The Wakefield Music Collective - a brief history.

  The Wakefield Music Collective is a non-profit making organisation run by music loving volunteers.  Formed in 1991 the aim was to promote local live music as well as providing help, advice and information for both established and new bands looking for a break, whether on a local level or nationally.  At 11am on the 10^th of August 1991 The Muldoons took to the stage to kick start “Clarence Rocks Off”.  As with all good festivals the rain fell but 3,000 live music lovers turned up to watch the event.  Other performances on that day were supplied by local outfits Brick Supply, Moonpump, Fear of Jazz and Ada Wilson, and from out of town the Jed Thomas Blues band, Piccolo Chickens and 100 Men.   1992 saw Clarence 11 – “The Revenge” and, apart from 2006, there has been an annual event of this nature staged at Clarence park bandstand ever since.   In 1993 the Collective put on an event for national music day.  The Mick Jagger inspired event took place at The Post Haste in Wakefield on the 26^th of June.  Money raised from the event was donated to the Wakefield Drug Project.  Also that year the Collective organised mini rain free festivals in the Post Haste every Saturday and The Collective got involved in the Wakefield Folk Roots Festival.   In 1994 the Collective ran a Battle of the Bands competition with the Wakefield Youth Service.  Heats took place at all the Youth Clubs in the area and the Winners where Blunt.   For the next few years The Wakefield Music Collective spent the year raising funds and arranging gigs etc: to facilitate the staging of “Clarence” and every year a little more was added.   1999 saw the Collective organise a District Battle of the Bands competition for original bands with members aged between 16-25.  Heats took place at various Youth Clubs in the Wakefield and 5 towns area with the grand final of the event being held on Bank Holiday Monday May the 29^th.  The winners could look forward to three legged prize. A slot at this years Clarence festival, free recording time and a voucher towards equipment.      Our 2001 event boasted 2 stages, 26 bands and 1 beer tent. Taking place over the weekend of the 28^th and 29^th of July and the 2 stage event was established.   In 2006 we decided to allocate a number of slots at the festival to promoters.  This giving the promoters a chance to nominate bands who they thought deserved to play at this year’s event.  The Battle of the bands competition had become an annual event at various venues in the city but, due to funding problems, this years festival had to be re-organised.  Whilst the bandstand stood idle, the Snooty Fox became the place to be over the weekend of the 29^th and 30^th of July.  Bands playing included Theory 1, Les Jocks (from our twin town of Castres in France), Last Gang, Xi, Metro, and Rebel Yell.    After an incredibly successful festival in 2007, the first Wakefield Blues festival (organised by members of the Collective) took place during November 2007 at a number of venues in the city.  Bands playing at the event included John Gomm, Crosscut Saw, Ryan Mitchell Smith, Dr Blue, Mojo, Blues Positive and The Welsh T Band.   For the past few years now, the collective has been fighting, along with other community groups, to ensure the restoration of the bandstand in the park and spring 2008 saw Wakefield council bow to pressure and renew the roof. They had previously been discussing demolition of this fine old community asset which, apart from the annual event staged by the Collective, had fallen into disuse. Part of the deal was that the Collective assume responsibility for increasing the use of the bandstand   Consequently, June of 2008 saw the Collective put the first Brass band concert on the stage of Clarence Park bandstand for over 20 years.  Crofton Silver band played to an appreciative audience of avid listeners.    In September, a few weeks after the annual festival, Crofton Silver band once again took to the bandstand stage, once again the sun shone all afternoon.      The second Blues festival kicked off on the 6^th of November with the excellent Dr Feelgood taking to the stage at the Strafford Arms in Wakefield with support from the Welsh T Band.  Other venues playing host to the event included the Jockey, O’Donohue’s and the Talbot and Falcon.  On Sunday the 9^th the bandstand played host to two of the acts taking part in this years Blues festival, namely Matt Johnson and The Deal.   On December the 14^th the bandstand once again played host to the sound of Brass.  Taking to the stage this time around was the Yorkshire Brass Quintet playing a selection of Christmas songs and forcing (without effort) the audience to join in.   There are plans to stage a number of events over the coming year(s) and morale has been given a timely boost recently with the Collective securing a £5000 grant from The Grass Roots Foundation. This is to be used towards the installation of roller shutter doors on the bandstand which would replace the original wooden concertina doors. At the moment these take anywhere around 2 – 3 hours to open and a similar time to close & make secure.   Members of Wakefield Music collective have also kept the inside of the bandstand in a usable and safe condition for a number of years and at the moment are responsible for organising external and internal clean up work with the help of local young offenders.   Throughout this 19 year period Wakefield Music Collective has been a self funding organisation, with help from a few small grants and is run on a completely voluntary basis.   Any further details  can be obtained from either the chair, the secretary or any other member of the committee.