“We were very naïve when we first started. We were very young,” said Robin Bennett, creator of the annual Truck Festival, along with his younger brother, Joe.
The first Truck Festival started in 1998, when the brothers were just teenagers, in their hometown of Steventon, a small village outside of Oxford, England. But over the years the duo have become remarkably well versed in the mechanics of
rock and roll.
“We don’t really see ourselves as promoters,” said Robin. “We approach this as musicians. That’s our motivation.”
To celebrate the thirteenth annual Truck Festival, the Bennett brothers have brought their independent rock extravaganza to the Hudson Valley.
For Robin, the Woodstock Festival was an inspiration from the very beginning, though he only saw the film. His father’s record collection, with a copy of The Band’s 1969 “Brown Album” also made a musical imprint. From there, stars aligned to bring Garth Hudson, organist and keyboardist for The Band, to the Truck Festival in 2007.
“He was celebrating his seventieth birthday,” said Robin with a smile.
The Bennett’s connection to the Catskills continued through annual tour dates in the area, which led to some recording time in their band incarnation as Goldrush.
“We once came up to record a tiny bit at Bearsville, in the barn there,” said Robin in his Oxford accent.
The success of Goldrush introduced them to local Hudson Valley indie rock heroes, Mercury Rev. In the late nineties, Mercury Rev’s “Deserter Songs” was a huge musical influence on Robin and his band, now known as the Dreaming Spires.
“I was always wanting to hear the string melodies and the flute parts live,” said Joe, who had seen Mercury Rev several times in England, though as a five piece rock band. An opportunity presented itself in December 2009, when Joe approached the band with his idea for a career retrospective accompanied by a string orchestra. Mercury Rev got excited about the prospect, and the idea took shape. Joe Bennett arranged a dozen Mercury Rev songs for an eleven-piece chamber orchestra, which he will conduct at this year’s festival. His brother Robin will play flute.
With its endless preparation, the Truck Festival has become full time jobs for both brothers. In fact, every member of their family has a role.
“It’s become an all consuming life for us,” confirmed Robin. “We’ve become a festival family.”
An outdoors festival since it’s inception, the event takes place on a massive farm in the Bennett’s local village of Steventon. Here, 120 bands perform across six stages over the course of two days. Recently “Truckers” gathered to the score of over six thousand. It has not always been easy.
“My hair goes gray every year,” said Joe.
Resisting corporate funding or sponsorship has added pressure to an already volatile environment. The Truck Festival, one of the first of its kind, now competes with a wide range of corporate funded events with huge advertising resources. Though the Bennett’s pride themselves on remaining true to their grass roots. When a couple of naysayers complained that the music was too loud, the entire village of Steventon signed a petition in favor of keeping the Truck Festival within its borders.
“Our culture has come to view music, especially in recorded form, as a commodity,” added Robin. “Other global cultures view it as an integral part of life and something of great spiritual power,” he said.
For this year’s debut across the Atlantic, fifty bands will perform over three stages at the Full Moon resort at Big Indian, NY. Ostensibly it is designed so that every “Trucker” can catch every act. With musical community at the forefront of the Bennett’s mission, they have made great efforts to include a local contingent at this year’s event. This year, Hudson Valley’s Hopewell, Silent League and Diet Kong will join in the festivities onstage.
“I feel like we’re bringing some musical strands together,” said Joe.
“There is a sense of us all being in it together, with the stars above you,” added Robin, convinced of the larger purpose of a music festival.
“The latest science tells us that music and nature have the power to reshape and heal the very structure of our brains,” he said.
“So in taking part in an outdoor music festival we are remaking ourselves, and putting music and nature back where they belong, at the forefront of our lives.”