SIR RICHARD BISHOP

If Amplifest was a sticker collection, the space on the album for the iconic Sir Richard Bishop sticker would be a big one, right on the first pages, waiting to be filled since the beginning of the festival. An experimental music legend with the Sun City Girls, founded in 1979 alongside his brother Alan, with whom he steadily challenged the limits of improvised rock for over a quarter of a century, Sir Richard started his solo adventure in the late 90s (on the label of the equally legendary John Fahey, mind you) and quickly established his own musical personality. Showing a delirious mastery of the guitar, both electric and acoustic, he has been using and abusing the instrument ever since, frequently collaborating with like-minded artists and building a numerous and uniquely fascinating discography. For an easy description of Sir Richard’s relationship with his instrument, look no further than one of his 2007 albums, whose title, in a brilliant Beatles paraphrasing, is “While My Guitar Violently Bleeds”. Oh, if those strings could talk!