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MUSIC: Remembering a grand grandfather - Athlete at Guilfest
Athlete lead vocalist and guitarist Joel Pott reckons you can hear whether or not a song has that edge of genuineness which shows it actually means something to its writer/performer.
That's certainly the aim – and will certainly be the case with the band's latest album, their fourth released in August, titled Black Swan featuring songs including Black Swan Song, a tribute to Joel's late grandfather.
"It's a bit of an ode to my grandpa and to his life and his death" says Joel who brings the band to Guildford to play on the Saturday during GuilFest (July 10-12).
"He passed away just over three years ago. Everyone wants to have a really positive death experience and he did. He had cancer, but his death was like a really triumphant end to his life.
"The song is just about his whole life and the amazing life he had. He was a major in the army and he had the kinds of experience that we would never even dream about, like being parachuted into Arnhem with a hundred men and realising that only six of them were still alive.
"He got shot a couple of times and got taken into a prisoner-of-war hospital. After he had recovered a bit he tied the bed sheets together – he was on the first floor – and escaped. He got back into Holland and spent a night in a barn in Holland."
He asked the farmer to help him but the farmer came back with the Germans who took him away, with his leg still in a plaster cast, hanging out the window.
The result is a song which falls into that 'genuine' category. And the album will be an important one.
"For us, we really wanted to come back with something that had songs that people would remember. I spent time away in North Wales just writing on acoustic guitar.
"We wanted to strip it back down for this album. We always felt pleased that people say we are a good live band, but we don't feel we have ever managed to capture that on an album. That's something that we really set out to do this time."
Tickets on www.guilfest.co.uk or call 08714240050
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Weather for Bognor
Friday 10 February 2012
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Temperature: -6 C to 2 C
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