#RoadToCamdenRocks2019 – The Virginmarys

We’re old hands at Camden Rocks by this point and if there’s one band you can associate with the festival, it’s in-house favourites, The Virginmarys. Drummer Danny Dolan regales us on what the festival means to the band, their busy first half of 2019 and plans for the rest of the year. And after purposefully avoiding asking for many years, we finally ask about a top hat-wearing, Les Paul-wielding guitarist…

You’re no strangers to playing Camden Rocks, what is it about the festival which keeps you coming back?

3 things:

  1. The line-up gets better and better every year!
  2. The organisers are definitely some of the best we’ve ever worked with!
  3. The location is really mint!

Camden is probably one of our favourite parts of the country… if we weren’t there for the festival, we’d come for the cereal and stay for the clothes.

What’s been your favourite memory of it throughout the years?

Loads and loads and loads of our mates from Macclesfield have moved to London over the last few years so it’s always amazing getting to catch up with them. Too many of those kind of memories to recount on here though…

In all the years you’ve played, has there been much change to the festival?

Honestly, I haven’t seen a festival grow as quickly as Camden Rocks! It’s actually incredible the amount of bands that are on this year in comparison to three years ago…

Other than yourselves, who would you recommend to see?

Would love to see Frank Turner, Milk Teeth and New Model Army on the Saturday but we won’t be around. But hopefully get to catch Ash’s set and The Pearl Harts will be awesome.

You’re playing on the Sunday, where and when can we see you (if you’re allowed to tell us!)?

Yup! 5pm at Dingwalls!

Do you have a favourite venue in Camden?

Hmmm… The Underworld is pretty cool and The Electric Ballroom is a top one!

The Virginmarys - Danny Dolan
The Virginmarys – Danny Dolan

The band undertook one of their most intensive tours ever back in February. How did you feel by the end of it?

Don’t think we spoke to each other for about a week after that one! It was actually toughest about seven gigs deep, to be honest. By the last one, I reckon we could’ve done another week or so…

You proper miss normal stuff by the end of a tour too… like something warm to eat that isn’t from a service station.

You also toured parts of Europe last month for the first time in a number of years. How did that go?

It was really awesome to get back out round Europe to be honest! Totally different experience from doing UK shows. And hospitality-wise, Europe’s definitely got the UK’s pants down on that front!

A couple of weeks after Camden Rocks, the band are going back to Germany to support Slash featuring Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators. How does it feel to be supporting them again after almost a decade?

Pretty crazy, eh? We got to do three shows with Slash when we literally first started out which I remember at the time was just mental. Definitely some of the best memories were had from those early shows so really looking forward to doing it all over again in Germany!

What else does the band have planned for 2019?

Lots and lots and lots of recording with the odd show thrown in! Dogs in the fights, irons in the fire. Y’know… working it.

The Virginmarys: official | facebook | twitter | instagram | youtube | store

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments