Say hello to Fiona and Rhodri at Gaymers

After spending the summer running around the country making sure that Gaymers' sponsorship of the festival season went super-smoothly, Gaymers Music HQ managed to corner Rhodri and Fiona and ask them a question or two about what they do at Gaymers and the music they love.

In the future Rhodri and Fiona are both going to get involved in a bit of blogging action over here. For now though, here's what they told us . . .

Fiona Lovatt

Job title at Gaymers: Marketing Controller

So what do you actually do at Gaymers?: Look after marketing on all our brands with special focus on Gaymers, basically trying to let more people know about Gyamers and encourage them to give it a try

First single/album bought: Single - 'Half Way Down The Stairs' by Kermit the Frog & the Muppets, Album - Boney M, 'Nightflight to Venus'

Last single/album bought: Single - downloaded 'Maybe I'm Amazed' by Paul McCartney, Album - Temper Trap, 'Conditions'

Secret (and maybe guilty) music pleasure: Crowded House & Dolly Parton

Favourite bands: Rolling Stones, Ray Lamontagne

First gig: Aha at the Blackpool Opera House 1987

Best gig ever (non-festival): Rolling stones at the O2 September 2007

Best festival experience: Verve on the Sunday night at Glastonbury 2008, Guy Garvey talking about our Gaymers inflatable apple at Bestival 2009

Best lyric ever: Rolling Stones, 'Shine A Light' - "May the good lord shine a light on you, make every song your favourite tune"

Favourite gig venue: Brixton Academy

Top tip for surviving a year's worth of gigs/festivals: baby wipes and Primark pumps

What three websites could you not live without?: BBC News, Ticketmaster and TheTrainline.com

Rhodri Williams

Job title at Gaymers: Brand Manager

So what do you actually do at Gaymers?: I look after our festival involvement, the Gaymers Cider Garden and Gaymers Grassroots Gigs campaign

First single/album bought: Single - No idea, must have been awful! Album - Michael Jackson's 'Bad'

Last single/album bought: Single - 'Daniel' by Bat for Lashes, Album - 'The First Days of Spring' by Noah and the Whale

Secret (and maybe guilty) music pleasure: Early 90's 'Madchester' bands & Jamiroquai

Favourite bands: The Rolling Stones, The Kinks, The Stereophonics, Foo Fighters

First gig: The Stereophonics, Cardiff CIA

Best gig ever (non-festival): The Rolling Stones, Millennium Stadium

Best festival experience: The end of night snow storm in the dance tent, Glastonbury

Best lyric ever: 'I still miss you baby...but my aim's getting better'

Favourite gig venue: The Forum (you can get Gaymers draught in the Bull & Gate next door!)

Top tip for surviving a year's worth of gigs/festivals: Don't mix your drinks

What three websites could you not live without?: BBC Sport, AA Routefinder, Google images (for presentations!)

So there you go. We all know a little bit more about Rhodri and Fiona. Watch out for more from them soon on the blog. We're off to listen to Kermit the Frog right this second.

Bestival - Everything's Going Swimmingly

Oh boy, are you ready for that long swim to the IoW for Bestival? Yes? No? Whatever the case, remember to raise a glass of Somerset's finest apple or pear cider to those brave enough to undertake that charity swim. Make sure you come and see us in our Cider Garden...also home to this summer's festival favourite, Rockaoke...currently still on tour in O'Neill's round the UK (next one is Leicester on the 16th). We're can't quite believe the festival 'season' is nearly over and are getting quite sentimental...especially about good ol' Glasto; what a year for the big one, eh? We're still positively brimming with Glasto and cider-related trivia - did you know that we press enough apples a year to give everyone at the festival 600 each of that lovely fruit? Or that when the first Glasto started in 1970, we'd been making cider for exactly 200 years (and Hendrix had been dead for just a day) which is pretty darn impressive (we think)! Anyway, here's a few links for fun and to get you well and truly in suitable Swansong mode; the first is for Bestival's new and ever-so-cool iPhone App; the second is for a lovely Spotify playlist courtesy of GeoffB, via shareyplaylist.com. Nice...

Bestival's Calling and DJ Derek Is Waiting...

We're in a suitably 'spectacular' mood in advance of this year's Bestival. There can't be many small islands around the world that have such an impressive rock 'n' roll heritage (that includes you, Australia) - the roll call of quality musicians who've landed on its shores beggars belief. The IoW started hosting festivals in '68 and three glorious years saw the likes of Marc Bolan, Bob Dylan, John Lennon, Jimi Hendrix, George Harrison and Jim Morrison all welcomed. Strangely, after such auspicious beginnings, the festivals fizzled out and it wouldn't be for another 32 years until the stars descended again. In the meantime, the island had to make do with a few years of musical glory in the form of one of its ex-milkman Mark King and his band, Level 42. Anyway, '02 welcomed back rock royalty in the form of er...Hundred Reasons and The Coral. Hmm, well Robert Plant was there and Ash put on a great show, at least! Anyway, the following years saw the star factor rise and Neil Young, Mick Jagger, Iggy, Lou Reed, etc. all made appearances. Bestival itself has been a part of the island's musical life since '04 - and bands seem to love coming back; Hot Chip, for instance, have made no less than 4 appearances. This year's line-up is a cracker - from the chilly Teutonic tunes of Kraftwerk, the electro-beats of MGMT to era-defining tunes from classy Bristolians Massive Attack, the big acts are really out in force. Further down the enormous line-up, there's masses to choose from - BUT...our hot tip has got to be DJ Derek. Who? Well, this bespectacled, 67 year old ex-accountant who MCs in Jamaican patois (despite never having visited the island) has been a much-loved and credible part of the Bristolian music scene for years. If he's good enough for a Massive Attack after-show party, he's definitely worth a listen; don't miss him.

Ready to "Rumble"? (you'll see why below...)

OK, with our last festival (that'd be Bestival) nearly upon us, we thought it'd be fun to have a look at the story behind some of the names of bands we've been enjoying this summer. The official title of such musical (or non-musical for that matter) mulling is 'etymology'. There, now you know. Anyway, here's a few near-legendary stories behind the names: 'Faith No More' (named after a horse they saw on a betting form); 'Duran Duran' (from the villain in the cult Sci-fi film, Barbarella, Dr. Durand-Durand); 'ZZ Top' (a combination of wanting to sound like their hero, BB King...and borrowing the 'ZZ' from another Texan Bluesman, ZZ Hill); 'Radiohead' (after what they called the 'least annoying' song on Talking Heads' album, True Stories!); and, finally, what must be our favourite of the summer...'The Rumblestrips' ("one of a series of rough or slightly raised strips of pavement on a highway, intended to slow down the speed of vehicles, as before a toll booth" - ahem! and thank-you, Leicestershire County Council for that eloquent description). Aside from these, the No. 1 etymology-ism (is that a word?) in our book is that of the classic and often wayward US rock band, The Replacements. According to musical legend, the nascent group were given a gig after one band failed to show; when asked who they were, they said...you guessed it..."We're the Replacements"...ah, pure class!

Nothing Evil About Either Twin!

Well, Reading and Leeds, you did us proud....not least with Radiohead rocking the last night of the former by opening with all-time classic 'Creep'. The Arctics held up nicely at Leeds after the turbo-charged mayhem of The Prodigy with only their second gig since the release of 'Humbug' - showing that they can keep themselves fresh and relevant while many contemporaries stagnate.

Which is certainly what Mr. Patrick Wolf didn't do during his frankly manic Reading performance - he's rapidly turning into one of Britain's most watchable performers, love or hate his pop-tastic tunes. One of our favourite bands, the mighty Maccabees, put in another great festival show, as did Ealing's White Lies. It was heartening to see old heavies Faith No More hold onto a fair few of the crowd on their stage when many departed to see the Followill Bros. rock out on the main one. They also raised a big smile with their cover of the 'Eastenders' theme tune! Anyway, for two festivals separated by so many miles - and age - this year's 'twin-ing' was a great one...and we think a lot better than the imagined line-up (above) could have produced!