The
Early Years .
Rather
like Greenham Common , Torpedo Town
sprung into existence on the back of a Peace Encampment, in this case
the peace camp was in protest at the construction of the Stingray
anti submarine torpedo factory at Waterlooville - hence the unusual
"Torpedo Town " moniker the festival acquired .
The
peace camp was established in 1982 and as you can see on the flyer
on the right, there was a free festival held in August 1984 at Brambles
Farm, but so far, we don't have any details about that festival at
all, apart from the fact that it was small and held at the Brambles
farm site .
It
was 1985 that the first documented festival was held at Waterlooville,
when The Poison Girls, Kanall Synikatet (Norway ),ACT , Roy Harper
, David Eggleton, Red Flag, The Red, Wedding Present, General Belgrano,
Anti -Sect, D.I.R.T, Dog On Dogma, Alibi, Fools Of Nature , The Starlings,
The Probes ,Hawkwind and Ozric Tentacles were scheduled to play the
event from the 9-11th of August .Camping was due to start on the 6th
of August. One report says 7,000 people attended the 85 bash, but
the flyer has the figure at 2000 so this might be a rather inflated
estimate. The Brambles Farm site was abandoned in favour of Old Park
Farm , a mere stones throw away, which explains why Brambles Farm
is mentioned as being a consistent site in much of the literature.
It
appears that there was
the main stage at whatever site was being used and then a lower smaller
stage on the common , free festivals often had a number of stages
. The photos of Roy Harper at the 86 festival show a different set
up completely . We think that in 1985 Harper actually donated the
PA that was used, arriving and seeing totally inadequate sound reinforcement,
he went back to London, loaded up his own rig and returned to perform
his set. We also have a photo of Roy Harper playing in the door of
a bus which is being used as a stage, so almost anything would pressed
into service if it was few feet higher than the audience !
|
courtesy lucky
Dave
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©
Baz
|
Hi!
I was there in 1986 and jammed with the Ozrics on stage, and I am absolutely
convinced that it is me on the keyboards with the thick blond hair in the
pictures on this page:
http://www.ukrockfestivals.com/torpedo-town-free-festival.html I didn't
really end up following a music career, but went to City University the
next month to do a postgrad in music information technology and designed
a mkII stereo sampler on the BBC Micro... Then I worked for Syco Systems
repairing studio equipment for various stars, met wife got married and ended
up working in the City doing desktop publishing and eventually a web design
career...
Maybe it's not to late to restart music career again!
I put some compositions up on facebook,
Striking how my appearance has changed over the intervening years!
Best wishes,
Andy.
I
was one half of Uncle Ian (formerly Uncle Ian and the Tooth Decay) who played
at the first Brambles Farm Festival at Waterlooville in 1984, kicked off
the festival in 1985 as mentioned in the newspaper article here:
http://www.ukrockfestivals.com/torpedo-press-2.jpg
and were attacked by Belgian punks at the 3rd festival in '86 which was
held in Wickham.
My memories of the 1st festival is that it was in a field! A pretty muddy
field although I think the weather was pretty mild. Myself and Mark Francombe
(later guitarist with Portsmouth band Cranes) arrived in my dad's works
Ford Escort van and set up under a sheet of plastic that was the stage.
Unfortunately the organisers had tied one end of the sheet to an electricity
pylon so the PA buzzed horribly the whole way through and our hair was standing
on end by the nightfall!
Our set (which was pretty freeform and psychedelic) seemed to go down pretty
well as we were asked to kick off the Festival the following year. I can't
remember any of the other bands that played but I am sure I have got a poster
somewhere that lists them.
These
pictures are from that first gig in 1984 with a bit more history thrown
in.
BTW that was the main stage that 1st year.
As
mentioned we kicked off the 2nd Festival at 12 noon on a Saturday. There
was a bigger proper stage at the bottom of the field, but it was quite wobbly
and the tape deck we were using to play some of our rhythm tracks ala Cocteau
Twins kept on stopping due to vibration! We met our new bass player (Rich
Lewis) at the entrance to the site and, since he hadn't played with us before
we played him the set on a cassette player in my car. Preparation enough
I think!
Again
I don't remember much about the other bands. I certainly don't think Hawkwind
played 'cos I would have stayed to watch that. Ozric tentacles certainly
did and Roy Harper. We probably didn't get the benefit of his PA since we
were on first. He probably heard us and thought "we need a new PA!"
By
the third festival it had moved to Wickham, got two stages (well stage two
was a tarpaulin hanging off a truck) and bands were queuing up to play.
We were on mid afternoon and had a 45 minute slot. Unfortunately it took
us about 20mins to set up and then we were heckled by the next band - Belgian
Punks - who basically kicked us off. Not a brilliant experience and we never
went back.
Nick
Elborough
|
Images
courtesy lucky Dave
|
©
Baz
|
Torpedo
Town 1985.
My
main reason for this mail is to give you my thoughts on the "Torpedo
Town" Festival held at Brambles Farm, Waterlooville in 1985. I was
there!
In
fact, I was one of the early arrivals, having come up from Sidmouth Folk
Festival to meet up with Alan Rundle having seen a flyer for the event (
Possibly at Elephant Fayre?). I remember the original plan was to use the
land right next to the existing Marconi factory, but the local council had
got wind of it and put a trench round the whole site. So it was decided
to use the (disused) farmland next to the original site - Brambles Farm.
A few of us descended on the farm via a hole in the hedge next to the main
road and quickly set up camp - a few tents and a camp fire was all that
was needed. I remember the police coming round and a few words from the
"squatters handbook" were all that was needed to see them off.
I cant remember what day this was, quite a few days before the festival,
though, and it quickly grew as more people were able to come and lend support.
At one point, the council came and tried to lower a skip (full of grit or
sand?) on the farm side of the main gates to the field we were in, but a
couple of us sat underneath it ( me included!), so they left it outside
the gate, (blocking the public footpath). I went along to see the Citizens
Advice Bureau ( in bare feet and stinking of smoke!) to ask about removing
obstacles from footpaths and they advised me I was in my rights to do so!
So, with the Police looking on, we donned shovels and emptied the skip into
the ditch next to it! "we aren't stealing anything from the skip",
I told the police," just moving it." When it was empty we managed
to roll the skip over and out of the way.
The
council made no other attempts to block the gate, but their attempts had
backfired on them, because it alerted the local press to what was going
on. This in turn led to the local radio and TV stations taking an interest,
and I remember giving a tradio interview in which I asked for supplies of
water and wood to be brought to us. The next day someone turned up with
an inflateable dinghy full of water! I also remember it had beed an incredibly
wet summer, the land was saturated, and any vehicles trying to get onto
the site often got bogged down. When the "Convoy" arrived it was
mayhem, Busses and trucks getting stuck allover the place. We had a whip
round to get a local firm to come on site with JCB's and pull the vehicles
out of the mud, but they ended up getting stuck as well! Eventually they
got most (not all) vehicles moved, and the resulting huge ditches that were
left became the (unofficial) latrines!!! When it came to the organisation
of the festival itself, that too was mayhem. The PA hire company refused
to do the gig having seen the publicity surrounding it, so we had to have
another whip round to hire one from a local hire centre. I think it was
the cheapest rig they had and was probably only 1 gig! (more on this later).
I
must admit I dont remember too much about the event itself, (who does!),
but I do know that the Ozrics turned up (friday or saturday?), and played
an unofficial set from the back of their transit, which seemed to go on
all night! The next day I spoke to Ed and asked him if they could do a stage
set that afternoon, as everyone had been saying how good they were. I remember
him saying they had never played on a "proper" stage before, and
they didnt "do" numbers, they just jammed... Fine I said, it doesn't
matter, just get up there and do your stuff!! I actually was doing the mixing
for them when they played, (as i did for most of the bands that played).
When
Roy Harper turned up, he took one look at the rig we were using and nearly
fainted...and promptly got back in his car and left. I thought he had decided
he couldn't do it, but someone said he had gone to get his own equipment!
Sure enough, a couple of hours later, he returned with his own PA and his
own technician, and I had the pleasure of being his technicians "assistance"
for the gig. He went down a storm, and I certainly dont remember any bad
feelings towards him. The pictures you have posted are NOT the 1985 gig,
so I can only assume they must be 1986. But I can confirm that Roy Harper
was definately at the 1985 festival.
Best wishes and keep up the excellent work!!!
Pete the Bus
(Peter Woodland)
Kent
Information
on the 85s event is thin on the ground , we know Ozrics attended
as there is an 80 minute tape recorded on 10th August as evidence.
When
I was 17, I played in a band called ACT. We gigged around the south
coast and could draw a crowd of a few hundred people, sometimes
more in Southampton, Winchester and Portsmouth.
During
the summer of 1985 we were invited to play a festival called 'Torpedo
Town' on the outskirts of Portsmouth. So called 'Torpedo Town' because
at the edge of the festival site there was a Marconi factory which
made guidance systems for cruise missiles.
The
headline band were Hawkwind on Saturday night. Onstage at midnight.
Rock n' roll!. We played on Saturday evening (around 8pm) and again
on Sunday afternoon. There were maybe 7 or 8,000 people there. We
rocked. Large.Most of the crowd were travellers ( or 'crusties',
or 'new age travellers' or cyber-hippies). They had dropped out
of society and travelled the UK and Europe in beaten-up vans and
minibuses and the like.
|
Subhumans
at Torpedo Town 1985 courtesy Steve Bubble
|
My
very first introduction to Roy Harper was at a peace festival, in
the '80s - nicknamed the "Torpedo Town" festival, it was
held at Brambles Farm, near Waterlooville, Hants, in protest against
a weapons factory being built on the site.
One
of the organisers, Alan Rundle (though back then we were acutely
aware of avoiding hierarchy - no one person was ever identified
as a main organiser) arranged for Roy to play - this was the era
of Ozric Tentacles and the Poison Girls, if memory serves me right
- and of course, for many of us young 'uns, we had no idea who Roy
was. "Who's Roy Harper?", we'd ask. "Just wait and
see" was all Alan would say.
The
rest, as they say, is history.
As
a footnote, I recall Roy turning up and taking a look at the PA,
he immediately turned his car around and left the festival. He drove
all the way home, which was in Clapham, London, I think, and returned
with his own PA, which he lent for the duration.
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Subhumans
again at Torpedo Town 1985 courtesy Steve Bubble
|
We
are suffering from a paucity of information about the really early years
of this festival. By the 90s it had mutated into a Rave with Spiral Tribe
and other sound systems attending . Wango
Rileys was reputed to have been the resident stage and Jah
Free was amongst those who helped perform at the festival, but we do
not know in which years he performed.
©
Baz
|
| |
The
Wickham Common site 1986 © Lucky Dave
|
Torpedo
Town
Festival
August
8th-10th
1986
Wickham
Common
Waterlooville
Hants
.
The
poster comes with an interesting tale
Hi
guys,
have been meaning to send you this for a while.
I was keyboard player in the band 'Captain Pike and the Crucials
" who played at the festival in 1986.We were due to play on
a 'main stage' but it wasn't quite built when we arrived. As some
of the band were not able to stay for the weekend, we looked about
for an alternative place to play. There was a stage set up by a
crew who if my memory serves me right were from Oxford.They had
a p.a etc for there own band and they really kindly let us play
there. I remember having a great gig.
The Oxford crew ran a club called the 'Mad Hatters' we played there
later on and also for an outdoor festival they had.
Don't remember the other bands i'm afraid .I remember seeing Ozric
Tenticles but that is about all.
Another memory is someone climbing right to the top of an electricity
pylon, and living to tell the tale!
Please find the attached poster which I have cherished all these
years.
Just for interest, two of 'Captain Pike' (and until recently 3)
members still play together in a band called "Big Red Ass'
At some point I will put some old footage of us on Youtube.
Really enjoyed the site.Great work.
Cheers. Mark.
|
Courtesy Mark
Hoare
|
Bit
of a mystery here ,sources have Roy Harper as playing at this festival in
1985 , but the newsletter we have been given that list him as playing is
dated 1986 ! However, hes not featured on our poster. However from the info
we have , it seems that Roy played here two years running.
Harper
played in 1986, and had a huge row with people in the crowd, 'cause he had
just signed to EMI. There is an audio recording of this set. The Ozric pics
are also from 86, that's the Wickham Common site.
Kev
Ellis
All
Roy Harper 1986, photos © Steve Tomalin
|
Roy
pokes hisself in the eye !
|
According to Kev Elllis
from the rather spiffing dub-electronika band Bubbledubble
, Roy had a bit of a verbal dust up with sections of the crowd as he had
just signed a recording deal with EMI , who we seem to remember had some
connections with the munitions industry. This fired up Roy no end and he
delivered a very fiery set which was recorded on tape ( we have a copy on
minidisc, which we can't play so we can't confirm if this is true or not....).
Roy Harper onstage
1986 at Torpedo Town Free Festival .
|
Roy's
pissed off audience © Steve Tomalin
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Newsletter
and press cutting courtesy Steve Tomalin
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Negotiations
with the plod 1986
|
Captain
Pike and the Crucials 1986
pics
© Lucky Dave
|
|
The
Convoy © Lucky Dave
I
went
to the Torpedo Town festival in ’86. It was the first festival
I ever went to. I had just left school and was working in a meat pie
factory that summer. I didn’t know anything about festivals
really except that they were the place to see Hawkwind.
I
hitched down to Waterlooville with a couple of mates and hung around
until we met some likely looking people. The previous year’s
site, Brambles Farm, was a no-go so we ended up camped up with a load
of other people somewhere above Waterlooville.
Next
day we got a ride in a bus and we all set off in convoy of vehicles.
I’m not sure if we knew where we were going but eventually we
got to a big field. As we had been in the back of a bus I had no idea
where we were but we were told it was called Wickham Common.
The
vibe was great. I saw Ozrics, the Oroonies, Military Surplus (who
later became RDF, I think) Purple Worm and loads of different bands
playing different types of music. It was sunny and there were lots
of people there including plenty of locals.
Roy
Harper played and he got some grief off a punk who was shouting “only
stupid bastards sign to EMI” which was a slogan at the time.
(EMI had a subsidiary company that manufactured weapons parts). Anyway
it didn’t stop him playing and the crowd wasn’t particularly
on the punk’s side as I remember. I bought an Urban Guerilla
fanzine and a Green Anarchist magazine and took acid for the first
time so obviously when I got home I ditched my job at the pie factory
!
Roy
Harper plays on improvised bus stage, Torpedo Town 86 © Lucky
Dave |
Its stated
that Hawkwind appeared in 1987 , performing at least twice on the 8th August.
there were no festivals held in 1988-89.
