Sound of the Thames Delta
1 – 2 October
11am – 6pm daily (followed by live music gigs till 10pm)
Southend Pier, Western Esplanade, Southend-on-Sea SS1 1EE
FREE, booking essential – Book here.
‘Southend’s never been a quiet seaside town, there’s always been too much music and entertainment going on for that. So when Rock n Roll came along, Southend rolled up its sleeves and gave the nation a special flavour of Southend Rock.’ Billy Bragg – narrator for Southend Rock, written and produced by Roger Deakin.
Acclaimed writer Roger Deakin (d.2006) best known for his ‘passionate, magical and meditative’ writing about nature (Waterlog, 1999, Chatto & Windus, Wildwood, 2007, Hamish Hamilton) also loved music. In 1992 he wrote, produced and directed a documentary for Anglia TV called ‘Southend Rock’, narrated by Billy Bragg which likens the blues sound, the flood plains and the pre planning law ‘shacks’ of south Essex to the Mississippi Delta, giving rise to the now well used term the ‘Sound of the Thames Delta’.
Sound of the Thames Delta, brings together musicians, writers, artists, film-makers and broadcasters to examine the relationship between place and music, at the end of the world’s longest pier in Southend-on-Sea.
Architecture, landscape, industry, politics, economics – what is it about the specifics of place that gives rise to unmistakable sounds and attitudes in the invention and creation of new sounds in music? Key figures from different music genres and subcultures that have grown out of the marshes of South Essex, spanning five decades, will form a series of panel discussions with live music, film screenings and guests from further afield.
What role do venues play? – resident DJs, on the spot photographers and those who were there, discuss Crocs, The Goldmine, Blow Up, Sound Systems, Junk Club and more.
Artists include: Karl Hyde (Underworld); John Fatman (resident DJ, Crocs); DJ Nihal (BBC Radio 1); Paul Morley (The North (And Almost Everything In It), 2013 Bloomsbury), Jeremy Deller (Our Hobby is Depeche Mode), Dave Robinson (Stiff Records), Pete Paphides (Melody Maker, Time Out, Vinyl Revival BBC 6 Music), Ruth Barnes (Radio 4, BBC 6 Music, Resonance FM), Zoe Howe (Looking Back at Me (with Wilko Johnson), 2012 Cadiz Music Ltd; Lee Brilleaux: Rock and Roll Gentleman, 2015 Polygon); Chris Watson (Cabaret Voltaire); Martyn Ware (Human League/Heaven 17); Dean Chalkley (Junk Club photographer) Derry Hall and Kenny Monrose (Southend Sound Systems); Lew Lewis (Eddie & the Hod Rods); Chris Fenwick (manager, Dr Feelgood) and more.
