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!