Perhaps the only Bank that you can trust these days with any credibility is a certain Rob da Bank, he’s like a UK’s version of Carlos Niño but with even more mutli-genre fingers in more pies. Whether it be his record label (Sunday Best), his Radio 1 shows, his own Festivals (Bestival and son of Bestival, Camp Bestival) and now as book to add to his achievements.

OK, it’s on his specialist subject, music festivals, but like a da Bank playlist, it covers numerous genres from chill to dance to indie to hip-hop to hippy to shoegazing (don’t forget his compilation, Sci-Fi-Lo-Fi Vol. 3 (Shoegazing 1985 - 2007)) to his own and loads of other bits in-between; all beautifully illustrated by his wife Josie in her unique style.

Now it’s not a whopper but it’s more than the single entries that’s the mark of A to Z of Sunday Best CD compilation series like The Cuban Brothers and Kitty Daisy & Lewis’ A to Z of Rock ‘n’ Roll.

If you’re a ‘cover to cover’ reader, by the time you get to B there’s his own Bestival, The Big Chill, Bonnaroo, Benicàssim (this year is the 15th Anniversary, see HERE) you’ve already mentally spent a fortune and got the Burning Man and Airways festival on a ‘must do one year’ list.

So trying a different approach, let’s have a look up what we fancy this summer. How about Glade? The da Bank verdict, “a non-stop 12-arena bender of hip-hop, rave, techno, breakcore, jungle and ambient harvested from around the world”. Well that sounds OK to me and on the opposite page he tells us Global Gathering picked up the Best British Festival of 2008 (DJ Magzine). And there’s some nice anecdotes from Glastonbury’s Michael Eavis who has only been at it since 1971; running the potentially the muddiest and the best festival of them all that is. Glastonbury was where da Bank’s cut his hippy teeth back in the day but concludes, that it’s “safer and better” than ever and has been his favourite holiday for the past 17 years.

As Glastonbury was and his first ever festival (draggin’ Josie over the fence) it gets a special write-up and it’s interesting to note that he says he imagined it would be like “a village fete affair with rock bands” which went on to be his vision for Bestival; a dream that came true in 2004.

But the book covers them all; international jollies like Jazzie B taking Notting Hill to Antigua (Back II Life), his tales of 2004’s Coachella Valley, the “always muy especial” Sonar, Snowbombing in Austria and Lake Of Stars Malawi Festival, long-running ones like Cambridge Folk Festival (first headliner was Paul Simon in 1964, not forgetting Rob’s own folky tendencies with his compilation Folk Off - New Folk And Psychedelia From The British Isles And North America), the global village of WOMAD (that Peter Gabriel certainly has a lot to answer for) and the smaller scale of the Larmer Tree.
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Bearing in mind Rob’s a bit of a reggae nut, he slips in Sunsplash and he doesn’t mind a bit of the long running, the ever evolving Reading Festival and a bit of techno like Detroit’s Movement fest.

He’s missed a few, like Standon Calling, Soundwave in Croatia and his Radio 1 buddy’s bash, the Worldwide Festival in Sete! But that just minor and more than made up for with loads of da Bank quirkiness with bits on the original Woodstock and Isle Of Wight (and the new ones), a page for John Peel and even a page on the kids.

As the season of festivals seems to be getting longer and longer, whether in the traditional summer camping season or the relative luxury of holiday chalet park events, it’s harder to pick which ones to go to; clearly, recessionary pressures will take their toll but whether you’re a seasoned professional like the author or a cash strapped dreamer, this is an essential purchase for the bedside reading through long winter nights or small room dippin’ for checking out where to go next.

Oh yeah! Z is for ZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzeds.

Reviewed: Rob da Bank - A-Z of Festivals: My life of music, mud and mayhem in 26 letters (Published by Boxtree) p192 Release date: 1st May 2009 £9.99. See the fantasitc video ad HERE.

Links:
www.myspace.com/robdabank
www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/robdabank
www.myspace.com/sundaybestrecordings
www.bestival.net
www.campbestival.net
Camp Bestival - feat PJ Harvey’s exclusive solo show this year, Mercury Rev, Bon Iver, Roy Ayres, Chic, Dan le sac vs. Scroobius Pip, Roots Manuva, Candi Station, Frank Turner , VV Brown, Cuban Brothers, Horace Andy & Dub Asante, Goldie Lookin’ Chain
DJ Peterson, Zane Lowe, campbestival.net 24,25, 26 July 2009 Lulworth Castle, Dorset
24 April Rob da Bank: Festival Futures - a personal account of the glory years from the A-Z of Festivals - discussion with Basement Jaxx aand Dizzee Rascal agent Peter Elliott, Miranda Sawyer - writer broadcaster Purcell Room QEH, 8pm £10 How can festivals survive the digital age?
www.southbankcentre.co.uk/ether Ether/Rough Trade Ether09 9-24 April, 2009
Big Chill - 7-11 August 2009 David Byrne, Orbital, Basement Jaxx www.bigchill.net
www.worldwidefestival.com Worldwide festival Gilles Peterson’s Worldwide Festival is back in the idyllic small fishing town of Sète (South of France) from the 2nd to the 5th of July 2009.