In Conversation with Skeleton Coast Festival


Under a psychedelic moon of fiery red rose a hallucinogenic idea, Skeleton Coast Festival, designed to bring the most mid-expanding, psychotropic trip to Merseyside's bohemian music scene in well over a decade.

It's very rare that Wirral is blessed with great music events - missing out to sisters and brothers across the Mersey, but, Coda Maine Presents are changing that, partnering up with Skeleton Key and Hoylake Beacon, the debut of Skeleton Coast Festival on Hoylake Parade on Saturday 6th August is set to go down in local folklore.

Boasting DJ sets from The Coral and Johnny Thieves, food, vinyl and clothes stalls, Skeleton Coast is appealing to the masses, adding more variety to the 16-act strong lineup.

Speaking to Coda's main guy, Martin Moseley, he said: "It's been in the pipeline for quite a while now.

"Both myself and Alfie (Skelly) being Wirral folk, we have spoken at length for a couple of years of how a small festival would go down in the area."

The idea of Coda Maine Presents stemmed from Martin's previous bar, venue and local holy grail, The Coda Maine - a venue that gave many local artists their chance to shine including Marvin Powell and Jo Mary. Since the sad closure of the venue, Martin conceived Coda Main Presents in an attempt to keep the music alive and now, the once small-time company has started venturing outside the peninsula, growing ever-so-more by the day.

In Martin's opinion, the last festival to be of any note was 13 years ago, A Mid Summers Night Scream, New Brighton which included artists such as The Coral and The Libertines, so there's certainly been a huge gaping hole in Wirral's live calendar, leaving room for Skeleton Coast to grow.

Boasting artists such as She Drew The Gun, The Wicked Whispers, By The Sea and Edgar Summertyme Jones, Skeleton Coast's line-up mirrors the successes of Merseyside: "We were a tad selfish when choosing the lineup, approaching all our favourite local acts to play."



Other acts include: trippy youngsters Psycho Comedy, hotly tipped Minnetonka, our favourite singer-songwriter, Marvin Powell, GIT award nominees, Rongorongo, barmy Bathymetry, telephone loving Tom Low - breathe -, grunge rock fivesome, The Floormen, the mysterious Mysterines, crazy cats Buffalo Riot and cool kid, Rory Wynne.

With enough variety for everyone, there has been many a debate over what state the music scene is in Wirral, Martin said: "Merseyside has a fantastic scene, Wirral always seems to over-looked though... most Wirral acts always get labelled as hailing from Liverpool - which isn't the case, we have The Coral, The Sundowners, She Drew The Gun, Bill Ryder Jones, By The Sea and young promising acts like The Mysterines and Jo Mary - the list is actually endless."

Also throwing one of the UK's biggest success stories of the underground, The Wytches to stir up the pot, the foreboding grunge sound will only compliment the local river song.

The Wytches - Ruth Kilpatrick
As for any surprises, i'm sure goers will be in for a treat: "I was all for midget waiters but it was slightly over budget for us." Martin told us."The Birkenhead tranny is hotly tipped to join The Wytches on stage and I believe there will be a preview of the much anticipated seasonal album 'Ian Skelly Does Christmas' oh and Bob Picken will be playing in drag!" - Martin's got it covered.

However, the team remain optimistic: "There's been a really positive response and loads of interest from what i've heard, the only downside is that ticket sales for gigs ain't what they used to be so locals need stand up and be counted.

"Even if ten people come we'll still be doing something that's not being done over here."If you book them, they will come" Jim Morrison - Wayne's World 2."

Skeleton Coast is set to be the jamboree of the century, and who knows, when asked if it'll be happening again next year, the reply: "Yes definitely if people get behind it, there's a lot of potential for festivals on the Wirral with some amazing spaces so the scope for next year is huge!"

For more information visit the Skeleton Coast Festival event page. Tickets are £20 and can be found here.

Words Lauren Jones

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