Farmers Weekly meets The Wurzels

They’ve played to the Pope, taken a spin in the world’s biggest combine harvester and appeared on Top of the Pops with Elton John.

On top of being a staple at Young Farmers discos across the country, they’ve released 29 albums, had a number one hit and become so synonymous with cider-drinking they’ve even had a scrumpy named after them. Not bad for a band who started their career more than 40 years ago and became famous with a song about using a new combine to harvest 63 acres.

CS: “I got a brand new combine harvester” topped the charts in 1976. Are you amazed you’re still recording music and playing to festivals after all these years?

Pete: We take things as they come, we never take anything for granted. We never thought we’d get a number one but we did. We could even get another one in future.

How did you both get involved with the group?

Pete: It started with Adge Cutler. He was a story-writer and poet and he wrote about local places and farming and the countryside. We both had backgrounds in performing so he got us together and we did the singing.

How many performances do you do each year?

Pete: I wouldn’t have a clue. We don’t even look in the diary to see what we are doing next month, there’s so much there it’s frightening.

Tommy: We went on holiday the other week and switched our mobile phones off. After three days we’d had 25 interview requests. In the summer we can do up to six gigs a week.

Do you enjoy doing them? Which has been your best one?

Pete: We enjoy playing to anyone. The more people a gathering’s got the better.

Tommy: Glastonbury 2008 was the best gig for me.

Pete: Before that, it was the Battle of the Flowers in Jersey for the BBC’s Seaside Special in the 1970s. It had 39,000 people there. We had the biggest crowd ever for a Radio One road show in Tenby, too – it had something like 100,000 people. They’re very exciting and great to do, if the sound is good.

What’s your best tour story?

Pete: About 10 years ago we played for the Gloucestershire Regiment at their base in the Belize jungle. We slept in tents with scorpions and snakes. It was amazing.

Tommy: We had proper beds, but after lights-out someone would come in, shout “under the covers” and you’d have to dive under your blankets while they fumigated the place. You could hear giant insects hitting the floor and the bedclothes. Over dinner once, there was a scorpion sat right near us on the seat. We were told “whatever you do, don’t move quickly”. All we wanted to do was run away. There was a type of snake out there that was so poisonous that if you got bitten by it you had to be airlifted to hospital in America. It was pretty scary stuff.

Pete: Yes, there were scorpions and flying insects everywhere. We managed to get some cider while we were out there, though.

Have you ever crowd-surfed or trashed a hotel room on tour?

Tommy: I don’t do it myself, but we get lots of crowd surfers.

Pete: It’s dangerous though – no one wants to be kicked in the head by a wayward crowd surfer.

What was it like being on Top of the Pops?

Tommy: We were on there 14 times. It was a strange thing, it looks big on TV but it was just three tiny stages and they herd people around.

Pete: We played with Elton John and Bob Marley. We got in a lift with him and he said “cool man” when we introduced ourselves. He was definitely a fan, though he wasn’t on the cider, if you know what I mean.

Speaking of celebrity fans, comedian Bill Bailey refers to you in his routines – do you have any other famous fans?

Pete: A lot of bands play our stuff at sound checks. I know The Corrs and the Stranglers do it. Secretly there are a lot of people that like us.

Tommy: I’ve heard Steve Lamaq is a fan.

Pete: Kenneth Williams brought his mother to see us once; apparently she was a big fan. When the Pope came to Britain he stopped to see us when were playing, too. Justin Hayward [from the Moody Blues] got on stage once and sang “ohh arr” with us.

You have a new album of famous songs you’ve “Wurzelised” coming out this month. How did you decide which songs to cover?

Pete: We did “Never mind the Bullocks” a few years ago which had covers on and we thought we’d do another which picked up on some more modern bands like Pulp and the Kaiser Chiefs.

Tommy: We’re trying to get new listeners, young people who like contemporary songs. Chris Moyles made our last album his record of the week and that introduced us to a whole new generation of fans.

The Wurzles sing Kaiser Chiefs’ hit Ruby

Which song would you like to Wurzelize?

Tommy: Sweet Caroline would be a cracker.

Pete: There are so many songs around, it isn’t until someone says “how about that one” that you think “that’s a good idea”.

Tommy: Someone mentioned Ernie the Fastest Milkman in the West. Benny Hill always wanted us to do it.

Pete: Back then we would have done it like an ordinary Wurzels song, but now we would give it a beat and have more fun with it.

You’ve mentioned covering contemporary songs to get new listeners, but how else are you keeping up with the times?

Tommy: Our album is available for download and we have a very good website. We’re hoping to promote the downloads at Glastonbury so that while it’s playing people will think to buy it from iTunes at the same time.

You spoke out about the cider tax when the Labour government threatened to impose it. Is there anything else you’d come out to support farming on?

Tommy: We’re not political really – we have to sit on the fence. It’s like when we’re asked which crowd is best between Cirencester and Harper. We have to be diplomatic and say they are both brilliant.

You’re playing at the Glastonbury festival next week. What’s it like playing there?

Tommy: It’s the third time we have done it. It’s magic.

Pete: It’s like playing in the back garden for us.

Do you get to see any of the bands? Who are you looking forward to seeing?

Tommy: Hopefully this time we will have some time to see the bands. A good tip is to plan what bands you want to watch and plan a route – it can be tough to get between the stages and you can’t rush with there being so many people around. I want to see Florence.

Pete: What, Florence Nightingale?

Tommy: No, Florence and the Machine. And I’d love to see Stevie Wonder.

Pete: I want to see Willie Nelson again – he was incredible last time.

As festival veterans, do you have any tips for Glastonbury first-timers?

Pete: We’ve done a video for the police about safety which you can see on YouTube. Otherwise, the thing to remember is to get your bearings when you erect your tent. They all look alike, especially after you’ve paid a visit to the cider bus. Make sure you take care of things like iPods and phones, too.

Tommy: Leave enough time to get there. If you or your friends are going to have a drink of cider, make sure you look out for each other so you can get back to your tents. Otherwise you’ll have a sleep under the cider bus.

Pete: People forget it’s cold in the evenings, too. If you can’t find your tent then you are in trouble, though there are medical staff around to help you out.

Tommy: Take lots of money – there’s some great food there and, of course, some excellent cider.

You ask the questions

Questions flooded in for the Wurzels on the FWi forums, and Farmers Weekly Twitter and Facebook pages. We asked Tommy and Pete a selection:

Helen Thoday: Do you really like singing to Young Farmers?

Tommy: Yes, we love it.

Pete: We like singing to anyone, wherever there’s a crowd.

Amy van Edwards: Why don’t you play all over the country?

Tommy: We do. We play concerts everywhere.

John Pawsey: Can you make a profit out of 63 acres?

Pete: Yes, because farmers don’t just use their combines on their own land, they can contract it out and make more money that way.

Ed White: Should cider be sparkling or still?

Tommy: Still.

Pete: Definitely still. It’s more traditional.