My Bristol Favourites: Kid Carpet

“Many moons ago I visited my local car boot sale with a ten pound note and returned with a plastic guitar, a child’s keyboard and a toy tape deck,” says Bristol musician Ed Patrick. “I put my name into an online anagram generating machine and Kid Carpet was born.”

Beginning by making music with old keyboards, toys, computers, a sellotaped up broken electric guitar and a punk rock DIY attitude, his catchy lo-fi electro-pop-music led to shows with the likes of Electric 6, Willy Mason, and Arcade Fire.

Having a family saw Patrick move into making theatre gigs for young audiences and families. “Part storytelling, part gig, these performances keep the same punk DIY attitude at the heart of them,” he explains.

Catch Kid Carpet at the Arnolfini on November 10 as part of Kin, a brand new event from the makers of Shambala Festival.

“Thinking about my favourite places in Bristol, a theme of travel and chaos seems to be appearing involving cars, bikes, skateboards and trains,” he says.

These are Kid Carpet’s top-five Bristol favourites:

The Almondsbury Interchange

Kid Carpet’s favourite motorway sign – courtesy of Google Maps

“I have a favourite motorway sign. At first glance it seems like a madness of impossible arrows and hazard lines designed to put you off your driving and suggests that you prepare for your fatal crash by freaking the hell out. It’s at junction 20 of the M4, the Almondsbury Interchange, when joining the M4 from the M5 heading towards the M32. I’ve got used to it now but I’m interested in infographics which are completely confusing. I find the amount of signs on roads can do this easily. If I was to fully read and understand them all I think I’d end up running people over.”

The abandoned Mangotsfield railway station

“On the Bristol to Bath cycle path, after the Staple Hill tunnel on the way to Bath, you may have stumbled upon Mangotsfield railway station where the path splits in two directions. It’s an abandoned station with a raised platform, a couple of odd walls and other leftover remnants of the old station still visible. You can just about make out some old urinals and start to figure out how the layout may have looked. It’s all wonderfully overgrown and gone to seed and a great place to walk your dog, chase your kids around or stop for a roll-up. It’s beautiful.”

‘The M32 no man’s land’

The River Frome at Eastville – photo courtesy of performancefootprint.co.uk

“Closer into town there’s what I like to call the M32 no man’s land, from Eastville Park duck pond to Ikea. Standing directly underneath the motorway between the park and Cottrell Road, the great curving concrete parallel lines combined with the thundering sounds are gorgeously, monstrously awesome. It’s sometimes used as a pop-up caravan park but otherwise it’s eerily vacant.

“If you continue towards town you’ll pass the barriered off Frome river, penned in by metal fencing and concrete motorway pillars, vast amounts of graf and tags. Why there’s no access to this spot seems absurd, it could be regenerated for wildlife at least. You wouldn’t want to go fishing there but it looks like a great place to dump a body.

“A few yards further on is the M32 skatepark. Homemade by local skaters, it’s a little miracle. There’s bags of cement kicking about if you fancy making a bowl or some kind of lumpy thing. There’s a load of bricks and wood so you can make a temporary ramp if you like. Older skaters and BMX-ers don’t seemed to be fazed by the little kids on scooters and the addicts, dealers and homeless who shelter in the ramps and lurk in the shadows are a part of the furniture.

“Then there’s the weirdness of the sluice gates round the back of Ikea. Bristol’s decision to hide its rivers away from sight is madness and results in some strange and dangerous looking places.

“JG Ballard would have loved this area and so do I. Please don’t gentrify it for cash. Leave it to the skaters and the ducks.”

Magpie Park

“Then there’s the chaos of central Bristol and an area that Google Maps is telling me is called Magpie Park, where there’s been loads of redevelopment around the war memorial and the statue of E****d C*****n. After millions of pounds spent and years of traffic disruption the area is now another new home for skateboarders. Pedestrians are scared witless and car drivers don’t know which way to turn, but the skaters and bikers rule and fair play to them.”

Sweetmart’s deli

“But it’s not all chaos and urban monstrosity. If you’re feeling peckish, forget town and all the super-hip bars and eateries and instead head over to Sweetmart on St Mark’s Road in Easton to check out their deli. Dahl and rice for £1.99? Yes please. Chuck in a Gujarati samosa or Kachori ball or splash out on a bel puri for £2.99. It’s all yummy and good. What’s the secret? Tamarind chutney? I dunno but I’m often there at lunchtime if I’m working out of Mivart Street artist studios.”