If you don’t live anywhere near Doncaster chances are you probably haven’t heard about Wroot Rocks. Sit back and let me tell you a little about this amazing live music venue and why if you don’t know them you should go and support them.
We discovered Wroot Rocks during that strange period of time that shall not be named. At a time when the music industry was lost and had no idea how to keep connected with their fans, when people were desperate for some human to human contact, there, in a small field in Wroot was Gig in a Field. GIAF was our first socially distanced music festival that year. It was exactly as it sounds, a gig in a field. Nothing fancy. The music was exceptional – Mark Chadwick of the Levellers, Jess Silk, Ghosts of Men, Darwin’s Rejects, Paul Henshaw, Birds and Beasts and loads more. This was our late introduction to GIAF as we joined at 2.5. I say joined because these festivals felt like a club, a club that later became a festival family. If you speak to people who have ever been to GIAF organised by Wroot Rocks, you will be struck by the passion and sentiment that these events are spoken with.
We met some of our best friends at these events; friends we met during lockdown, online and here they were, in the flesh. It was an exhilarating experience and we went to every GIAF we could after that.
Behind the scences are Neil and Amber Sanderson; this awe inspiring pair have got an incredible ear for talent and put on incredible lineups. I remember speaking backstage to Neil and recommending an act that was rather obscure that we wanted to give some exposure to and Neil already had them on his radar. How many hours this guy must put into researching and looking for talent I do not know. Every event is carefully put together and puts the music at the forefront of everything, and no, musicians aren’t charged any fees for merch sales area. This is grass roots music at its finest.
Wroot Rocks as a venue, now at Cafe Indie in Scunthorpe is an incredible that is showcasing some of the best talent we have come across at LLR – Headsticks, Paul Henshaw, Millie Manders and the Shut Up, Funke and the Two Tone Baby, Tony Wright of Terrorvision the list goes on.
At a time when live music venues are shutting down and struggling, and musicians have missed out on so much work, when audiences have been deprived of live music, Wroot Rocks is a lighthouse guiding us out of the storm. Live music and live venues need your support. These acts deserve to be your next favourite act but if you do not go out there and support them, the bands disappear, the venues disappear and what is left? Vapid ‘talent’ programmes? No thanks!
Check them out here – www.cafeindie.org.uk
