Sunday, July 30, 2006

The Ghosts of Christmas Past

First thing to mention about last Friday was I brought three guitars expecting to break at least one string, and ended up breaking three strings on three different guitars; my workhorse Schecter, my semi acoustic Washburn, and my ancient and very badly abused Thinline Tele. In fact most of the damage done to my Tele over the years has probably been through gigging at Bannermans. If you look closely you can see that each guitar is missing a string and is drenched in sweat. Nice!

It was a memorable night as we returned to the sweaty, soaking swamp infested Bannermans for Vini’s farewell bash. The heat and humidity outside were nothing compared to the tropical heat inside. Its usually pretty sweaty down in the underworld but last night was particularly bad. Cammy had just arrived back from India and he said it was worse than India in July. We had to stop the set half way through to open the doors and allow the oxygen to be replenished in the room, and if we hadn’t I genuinely believe somebody (probably me) would have collapsed. After a small lie down out on the street in the Cowgate we went back in and played the second half of our set, or at least most of it. By the end I felt like Martin Sheen at the end of Apocalypse Now, climbing out of a primordial swamp, looking to murder somebody. We had to cut at least half a dozen tunes because we had ran over and the bar was shut. I hate that, and I don’t mind telling you I was pretty pissed off, especially because we were late in opening because it took ages to sound check.

Highlights include guest appearance on stage from Big Andy Laidlaw and from Cammy Sinclair our founding member/drummer on a rare cover of ‘Special Brew’. The last time Bombskare featured Cammy on drums and Big Andy on vocals would be Xmas 2001, so a rare treat for all our old fans. Its not the first time that Cammy and Andy have rejoined the band briefly and almost certainly won’t be the last. It was also the debut appearance from our new man on the kit Sam McLeod, playing a brand new song, which went down well. He did exceptionally well to be playing a brand new tune for his first appearance, but it was bang on. I guess it's all brand new to him, just like his shiny face is brand new to us.  We unfortunately had to cut his second song out of the set, but it was a real baptism of fire playing just one song in that heat. It’s bad enough dancing but dancing under the lights on the stage is pretty heavy going especially for an unfit bugger like me. Even for someone young and fit like Sam it was still a shock to the system. So anyway, it was a bit like the ghosts of Christmas past present and future on the drums on Friday.

The gig was a success. Now that Vini has left the band (honourable discharge) and is officially a civilian, please remember that you no longer have to salute him in the street. He is dedicating his free time to museums, theatre, walks in the park, opera, and the finer things in life. God bless him. I can’t wait to be demobbed, it sounds great.





 

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Monday, July 17, 2006

So Long And Thanks For All The Upbeats...

Well skare fans, it is time to announce that our beloved drum meister, Mister Vincent Van Bonnar is departing from the band to pursue other musical avenues. It is no understatement to say that band and fans alike will sorely miss him. He has contributed a huge amount to the band sound and our live performances over the last eighteen months. Fear not however, for I’m sure he will be making guest appearances as stunt drummer, because once you join the band you never really leave. We are a bit like the CIA in that regard.
So it is time now to reveal the identity of Bombskare’s new drummer…cue the drum roll… gosh it’s a bit like Doctor Who when he reincarnates... drrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr…………Tom Baker! Only kidding! The identity of our new drum machine is Sam McLeod. Fresh out of university, Sam is still undergoing Bombskare basic training, once he completes that he’s onto his Bombskare commando training followed by his zero G training, so it’s a lot to get through. Then he need to learn all those Specials covers. I’m sweating with fatigue just thinking about it. His debut performance will be at the Neilston Live Festival with our chums, the quite amazing Das Contras.
In the mean time our album is on ice until Sam is up to speed. More importantly Vini’s testimonial gig will be at Bannermans. I know six quid seems a bit pricey for Bannermans, but half the door money will given to Vini as a golden kick up the arse. He’ll be needing the cash to buy a huge pair of slippers and a telly for his retirement. And for your six quid you will be getting the longest Bombskare set imaginable. I mean, we will be playing everything. Everything. And we will be supported by our former front man, Big Andy and his band The One O Clock Guns. So it is bound to be a good night. And once you have danced your ass of at Bannermans, you can nip across the street to Cammy’s (our beloved first drummer) club Departure Lounge at the Caves, and hang out with the beautiful people. Aw hell its gonna be great.



















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Sunday, July 09, 2006

Linkylea Update

If you hadn't noticed on our lovely (but quiet - get posting, strangers!) forum, news has come in that the Linkylea festival raised an amazing £12,000 for the Gwalior Children's Hospital. You can find more information on the hospital here and here. Thanks and well done to all involved!

Monday, July 03, 2006

Field Tripping

Monday morning, back to the grindstone after a hectic weekend... Well, back to the grindstone for those with real jobs, but that's another matter.

This weekend we headlined not one but two fantastic outdoor festivals - 'Tryst o Gal' on Friday night in the Forest of Ae, Dumfries, and the Linkylea festival on Saturday night in East Lothian.

Friday
We were playing the first night of the 3 day Tryst o Gal festival, yet when we rolled up in a clearing in the middle of the beautiful Forest of Ae sometime after 9pm it looked as though the camp had been there for years. It was a village like cluster of tents and vans, populated by several hundred men, women and children who looked as if they'd not seen the outside world, or indeed a shower, for quite some time. Unfortunately the site was also populated by a few million midgies, which made enjoying the spectacular surroundings a bit tricky, but we didn't need to wait long before getting onstage anyway, where there were fans (of the air-blowing variety) awaiting us.

We were already a man down as Mike was in France playing tasteful wind band music this weekend, however in the depths of a forest with no mobile signal, Jay was AWOL. He was meant to be heading out there at the same time as the rest of us, but there was no sign of him at the site. I was thinking I'd have to simultaneously play the alto, tenor and trombone parts myself as we went onstage (the best part of an hour late anyway), and I pretty much did for the first tune. Somewhere in our second tune however, a pretty relaxed looking Mr Sloane appeared alongside me, and some kind of normal service was restored.

Where was he till then?
Apparently he was putting his tent up.

I saw this tent the next day, and it'd maybe be better described as a marquee. I imagine there was some underestimation of the construction involved, ie. Jay forgot to bring a crane... Anyways, I'll let him defend himself on this blog if he wants. (But don't hold your breath.)

All went smoothly (as much it ever does in this band) after that, and the folks in the tent seemed to appreciate it warmly! Thanks very much to Nicola & the other organisers and staff, and I hope the rest of the weekend went well.

Saturday
The Linkylea festival was closer to home geographically (less than an hour from Edinburgh) and personally - we know most of the people involved in its organisation, and we played its first year last year.

This year was set to be bigger, noisier, sunnier, and raise even more money for the orphanage in Gwalior, India. It certainly ticked all those boxes - the weather was perfect (without any midges!) the line up was immense, and all 500 tickets sold out at £10 each.

First of all, a thanks and kudos to the other bands - especially our mates Mr Greenfinger, Taking Chase and Disciples of Panic Earth (whose stand in bass player looked awfully like Scott McCafferty... hmmmmm.) It was an eclectic line up over all - everything from folk to metal, yet everyone was well received.

Things ran pretty well on time and we got onstage about midnight, to a baying crowd of utter maniacs, many of whom had become new friends over the course of the day. We definitely rocked the stage, as it on the back of a lorry and no amount of scaffolding could keep 9 men bouncing up and down from wobbling it just a bit.

We played as many encores as we were allowed, before the main stage had to be closed... of course the party went on well into the next day, but I'll spare you the details of that, it's all a bit of a blur.

My personal thanks and kudos go to:
Susan, Lee, Bonnie and all the organisers for making it happen,
Dope for letting me show off for even longer than normal at the end of Newton's 3rd,
The Pedigree Scum soundsystem for giving me the unique experience of lying in a field while nobody dances to very loud techno at 8am on a Sunday morning,
Kim, Toby, Dmitri & all the other randoms who I blethered to - keep in touch!
John Michael & Cammy for the midday jamming on Sunday.

If anyone has photos from either festival, it'd be great to see them - drop us a line!