Elizabeth Hand - Wylding Hall

Tom Haring: Producer, Moonthunder Records; Windhollow Faires Manager

Windhollow Faire:

Lesley Stansall: Lead singer/songwriter

Ashton Moorehouse: Bassist

Jonathan Redheim: Drums, percussion

William Fogerty: Rhythm guitar, fiddle, mandolin

Julian Blake (deceased): Singer/songwriter, lead guitar

Patricia Kenyon: Journalist/Music critic

Nancy ONeill: Professional psychic

Billy Thomas: Photographer, estate agent

Tom Haring, Manager/Producer

I was the one who found the house. A friend of my sister-in-law knew the owners; they were living in Barcelona that summer and the place was to let. Not cheaply, either. But I knew how badly everyone needed to get away after the whole horrible situation with Arianna, and this seemed as good a bolt-hole as any. These days the new owners have had to put up a fence to keep away the curious. Everyone knows what the place looks like because of the album cover, and now you can just google the name and get directions down to the last millimeter.

But back then, Wylding Hall was a mere dot on the ordnance survey map. You couldnt have found it with a compass. Most people go there now because of what happened while the band was living there and recording that first album. We have some ideas about what actually went on, of course, but the fans, they can only speculate. Which is always good for business.

Mostly, its the music, of course. Twenty years ago, there was that millennium survey where Wylding Hall topped out at Number Seven, ahead of Definitely Maybe, which shocked everybody except for me. Then Oaken Ashes got used in that advert for, what was it? Some mobile company. So now theres the great Windhollow Faire backlash.

And inexplicable even better, inexplicable and terrible things are always good for the music business, right? Cynical but true.

Apart from when I drove out in the mobile unit and we laid down those rough tracks, I was only there a few times. You know, check in and see how the rehearsal process was going, make sure everyones instruments were in one piece, and they were getting their vitamins. And theres no point now in keeping anything off the record, right? We all knew what was going on down there, which in those days was mostly hash and acid.

And of course, everyone was so young. Julian was eighteen. So was Will. Ashton and Jon were, what? Nineteen, maybe twenty. Lesley had just turned seventeen. I was the elder statesman at all of twenty-three.

Ah, those were golden days. Youre going to say Im tearing up here in front of the camera, arent you? I dont give a fuck. They were golden boys and girls, that was a golden summer, and we had the Summer King.

And we all know what happens to the Summer King. That girl from the album cover, shed be the only one knows what really went on. But we cant ask her, can we?

Will Fogerty, rhythm guitar, fiddle, mandolin

I knew Julian from school. We both grew up in Hampstead and attended Hampstead School for the local comprehensive school: Posh boys compared to Ashton and Jon, which put us at a distinct disadvantage, I can tell you that! Ashton was part of the Muswell Hill music mafia; all those blokes knew each other stand in the middle of Archway and throw a rock in any direction, and youd hit a folk musician.

Whereas if you threw a rock in Hampstead and hit anyone, youd end up in prison. There were days when I could have done with that happening to Ashton. He could be a right bastard.

Still, that was our hardship, mine and Julians not belonging to the working class. Me and Julian werent at public school what you Americans call private school and Hampsteads North London, not posh Kensington. But Muswell Hill was where the best musicians came from. Something in the air. Or the drink, more likely.

I started on violin and Julian played the piano not sure when he took up the guitar. Once he did, it was like hed been born to it he was an extraordinary guitar player. These crazy tunings that would make it sound like he was playing a flute or a sitar, or a human voice. We used to play at the Hampstead Folk Club, which was a glorified name for an upper room above a pub. All the folk clubs were like that: up a stairway to a dark paneled room with chairs lined up and everyone smoking cigarettes and nursing their pint. If you were lucky, someone might have a joint and would pass it to you. Nothing heavier than that. No one paid to hear us sing. And none of us musicians got paid, unless you were someone like John Martyn.

But it was a good way to meet girls, I thought, so I dragged Julian along with me to take our turn at the front of the room. Girls loved it. Girls loved him; he couldve played the kazoo and theyd be banging on his door. He was just too good-looking, but shy around the girls in those days. Even then, people wondered, Was he gay? If he was, I never saw any of it.

Lesley said she wondered sometimes, but I think and this is off the record; Les and I are still close, and I wouldnt want any hurt feelings. Also, she has a temper. But I think Julian just wasnt attracted to her. Not that Les wasnt pretty. She was a lovely girl; we all fancied her. Thats why we took her on!

But you know what I mean. She was a different type, physically, from Arianna. Lesley wasnt a waif, and even in school Jules always went for the wee girls with the big, sad eyes. No stamina, girls like that. I would know. And Les was scary smart, which can be intimidating for a bloke, even someone as brilliant as Julian. Maybe more intimidating. I dont think he was accustomed to being with someone who was his equal. Musically, yes, but not someone who could match him intellectually. Especially a girl.

And Lesley was American to boot, which in those days was a novelty, and also an affront to a lot of people. I mean, an American teenager singing traditional English folk songs in a London pub? Some people came just to see her fail. Well, that didnt happen.

Lesley Stansall, singer/songwriter

He never talked about what happened with Arianna. The police report said she fell from a third floor window to the pavement. There were no bars across the window in Julians flat; I do know that. She was depressive thats what theyd say now her and Julian both.

Suicide? How could it possibly matter all these years later, whether I think she killed herself?

She was a teenager; we were all teenagers. Today Arianna would be some gothy little girl hunched over her mobile. She was a beautiful child with a pretty voice. She didnt have it for the long haul.

Tom

Julian took Ariannas death very hard. He felt responsible: I should have never let her into the flat that night, it was my fault wed had an argument, etcetera etcetera. Theyd done a gig together at Middle Earth, just the two of them. Afterward, he told her the rest of the band wanted to head off in a different direction, musically. Shed thought that her and Julian singing together would be the start of something, a Simon & Garfunkel sort of duo. Instead, it was the end. He was trying to give her a gentle kiss-off, but I think it had the opposite effect.