Andy Tompkins: The Wicker Man

There are a very large number of articles on the web about the Wicker Man and I feel very fortunate and proud to have been a part of it. Ok, it was our first film and we were young, but while working on the soundtrack, it did feel like we were part of something special.

Gary Carpenter and Ian Cutler, friends and fellow musicians from the film have very good features about the film and our experiences on their websites and here are the links to them:-

The composer of the Wicker Man soundtrack, Paul Giovanni was a great guy to work with - he knew the style and feel of what he wanted, but as a guitarist, he gave me a great deal of freedom to come up with my own phrases and riffs. "Gently Johnny" and "Willow's Song" being two prime examples. We would discuss and finalise the ideas while we rehearsed in Peter Shaffer's apartment in Earl's Terrace, Kensington which is where Paul stayed when he was in London. It was an enormous honour and privilege to have worked with Paul and I know all the musicians on the film would agree with me.

Here is a link to a Youtube clip from The Wicker Man featuring one of my favourite songs "Gently Johnny".

Paul is singing with other fellow musicians, Gary Carpenter on recorder, Ian Cutler on violin Mike Cole and Peter Brewis on harmonicas and me on guitar. It was very many years ago now, but sometimes still feels like yesterday!

Here are some other clips, Willow's Song:-

And The Landlord's Daughter:-

This site has some very interesting information about The Wicker Man

Auditions began in March 2008 for what promises to be the most thrilling film-to-stage adaptation of recent years.

The Motion Group, headed by Artistic Director, Andrew Steggall has the exclusive stage rights to The Wicker Man in the UK.

Gary Carpenter, Ian Cutler and I were invited to play at the launch of the show at the The Brickhouse in London on 19th February. It was a tremendous occasion and pleasure to play with them again after so many years, but I don't think we can afford to leave it another 35 years between performances!

The Motion Group is offering the chance to invest in this tremendously exciting production. For further details, visit The Motion Group site:-

Steve Phillips has created a very informative site about the the various versions of The Wicker Man.