‘Bad moon? I see a Midnight Sun rising’
Festival organiser on why the Hebrides love Creedence
They might have rocked out of the West Coast of America with songs of bayous and bad moons rising but it was off the West Coast of Scotland that they struck a special chord.
For many music fans in the Outer Hebrides, the songs of Creedence Clearwater Revival and the band’s frontman John Fogerty are part of the culture. So, when the organisers of a new music festival on Lewis were looking for a headline act, there was only one name they wanted.
Fogerty will headline the closing night of the inaugural Midnight Sun festival in the grounds of Lews Castle, Stornoway, in May and its co-founder says the islanders can barely believe it.
Charlie Clark, a musician influenced by Fogerty, said: “For a lot of people here, there’s never been an artist like John Fogerty. It’s like the second coming. Talk to anyone north of Inverness and there’s a good chance they’ve been to Vegas or somewhere to see him.
“I started playing bars when I was 13 and every bar band had to play five or six Creedence songs. That was in 1994 but, even today, if you walk into any bar in Stornoway, whoever is in the corner playing will be doing Bad Moon Rising, Proud Mary, Fortunate Son, Have You Ever Seen The Rain – they are such a staple.”
Clark and co-founder Ian MacArthur used the area’s beauty to sell the idea of the festival to artists. “I think it was part of what sealed the deal – coming to an island, getting put up in a castle and playing on the front lawn. We had a footage reel put together and I remember Ian saying, ‘Make Lewis look like the Caribbean’, which wasn’t an easy task to find that footage,” Clark laughed. “We’re dripfeeding the information to Fogerty about how high he is held by people here. I think folk are still scratching their heads and not quite believing this is happening on the island.”
The other headliners across the three-day festival are The Pretenders and Primal Scream.
Clark said: “It was like fantasy festival league when we started, but we had three names – Fogerty was number one, Paul McCartney and Rod Stewart. Rod said yes and then we decided that wasn’t the route we wanted to go, and McCartney’s agent got back to us, which we couldn’t believe, and said there were four or five days between gigs these days. I think it worked out for the best, because Fogerty informed a lot of the bands playing across the weekend.”
Providing a rock festival on people’s doorsteps was one of the main reasons why Clark, who originally left the island more than 20 years ago to pursue his music career, and MacArthur, who also has a background in the business, established Midnight Sun.
Clark said: “There’s been a real upsurge in the local music scene. We set up a record label, No Big Deal, to showcase more of the alternative scene rather than the big trad scene and the festival was born out of that.”
Clark returned to the island in 2019 to be with his terminally ill dad, but prior to that he had spent a decade in Glasgow and a similar amount of time in Los Angeles. He is part of the band Astrid, who had success in the late 90s and early 00s, working with Edwyn Collins.
He said: “I feel really lucky that when I moved to LA, I was welcomed with open arms by the music scene and was given so many opportunities, like opening for Stephen Stills and Sheryl Crow, pinch-me stuff. Whenever I’m not touring, I put on gigs, and I was working in a famous music venue called Harvard & Stone as booker for seven years.
“My dad was terminally ill and I was coming back more, so I spoke to my boss and decided to see it out until my dad passed. Then I got involved as a booker with Nice ‘n Sleazy in Glasgow, recorded an album, put out a single with Alan McGee, started putting on gigs up here, started a label, and had twin boys.”
Midnight Sun is aiming to be as green as possible and will be held from Thursday to Saturday rather than Friday to Sunday. Clark said: “We’re taking every step we can, from the food vendors to powering the stage with hydrogen which is produced on the island. We live in an area at the forefront of renewable and sustainable energy, so it would be bonkers to not try to incorporate it into the festival.”
Other acts include Edwyn Collins, Ocean Colour Scene, Spiritualized and Honeyblood. The only thing Clark can’t predict is the weather. He said: “When we chose the weekend, we looked at a nautical weather chart going back 100 years and that weekend has been the best weekend of weather we get in Lewis, so fingers crossed it is this time.”
Midnight Sun festival, Lews Castle, Stornoway, May 25-27