GuilFest 2005. The Guildford Music Festival on 15th, 16th and 17th July 2005

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Artist: Arthur Brown
Genre: Rock
Performing: 4th July 2003 / Stage 1
Website Address: http://www.arthurbrownmusic.com/
Author: A Rooke

Mention Arthur Brown to most people and they'll look at you blankly, unsure who on earth you're talking about. Mention 'Fire' (as in 'I am the God of Hellfire and I bring you FIRE!!') and they instantly know who you mean.

It may be his only memorable song, but the impact of that opening line, its originality and of course the infamous flaming helmet which was set alight on his head during every performance, have earned Arthur Brown legendary status in the music hall of fame

Guilfest was privileged to have Arthur not only opening the main stage with his performance on Friday afternoon, but also camping out at the festival for all three days. So when I spotted him outside Alice Cooper's tour bus, I took the opportunity to 'spark up' a conversation with the God of Hellfire himself.

Have you had a good time today?
Well, I think I'm still having a good time

No flaming helmet tonight - have you given it up now?
No, it was just that we opened the festival today and it was broad daylight and although it looks alright, I prefer it in the dark so I didn't use it

You've had a fair few accidents with it, haven't you?
I've had them, yeah. We have our own fire service now though - it's just down the road. And we have the naked firemen and semi-naked firewomen

And what do they do?
Well, they revive us when we faint from the smoke that comes down from the flames

And do you enjoy that?!
Well, yes. After all, it's one of the pleasures of this life to be revived by a good-looking lady.

Are you going to be hanging around to see anyone else perform this weekend?
Actually, I'm camping here. I haven't done that for a while so I thought I'd stay at the festival

Who are you looking forward to seeing?
All the bands really, just everyone who's on. Everybody's got a different kind of atmosphere. Some I like occasionally more than others, but a lot of it's just the mood of the day. Some days you can really like one band and the next time you see them they don't do much.

Have you had a chat with Alice Cooper tonight?
Yeah, he was telling me about the first time his wife heard 'Fire'. She was lying in a bunk bed and someone came along and put a speaker in her ear and when she heard the opening of it, she leapt up and whacked her head on the side of the bed

Because she liked it so much?
She was just so surprised

Have you ever got sick of playing 'Fire'? - I heard you once ran off to a commune because you were so fed up with it. No, it wasn't because I was sick of playing 'Fire'. With my second band, we didn't play any of the old songs. Then I had a band that improvised everything we did, so of course we didn't play any of them then either. I went to the communes because I thought they were interesting things to explore. We lived in groups of eight to one hundred and twenty in different places. Then I went to America and got married to an American lady. Then I wanted to be around when my son was growing up, so I stopped touring at that point. Then, round about 1995, I started again.

So this is an ongoing thing now?
Yeah, the last six months is the busiest I've ever had

You're still enjoying it though?
I love performing, I love music and I love the contact there is with festival crowds. I like playing in small clubs as well. And the way we're doing it at the moment with acoustic line-ups, I like it because you can hear everything - it's not blurred. So yeah, I enjoy it. That time on stage is totally timeless - I go on, and when I come off it's like I've never been on at all. Who wouldn't like that? It's like sleeping when you're awake, you know, and when you wake up something lovely's happened musically. I wouldn't give that up for anything.