AUTHOR and musical archaeologist Chris Hewitt has created a unique record of the first of the free festivals to feature punk and new wave bands.

The Deeply Vale Box has been a labour of love for Chris, from Wincham, and has taken 18 years of research to put together.

It consists of eight hours of music from bands who performed at the Deeply Vale festivals at Rochdale between 1976 and 1979, which Chris helped organise, much of which has not been released until now.

About 60 per cent of the music is live recordings from Deeply Vale, the remainder being studio recordings from bands which featured at the festivals.

The six CDs come with a 272-page A4 book featuring the history of the music scene in the north west at the time, interviews and photographs and biographical details of the bands who played at Deeply Vale.

Chris was responsible for the staging, sound and lighting at the festivals, whose audiences grew from 300 and 3,000 in 1976 and 1977 respectively to 20,000 at the subsequent festivals.

“Deeply Vale was important as it was the first of the free festivals to open its stage to punk and new wave bands, and was also intertwined with the Manchester Rock Against Racism movement,” said Chris.

“Long before any other festival it crossed the hippy punk divide. It’s where Planet Gong/Here and Now met The Fall, and The Ruts were formed in a tent in Deeply Vale in 1977 after two members of London funk band Hit and Run saw the Drones perform a punk set on stage.

“The festival spiralled from five of us sitting round a kitchen table asking a farmer if we could have a birthday party for a few friends and have a bit of music, and the number of punk bands grew from The Drones in 1977 to a quarter of the bands the next year and 60 per cent in 1979.

“My aim with the box set was to recreate the chaos and the uniqueness of it all, and it will appeal to punks, hippies and people interested in the history of festivals.

“I have already had more than 70 pre-orders, and have been to see a few of the key figures who appear in the book – they were still engrossed in it five hours later!”

The 1978 festival not only included Steve Hillage, Here and Now and Nik Turner, but also The Fall, The Durutti Column and The Ruts, and audio contributions on the CDs include Andy McCluskey from OMD, who performed at Deeply Vale in 1977 with his early band Pegasus, Jimi Goodwin from Doves, who went to the festival when he was eight, and Andy Rourke from the Smiths, who said Deeply Vale had “such a great vibe.”

The box set, which includes a pack of incense, is due to be released in the north west this weekend, and will be limited to 500 boxes worldwide. It is available by ringing 01565 734577 or online at ozitrecords@which.net.