The Vicar’s Picnic is only small but it attracts some big names. As Reef prepare to headline, lead singer Gary Stringers talks about their resurging career, luck and beards...

You’re fresh from supporting Coldplay at Wembley and playing Glastonbury – how does it feel?

It’s been a really good month. I don’t want to sound big-headed, but the gigs have just felt really easy. There’s been so much love out there. You turn up to sing and get up some energy and when it comes back in such a glorious way it is fantastic. We knew Chris Martin way back, too, and when we were on TFI Friday with Chris Evans recently we shared a green room and he came and had a chat and then these gigs came up with them.

You’re from Glastonbury, so how is it when you play Glastonbury?

Glastonbury is my home town and we’re all from round there – Somerset, Devon. I’ve played Glastonbury five times, three or four with Reef. We’ve had a blast.

Do you feel like you’re having something of a renaissance at the moment?

Our manager rang me the other day and described it as “Magical Friday”. It made sense. We’d had to get up at 7am to be on Chris Evans’s breakfast show and perform with the NHS Choir, then we had eight hours to do what we wanted and then our show was at 7pm and the love we felt was incredible. I felt as high as a kite, it was so special. It just felt easy. Everything has really picked up recently.

You’ve played some huge venues – how do you feel about coming to a festival in a little village like Yalding?

We’ve got shows all over the summer and we play all sorts of places. We played in Frome to 900 people the other day. It keeps it interesting. You don’t want to get bored. I’m really looking forward to the Vicar’s Picnic.

Could you have predicted how things have gone in your career?

You can’t predict with music. I appreciate it so much. We’re in a privileged position considering the tough times we’re living in where so many people are struggling. I’m very lucky to do what I do. We work hard, but it’s not like I’m down the coal mine or sitting at a computer at a desk for hours on end. We’re going to be recording our single soon and we are working hard on it because we want it to be really good, but really what we do is very enjoyable.

Did you know that when you google your name the most searched phrase is “beard”?

Is it? That’s so funny. It does get pretty big sometimes. We’ve all got long hair, we always kind of have had. We’re a bunch of long-haired herberts, really.

THE ACTS

They’re from Glastonbury, but this summer they’ll be heading for a festival in Kent.
Nineties band Reef will headline this year’s Vicar’s Picnic two-day festival in Yalding.

The band, whose debut album Replenish was released in 1995 and featured the familiar tune Place Your Hands, will play the event on Saturday, July 16.

The line-up includes John Power from last year’s headliners Cast, Kent’s CoCo and the Butterfields, Skinny Lister, The Novatones and Congo Faith Healers.

The event has its origins in the Glastonbury festival – or the missing of it. A group of friends who missed out on tickets in 2012 decided to stage their own and named it the Vicar’s Picnic after its original location on Vicarage Road.

THE DETAILS

The Vicar’s Picnic will be held on The Lees, Yalding on Friday, July 15, and Saturday, July 16, and will raise funds for Demelza.

For tickets visit vicarspicnic.co.uk to book.
A limited number of tickets may be available on the gate. Check social media for updates.

Other music festivals in Kent this summer.