Merseyside musicians hold Festival For Bob Picken – key musician diagnosed with a rare brain tumour.
GIT Award nominee Bill Ryder-Jones heads up an impressive billing in aid of Merseyside musician Bob Picken at the Camp and Furnace next weekend.
Picken, a double bassist and harmonica player has performed at Glastonbury, The Greenman Festival and played alongside the likes of Ryder-Jones, The Lightning Seeds and The Coral.
Thirty-three-year-old, Picken, who has a rare brain tumour, will also play at the day long festival, with the likes of Neville Skelly, The Dirty Rivers, Bird, Sankofa, The Loud, Owls* and The Merrylees.
The fund-raiser comes almost a year on from The Sand Band, Coral and various other Wirral artists’ Hoylake show Getintothis reported on last June.
Organiser Neville Skelly said: ‘Bob had played with me for about four years and we had travelled all over the country together gigging after we had recorded Poet & The Dreamer – a record that wouldn’t have been possible without his input.
‘He’s only 33 and we were working on new material when he found out. It was a big shock to all of his family and friends.
‘A lot of us who are musicians had talked about doing something for him and getting him involved playing again as the cancer has affected some of the strength in his arm.
‘So it just needed someone to start the ball rolling. I talked about it with Paul Speed at the Camp & Furnace who couldn’t have been more supportive and Dave Hewitson, who runs Eighties Vinyl and was up for helping pull it together.
“We soon realised there were so many bands who wanted to play we’d have to do a day festival.”
Funds go to support Bob in his fight.
Festival For Bob is on Saturday June 29 at Camp & Furnace from 2-11pm. Tickets £5 (adv from Probe Records/3B) £7 door. After show £3 (adv) door £5.
Further reading on Getintothis
Getintothis on Bill Ryder-Jones‘ new album, video and single.
Getintothis talks to Bill Ryder-Jones post-GIT Award.
For a full interview with Bill Ryder-Jones and new music visit here.
Getintothis on Bird.
Getintothis on Dirty Rivers.
Getintothis on Owls*.
Getintothis on Sankofa.
Getintothis on Eighties Vinyl Records.