Lets get this summer wrapped up.
There was a little bit of a break before the next shows, a few weddings to attend and some responsible jazz to do, like head down to the Dorset coast to do an intense photo shoot!
The skulls
working shot
SHOW TIME!
SECRET GARDEN PARTY
This season I had the honour of being invited to play on the Living room Stage at "Secret Garden Party" on the 25th July. It was a Friday afternoon slot and I had the rest of the week end free so Abi and I took advantage of the week end passes and got fully involved.
It's an awesome festival with loads of gnarly little nooks and crannies to find suiting what ever you mood and I would highly recommend attending to all.
Thanks to Phil and Kevin for having me come play and Ethan for the shots.
The emerald city on the lake
Playing in the sun flower field
The gig
Signing of back stage
Job done, time to party!
VW WHITENOISE 1st-3rd August
The next show takes us to Euston Park in the enchanted Thetford forest with a shit load of veedubs again.
This years http://vwwhitenoise.com/ had a real different vibe to it I was set up away from the main arena in a circle of trees and with the help of Ed and Mark from the festival build team and Buzz with his solar panelled double decker bus we built quite the magical little hang out.
My Pad
Afternoon sound check/jam with Ed and "Dandelion and the rocket"
Night falls
Abi's up
We had a BBQ
Tree branch fell on my head whilst I was barbecuing
It was hard work but a grand vibe that weekend. Thanks to https://www.facebook.com/pages/Dandelion-The-Rockets, and https://www.facebook.com/thewoodlandcreatures for coming and playing, Ed and Mark for you creativity, company, Caesar the lettuce, and help with setting the scene for The Camper Van Live Lounge and to Buzz for powering us with your bus. VWWhitenoise well done again and I hope to see you again next year.
VW FESTIVAL LEEDS!
It was my first time at this show and it was a right giggle. Held on August 15th-17th at Harewood house in Leeds it's a sweet location and really well put together with Paul Woodford presenting through out the show. The weather was pretty bloody awful and it did lead to the destruction of the live lounge but I had a few of the guys from the band come along, I hooked up with some old friends and made a load more and we all had an awesome time.
Friday afternoon Eman and I getting warmed up
Eman Antwi drummer/percussionist extraordinaire
Friday nights session
George Golding Bass monkey
You Lot!
The following day as I said after our afternoon session the wind got well rowdy and I ended up having to cut the live lounge tent loose as it was taking off and taking half the PA system with it, so RIP old tent.
After an unanimous vote we decided the show would go on and we packed the PA down all hopped in the van and took the tunes to the people. We played out the van through my busking amp as the crowds cleared out the main marque and sat around on the grass to listen, tips came in and CD's went out, It was wicked!
Thanks to Eman, George, Nikita, Oscar, and Mitra for company, acting street team and playing.
Shane, thanks for having me Dude.
Get over to http://www.vwfestival.co.uk/ and get your tickets for 2015
I mentioned early a gent called Paul Woodford who was presenting at VW Festival Leeds. He's a presenter for an online motoring channel as well http://onlymotors.com and got in touch with me after the festival about doing a feature on their motoring people run. A couple of weeks later I went to meet the team in reading and we had a chat about what Pickle and I get up to shortly before climbing in to the back of a £160,000 Bentley for a 12 cylinder live lounge session.
Check it out here http://onlymotors.com/tom-dibb-interview/
Cheers for the hang Paul.
At the end of August I tried something a bit different for me and put on an online gig through https://www.stageit.com
We hooked up a couple of mics and a camera and I played an hour camper van session with Oscar and people watched from the comfort of their own homes. It was real good fun and I want thank all of you that tuned in and supported, planning another couple before the year is out.
DREAM ON:
September 6th takes me to The Crown and Anchor in Chiswick http://www.crownandanchorchiswick.co.uk/ for Masters and Harris "Dream on Day" http://www.mastersandharris.com
Masters and Harris are Kim and Paul, a charity organisation supporting people to discover their dreams and actively start living them. I came across them or more accurately they found me busking on the streets of chiswick in spring 2013 and we have been friends since with them supporting at the majority of my London shows and I playing at their Dream On Days.
It was a great day with some wicked artists/bands playing and loads of workshops, arts and crafts stalls going down with in the vicinity of a cracking pub.
SISTER FEST:
The day after Abi https://www.facebook.com/abimusicuk and I rocked over to East London to hook up with The Shoreditch Sisters https://www.facebook.com/shoreditchsisterswi and play a few tunes at their Sister Fest picnic.
The Shoreditch sisters are a section of the WI (Womens Institute) running campaigns including 'Embroideries' which raises awareness about the horrific act of FGM/C (female genital mutilation/cutting) through creating a quilt made up of beautiful patches of embroidered vulvas. http://embroideriescampaign.org.uk/
and currently running Days for Girls UK, which provides reusable sewn sanitary kits for girls and women in developing countries https://www.facebook.com/DaysforGirlsUK
VW FAB FESTIVAL:
Hosted by Vinny and Terrian VW Fab Festival was a first timer for them and me, a small show held this year on the weekend of September 12th at Sutton Staithe Hotel and having a little bit of everything. When we arrived Vinny explained how one thing after another had not necessarily gone to plan with regards field mowing and marque's to name a couple but it really did turn out to be a smashing weekend so well done to you both.
There was a great band playing on the friday called Eastview Acoustic https://www.facebook.com/EastViewAcoustic a Norwich based 3 piece band playing a melodic folk dub kinda vibe, well worth a check out.
During the day times Abi and I dotted sets in between Bands, and children's disco's while folks chowed down on crepe's and after the bands in the eve we played unplugged for those not ready to kip.
Cheers Vinny and Terrian for having us along and hope to catch you next year. Peace
GRILL-N-CHILL:
Without doubt one of my favourite shows last year I was stoked to be going back this year to hang with the gang again.
On Friday the 19th Sept Abi and I called by Camberley on the way down to Hop Farm to pick up Welly the Spaniel, you may remember me mentioning him last year when he came to Grill-n-Chill with me as a result of him being in my ward while my bro was away, well he was in the team again this season after popular demand.
This is Welly at one point when he was behaving himself and for some reason, probably cos when one of us was playing the other was entertaining the dog, this is the only photo either of us seem to have taken during the duration of the week end.
It was awesome, we set up and then each did a little chilled afternoon set to let folks know we were there, Then I went and did a set over in the 'dray' (the main hall/bar) and then the remainder of the eve was a chill for us listening to tunes being spun by the Coolflo boys next door. Wicked clothing range to check out, drive, skate, surf or ride, it's a lifestyle thing http://www.coolflo.co.uk
On Saturday we played sets in between skate and BMX displays on the coolflo half pipe and Stories by Raggedy Jack the Story teller https://www.facebook.com/RaggedyJackStoryteller then a late night unplugged session with some good friends after all the bands.
Thanks to all the Paintscrapers http://paintscrapers.co.uk/ of which a group have become really good friends, to all the organisers of the festival for having me back and congratulations to Anton and Angela on their engagement. Peace!
RETRO DUBS SUFFOLK:
Another first timer and this was naughty amounts of fun. I'd spoken to Ian and Donna early in the spring about coming and being part of their show and they'd made the effort to come find me at a couple of the other shows through the season so I knew I was in good hands when arriving and I was greeted with smiles and hugs.
It took a little while to figure out the best place to set up as I'd rolled up a little later than I had originally intended, but it wasn't long before I was set up playing, and reminiscing with some familiar faces.
DREAM ON:
September 6th takes me to The Crown and Anchor in Chiswick http://www.crownandanchorchiswick.co.uk/ for Masters and Harris "Dream on Day" http://www.mastersandharris.com
Masters and Harris are Kim and Paul, a charity organisation supporting people to discover their dreams and actively start living them. I came across them or more accurately they found me busking on the streets of chiswick in spring 2013 and we have been friends since with them supporting at the majority of my London shows and I playing at their Dream On Days.
It was a great day with some wicked artists/bands playing and loads of workshops, arts and crafts stalls going down with in the vicinity of a cracking pub.
SISTER FEST:
The day after Abi https://www.facebook.com/abimusicuk and I rocked over to East London to hook up with The Shoreditch Sisters https://www.facebook.com/shoreditchsisterswi and play a few tunes at their Sister Fest picnic.
The Shoreditch sisters are a section of the WI (Womens Institute) running campaigns including 'Embroideries' which raises awareness about the horrific act of FGM/C (female genital mutilation/cutting) through creating a quilt made up of beautiful patches of embroidered vulvas. http://embroideriescampaign.org.uk/
and currently running Days for Girls UK, which provides reusable sewn sanitary kits for girls and women in developing countries https://www.facebook.com/DaysforGirlsUK
VW FAB FESTIVAL:
Hosted by Vinny and Terrian VW Fab Festival was a first timer for them and me, a small show held this year on the weekend of September 12th at Sutton Staithe Hotel and having a little bit of everything. When we arrived Vinny explained how one thing after another had not necessarily gone to plan with regards field mowing and marque's to name a couple but it really did turn out to be a smashing weekend so well done to you both.
There was a great band playing on the friday called Eastview Acoustic https://www.facebook.com/EastViewAcoustic a Norwich based 3 piece band playing a melodic folk dub kinda vibe, well worth a check out.
During the day times Abi and I dotted sets in between Bands, and children's disco's while folks chowed down on crepe's and after the bands in the eve we played unplugged for those not ready to kip.
Cheers Vinny and Terrian for having us along and hope to catch you next year. Peace
GRILL-N-CHILL:
Without doubt one of my favourite shows last year I was stoked to be going back this year to hang with the gang again.
On Friday the 19th Sept Abi and I called by Camberley on the way down to Hop Farm to pick up Welly the Spaniel, you may remember me mentioning him last year when he came to Grill-n-Chill with me as a result of him being in my ward while my bro was away, well he was in the team again this season after popular demand.
This is Welly at one point when he was behaving himself and for some reason, probably cos when one of us was playing the other was entertaining the dog, this is the only photo either of us seem to have taken during the duration of the week end.
It was awesome, we set up and then each did a little chilled afternoon set to let folks know we were there, Then I went and did a set over in the 'dray' (the main hall/bar) and then the remainder of the eve was a chill for us listening to tunes being spun by the Coolflo boys next door. Wicked clothing range to check out, drive, skate, surf or ride, it's a lifestyle thing http://www.coolflo.co.uk
On Saturday we played sets in between skate and BMX displays on the coolflo half pipe and Stories by Raggedy Jack the Story teller https://www.facebook.com/RaggedyJackStoryteller then a late night unplugged session with some good friends after all the bands.
Thanks to all the Paintscrapers http://paintscrapers.co.uk/ of which a group have become really good friends, to all the organisers of the festival for having me back and congratulations to Anton and Angela on their engagement. Peace!
RETRO DUBS SUFFOLK:
Another first timer and this was naughty amounts of fun. I'd spoken to Ian and Donna early in the spring about coming and being part of their show and they'd made the effort to come find me at a couple of the other shows through the season so I knew I was in good hands when arriving and I was greeted with smiles and hugs.
It took a little while to figure out the best place to set up as I'd rolled up a little later than I had originally intended, but it wasn't long before I was set up playing, and reminiscing with some familiar faces.
The days were full of sunny lounging on throws and cushions, beers and mellow tunes, oh and having a dabble on a guitar made from vw hubcaps by a gent called Richard Keeble.
Richard and me having ago on one of his guitars.
The evenings full of a lot more beers, merriment and giggles. On the friday eve I thought security was coming to tell us to pack it in but instead Ian exits the buggy and comes to join me for a dram of whiskey. Later we went on a security round of the perimeter, by no means was this a fun adventure, before going to acquaint me with Burt's Boyz https://www.facebook.com/Burts.Boyz of whom I spent the rest of my evening with. Cool guys, cool products, cool cause, check em out.
Saturday was a real party and Dougie of The Marz Harley Band https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Marz-Harley-Band came and jammed with me before doing a set with rest of his band. Cheers for joining me dude.
Dougie and I having a jam, I'm the one with the light bulb head in case you were wondering.
Ian and Donna, absolute legends well done on a wicked cool show.
Now I'm sure I'm probably loosing you if I've not already, I lost my self a way back, but if I don't plough through the rest I'm gonna get left behind again and I'll be lumbered righting marathon blogs for the rest of my days boring the crap out of the readers if there are any of you left.
Rest assured we have just hit the October mark, yea this fricking month, and it will more than likely be a lot of pictures, game on.
October reunites me with a very close friend after a year of not really seeing one another for no particular reason, but lo and behold I receive a message offering me a job.
Ticket master tech team were having a bit of a knees up at their office and Arthurs young lady Nerida was event organising it and they wanted a bit of live entertainment, wonderful.
The only reason I really brought this up is because it was really cool to hang with Arthur again and every one should know that the Ticket master office has this going down to the bar.
BOWDEN BIG WEEKENDER:
In the last two weeks I have seen some of the most incredible landscapes this Island has to offer, sights I didn't believe could be right on our door stop and it started with the bowden big weekender https://www.facebook.com/BowdenLandRoverAppeal
Early in the season I had met up with Jed and Al from https://www.facebook.com/the.real.campervanculture at Bus Types festival http://www.bus-types.co.uk after having contacted them for a bit of advice on prepping for my Australia trip next year.
We stayed in touch and they put me in contact with their friend Bobby regarding coming along and providing some tunes at the camps on this 4x4 charity rally he was organising. The Rally was in aid of raising funds to build a recovery vehicle for Glen Coe Mountain Rescue http://www.glencoemountainrescue.org.uk/ who played a huge roll in recovering Bobby's friend Shaun Bowden after a fatal fall during a mountain walk March last year, and risk their lives for hundreds every year.
Jed offered me the position of Co Pilot in his vw t25 syncro westfalia which I happily took up as Pickle was not up to the job and I wanted to be fully involved.
Early on the 3rd of October I dropped Pickle at Jed's place, jumped in with him and we set off to meet the rest of the rally in Birmingham.
The heritage motor centre meet point, actually a really cool museum if your that way
Jed's Syncro
When the whole gang had arrived we got on the road and began making our way up to the lakes.
I couldn't remember where it was we were due to be pitching in the lakes but I was happy for a surprise. It was when we started climbing a pass I thought this looks bloody familiar and it turned out we were going the other way over the pass between Ambleside and Ullswater that I had burnt my brakes out on earlier in the season.
Setting up camp at Ullswater
As night closes in food, booze, and tunes start flowing
Apparently the weather was raw that night, Jed's awning got mangled and tents were flooded but I didn't hear any of it comfortably unconscious spending my first night in the pop top.
We busted a groove that morning up and over the border to Scotland where we were due to visit an off road park, I was stoked as the last bit of off roading I could remember doing was as a kid in my grand dad's old defender.
Driving alongside loch lomond
The off road park
Where the river looks like beer
Making our way from Wasdale to Ambleside
The rest of the drive was incredible, absolutely breath taking scenery from Loch Lomond all the way to Glen Coe, I had no idea.
There was water cascading from the mountains every where
Marsh land on the open stretch to Glen Coe
Approaching Glen Coe
The team parked up opposite Glen Coe Mountain Rescue station
Red squirrel camp site, our patch for the eve.
It was a long old way but man was it worth it. When we got to the red squirrel site we were having a look around for our pitch, Jed asked where I reckon we should go and kinda in jest I say "up that mound between the two trees right by the waters edge," Jed replies "ok" and there we were best pitch on the site, the joys of having a syncro.
Now as if this site couldn't get any better it's right next to one of the best pubs I've ever been to.
The Clachaig Inn http://www.clachaig.com/ Is everything you'd want from a scottish mountain pub, wood everywhere, a wide selection of ales and whiskies, live music, good food, and fire places set upon large slate slabs.
As we arrived we squeezed on to odd table spaces here and there and started the rounds of Ales as food order numbers were bellowed from the bar staff for customer collections. The night went on and the band played through and bit by bit we eventually communed around the same table, I really wish I had taken some shots in there but I rest assured that Jed was definitely making little go pro clips and stills through out of which I'm sure some will make an appearance in the campervan culture video of the rally.
When the shutter at the bar went down we all began to make tracks back to the site through the drizzle and dark, then cracked a few more beers had a little smoke and played songs in and around the van.
In the morning everyone said their goodbyes and headed off their own way. We had decided to head back down to the lakes and visit a place called wasdale on the far side, the dramatic scenery continued.
At the top of the pass from Wasdale
We spent our final night of the rally back in the lakes at a campsite looking up the valley of Wasdale where we sat round the fire and chatted before calling it a fairly early night as we were all shagged.
The weather took a pretty vicious turn in the early hours and you could hear the wind approaching before thumping in to the side of the van but we stayed dry and no trees came down on us.
In the morning we set off to Ambleside to find some breakfast and came across a vibey little joint called Bilbo's Cafe, I would highly recommend it as its good chow, chilled and they have open mics/jam sessions and stuff in there. I will be returning for a play https://www.facebook.com/bilboscafe
What have I learnt from this trip?
Jed,Al, Thanks for having me as part of the team, for all your advice on prepping for my trip and for all the laughs.
Harriet, thank you for your wonderful culinary skills, that is one soft courgette!
VDUBS @ BLACK ROCK SANDS:
This only happened last weekend, made it to the present, Hell yea!
I arrived at Black rock sands on thursday the 9th, after taking my sweet ass time, and the site was already closed. There were a few vans setting up but I thought no need to disturb as I saw a nice spot at the mouth to the beach on the way in.
We had a bbq and righted some wrongs before I called it an early one to be able to ride on in the early hours. Gary, pleasure to meet you dude, a true gent and thanks for the food and beers.
Dougie and Del, thank you so much for having me along and being so hospitable. I will hope to see you again before my departure at the end of next season.
Peace
Thats it! Here I am typing out the last bit at Abi's before heading in to London for a bit of street performing and then to check out The London Surf Film Festival closing gala.
The next couple of months is gonna be head down planning the trip to Australia I will be doing this time next year.
I think I've decided on calling it 'Tom Dibb in a Pickle Down Under'
In the morning we set off to Ambleside to find some breakfast and came across a vibey little joint called Bilbo's Cafe, I would highly recommend it as its good chow, chilled and they have open mics/jam sessions and stuff in there. I will be returning for a play https://www.facebook.com/bilboscafe
What have I learnt from this trip?
- 4 wheels driving are better than 2
- Pop tops make a huge spacial difference
- You don't have to leave the Island to see some Lord of the rings style scenery
- A litre of black current and beetroot juice does funky stuff to your bowels, don't panic.
Jed,Al, Thanks for having me as part of the team, for all your advice on prepping for my trip and for all the laughs.
Harriet, thank you for your wonderful culinary skills, that is one soft courgette!
VDUBS @ BLACK ROCK SANDS:
This only happened last weekend, made it to the present, Hell yea!
I arrived at Black rock sands on thursday the 9th, after taking my sweet ass time, and the site was already closed. There were a few vans setting up but I thought no need to disturb as I saw a nice spot at the mouth to the beach on the way in.
One of the valleys on the cruise in
My thursday night camping spot
I took those shots on waking in the morning, as it was dark when I got there, and then walked up the beach with a brew watching the rain roll in from the sea.
On returning to the van it started belting it down so I crawled back in and thought I'd chill for a little longer as it was still really early plus the rain drumming on Pickles tin roof and the view where inspiring.
With in the hour the spot got busier with dog walkers so I thought I'd make my way to the site.
Bugger!
Yea I got well stuck, where's Jed and Al when you need them. My exhaust was pretty much on the sand so I started digging with a piece of driftwood, and I dug, and I dug, and people watched, and I laughed, and I stuck wood and stones in the hole and tried once again to get traction with no success.
Eventually one group came over and said "this lady said she can give you a tow if we can find a rope" So they very kindly drove to borrow a rope from the local garage and on their return I was rescued.
Thank you kind strangers.
The Final Camp Down is a VW weekend like no other I've been to. There are no traders, no show and shine, just a bunch of van owners on a site all together some where awesome,
It was so chilled.
On the Friday I did a little afternoon set to let folks know I was about, then we all made our way over to the pub for a good old jolly round the fire and a bit of a disco. I left after a little while to tend to my fire and get set up for a potential late night set but once the pub closed most retired back to their camps, so a few of us sat around the flames and got acquainted.
Saturday brought the sun out and I took a walk up the hill to scope out the area before doing an afternoon play.
When the dark set in I got the fire going before heading over to the marquee where the band was playing to do a few numbers opening up for them and to let everyone know they were welcome back at mine for a chill and a jam afterwards.
A cracking night it was!
On Sunday the sun was out again and I thought I'd brave the beach again before the drive on
One of the Dudes that had come for a listen on the Saturday after noon, Gary, came o join me in his splitty with a couple of beers and soon persuaded me to stay another night and hit the road in the morning.
Dougie and Del, thank you so much for having me along and being so hospitable. I will hope to see you again before my departure at the end of next season.
Peace
Thats it! Here I am typing out the last bit at Abi's before heading in to London for a bit of street performing and then to check out The London Surf Film Festival closing gala.
The next couple of months is gonna be head down planning the trip to Australia I will be doing this time next year.
I think I've decided on calling it 'Tom Dibb in a Pickle Down Under'
I will be driving the van through Europe, Iran, over to Dubai, over to India, through South East Asia, Malaysia, then Island hopping to Bali where I will then freight Pickle over to Perth before continuing down to Melbourne to put on a big show.
The route will change I'm sure many a time before leaving and more so during the trip but the plan is to do a campervan session in each country with a local musician and a campervan recipe based on a traditional dish.
The entire trip will be documented to make a film and I hope to return with a load of new tunes for you all.
The next year will be full of video blogs prepping Pickle for the drive, fundraising gigs around the Uk and online and of course a whole load more VW festivals.
If any one has any advice, contacts, or feels they can support in any way, I'm gonna need all the help I can get so please get in touch and lets make some noise!
Heres the video of my take on 'Concrete Jungle' by Bob Marley, hope you dig.
Solid blessings for all your support over the last couple of years, its been incredible. Now lets right a new chapter.
Peace x
Tom
The route will change I'm sure many a time before leaving and more so during the trip but the plan is to do a campervan session in each country with a local musician and a campervan recipe based on a traditional dish.
The entire trip will be documented to make a film and I hope to return with a load of new tunes for you all.
The next year will be full of video blogs prepping Pickle for the drive, fundraising gigs around the Uk and online and of course a whole load more VW festivals.
If any one has any advice, contacts, or feels they can support in any way, I'm gonna need all the help I can get so please get in touch and lets make some noise!
Heres the video of my take on 'Concrete Jungle' by Bob Marley, hope you dig.
Solid blessings for all your support over the last couple of years, its been incredible. Now lets right a new chapter.
Peace x
Tom
