Green Man Q&A: The Bees
Published on August 16th, 2012 | Jonny Abrams
In celebration of this weekend’s Green Man Festival, so excellent of line-up, Rocksucker spoke to Tim Parkin, multi-instrumentalist and backing vocalist to The Bees, ahead of their Friday night headline slot on the Far Out stage. The Bees, if you didn’t know already, are a phenomenal band. Have a ruddy listen…
(Additional note: from searching for this song on YouTube just now, Rocksucker learned that the lyric is not in fact “you smell like a punchbag” but “use me like a punchbag”. This has come as quite a shock considering how brilliant it’s been to our ears for a decade.)
Hello! How are you?
Hello! Very well, thank you.
If you’ve been to Green Man before, what were your most memorable experiences of it? If you haven’t, what manner of crazy crap have you heard about it that you’re looking forward to checking out for yourself?
We’ve never been, to play or as punters, but we’ve heard lots of good things about it. I’m looking forward to it. I don’t know much about it but it has a good reputation, and it’s been around for a while. Generally the ones that have been around for a while are the good ones because people keep going to them!
Which other acts are you looking forward to seeing?
To be honest, I haven’t actually seen the line-up yet. Who’s playing?
(Rocksucker lists some choice names)
Oh, really? Sounds like it could be a good weekend.
How did your set at Secret Garden Party go last year? Rocksucker was very excited about seeing it but couldn’t make it to the festival in the end.
Oh, it was brilliant, really good. It was another festival we hadn’t been to before but it had a really good reputation as being slightly alternative. It’s a great place, with the big lake next to the stage and all of that. People were jumping in off diving boards while there was music going on. Halfway through our set – and we had quite a big crowd watching us – this kind of stage was pushed through the audience with – and this will sound awful – ‘fatter’ women in tight silver spandex doing aerobics routines with Mr Motivator. Then all of a sudden a paint fight broke out! The crowd were covered in all different colours. (Laughs) It’s a bizarre sort of festival, but in a good way.
Will you be at Green Man for its duration or just stopping through?
I’m not sure. We’ll probably be there for at least one night overnight, if not a couple. I need to speak to our tour manager about that. It might all depend on members of the band and their other halves!
Are you a fan of festival food? Any particular favourites? And will you be sampling the delights of one of the real ale tents?
I’m a big fan of the falafel. I do eat meat but I tend to avoid it at those sorts of things. I try to eat fairly healthily at festivals because I’ve had a couple of bad experiences where I’ve gone, “Cheeseburger! Thank you very much,” and a couple of hours later started not feeling very well.
Green Man is renowned for its real ale tents!
I do love an ale. Lager fills me up too much.
Will you be taking any of the following with you: hand sanitizer, baby wipes, earplugs, a bum bag, a flashlight, a miniature fan, a pop-up tent, an inflatable mattress and/or pillow, a fold-up chair, or other (please specify)?
It won’t be a pop-up but I’ll be taking a tent. I’ll be taking hand sanitiser and baby wipes; we’ve just had a baby, actually, so we’ve got loads of them around the house.
Congratulations!
Thank you. It’s brilliant, I’m loving it. Well, I’m not loving being compelete knackered the whole time, but other than that it’s brilliant. (Laughs)
Do you have any helpful, practical advice for our readers (Green Man-related or otherwise?)
Green Man-related: the obvious one would be to bring waterproofs and wellies. Wales is notoriously wet. (Laughs) I went there a few years ago with some friends to climb Snowdown, only to find out that it was their wettest weekend in seventy-five years! We were halfway up a mountain literally soaked through to our underwear.
What else have you got lined up for 2012?
The baby’s taking up most of my time at the moment, but we’re moving studio soon and then we’ll start recording our next album.
Do you have any suggestions for additional questions to use for this Q&A in the future? You would be credited for each instance of use!
“How many hours a day do you practise your instrument?” Only because I do wonder when I listen to a lot of new music!
Tim Parkin, thank you.
The Bees will headline the Far Out stage at Green Man festival on Friday 17th August. For more information, please visit wearethebees.tumblr.com
Click here to read our full interview with Tim Parkin!
About the Author
Jonny Abrams Editor of Rocksucker and the website's founder, Jonny is passionate about the music he listens to, both good and bad, as well as interviewing his favourite musicians.
