Sun rises for Lewis rock star on new three-day Stornoway festival
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GETTING the new Midnight Sun Weekender festival off the ground in Stornoway next month is the latest music project for Charlie Clark since returning from Los Angeles in 2019 after 12 years there.
Having set up a record label, No Big Deal Music based on Lewis with his friend and business partner Ian MacArthur to release his own music and encourage the new talent he found on his return, how did Charlie come to dream up a new festival?
He laughed: “It starts with playing fantasy festival league!”
Now the Midnight Sun Weekender will run from Thursday, May 25 to Saturday, May 27 with an impressive line-up including legendary Creedance Clearwater Revival singer, guitarist and main songwriter John Fogerty, Primal Scream. The Pretenders, Edwyn Collins, Ocean Colour Scene, Spiritualized, Public Service Broadcasting, as well as local Lewis music heroes in an all-stars line-up plus rising indie acts such as Inverness’s own Josh Mackenzie.
Charlie looked back on how the idea has become real.
“I only came back from America in 2019, so I have been trying to keep myself busy,” he laughed.
“When I first started the record company it was with my friend and business partner Ian MacArthur and ultimately we ended up setting up Midnight Sun Promotions and Festivals Ltd.
“We had the intention of bringing shows up to Stornoway and, honestly, the whole thing came about over copious amounts of coffee.
“It was after the pandemic, we had so many friends going away to concerts and the cost involved in it, it’s an age-old problem for any music fan living on the island.
“Ian and I were back and forth talking about if we were going to do an event.
“So we basically started playing fantasy festival league! The long and the short of it was that we took all our gripes and grievances – because we are men of a certain age now – but we took things we didn’t like about festivals and our list of what we thought would make a really great outdoor event. One thing that immediately sprang to mind was ‘If we were to do it in Stornoway, we would have to get John Fogerty!’.”
Charlie sounds ecstatic recalling success.
“After about nine months of chipping away, we GOT John Fogerty!”
From Charlie’s own career in music, starting with the years in indie pop band Astrid with Lewis musician and friend Willie Campbell, he called on his connections.
“As you can probably tell by the line-up, there are a couple of people in there from my own past, there’s Edwyn Collins – and Ocean Colour Scene are managed by Alan McGee and there was definitely a whole lot of ….” Charlie makes a pleading sound: “Guys, we’re doing a festival – help!”
Recalling the first reaction when he started sharing the idea of the festival with others: “It seemed there was a real buzz when we told people about what we were doing. After we secured some of the bigger acts, the rest was relatively straightforward. When you get those acts like Primal Scream and The Pretenders, and Ocean Colour Scene, it’s an easier sell to other artists.”
The biggest challenge has been securing the finance, Charlie revealed.
“The one thing we were aware of was that it was probably the worst time in financial history to do something like this project. It’s a risky business, for sure. But I know now, first-hand, how these ideas and concepts get to a point and then they don’t make it over the line. To a certain degree, Ian and I have had to have blind faith and just be fearless about doing it. We really believe in the festival and in the line-up. We want everybody to come to this festival.
“We wanted music fans of a different kind of flavour to be really excited. And we wanted people in Stornoway to feel really special about it, it being our first. And we want to keep doing it.”
The Midnight Sun Weekender is held at Lews Castle, Stornoway from May 25-27. More: midnightsunweekenderstornoway.com
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