Wurzelmania!
Wurzelmania! News Archive 2001
This
page contains an archive of the News items for the year 1999 (the
first year of the website) written by Zider Ed whilst he was maintaining
the Wurzelmaina! website.
Wurzels
Annual Christmas & New Year Message (December 2001)
[This
link has been removed at the request of Sil Willcox, The Wurzels
manager.]
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 Wurzels
In The Top 40 (5th August 2001)
The
Wurzels'
new Cowshed Remix single has cracked the UK Top 40, putting
the band in the charts for the first time since the 1970s! It entered
the chart at No. 39 and was played on the BBC's prestigious
national chart rundown on Radio 1. Wurzelmania! wishes to congratulate
The Wurzels on this incredible success, and to thank all
the thousands of people who have helped to get it there by not only
buying the record themselves, but tirelessly promoting it and persuading
everyone else they know to buy it too!
Message from Tommy Banner: "Many thanks to Zider
Ed and all they Wurzel Fans who've supported us forever
and have now gone out, bought the Remix and got us to No. 39 in
the Charts - it is incredible, 25 years on! Those of you who have
not yet bought it, get out and buy it this week - PLEASE. The more
you buy, the more those farmers who need it will benefit. Remember,
all farmers are not rich. Cheers!"
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Mangel
rock is set for comeback (Swindon
Advertiser;
19th July 2001)
THE
evergreen West Country 'mangel-rock' group The Wurzels, brought
their Brand New Combine Harvester and other favourites
to wow a crowd estimated at more than a thousand at the Shalbourne
Country Fair on Saturday, July 14.
The
organising committee from Shalbourne Club had booked the Somerset-based
group with their unique scrumpy sound back in October, not knowing
their performance in Wiltshire would coincide with their re-launch.
The Wurzels are now back with their new style of what they call
cowshed music. The crowd at Shalbourne could not get enough of it
and whistled and called for more when the performance came to an
end.
The
group hopes Wurzelmania is back in a big way the same as it was
with legendary founder, the late Adge Cutler, when it stormed to
number one in the charts with the original Combine Harvester and
Drink up Thee Zyder. Now, 25 years on, the group has re-launched
with what it calls its Combine Harvester 2001 remix and produced
a new CD The Wurzels Collection.
Shalbourne Club chairman David Byrne said: "We
had no way of knowing when we booked them last October that their
re-launch would coincide with our country fayre."
In
the four years since it started, the Shalbourne Fayre has doubled
in size each year with more than 3,500 attending during the day
on Saturday and more than a third staying on for the evening concert
on the recreation field. The Wurzels headed a line-up of seven live
bands with jump-rock bands JP and the Wiseguys and Flash Harry,
country and western singer Liza Marshall, rock band Doreen Doreen,
samba band Samba Sulis and rural humour band The Plonkers.
The
evening concert brought to an end a day of activities which raised
more than £20,000. The
profit will go towards sports and leisure facilities in Shalbourne
and the villages around.
There
were 31 different real ales available in the beer tent and drinkers
got through 70 barrels of beer. In total the drinkers consumed more
than 40 nine-gallon barrels and 30 eleven-gallon barrels of beers
all recommended by the Campaign for Real Ale. Activities included
a pig roast, line-up of steam engines, vintage tractors, lawn mower
racing, a classic motorcycle scramble, a display of vintage Triumph
sports cars, children's amusement and a huge fireworks display.
Eight pub teams competed in a tug of war which was won by the Swan
at Inkpen.
[From
the Swindon
Advertiser]
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New
Wurzels Remix Single (July 2001)
Twenty-five
years on, a new 2001 Remix of The Wurzels' chart-topper Combine
Harvester is to be issued. more
info here...
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Wurzels
Comeback for farm crisis (BBC Online; Friday, 13 July, 2001)
Seventies
pop stars The Wurzels are re-releasing their biggest hit to help
farmers stricken by foot-and-mouth disease. They have agreed to
donate 50p from each sale of 'Combine Harvester (Brand New Key)'
to a fighting fund for the crisis. The move comes as the band
celebrates the 25th anniversary of the hit topping the charts.
Tommy
Banner, an original Wurzel who is still with the group, said:
"A lot of our friends are farmers and we were extremely pleased
to be able to help. Foot and mouth does not just affect farms,
it affects the whole community. Our own gigs have had to be cancelled
or put into smaller venues because of the crisis and it has hit
our area very hard."
The Wurzels were one of the biggest-selling acts of the mid-70s
and made it to number one with 'Combine Harvester (Brand New Key)'
in 1976. Other hits included 'I am a Cider Drinker' and 'Farmer
Bill's Cowman'. However, Mr Banner, who is now in his sixties,
insists the Somerset-based band has never gone away.
He
said: "We have been busy doing concerts all over the country.
We are popular among younger people now and many of out biggest
fans are students. Youngsters from the West Country seem to go
away to college and take our music with them and play it to their
friends."
A
spokeswoman for The Wurzels' record label EMI said: "The
band were very keen to give something back to the farmers. There
is always a lot of farmers at their gigs. Cash raised from sales
of the single will go into the National Farmers' Union 'Supporting
Farmers in Crisis' fund.
NFU
president Ben Gill said: "We are very grateful for the support
of The Wurzels. Many farmers and others in rural areas have not
earned any direct income for months now due to the impact of foot-and-mouth
disease. This fund will proved them with the help they so desperately
need to re-build their businesses and, in many cases, just to
keep going."
The
single, which has been re-mixed to give it a new electronic dance
beat, is due for release at the end of July. The band hopes to
take a combine harvester into central London for a concert at
the Fitz and Firkin pub in Great Portland Street today.
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 Wurzels
on TV again! (June 2001)
The
Wurzels
appeared on Channel 5 TV's "Open House With Gloria
Hunniford" on 11th June 2001, to plug their new single
Combine Harvester 2001 Remix. more
info here...
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 HMV
Release Exclusive Wurzels CD (April 2001)
The
Wurzels Collection
is a brand new CD available exclusively from HMV stores or HMV
Online! Following the phenomenal success of the EMI CD issued
last year, HMV have negotiated with EMI to issue a Wurzels Compilation
CD on their own budget-priced label. more
info here...
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