Band On The Rum

After a rather low-key gig in Glasgow the other week, we returned to the Isle of Midgies, sorry Rum, last weekend for the annual Sound of Rum festival. If you haven’t been then we highly recommend it, only bring some anti midgie cream if you can get it. Just in case. And alcohol, we hear that's popular these days, especially among the kids.  The festival was twice as big this year and the sheer quality of the bands is outstanding e.g. Croft No. Five, Peatbog Faeries, Salsa Celtica; simply amazing. Not to mention archery, chainsaw sculpting, face painting for the kids and at least forty thousand pounds worth of alcohol for the adults.

And then there’s us, somewhere between music and chainsaw sculpting.

We travelled up on Saturday, through Glencoe, Fort William and then caught the ferry at Mallaig. It was a beautiful day to be traveling through some of the most spectacular scenery in the country. From Mallaig the boat goes around all the islands; Muck, Eigg, Canna and then Rum. No cars are allowed on the island except by special permission so our gear was trailered on. Once we had built a small shanty town on the outskirts of the festival, that we named New Wester Hailes, we made our way down to check out what was what. What a great night. All the bands were excellent, a definite celtic/ traditional edge to the whole thing, which suits us down to the ground because our music traditionally hails from the Scottish/Jamaican border, an area that is known for its heavy drinking and smoking. After enjoying the music we had an excellent night of heavy drinking and smoking, and also barbecuing around our campfire in the woods, all twenty or so of us. And nobody was murdered in the night which is always a bonus.

Last year when we played they put us on the stage on Sunday, and we were the only band to play all day. At first we thought it was a joke, a cruel, despicable joke but no joke. This year we were preceded and followed by bands all of which were outstanding. Although we were all still more or less drunk we pulled it together enough to go on around two thirty I think. Who can tell?  I think the crowd were more impressed with the fact that we went on wearing our suits and shades after spending the night in a ditch in the woods. We played well I thought and we really enjoyed playing too. Sometimes I have seen bands (usually indie/emo moan-fucks) that don’t seem to be enjoying playing live. Well on Sunday you could tell we were enjoying ourselves. I tell thee, it’s the most fun you can have with nine other men. Ask Arsenal! We didn’t have a set list so we played off the cuff and at one point I remember the crowd shouting song titles out as we were deciding what was next, at which point I started berating the crowd for thinking this was a democracy. I mean, really! It’s bad enough that we are a bunch of unprofessional steamers! After all of that we came back for an encore. The crowd was great and the response was amazing. I think we have a few fresh converts.

It was a great day and a great weekend. We arrived back on Monday night, with soggy amplifiers and sore heads but sore faces from smiling so all’s well.   Still no Coloursound and our album is still on ice, or more accurately, in the deep freeze, until at least next month. Writing continues apace. Next week we are off to Leslie. Should be interesting.