This year has seen mixed fortunes for the humble music festival, whilst the likes of Glastonbury and Big Chill take a break due to The Olympics, much needed rest, etc we’ve seen the emergance of yet another wave of new festivals, whilst the likes of the mid sized events such as Nozstock and Rhythm Festival stride successfully on.

Locally, the folks of Herford and Worcester seem to be inunadated with day long events or weekenders from the aforementioned Nozstock to Bromyard Folk Festival via the forthcoming multi-day and venue affair Worcester Music Festival we seem to have it covered. The Bransford Music Festival is something of a new name to me, but the charity based affair (Air Ambulance) is something of a welcome addition to July’s calender, whilst the Bear And Ragged Staff play perfect hosts to an array of acts from the folk of Clare Boswell to the blazing good time rock of The Notorious Brothers.

We arrived at the festival to catch half a song of Clare Bowell before being treated to a number of acts previously unknown to me. It would be easy for me to dissect each and every performance on the day, but firstly it was a charitable affair so it’s only right I play nice and say well done to all the acts that gave up their time for a worthy cause and secondly I’d rather concentrate on the worthy than to sit here and slate a mediocre covers band or a forgettable singer-songwriter.

And So to the first act to really make an impression Please Make Love In The Garden, a ramshackle group of musicians featuring pattered percussion, deep bass grooves and laidback pyschedelic electric guitars, pretty harmonies and the odd bluesy number. The band were without their normal bass player and drummer, however various musicians (The Number 6 Players) lent a helping hand to compliment their sound and the group managed to throw together an intriguing set that certainly deserves further investigation.

The Faux were performing for the first time and I have to say they showed a great deal of confidence, their tight set of contagious indie pop would manage to put to shame a number more well established acts. The band have really honed their craft before unleashing it infront of a live audience and the band succeeded in delivering a fun, summery set.

The Dark Plains popped up from Plymouth to unleash a set of alternative rock and frantic grunge to an unexpecting audience. The trio delivered a fine set of originals, threw in an acoustic number or two, showcasing a lighter side and a rip roaring cover of Nirvana just for good measure. The Dark Plains headed back to Plymouth having winning over a brnd new fan club.

Long time Rhythm & Booze favourites The Delray Rockets never fail to get a crowd moving (even it’s in the comfort of their own chairs), the rockabilly trio performed a slimmed down set of double bass pumping, guitar twanging in your face hi-octane rock n roll. The band take to the stage looking like the last (or only) rockabilly gang in town before laying to waste the audience with a stunning set of fun, thrills and sing-a-long classics such as Beer O’Clock Boogie and Deuces Wild along with a frantic take of Teenage Kicks to round off their brief yet brilliant set. If you’ve yet to catch The Delray Rockets live, I highly recommend you seek them out as soon as possible, satisfaction guarenteed!!!

The evenings entertainment was finished off in style by kings of entertainment The Notorious Brothers, a band that welds a combination of classic rock with a few psychedelic tendancies, frontman and guitarist, Melvin Hancock delivers wave after wave of spellbinding guitar histrionics whilst the rhythm section of Mikey Cheshire and Richard Rivett hold down the bottom end with the energy of a whole fleet of duracell bunnies. The band drew energy from the assembled masses, playfully jousting with one another, pulling weird and wonderful shapes along the way as the audience lap up ever solo let along every song. The trio may have filled their set with crowd pleasing covers such as Freebird, My Generation and Paranoid but they added their own unique and infectious twist to each of the chosen anthems, whilst their own originals manage to stand shoulder to shoulder to the greats. The Notorious Brothers came, saw and conquered leaving everyone with a big grin and a skip in their step (even at that late hour!!!).

The Faux are a brand new indie pop band, so new in fact they’ve just made their debut at the recent Bransford music festival, but already they have honed an impressive array of infectious hum along anthems and as you can see from this picture their contagious melodies even brought the sun out!!!

Photo By Graham Munn