When FaceBook reminds you that you have an event coming up with 79 friends (like we need a reminder!) it can only mean one thing – CERBERFEST time!! This year’s CerberFest, which is now in its 11th year, kicks off on Friday 5th July at 7pm and promises to keep us all rocking until the wee hours of Sunday morning.
The excitement is rising, but what is it about this little gem of a festival that keeps its loyal friends and new faces coming back every year? Well for me it truly is the gift that just keeps giving! Starting as a one off, one-day event with 8 bands to celebrate Cerberus’s 20th Anniversary it fast became and has remained the highlight of my gig year. Staying utterly true to its roots and held as always at the George II, my drinking hole of choice for (ahem, actually let’s skip just how long it’s been) which has always been so welcoming to everyone. This wonderful weekend event is free to all, and will continue to be so, as sharing and playing live music and promoting talented local bands has always been at the very heart of CerberFest. It’s not always just local bands though, and you can never discount a surprise! I’ll never forget one particular year when Chris’s annual ‘wildcard’ played. Having been asked to come from Essex to play, Forged in Black were in an early Friday slot – the pub stood in awe at 7pm as we realised we were witnessing something a bit special. Forged in Black have been back, headlined too, and have become honorary Luton music scene family. This year they are off to play Bloodstock for the second year (they’re on the VIP stage so if you’re there, go and show them some Luton love). Egos are always well and truly left at the door, audience and performers alike are there for a shared love of live music and that is all that matters in this party. And make no mistake – it is a party! – the biggest 2 day free party you’ll find anywhere in this town.
I’m looking forward to seeing the bands as I do every year, whether it’s familiar favourites, getting to know some bands better or seeing bands completely new to me. CerberFest XI offers a top notch selection of local and big name bands, and it’s got something for everyone, as always.
The fab acoustic opening acts; Pixie Styx on Friday and Owen The Destroyer and Pamela Moody (complete with her unique repertoire of jokes) on Saturday are just perfect to set us all up for the show. Of course Luton’s own legends Cerberus will play their now traditional two sets over the weekend, one each evening and the old boys/girls set on Saturday afternoon, which is always a delight. Playing for the first time this year are local lads Longbottom Leaf who bring a fantastic mixture of their own rocking material alongside interesting and intelligent covers. Also new to CerberFest Friday are M.A.P.P.S. If you caught them at the Polish fundraiser playing their guitar based eclectic rock at the George in January, or supporting Cerberus at the Cart & Horses in Stratford you know how good these guys are. Some old favourites, or rather old friends are also making a return this year such as marvellous local duo Giant Haystacks and Y ‘n’ T playing the songs of Y&T are our Friday night headliners. Saturday sees local loud and full on metal band Descend taking to the stage for their first CerberFest outing, followed by the excellent Buffalo Fish who are a real treat for the ears. Saturday afternoon into early evening sees their first CerberFest outing, followed by the excellent Buffalo Fish who are a real treat for the ears. Saturday afternoon into early evening sees the sublime Sun Dog Collective return along with Blumunki, and LACK with their Punk heart and metal soul. Saturday evening will see Satan’s Empire well and truly hit the NWOBHM button. They are followed by Airforce and The Deep who are taking to the CerberFest stage for the first time and I have to confess to being beyond excited about seeing them again. I caught them last at the Unicorn in Camden and they rocked my socks off – hold onto yours, you’ve been warned! Saturday headliners are British heavy metal legends Desolation Angels, who’ve been honing their craft since 1981. They’ve been busy touring their most recent album KING produced by Chris Tsangarides around the UK and Europe – this is their last gig before they head into the studio to record new material with Steve Grimmett from Grim Reaper. How lucky are we!!
So, now lets get to my brief, which was to talk about how the festival has changed over its 11 years from its humble beginnings. This is where the 3 faces thing comes in (we don’t just throw this stuff together you know).
First face – Matt Kelly’s take on all things CerberFest or as he likes to call it: The musings of the CerberFest sound engineer!
CerberFest for me starts months ahead when Chris sends me the band list. In the last few years the requests from some of the best NWOBH * bands have literally come in just weeks after the previous CerberFest has ended! 8 weeks out (see I can do numbers higher than 2!!) we send out to all the bands a spec list for vocal microphones required, instruments, how their violin plugs in etc. This enables me to check that the rig is going to be able to cope without too many surprises, although my favourite is still our old keyboard players husband Gary’s impromptu accompaniment to Owen the Destroyer using a Jew’s Harp to Bird on a wire by Leonard Cohen!
Thursday night sees us load in the light stands these days and start to set the stage up. Friday lunchtime starts with load in of our PA, lights plus the backline amplifiers that we try and share with all bands. Lunch is normally a pint of Greene King XX Mild just to check it is good enough for our guests and at 3.0% is still ok for me to plug in cables! Plugging in cables these days is easier as we have a totally digital box nicknamed “the brain” as our sound desk! No more lugging my 24 channel vintage Studiomaster desk and outboard rack into the pub. I now mix totally off tablets!
Once setup I sound check the front of house PA, with my favourite tracks, Blue Monday, Oxygene 4, Motorhead, Smoke on the Water plus a Cerberus track or two, these are all songs I know really well. Having then tested the monitors and microphones the stage is ready and having EQ’d the drum kit it’s time to get going and hopefully there’s time for another mild before the first act sets up, but not always!
The rest of Friday night is quick turnarounds to get each band to start on time. It really is a quick line check of all instruments and then go. I have learnt over the years to mix this way and apologise that everyone’s first song may be rough around the edges but that is the nature of the festival! Friday night finished, a rum and coke or two and then home to sleep!
Saturday; back at the pub for 11, wake the rig up and then a chilled lunchtime start, gradually building towards the Cerberus Old Boys set. A great chance for whoever is available from the people who have been part of the now 30+ year journey to come and have fun, always a technically challenging set for me as never know who will join in or what will be played! Then into the Saturday night building up to the headliners, although I would say that over the years anyone in the line-up could have headlined. The biggest challenge is to keep to time, and even with one medical emergency we have always made it through! ……Then its rum time!!
Sunday, head back to the pub at 12 to dismantle and load out, the cable fairies will have played over night and all those neatly laid cables will be a bunch of spaghetti! Once loaded out and gear stowed it’s time to collapse on the sofa with a beer! At this point I normally question: Am I sane? Am I a masochist? What are next years dates? Can we exceed this year?
Ready for the second face? The bands themselves seemed like a good place to go next for their views. First up Helen from Giant Haystacks gives us her perspective of playing CerberFest over the years:
*New wave of British heavy Metal
Our no-nonsense – power – rockabilly – blues duo, have played most years. Cerberfest is fun, free and unpretentious and anyone who walks through the G2 door is welcome. All the acts on the diverse bill may
Our no-nonsense – power – rockabilly – blues duo, have played most years. Cerberfest is fun, free and unpretentious and anyone who walks through the G2 door is welcome. All the acts on the diverse bill may not be to everyone’s taste in the equally diverse audience, but the support is always there. When our set is done, we loyally yell and stomp like everyone else in the crowd, simply because our cohort are up there onstage giving it welly, the same as us. Needless to say, this makes for a joyous party atmosphere and a righteous nominated charity will benefit too! (Air Ambulance). Like Cerberus, CerberFest has become a much loved institution. Often we have musical duties elsewhere and often travel abroad for festivals, but CerberFest always gets first dibs on our gig calendar. Is it tribal? Possibly. Is it “family”? Definitely. The best way I can describe it is : we are all Luton and we’ve all been Cerberised!
(Now which CerberFest tee shirt shall I wear today?)
Thanks Helen! I also managed to catch up with Jonathon Allen, the man behind the awesome Cerberus drums to talk about how CerberFest has changed for him. Jon joined the band 8 years ago, but had played CerberFest previously in his former band along with Phil Duke, Cerberus’s guitar supremo.
I loved the feeling of the festival with the relaxed atmosphere, great bands and great audience. I confess to being pretty worried about my first Cerberus CerberFest – it was the first time I’d ever really felt nervous. I was keen to not let anyone down as I was forging my way with my own sound and settling into the new job. I recall the standard of bands was incredible and being around so many talented people. I need not have worried, the audience loved the set and made a point of telling us, which is always great feedback for any band.
One thing that stands out as a constant is that the ethos of CerberFest hasn’t changed; it’s a band having fun with other bands, knowing that the music can be diverse but that its widely received and loved. It’s still a bunch of like-minded music lovers listening to talented people who have given up their time to come and play and entertain. Audience participation and interaction is great and the whole pub gets involved. A big party with friends new and old. I must confess to the odd senior moment – I get to meet so many new people and I love that the weekend is intimate and all the bands mingle with the crowds; but I don’t always place faces I’ve maybe not seen since last CerberFest straight off-so if it takes a moment please don’t take offence! Top picks this year for me are Desolation Angels as I’ve not been lucky enough to see them before, and good friends Airforce – love getting the chance to catch up with all the Airforce boys, especially Doug Sampson (ex Iron Maiden).
The best change over the years has been the new lights. Gone are the old conventional par cans in favour of new LEDs which has brought down the sometimes tropical temperatures up on stage – everyone will be pleased to know I will no longer be in danger of discarding all my clothes. I am however still waiting for the pyro’s. The tale of a previous drummer that unknowingly had pyros strapped under his drum stool which got set off at an appropriate crescendo for effect is legendary – I don’t mention pyros around them!
By far the biggest change for me, and us, as it will be for many others at this CerberFest is the sad loss of Martin Halloren, our friend and singer who we sadly lost last year. The band has carried on, as Martin would have wanted and we carry his memory with us always and he is dearly missed. Moving forward is never easy or straightforward but the future is now brighter. Matt Ellis (who we now just call Ellis to avoid confusion as we are collecting Matts!) agreeing to sing has given us a new way forward. He is bringing a different energy to the band and is doing a brilliant job, times are exciting, and long may it continue! The band allow you to be yourself and give you the freedom to experiment – you know it works when the bass player grins at you, equally not so much if you get ‘that’ look. We are looking to the future together and the band is evolving, as all things Cerberus do, including CerberFest itself.
Well said Jon. How about the rest of us? You and me, and essentially all of us that are in the audience at some point. What’s changed from our point of view over the last 11 years? This was hard to answer but why? The more I thought about it and talked it over with other people, the more it became apparent that it hasn’t changed, not really and therein lies its charm and its success.
Yes, it’s got bigger and there are more bands. There are now more prestigious bands asking to be a part of our little towns music scene, which gives me the warm and fuzzies – hope it does you too. But CerberFest retains its roots with plenty of local bands and talent. It’s remained intimate despite its popularity and is unique in that. Yes, it’s wonderfully busy and last year was hotter than Hades when the crowds were bouncing but it would lose its character and heart if it were in a more corporate setting. It practices what it preaches and makes live music accessible to all. One friend commented to me that if you don’t have the time, funds or opportunity to go out often to see live music – the opportunity here over two days to see so many and such a variety of excellent bands is unprecedented. It’s the one time of year a lot of friends actually get to be together in the same place; it’s about the passion for live music, it’s about meeting new people too, and a friendly safe environment. It’s about nurturing talent, it’s about the party, it’s about celebrating all we have that is good in the Luton music scene and if it ain’t broke……
Hugest of thanks must go to Chris Cummings, bass player extraordinaire and all round lovely man for continuing to tirelessly arrange and put on CerberFest for everyone each and every year (can’t get out if doing number 12 now!) – I know he’ll say it’s a team effort, which is it, but it wouldn’t happen without Chris at the helm pulling it all together for months on end and making it look effortless. Top job Mr Cummings!! So, in conclusion; yes the Pup has grown up but thank heavens it hasn’t really changed, its just a big friendly beast now, Do hope to see you at CerberFest, no matter which one of the faces you are: dogs love everyone, especially three headed ones.
Yes, it’s got bigger and there are more bands. There are now more prestigious bands asking to be a part of our little towns music scene, which gives me the warm and fuzzies – hope it does you too. But CerberFest retains its roots with plenty of local bands and talent. It’s remained intimate despite its popularity and is unique in that. Yes, it’s wonderfully busy and last year was hotter than Hades when the crowds were bouncing but it would lose its character and heart if it were in a more corporate setting. It practices what it preaches and makes live music accessible to all. One friend commented to me that if you don’t have the time, funds or opportunity to go out often to see live music – the opportunity here over two days to see so many and such a variety of excellent bands is unprecedented. It’s the one time of year a lot of friends actually get to be together in the same place; it’s about the passion for live music, it’s about meeting new people too, and a friendly safe environment. It’s about nurturing talent, it’s about the party, it’s about celebrating all we have that is good in the Luton music scene and if it ain’t broke……
Hugest of thanks must go to Chris Cummings, bass player extraordinaire and all round lovely man for continuing to tirelessly arrange and put on CerberFest for everyone each and every year (can’t get out if doing number 12 now!) – I know he’ll say it’s a team effort, which is it, but it wouldn’t happen without Chris at the helm pulling it all together for months on end and making it look effortless. Top job Mr Cummings!! So, in conclusion; yes the Pup has grown up but thank heavens it hasn’t really changed, its just a big friendly beast now, Do hope to see you at CerberFest, no matter which one of the faces you are: dogs love everyone, especially three headed ones.
by Anne Hilton
