Next weekend is the “most extreme music weekend in the UK”. However without exception, the music stages and the extreme sportiness coexist but never overlap. This leaves the whole being less than some of it’s parts - the festival a weakened strain of itself – a cake with no icing or cherry on top. It’s like taking two absolute, gorgeous beauties; stripping then shaving their perfect bodies, oiling them from head to foot and asking them to rub every inch of their god-like sexiness all over each other. But not letting them kiss. Like Pretty Woman, without the final scene – unsatisfyingly imperfect.

So, how to fix the problem…

I have compiled a list of musicians that were also successful at (extreme) sports in the hope that it will inspire Doves, Biffy et al. to hold up there hands and volunteer to land a parachute, pilot a jet boat or take a BMX down the 40ft vert ramp…

Role Models:

David Lee Roth – climbed K2

Vanilla Ice – MX champion

Bruce Dickinson(Iron Maiden vocalist) – cage fighting specialist

James Hetfield(Metallica) – skateboard pro

Charlie and Craig Reid (Proclaimers) – ultra marathon runners

Les Claypool (bass player)- fishing champion

Gareth Gates - very good at rollerskating

Jack Johnson- Pipline Masters surfer

Actually, why not mix genres in the opposite direction? Give a banjo to some of the skatboarders and see what they can come up with. Entire football teams discovered hidden singing abilities when FA Cup finals loomed. John Barnes was even nominated for a Moby with the self-titled “John Barnes’ Rap” which in turn spurred the England team to not-quite-fulfill-their-potential at the worldcup.

please feel free to extend the list in the comments box below, or if you happen to be performing at the White Air Festival you can take the opportunity to sign up.