The Sheffield Scenester

We met Chris Goodyear, guitarist for Driftrun, to discuss the up coming Weston Park Party, an event Driftrun organized very successfully last year, they even won an award for it – The Scenester Award for ‘Best Live Event’. So being glutton’s for punishment, Driftrun are putting it back on this year, not only earlier, but bigger and better, so here’s what Chris had to say on the project;

Scenester: What made you start doing the Weston Park Party?

Chris: It was after the Tramlines, I kinda got this feeling that there weren’t enough outdoor stages for local talent on big stages, some bands just need a big stage to sound good on. Obviously Tramlines had the big stage occupied with bigger acts, which is fine, it’s not a criticism of Tramlines, its more a case of do whatever, cos tramlines is a great thing…….I love it, I really do cos I just follow reggae round all weekend, being a big reggae fan.

But yeah, I’d seen the bandstand and thought about it in previous years and often thought ‘Why can’t we play a gig on there?’ I’d seen bands playing on there, so we got talking to a sound guy we’d used before, Alex Warhurst, whom we’d met when we played at The Arena, he’s very pro, got a good rig and we just sorted it out with him. At first we were thinking ‘Why don’t we just do a gig?’, but then thought why don’t we get some of our mates on or people we know and bands that we respect…..and that’s how it evolved! We pushed it, and from that it just grew and grew until it became what it is now! I mean this year there were so many calls to carry it on that I didn’t really have a choice, there was no say in the matter. It’s not only that, it’s for the Children’s Hospital……

Scenester: Why did you pick that particular charity?

Chris: It was a local charity and it was effectively in their back garden, it’s close to people’s hearts, that’s my personal philosophy, you know.....doing things for charity and acting for other people is a good source of happiness. Not only that but when you do things for charity, everyone’s on board and they’re all willing to chip in, I thought we’d just raise a bit of money.....but what we raised was very good. I mean there was no entry fee so it was based on people giving from the heart which is what I prefer, I don’t like charging cos when you charge people expect it to be of a certain standard, so this way the pressure is off slightly for me, kinda like ‘It’s free so you can’t complain!’ That said it’s kinda based on a Buddhist principle, don’t know what it’s called, but sort of means give what you’ve got in your heart.
I’m very much into Buddhism, cos when you immerse yourself in that kind of literature, which I do a lot, you realize that helping others is one of the key sources of happiness and peace. So motivation for me is not just the music, it’s for that, keeping that side going, so if I could combine musical talent with that….I’m happy!

Scenester: Incidentally you said you played at The Arena, was it through The Steelers that you did a charity gig for The Children’s Hospital before?

Chris: When it comes to The Steelers, I can’t remember exactly how it came about....cos it was a long time ago, they used to put bands on at The Arena and they asked us to play. I don’t know if you remember a band called Benron, but we did a gig with them as part of The Master Cutler's Challenge 2009 in aid of The Children's Hospital, but some of The Steelers were in there and they used to use our track ‘Mellor Road’ on their warm up CD. So in a way I kinda had connections with the Children’s Hospital there, but back then we played when we had about 5000 people watching us and it was great.

Scenester: The bands that you’ve chosen this year, is there any particular reason behind them?

Chris: Well last year we tried to keep it a bit varied, perhaps looking back it weren’t as varied as our band Driftrun, which I suppose is the umbrella under which we organized this, really reflects. I mean we’re into allsorts you know, we are a guitar band....but I really don’t affiliate myself with guitar music all the time.......like I love going out to reggae nights, dance nights, house, drum and bass, I like to mix it up, keep it within a commercial sort of frame, nothing to far out, the line up, anyone would be happy with it I suppose cos we don’t wanna to put anything too far out on. I mean I wanted to get different cultures involved cos sometimes I think there is too much guitar music around. We’ve kept guitar bands in there and we’ve got Playground Mafia on, which is a sort of R’n’B, dance, house, electro stuff, and then there’s Steve Edwards, he brings a sort of reggae, house vibe to it.......so it is a mixed bag. To be fair I would have liked to have it more mixed, I probably asked twice as many bands as I eventually got on the bill....but due to various other commitments like gigs and holidays etc….

We have Blue Lip Feel, an indie/rock band for which I have to thank Ben Hartley for arranging, then there’s Alvarez Kings, we’ve tried to choose the best from each genre, and as far as I’m concerned they are ‘spot on’. Jon Windle obviously is ex Little Man Tate, indie music again........but he is quite a big name, I must thank Joolz Vernon for that, plus Joolz will be doing some DJ-ing on the day along with Phil Jones from Lords Of Flatbush in between sets. Getting back to Steve Edward’s new project, you could say it’s Flatbush again....but it’s not, I wanted to keep that theme in there though, that sort of vibe. I bumped into Steve outside our rehearsal place and he said he had some new stuff going on so he should be previewing some of his new material at Weston Park. Then there’s Mark Nichols who is an absolutely spectacular talent and I think his music marries well with the full vibe of the day.

Scenester: Is there any reason that you’ve done it before Tramlines this year?

Chris; Yes, yes there is a perfectly logical reason, last year we did it on a bank holiday weekend cos that was when the park had it available. The reason it’s on a Sunday, obviously we’d like it on a Saturday so we could have more of a party, but there is a park wedding on the Saturday, but the reason it’s before Tramlines is so that it captures the tail end of the students being here.......so it’s put me under quite a bit of pressure cos I’ve only had nine months to turn it around instead of the full year. This time it’s been a tough one, getting some of the bands that are on are not necessarily bands we hang around with, you see, we made a conscious decision not to just put our mates on, we didn’t want to be accused of that and we didn’t want to be accused of putting on all the same kind of music. So the bands that are on, we do know them, but I don’t like it when there are cliques you know, you get that and it becomes stifling sometimes, so we’ve tried to put on what we would regard as being talent in different genres. We’ve gone for the talent instead of just friends, if we thought someone were really good then we’ve tried to get them……

Scenester: Apart from the band line up what other changes have you made to The Party this year?

Chris: Well we’ve got a sponsor now, Iris, a creative agency based in Kelham Island so I’d like to thank Phil Jones and Maria Vardy, Phil sorted it out, Maria, it’s her company, they design logos and websites, stuff like that…so a big THANK YOU to them! They are basically covering costs, cos they have escalated a little bit from extending the museum opening time by an hour just for the use of the toilets, we had to ensure toilet facilities for party goers. We’ve also got some catering units coming on site, I’m not sure right now......but I think there might be three, a Pimm’s bar, a jacket potato/snack place and a noodle bar.

Scenester: And what was the highlight of last year for you personally?

Chris: One of the good things about it that I liked last year was seeing the kids at a live music event because usually kids don’t get a chance to see live bands and I think when you’re growing up, I think it’s a good stimulus for their brains, it’s better than watching X-Factor on TV and all that kinda stuff. I mean you can go to The Arena, and take kids there and see the bigger bands.....but you can’t take them to the local band nights round town. It’s a lot more closer and in your face and I think it’s good for kids to see that sort of thing, it’s a shame we can’t have more, and not only kids but mums and dads as well, cos it’s the middle of the day and it’s in a setting where they’re comfortable. Actually in that setting I feel more comfortable being outside playing a thing like that than clubs cos I’m more a day kinda person, even though I’m out on the night scene a lot I still like to be alive during the day!

That’s pretty much it really, it has come round quite quick and the pressure has been on, so all that’s left is to pray for sunshine, but there are provisions are in place!

We thanked Chris for his time, and frankly if it’s half as good as last year we know he’s onto a winner, so armed with a picnic hamper and a disposable BBQ we’ll be there sprawled out on the grass listening to some great tunes all in the name of a good cause, saves cooking Sunday dinner anyway!