Derek Brandon

NWBN: Dan, thanks for agreeing to answer a few questions. First off, how and when did you get into Bluegrass and what instrument do you play?

DQ: Well, it was in Dec. 1991, when I heard a Flatt & Scruggs CD, that I became instantaneously hooked... fantastic driving music with BALLS! I’m an ex-professional Jazz double bass player - I’ve toured Europe with the Otis Grand Blues Band and we made several CD’s. However I’ve no interest in playing Bluegrass bass so I took up Banjo in 1991. I went to Sore Fingers Week 2 years ago, principally to meet mandolin & guitar players... but after 2 days I was totally depressed as there were only a handful of both but 50 banjo players. So I decided to go home early. But next day I sat in on one of Jody Stecher’s mandolin classes and fell in love with the mandolin, so it’s only the mandolin now. But I still play bass on a semi pro basis.

NWBN: Mmm - so what are your preferred Bluegrass styles?

DQ: I much prefer the virtuoso players who have taken what Monroe, Scruggs & Flatt did and have taken it to a polished, slick, instrumentally virtuoso level on a par with the best jazz... like IIIrd Tyme Out (without question my favourite band... I wanted them for the London date), Lonesome River Band, J.D. Crowe, Tony Rice & Alison Krauss. Just listen to Wayne Benson or Adam Steffey or Dan Tyminski’s mandolin playing... they have taken Monroe’s roots and developed the technique on the mandolin into an awesome virtuoso instrument. This is taking nothing away from Bill - the hardest thing is to create a new genre, but I don’t like people who copy... I love people who take what is given and develop it into new realms...

NWBN: What was it made you put on this show? It’s obviously a big thing and it must be very stressful - was it a big worry?

DQ: I have promoted concerts since I was at school, risking, losing and sometimes making money. Now I am a promoter for a living. My motto is “nothing is impossible”... everything looks impossible when you first look at it. There is ALWAYS a way, you just have to find it. Everyone said that the Barbican Festival would be impossible, people would never come, etc., etc. I had to know if it would work and there was only one way to find out - do it. If you’re going to do something do it properly... there’s no point in looking back afterwards and saying “if only... then it might have worked”. My attitude was to bring over the best, and if the bluegrassers didn’t come to that line up then nothing would work. I did it, and it worked. It was also a great thrill for me to be the one to have brought over J.D. to this country for the first time. He’s one of my heroes... and now we are great friends.

NWBN: Can you explain how you decided the format?

DQ: My concept was to get people to hear this great music in a proper concert hall, where the acoustics would be good, no feedback, where people could really listen and really hear the music. Outdoors this is very hard to do. I wanted an Old Tyme element in the foyer (hence Same Train) but not in the main hall... I wanted the event to be modern and forward-looking. In fact I tried very hard to get Mark O’Connor, David Grisman or Bela Fleck for a slot to show where bluegrass roots can really go. Variety was essential, and I think we got it. I wanted a variety in image also and had hoped to get a hot band over like the Johnson Mountain Boys, but they are rarely playing these days... It proved very hard to get the right bands on the right days and I only managed to sort out the hall date and the bands in early December.

NWBN: How did you select the British Bands? And why those bands - they’re not all Bluegrass bands? I’ve heard comments that British “Bluegrass proper” wasn't sufficiently represented...

DQ: Bollocks! The purists do more damage to musical forms (bluegrass, trad jazz, classical or whatever form you find them) than anyone. Why can't they be delighted that it happened rather than moan? The British Bands were my personal choice and were decided in my head 12 months ago, however the priority was to first fix the US bands as without these there was no festival. You cannot get more variety than Same Train to DCB’s to Daily Planet... what a cocktail of music to hear in one day before you hear the Americans!!

NWBN: And how do you feel now? I’ll bet you’re glad it’s over - will you do it again?

DQ: I feel very tired indeed. But it went very smoothly, and it will be very hard to make a better day than that. I will try again; I have an idea for a different format though. It is a mistake to try to do anything twice - you can never quite create the same excitement as when something first happens.

NWBN: But it’s a mistake many must make - so have you any advice to you offer to anyone trying to promote Bluegrass generally in the UK? To people trying to run clubs, picking sessions, concerts, etc?

DQ: Do it... live music is the greatest. But do it properly... if you are going to do it half baked then don’t do it at all. Proper presentation, proper marketing, decent bands. I planned to start a monthly bluegrass show in Battersea Arts Centre... presenting one British Band each month in a proper club setting, trying to recreate the atmosphere of the Station Inn, Nashville. I called around many bands and asked tem to send publicity ... many promised but didn’t bother to send anything, most of what was sent (with two exceptions) was terrible publicity material. How can a promoter sell a show properly if what he is given by the bands is crap to start with? It is depressing, but this happens in many forms of music. Those bands with the best publicity will get on best, even if they are not musically the best. As a result of this I have decided not to put the club on. I’m concentrating on US bands only.

NWBN: Dan Quinton, thank you very much!

Derek Brandon, Chester, UK

Updated 23rd Jan 1999