your policy with regard to the Wirral Guitar

Festival was not conceived as part of some Political, Tourist, Heritage, or Inner-City

Regeneration Policy, but rather as a 'stand alone' musical event. Do you agree? And if so,

how did your ideas for the staging of this particular guitar festival come about? Why

have one at all? .. And finally, did you perceive any other particular music festival as a

model?

BRENDAN

Yes I would agree. . And no - there were no models!

But to answer these questions in any detail, you would have to understand something about

my background, and also some of the particular experiences I have had which have shaped

my thinking.

Around 1957, I went to see Lonnie Donegan at the Liverpool Empire. The theatre P.A. in

use at the time consisted of one 'in-house' microphone. I would guess that its power rating

was in the region of 30 watts. The theatre was packed, and in performing terms Lonnie

Donegan and his group delivered a very 'high energy' show. What I want to stress here, is

that this concert was very clearly presented, in that we the audience could hear all the details

of this performance without effort.

If we now move on 40 years or so to the last time that I was at the Empire, it was for the

'Roy Castle Appeal' and I was the musical director. I employed an eight-piece band, which

was there essentially to provide musical backing for the performers who were appearing on


5/24

the bill.

During the afternoon, the rehearsal was delayed for half an hour while a member of the

'sound-crew' worked at miking the bass drum. I told him that they would have to stop as

we needed to rehearse. He insisted on continuing, remarking to me that, "Weve got to do

this!"

In the evening I went out to the front-of-house during the actual show to listen to one of the

self-contained acts, and thought how poor the P.A. sound was There was a drizzle from

the tweeters .. and the bass drum sounded as if it would wreck havoc on the walls of Jerico!

It is interesting to me that one of the major justifications presented for the use of large P.A.

systems (which appear to dominate many performances) is that the size of venues has

changed since the 1960's and in some cases this is certainly true. But what we have in the

example I have just presented is the same theatre with the same number of bodies in it!

To me the support-structure industry has influenced the whole concept of performance, and

in my view, in the musical areas that I am involved in at least (theatre, solo concerts, etc), it

has got completely out of hand.

This reinforces an opinion that many professional musicians hold. This is that people

involve themselves in situations in the music-making business in an ancillary capacity; and

later present themselves as essential and important. In other words they will appropriate the

situation for their own purposes and by their subsequent re-interpretation of what is taking

place - Surprise! Surprise! - they end up claiming to be 'essential' to what is going on often

producing situations like the one I describe here at the 'Empire'.

The very important point that I should like to make here is that most people accept what is

going on today as 'the way it is'. They are completely unaware of the situation that I

witnessed in 1957, and thus cannot use it in formulating a judgement about the quality of

concert sound-production today. .


6/24

We now inhabit a world of 'audio-drizzle'. I remember in 1975 seeing Barney Kessel in

concert at Liverpool University. Just before he was due to perform, the organisers played

tracks from a Django Rheinhart recording at full volume on the house P.A. . I need say no

more!

BOB

I see what you mean, but how does this relate to your concept of a guitar festival?

BRENDAN

The fundamental viewpoint I am trying to elaborate here specifically is one of LISTENING

to music; of hearing the detail. The snap, crackle, and the pop that we all love in live

performance.

Working 'solo' for the past 35 years has profoundly influenced how I perceive the whole

field of performance, and its relationship to an audience.

In observing the organising of concerts by inexperienced people over this time period, it is

clear, to me at least, that decisions are taken which are often ill-conceived, or at best

irrelevant.

I should also point out that it is extremely naive of organisers to seek the advice of sound-

engineers as to whether or not P.A. equipment is needed for a concert. These people

obviously have a vested interest in making sure that venues use as much 'outboard gear' as

possible.

BOB

So one of the major aims of your policy then, is to present music to a 'listening' audience.


7/24

BRENDAN

Precisely! And my experiences with P.A. equipment are pertinent to this. People have

reached a stage in their concert going experiences today where problems with the P.A, such

as 'feedback' etc., are considered to be almost part of the spectacle!

However, my organising of the Wirral Guitar Festival was conditioned by other, equally

important, elements. Some of which are local in character (in the geographical sense), and

others peculiar to me as an individual.

To illustrate what I mean by this, I will describe the events which prompted me to organise

the first 'International Guitar Festival'. Which was held not on the Wirral, but in Liverpool,

in 1977!

I had been teaching at a number of college sites on Merseyside since the mid 1960s - about

six or seven sites in all. These included: Liverpool University Music Dept; The Mabel

Fletcher College; C. F. Mott; I. M. Marsh; St Catherine's; Edge Hill; Christ College; and

Notre Dame.

During the 1970's, the James Report was issued, and this report changed the nature of

college teaching. Up to this report's publication, there had been training colleges for

teachers. Their courses were now to be scrapped, and in future would-be teachers would

study for a BA, or B.Ed. etc.

There was a national concern, as colleges like C. F. Mott; I. M. Marsh; St Catherine's; Edge

Hill; Christ College; and Notre Dame, had to now write new courses from scratch, and

although these colleges had very good teacher training programmes in place, they found that

they were now required to structure community-centred ideas into the new BA's.


8/24

This was the case at I. M. Marsh College, where I was working at the time. I realised that I

was the only person working on that site who was knowledgeable in all three areas of Music,

Dance, and Drama. This college had been trying for four years to get a new BA in

Performance Arts course off the ground, and the cut-off point for putting these courses in

place was fast approaching. So I went to the course leader, drew a diagram on a piece of

paper and said. "Look! This is how you do it". He arranged that I got paid as a course

consultant - so I produced the necessary document All this is leading somewhere

Bob!..

This experience led me to be wary of projects involving committees, as usually this meant

that nothing was ever really done quickly, or in a clear and positive way. This was an

extremely valuable lesson. Here were professional people who had a clear goal in view (in

this case the production of a BA in Performing Arts course) who appeared completely

unable to function as a team. It was a situation that I was to encounter many times, when

dealing with other decision making bodies.

BOB

You are saying then that your experiences in the field of music education led you to distrust

the idea of music committees and the like?

BRENDAN

Yes. So when it came to the organising the first guitar festival in 1977, I felt that I would be

better working on my own; that I could work faster, more productively, and more efficiently,

in the areas that I wanted to cover; and as a professional performer myself, I was confident

that I could locate any prospective festival artist that I wished, by simply phoning the right

people!.


9/24

BOB

I have heard you say on many occasions, "Any normal problem can be solved with one

phone-call. However, really difficult problems may require two!"

BRENDAN

Exactly!

We must now add another essential ingredient my connection with Mathew Street and my

organising of the first two Mathew Street Festivals in 1976 and 1977

Also the pivotal role at that time played by 'The Liverpool School of Language, Music,

Dream and Pun', which had been set up in Mathew Street by Peter (O)Halligan, in January

or February of 1976.

BOB

Was that the person I knew as Pete The Papers?

BRENDAN

Yes .that was his nick-name. But perhaps I should add at this point that he was in fact

my cousin!

I was actually the 'music master' at the above establishment, but there were all kinds of

performances taking place in the building.

Pete was virtually on his own when it came to this kind of thing, and at that time there was

nothing much else going on in the area.

AUTHORS NOTE: The old Cavern Club had its last concert on May 27th 1973. Roger Eagle maintains that

'Erics' opened on the 13th October 1976- phone conversation with me on 16.1. 99; 'Probe Records' moved into

the area two weeks previously, in the beginning of October, to their 8-12 Rainford Gardens premises,


10/24

according to the (then) owner, Geoff Davis- phone conversation with me 16.1.99.

Pete moved into Mathew Street because the rent was very cheap. His idea was not to run a

school as such, but to provide a space for various kinds of performances. He made available

a number of workspaces where sculptors, poets, painters, and musicians could work. He also

ran a vegetarian restaurant - which later moved across the road and became the 'Armadillo'.

He would feature events like the twelve hour play by Ken Campbell ('Illuminatus'), and even

a happening - which took place over a period of one week, where Pete and another cousin

set up their beds and slept on the stage in the caf. People would come in for breakfast and

these two would be in bed! It was a period of 'great artistic productivity', as they say! The

school held two Jung Festivals' in 1976 and 1977, which were the original 'Mathew Street

festivals'. My close involvement in both of these was to give me valuable experience in thefields of promotion, administration, and marketing.

I am sure you will recall that the 'school' had a bust of Jung attached to the side of the

building on the Mathew Street side. I know you were very interested in his work at that time,

and I remember that Pete was very impressed with the fact that you had read the Collected

Works Of C.G.Jung! There was a piece of stone sunk into the wall, with a quote by Jung

from one of his dreams carved on it, "Liverpool is the pool of life."

BOB

Yes I do remember it very well, in fact I have a photo of it somewhere

BRENDAN

Actually, O'cean, my other cousin, went to Switzerland to the place where Jung had his

'tower' to get that piece of granite. He had a heck of a time explaining to the British customs

what it was that he was going to do with it when he drove back!

During this time (since 1970 in fact) I was also involved in a number of Playhouse

productions; and in my college work I was constantly involved in theatre productions which


11/24

we would take out on the road. In fact we came joint-first in a Sunday Times Student

Drama competition -I think that it was the first one that they held - around 1970. So you can

imagine that I was used to organising things. I was also doing many solo guitar concerts, as

well as holding down the resident bass players job at that theatre club you used to manage

The Wooky Hollow.

However, the conviction was growing in me that I should attempt to organise something a

little more in line with my own particular interests, and so in 1977 I decided to present the

first 'Liverpool Guitar Festival' .

At no point during my planning did I consider approaching either the local council, or the

Merseyside Arts Association, for funding. It took me one weekend to organise, and there

were 21 events!

BOB

How on earth did you get to manage all that in such a small space of time?

BRENDAN

The festival was merely a reflection of my own interests.

I wanted to go from a position where there was absolutely nothing going on, to the

realisation of these 21 events as quickly and efficiently as possible.

The central geographical location for this festival was the Liverpool School, and the over-

riding consideration for this was that it wasnt going to cost anything. But also that the

intimate nature of this venue would create the right kind of atmosphere for the solo

performer the audience would be in the performer's breathing space, so to speak.

I had no money, no funding, and so I simply called the players up and asked them if they


12/24

would play for nothing! All of them agreed. I said "I wanna do this man!, and they all

agreed!

Although I had no intention of looking for any funding, I went to Merseyside Arts office, in

Bluecoat Chambers, because at that time they were producing a monthly magazine, and I

wanted to get some publicity. The people who produced the magazine told me to go to see

an old friend of yours, Pete Bevan, about the possibility of funding. He was very

supportive, and gave me financial help mainly towards the cost of the festival posters.

As it turned out, the festival was a great success! The advertising on the front of the Arts

magazine was of immense help and I made it central to my advertising campaign. I even

taught myself to screen print so that I could produce the large advertising posters!

Even though I was not being funded as such, because of the fact the festival was advertised

on the front page of the Arts magazine, I believed that the reader would draw the conclusion

that at least we had the tacit support of the Arts Council.

But I have to say that the most important people were the performers themselves. They were

the real ambassadors. They simply agreed to take any gate money as a fee.and thats what

happened! Luckily the festival was a success!

BOB

What about the location of these twenty-one events. How, and why, did you select them?

BRENDAN

The principal site was the Liverpool School two thirds of the concerts were held there; the

'Bluecoat' was involved; as were various college sites, and also the church at the Pier Head -

St Nicks! Pete Halligan had just got married there - and also St Nicks had a tradition of

holding lunchtime concerts.


13/24

BOB

So wherever you perceived a venue opportunity, you attempted to make use of it!

BRENDAN

Of course! We used the courtyard of Bluecoat Chambers, and this was the first time it was

used to stage concerts. The Geographical extent of the festival extended from the Pier Head

with St. Nicks, to Aigburth - where I used the I. M. Marsh college.

BOB

So this was your 'prototype' as it were, for subsequent festivals. Although at the time you

had no intention of taking it further. And you organised it in one weekend with no funding!

Was there any other deliberate policy that you managed to realise in this first festival?

BRENDAN

Yes. If you look at the programme you will see that it contains a combination of local, and

international performers. This was another of my deliberate intentions.

BOB

Could you describe in a little detail, your policy for your choice of artists?

BRENDAN

It's contained in the idea for the design of the poster. There are four drawings of the

fingerboard of a guitar, which I used to represent four faces of the instrument. That is: the

Classical; Jazz; Flamenco; and Blues faces. (This poster design is still being used 21 years

later on the Internet for the EuroWirral Festival home page!).

These four aspects gave me a sort of 'mental-matrix approach', so I could work out the

festival programme very quickly. If I wanted a Flamenco player then I would just think of


14/24

one that I knew; and for Blues (say) I would do the same thing I went through the whole

programme in this way.

I would then have a list of international players that I knew personally, and after this I would

consider the 'strictly local' players. I thought the inclusion of local guitarists was of

paramount importance, because when I began performing classical guitar, I was never

approached to perform locally.

In the 1977 festival, you can see that there is a balance between local players and players

from outside the area, I have made this one of the corner stones of my festival policy ever

since. I believe all locally based initiatives, especially funded ones, should favour local

performers, otherwise, in my opinion, you have an event which belongs rightfully in the

private sector. (The Lennon Memorial concert at the Pier Head told us all something about

this, I believe).

Another deliberate policy of mine was to broaden the experiences of the interested public.

So that not only was there an opportunity to view performances, but also to learn more about

them. I arranged seminars, so that the public could see players demonstrating how they

work in the fields of composition, technique, as well as in performance. I continued with

this idea, broadening it for the Wirral Guitar Festival to include exhibitions of Instruments,

Manuscripts, and Photos.

BOB

The obvious question now, is that having been involved in the first two Mathew Street

festivals, and then setting up the first International Guitar Festival in Liverpool in 1977, why

the long gap between these and the start of the Wirral Guitar Festival in 1989?

BRENDAN

You have to see, with hindsight, what I was involved in. The next festival I helped to

organise was actually in 1978 and was called Logos. This took place in Southern Ireland at


15/24

a place called Cashel at the 'Archbishop's Palace' and involved improvisation with words

and music. I was officially the co-director for that, along with my cousin, O'cean Halligan.

Then in 1979, I organised an 'Early Music Festival' at Christ's College in Woolton.

In 1980 I became involved as musical director in a project for UNICEF, which involved 120

children travelling to Cologne to perform a play set in the twelfth century, called the

'Childrens Crusade'. This was a twelve month project. Straight after that, I worked full time

for twelve months in the Chinese community as a musician/teacher with the Chinese Theatre

Group. So running another festival just didnt enter my mind, as I was so preoccupied with

other things

BOB

It is very interesting to note here that neither the Arts Counsel nor the Local Authority saw

fit to continue with the Guitar Festival at this time. What happened next?

BRENDAN

The Liverpool School finishes and I work a lot more in the theatre. I do 'The Hank Williams

Show' at the Everyman Theatre during this period.plus numerous other projects.

BOB

So what about the events leading directly to the Wirral Guitar Festival?

BRENDAN

In 1983 I moved to Oxton, and the following year in 1984 I conceived and initiated a series

of music concerts in the summer called Sunday Serenades These took place in the

Williamson Art Gallery and Museum, and are still going now, 15 years later! These concerts

were very wide ranging, and took place over a period of twelve weeks. The reason for the

choice of the venue was that it was reasonably close to where I lived, and when I visited it I

immediately thought that this would be a great place for concerts. I ran these successfully

for seven years, when my good friend, the pianist Jules Waring took over.


16/24

In the 'Williamson', once again there was no funding, but the audience would contribute, and

we had a couple of local sponsors like 'Cadburys' and 'Champion Spark Plugs'. There was no

question of leasing the venue from Wirral Council, as all arrangements were made through

the curator of the Williamson, Mr. David Hillhouse.

My idea was to provide a venue which was suitable for use without microphones.

Interestingly enough there were no microphones at all in that first guitar festival in

Liverpool either .. we were 'unplugged, decades before MTV!!

Concerning concert policy, I feel that in terms of family concerts it is very difficult to attend

any if you have children. Most concerts are far too long. So we limited the 'Summer

Serenades' to exactly 30 minutes, including encores. We would then finish off socially, as

it were, with tea and biscuits - which were provided by Cadburys! The curator, David

Hillhouse, was responsible for setting that up.

In a very short time we had a regular family audience, and we didnt mind if the children

present made some noise - as long as it was within reason. Fifteen years later, we have a

weekly captive audience of about 100 people, and the basic policy hasnt changed, except

for the fact that we now use The Priory, in Birkenhead.

This additional venue was added in 1987, and was used during the mid-period of the

concerts during high summer that is.

What I had done is realise two regular venues, and then provided them with a captive

audience as you know Bob, the two essential requirements for a successful gig!

Because of the fact that many members of the audience became Friends of the (Williamson)

Gallery, it meant that they were automatically on the mailing list and were thus kept

informed about the actual programme of the 'Summer Serenades'.


17/24

You can see from the first 'Summer Serenade' programme, that we had Chinese music,

Celtic music, guitar trios, Renaissance music - a wide range, once again reflecting my own

interests.

You asked me in the beginning, "Is there an element of selfishness involved in the

organising of these events?" .. and I would say that in a way there is; but more importantly,

it isnt perceived by the concert-goer in that way.

At the beginning of 1989 I found myself performing at Birkenhead Priory. The director of

Wirral Leisure Services, Mr Andrew Worthington, was present and he happened to be a

guitar player! We got to talking about the guitar, and also the concept of the 'Wirral Leisure

Peninsular' - with its speed-boating, and water-skiing, on the river.

I suggested that if he wanted to really put Wirral on the map, then I would organise an

international guitar festival. He said, "Come and see me", I went - and the result was the first

Wirral International Guitar Festival in 1989!

BOB

Tell me a little more about this first Wirral Guitar Festival

BRENDAN

We received some funding, because the director of Wirral Leisure Services, Mr Andrew

Worthington, being a guitarist himself, realised that if we were going to have Charlie Byrd,

Paco Pena, John Renbourn, and Stefan Grossman performing at the festival, then funding

was essential

BOB

How did this work? Did you present the department with a list of fees, or was there an over-


18/24

all budget?

BRENDAN

There was no over-all budget figure.

As a viable event in the beginning, the festival of course was unproven, and Andrew

Worthington had a healthy scepticism, but was supportive of the whole idea.

Although I cannot remember what the total cost was for the first festival was, I do remember

that I did cost it out for the Leisure Department in advance. I also charged them a modest

fee.

BOB

How did you select the venues for this first festival?

BRENDAN

It followed my unplugged model, that is, with the audience being close to the performer.

The biggest venue in the immediate area was the 'Floral Pavilion', which held about 900

people. But in that first year I didn't use it, as I didnt feel at that time that I could fill it.

Also, 'The Priory' was not suitable because, at that time, there was no heating or toilets.

Remember the festival was scheduled for November, and not the middle of summer! But I

had a number of smaller venues in mind. These included the 'Assembly Rooms', in

Birkenhead Town Hall, the 'Glenda Jackson Theatre' - which holds about 300 people and

didn't need P.A. equipment, the 'Gladstone Theatre' in Port Sunlight (which is now no longer

used as a venue by the Guitar Festival); and the 'Park Bar Caf' at Charing Cross - which

was used for the jazz guitar performances!

BOB

And all these venues were known to you as a player?


19/24

BRENDAN

Yes. And of course the number of venues in use has increased over the years because the

festival promotes more concerts - and I would naturally seek them out.

The venues would normally not be required to pay the artist's fee, and they would get

publicity from the festival organisation. .

In the second year, the number of venues doubled from 4 to 8,,and we could now use 'The

Priory' (incidentally the oldest building on Merseyside) as it now had toilets! The Gala

Concert with The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra on the Sunday evening meant

that we had to have a venue with a larger stage (I was not thinking of larger audience

capacity), and so we used the Floral Pavilion for the first time.

BOB

I notice from the brochures that you have some local sponsoring during this second year,

from organisations such as the Wirral News Group.

BRENDAN

Yes, but I must make it clear that we received no financial help. Sponsorship was in the area

of 'Goods and Services'. Free publicity, and that sort of thing.

BOB

I see in the programme, for the first festival at least, that you are the Festival Director.

Although, to me at least, there seems to be some confusion about this from year to year!

Are you still the festival director now?


20/24

BRENDAN

No.

BOB

What happened? Did you decide to drop out once the thing was up and running?

BRENDAN

Not quite! But I was the festival director up until 1994 - for the first six festivals in fact.

In the Leisure Services itself, there were two people that I worked with. One was Rob Smith,

and the other was Paul Holliday. Both of them were officers, and they had an incredible

amount of other work to do.

My function was in the programme planning: arranging artists; fees; copyrighting; texts;

logistics; all the flights, I would complete the whole thing in every detail, and I would

then hand all of this information over to Rob and Paul.

Paul left to take over the management of the Floral Pavilion in early 1994, and was not

replaced at Wirral Leisure Services. This left Rob responsible for the whole of the Wirral

Arts scene, and although I believe it was agreed that he would be given extra staff support in

very specific areas in the two month run-up to the festival, this did not happen. Due to

illness in October 1994, he was unavailable to co-ordinate the festival in the usual way..

The assistant-director of the Arts and leisure department, Mr Ian Coles, now takes Rob's

position as festival co-director and I was forced to enter into a great deal of unnecessary

correspondence. After the 1994 festival Ian wrote to me, saying in effect Thanks very

much, we can't afford you- thats it!

I found it interesting that he didn't take over the job himself, but passed it on to Rob on his

return to work.


21/24

So now I only assist on the classical side of the festival and this is due mainly to the fact

that these players contact me for gigs. And of course I still perform myself at the festival.

It is clear to me that the festival is part of the local calendar now, and is in fact recognised all

over the world.

Yes! I'm sure it would not have happened without me, but it did take up a great deal of my

time!

BOB

The festival is now being controlled essentially by the local council. Do you see the basic

nature of the festival changing?

BRENDAN

Yes. But I believe it is in the nature of things that they continually change. After all, my

ideas reflect mainly my own concepts and experience.

Most people when speaking to me about the festival ask "Why dont you get (say) Eric

Clapton?" Rob, Paul, Andy and myself would cover this same area each year in considering

new ideas and the conclusion was always the same:

Wirral does not have a large enough venue for this kind of event.

Tranmere Rover's ground would be a poor option for a November gig. Using it would

mean that we had lost sight of my original policy for the festival. That is, with large

audiences, (typically stadium events) it is almost as if the performer is secondary to the

occasion. Plus the fact that obviously the relationship between the audience as

individuals on the one hand, and the performer on the other, would be virtually non-

existent

Clapton performing at a massive venue without a packed house, would be a failure in the

'ritualistic' sense; but I'm sure that the same artist performing in 'The Priory' would

provide a memorable occasion.


22/24

It is just unfortunate that the fees which many excellent guitarists charge prohibit any

possibility of pursuing my policy of intimate performance.

You must, "Always cook with fresh herbs." By this I mean that even established events

benefit from fresh input from contemporary trends connected with the guitar: new players;

new composers; new videos; audio recordings; new moves in music education; changes in

the music industry; instrument design etc - things that, in my opinion, a guitar festival

organiser must know about.

Without this kind of approach, what I believe happens is that you will get a sort of 'Butlins

Jazz Festival' - which will be about entertainment, and not jazz. The equivalent in musical

terms of Bungee Jumping - without the elastic!

I believe that the music comes first. .. Try to use the best players in their field that you can,

bearing in mind that these may not necessarily be 'cult' figures. Use local players in small

venues. Ensure the production of a good sound, and it will follow that a 'good time will be

had by all'!


23/24

CONCLUSION

I have attempted below to summarise those major aspects of music policy contained in the

above interview. In my view, they consist of:

The purpose of concerts as performances - that is as events that are there

primarily to be listened to.

Concert production is focused on the natural acoustic 'musical dynamics' of the

performance. Ancillary equipment can therefore be kept to an absolute minimum

- with obvious cost-benefit effects. Re-enforcing the intimacy of the relationship between performer and audience by

deliberate venue selection venue size is thus critical.

The realisation that music involves education i.e. workshops, etc. Thus hopefully

leading to the broadening of peoples musical interests. The deliberate policy of working alone to produce a coherent programme, linked

to a deliberate decision not to become involved in 'committee type' organising. The use of personal contacts (net-working)

Use of official bodies, such as Local Government Departments, and regional Artsbodies (M.A.A.) for specific needs - such as providing assistance withpromotion. Thus clarifying requests for funding.

The conceptualising of the family as a concert going unit.

The insistence on the involvement of local artists

The broadening of the festival's agenda to include workshops, and related events. Maximising the resources of the Local Government Arts Dept. by presenting

them with as much detailed information about the forthcoming festival as they

will need.

The effect by the festival on the local music scene seems to be an extremely positive one.

The number of sell-out events every year is an indication of its local popularity. However,

most of the audience members were mainly from the Wirral area. At least that is, at the

concerts I visited.

In my opinion, Euro-Wirral Guitar Festival policy has changed significantly over the past

few years and is now almost entirely the responsibility of the local authority. The result of

these changes is that we now appear to have a series of discrete concerts, as opposed to a


24/24

cohesive festival. If you view the two five minute promotional videos from 1992 and 1998

you can see this difference in approach immediately.

The 1992 video clearly reflects the policies of Brendan McCormack, while the 1998

appears, (to me at least) to be more like an advertisement for a compilation CD.

There also now seems to be a focusing of attention on the relative size of each successive

festival, and one could justifiably ask the following question, "Would the organisers please

make up their mind which festival is 'the big one'". Indeed, it would be interesting to know

why it now appears to be so important to local government officials that the festival is

viewed in this way i.e. Big, Small, Medium, etc.

There seems to be a great deal of confusion as to who writes the programme's introductory

notes from year to year, and could indicate the presence of yet another committee-type

problem alluded to by Brendan.

FOOTNOTE.

If you examine the design for that first 'Liverpool Guitar Festival', held 21 years ago in

1977, with its four drawings of the guitar fret-board, you will see that it is identical to the

design used on the official web-site for the 1997 and 1998 festivals. One would hope that

these 'four aspects of the guitar' will continue to be given equal prominence. This policy was

conceived and instigated by Brendan McCormack, and has done much to give the

'(Euro)Wirral International Guitar Festival' the unique character that it possesses today - and

which, perhaps, it is in immanent danger of losing.

how about a guitar festival? (part i) by bob hardy

Documents