***MOTÖRHEAD & UFO TO HEADLINE BULLDOG BASH 2009
AUGUST 6th, 7th 8th & 9th***
“The Bulldog Bash is in a league of its own, easily ranking among the best festivals in the world, if not actually taking that crown and sticking a nitrous kit on it to see how fast it will go.” Mörat, Kerrang! August 26th 2006.
Legendary British rockers Motörhead and UFO have been confirmed to headline the 23rd annual Bulldog Bash, which takes place August 6th, 7th 8th, & 9th at the festival's usual site at Shakespeare County Raceway, Long Marston, near Stratford On Avon, Warwickshire.
Motörhead’s awesome, searing live set on Saturday August 8th will be the closing highlight of a weekend of hard rock heaven, headlined on Friday August 7th by UFO, with a fantastic line-up of established support acts on the main stage, complemented by a host of exciting up-and-comers on the second, Area81 Rock Club stage.
Fronted by the iconic Lemmy Kilmister, Motörhead, one of rock history’s most pivotal bands, have spent the last few decades bringing the house down with their blistering, blitzkrieg punk-metal juggernaut of a live show since their inception in 1975. If there is one musician who has succeeded in transporting the zeitgeist of the founder days of rock ‘n’ roll to the year 2009, it’s got to be Lemmy. He lives his philosophy uncompromisingly, his bourbon-soaked skin featuring the unambiguous tattoo that sums up his life like no other motto: ”Born to lose – live to win”.
‘Motorizer’, the band’s latest album, blasted into the UK album charts at 32 in September 2008. The Sun’s album review stated “Putting even Keith Richards to shame for hard living, Lemmy is the very epitome of of the rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle. He’s the leader of Motörhead, the loudest hard rock band in history, a band who are more like infamous Wild West outlaws than musicians. ‘Motorizer’ is their 24th studio album. ‘Runaround Man’s pounding pace is hard to keep up with, with Lemmy’s graveled tones on belting form, while ‘Rock Out’ does exactly what it says on the tin – with the accelerator on the floor. This is a GREAT Motörhead album”. Previous enormously successful albums include “No Sleep ‘til Hammersmith” and “Ace of Spades” the title track of which is probably one of the best known heavy metal tracks of all time. Motörhead have even been awarded a much-coveted Grammy Award - for best metal performance – in 2005, while Lemmy was awarded the Mojo Icon Award in 2008. 4moreinfo - www.imotorhead.com
UFO, the massively successful multi-million selling classic British metal band who were formed in 1969, headline the main stage on Friday August 7th. UFO’s latest studio album, ‘The Visitor’, was released June 2009 to ecstatic reviews. Awarding it 8/10, Classic Rock’s Geoff Barton wrote “This year marks UFO’s 40th anniversary. But instead of the usual bells-and-whistles box sets and career spanning DVDs, we get something rather more prosaic by way of celebration: a brand new studio album. Frontman Phil Mogg doesn’t want to go down the nostalgia route and believes UFO still have plenty to offer in the new-music stakes. Listening to ‘The Visitor’, it’s difficult to argue with this game-plan. Kicking off with the pulsing and passionate ‘Saving Me’, the 61-year old Mogg rolls back the years and puts in a vocal display on a par with his ‘Strangers In The Night’ heyday. There’s a Southern Rock and/or country flavour to several of the tracks (‘Stop Breaking Down’ begins like ZZ Top, ‘Rock Ready’ kicks off with some hoedown guitar), evidence of a slight tweaking of UFO’s sound. Throughout, American guitarist Vinnie Moore eschews his shreddy past to deliver a mature, commanding performance, contributing a wealth of sublime guitar solos. From the straight-shootin’ ‘Villains & Thieves’ to the pedal-to-the-metal appeal of ‘Hell Driver’, this is nigh on faultless.” 4moreinfo – www.ufo-music.info
Special guests on Saturday August 8th are Nico’s Alchemy, who released their debut album, ‘Fundamental Darkness’, in February 2009 to rave reviews. Guitar Techniques awarded it 5/5 and made it album of the month, stating; “Nico Tamburella is the man in question here – as lead guitarist, songwriter and driving force of this quartet, it’s from him that the band gets its name. The other band members help to generate the alchemy by performing their perspective roles with force and inspiration. This is a hard rocking sound that owes its roots to the 70’s…The material is as strong as the sound of the band: tight, concise and varied enough to please all.” 4moreinfo - www.nicosalchemy.com
Special guests on Friday August 7th are Oliver/Dawson Saxon, formed by two founder members of Saxon, guitarist Graham Oliver and bassist Steve Dawson, who always bring the house down with a select selection of songs from Saxon’s incredibly successful days in the early 80’s, which they co-wrote when the band were at the forefront of the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal. Fronted by ex-Hurricane, Madam X, Shame and Shy vocalist John ‘Wardi’ Ward, the line-up also includes former Saracen guitarist Haydn Conway and ex-Saxon drummer Nigel Durham. 4moreinfo - www.myspace.com/httpwwwmyspacecomods
Opening proceedings on the evening of Thursday August 6th will be top tribute bands Stingchronicity (The Police), (6.30 – 7.30) Metallica UK (8.00 – 9.00) and Hells Bells (AC/DC) [9.30 – 11.00pm].
The full main stage line-up:-
Friday August 7th
9.30 – 11.00 UFO
8.00 – 9.00 OLIVER/DAWSON SAXON
6.40 – 7.40 NEVER THE BRIDE
5.35 – 6.20 LE CHAT NOIR
4.45 – 5.15 THE CULPRIT
3.55 – 4.25 HAMMERLOCK
Saturday August 8th
9.30 – 11.00 MOTORHEAD
8.00 – 9.00 NICO’s ALCHEMY
6.55 – 7.40 THE QUAILS
5.50 – 6.35 TYLA AND THE DOGS
4.45 – 5.30 LOUIS BARABBAS & THE BEDLAM SIX
4.00 – 4.30 ADAM BOMB
The second, Area81 Rock Club stage, predominantly features the following up and coming bands who have showcased at Bristol’s underground Area81 Rock club and impressed:- Hellbound, Big Num, Zombie Met Girl, The Buffalo Kings, Voodoo Johnson, Fury UK, Desert Storm, Imicus, Somnus, Riot Noise, The Leftovers, Smackla, Futs Lung, The Original Sinners, Psychowrath, Pickups N Pitchforks and Switchblade.
The Bulldog Bash is widely acknowledged as the safest live music festival in Britain – but it is much, much more than just a gig; The Bulldog Bash is the best biker event in Europe. A huge variety of non-musical attractions includes jet-force cars and rocket propelled bikes hurtling down the drag strip, huge custom bike and car exhibitions, an awesome dance tent, a topless bike (& anything else) wash, Ken Fox’s world famous ‘Wall Of Death’ show, wrestling bouts, a veritable village of stalls selling all kinds of biking and alternative lifestyle kit and loads of ludicrous white-knuckle rides. There really is more to do than you can shake a stick at!
www.bulldogbash.com