Reef are ready to rock on at CamperJam, Weston Park

Their first three albums all crashed into the top 10 of the chart – with Replenish and Glow earning silver discs and featuring such crowd-pleasers as Naked, Place Your Hands, Come Back Brighter and Consideration.

And though the band succumbed to the inevitable post-Britpop lull – in Reef’s case, they took a seven-year hiatus – they’ve been steadily rebuilding their audience since returning in 2010 to play their hometown festival, Glastonbury.

Later this summer, they’ll head north to the Midlands to headline with fellow Britpoppers Cast and The Lightning Seeds at Camper Calling.

The festival, set spectacularly into its stunning home at Ragley Hall, in Warwickshire, is run by the team behind CamperJam at Weston Park.

EXTRAVAGANZA

The music and entertainment extravaganza will feature from August 25-27 and will be the Midlands’ finest family-friendly, boutique music festival of the summer.

Reef frontman Gary Stringer is looking forward to playing. He says Camper Calling is his type of gig.

“I can’t wait. I’ve never been to Ragley Hall before so it’s gonna be a good weekend.”

The bill features Ordinary Boys, Backbeat Soundsystem, Space, Lucy Spraggan, Scott Matthews, Betsy and more. But the band Gary is more looking forward to is Brummie reggae types Musical Youth, who are second on the bill on Sunday.

“That seems really exciting. I had Pass The Dutchie when I was 12. I can’t wait to seem them.”

Though Gary has been playing rock’n’roll since 1993, he still brims with enthusiasm. The ability to whip up a storm among a partisan audience gives him his biggest thrill.

“I love my job, I love singing, I love music. Yesterday, somebody asked me if I ever get tired before going on stage. That’s a hard one to answer because there’s always a moment when you’re unsure, before you get onto the stage. But without wanting to sound like a hippy, the moment you get up there the audience gives you a real lift. The crowd puts out energy, you put out energy and then away you go.

“Look, I’m 44. I thought if I got to 40 without a real job I’d have done really well. But it’s still going strong. The last two or three years have been busier than the few years before that.”

The re-emergence of Reef hasn’t been solely based on a wave of nostalgia, however. Though fans inevitably demand the hits, the band continue to record new material and released a single, How I Got Over, last year.

“The single did really well last spring, then we had six weeks of touring before there were festivals coming out of our ears. After that, we played Wembley Stadium with Coldplay.

“Oh mate. We’ve played big festivals, like Glastonbury and Isle of Wight, but to see a stadium show in action for a couple of nights was mind-blowing. It was brilliant. Coldplay were great and they’re brilliant at playing to really big audiences.

“We saw them at TFI Friday. We both did the one-off thing with Chris Evans and after the show Chris Martin just came over and said hello. He used to watch us play before they were signed and we just ended up chatting and hanging out for a bit. The next thing we know they’d offered us a couple of nights at Wembley. I’d do it again in a drop of the hat.”

Reef have been recording more new songs and Gary says they’re in a good place, creatively-speaking. “I love writing, I’m always writing, I just love being creative. Writing things down and singing songs, that’s all I do.

“And it’s great with the old iPhones, I used to carry a notepad but now you can do a voice memo and sing into your iPhone instead. We’ve got 15 songs for the new record now and I would like to write a few more. Then we’ll whittle the list down to 10/12 really good ones. When we make the new album, we want it to be great. When people press ‘play’, there should be no questions asked. We don’t want people to doubt any of it. We want them to love it.”

Gary looks back happily at the band’s golden era, when they were riding high in the charts, were regulars at the UK’s biggest festivals and were constantly on TV.

“It was a good time, no doubt about it. With the first couple of albums, everything got better and bigger as we went along. I moved up to London in 1993 and we were signed within six months, that’s the stuff of dreams. I’d been down to Cornwall in a band and played for a little while. Then I went surfing and walking in Morocco. I wrote Good Feeling without a guitar, just singing it in my head on the beach in Morocco.

“Then I came back and hooked up with Jack, who was down in London. I got a labouring job in Brick Lane and I’d be working in the day then doing the band at night. They were long days but we realised our dream quickly. Sony heard us and signed us up.”

Playing on Paul Weller’s Wildwood tour was one of Gary’s highlights and he had a peculiar way of sharing the news. “We’d be driving down the A4 in the van and we’d pull alongside people at the lights. I’d lean out and say: ‘Do you know where we’re going? We’re going to play the Royal Albert Hall with Paul Weller’.” Nobody ever believed him, but it was true.

HIGHLIGHTS

Other highlights came thick and fast. The band’s first single went to number 24, which was beyond Gary’s expectations, and before he knew it he was back home at Glastonbury playing in the sunshine while wearing a pair of shorts. “Two years later, we were back on the Other Stage – headlining.”

They recorded in Abbey Road Studios, were flown out to Los Angeles to work with Rick Rubin, who was mixing a Johnny Cash album when they walked in. “That blew my mind. We went in the next door and started singing our songs. It was a great moment.”

And now the band can relive those former glories at Camper Calling. Festival director Shelley Bond said: “We are so excited with this year’s line-up so far. The bands that we have announced are a true reflection of Camper Calling and what we stand for. We’ve tried to book a diverse mix of artists that we believe everyone will love. Over the next few weeks, we’ll be announcing the rest of the line-up, as well as all the additional experiences that Camper Calling will have to offer including award-winning street food, family activities and much more.”

The organisers of Camper Calling have pulled out all the stops to ensure that the August bank holiday weekend is filled with a host of family friendly activities, from craft workshops to campfire tales, lake activities to children’s circus shows. There will be several live music stages, craft workshops, scrumptious street food, AüguztFest for the connoisseur of fine beer with a live Oompah Band, a fun fair, and an array of outdoor activities for visitors of all ages. Brothers will also be serving up a wide array of its flavoured ciders.

The event is set in the opulent grounds of the Ragley Hall estate within 400 acres of parkland, woodland and gardens of Ragley Hall. Surrounded by 27 acres of delightful ever-changing gardens, the parkland contains the Children’s Adventure Playground, Woodland Walk, and Lakeside Picnic Area.

l Tickets for the summer bash are on sale at www.campercalling.com