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Broken Records <brokenrecords-ed>

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	Tour Diary - Part 2	449 dagen geleden
	We arose early on Thursday to make our way from Inverness to Ullapool for the ferry to Stornoway. After a quick and horrible pit stop at McD's for a bacon roll and standardised coffee, it was a quick drive trans-highlands to the driech and damp west coast, where Davie stocked up on over-the-counter medications for his solidified neck (which was giving him a comical robotic appearance) and the rest of us sat in the van watching the rain. It takes twice as long to get to Lewis as it does to get to France, so it felt like quite an adventure when we got on the boat. I made straight for the cafeteria and got tucked into my Hobbit-esque "second breakfast", a monstrous plate of meat and eggs complete with Stornoway black pudding and a free cup of coffee, then made it upstairs to recline and look at the waves coming up over the front of the boat from the treacherous and boiling Minch. Stornoway has a different feel about it to any of the other towns on the other islands I've seen – it's like a real outpost, built round the harbour, nice but a little bleak in the drizzle and somewhere that you feel would "batten down the hatches" for the winter, and a completely different feel to the Scotland I know, the central belt. The signs are all in gaelic and the fishing boats are lined up in the harbour getting ready to take another beating from the Atlantic. When we find the venue, the Woodlands Centre in the grounds of Lews Castle, it is operating as a bustling tea shop, the cake is flowing freely and it isn't immediately apparent how this is going to be transformed, "Stars in Their Eyes" style, into a setting for live music in just a few hours at five o'clock. Tonight Matthew, I'm going to be… We left Hutch, the travelling PA master, to puzzle over the logistics of the all-glass room, and went to check into our hostel for the night, the homely Heb Hostel which I would recommend to anyone who finds themselves this far west. With some trepidation we noted that all the other beds in the place were booked out by Nairn High School, but luckily as there were 8 of us we had a dorm to ourselves. When we returned to the Woodlands Centre, it had been magically converted into a venue, with an "intimate" stage area (I was sitting amongst a collection of plants, which coupled with the glass walls did give a weird feeling of playing in the jungle). Arne, Rory and Jamie went off to BBC Radio Nan Gaidhael (excuse the probably atrocious spelling) for a quick live acoustic session and some promo for the evening, while the rest of us grabbed a Chinese takeaway (from the surprising cosmopolitan restaurant selection available in Stornoway – starting to sound a bit like a tourist guide now…) and had a listen on the wireless. The gig itself was pretty good, quite busy as well which was nice as the venue seemed a little out-of-the-way for passing trade. 'Mon the gaelic radio… We packed up sharpish and made our way to a licensed tavern near the harbour for a "wee cheeky", which quickly turned into a cheeky couple, and with the late arrival of Hutch and Tash, having just gotten the PA and desk safely stowed, into "one for the road". It was only when we got back to the hostel that our consideration turned to the fact that we were to arise the next day at 05:50 to get organised for the ferry. When I say next day, I do of course mean, by this time of the proceedings, the same day. Luckily Arne took our mind off of this grim truth by producing a bottle of red from his bag of tricks so I shambled down the stairs for some glasses and we all slept the sleep of the dead. The "next day" was a bit of a toughy, what with the early start and the phenomenally cold shower, but the thought of another full breakfast on the ferry kept the morale up. Once this was consumed I retired to a reclining seat and promptly fell asleep, waking up some two hours later with Ullapool in sight and drooling on my unknown neighbour. We met Dougie, who had done a tremendous job all week promoting the shows and making sure we knew where we were going etc. (and also playing drums for Lowtide Revelry…) and he showed us to the hostel which was conveniently located directly adjacent to the festival site. Although as it turns out, all of Ullapool is conveniently located directly adjacent to the site. We decided to turn in for another few hours of horrible, feverish, cold-sweat sleeping, and I awoke at around two clinging onto the bed for dear life, before heading for the first hot shower of the day. Which actually did the power of good, and we all headed into the site to film an acoustic version of Wolves before they opened the gates. We got on stage at about 5 to line check whilst the Ullapool Pipe Band played in the centre of the tent. This was a bit awkward as on one side we were getting told to do the line checks, but whenever anyone hit a guitar chord they attracted some rather disapproving looks from the crowd. As it turns out a pipe band is not as loud as I thought it would be, and we had to wrap it up until they finished for fear of inciting a riot. Once they were finished we were announced by the insomniac's favourite DJ, and my favourite voice on radio after Bob Harris, Janice Long, and took to the stage ready to "gie it laldy". The tent quickly filled up and despite a few technical gremlins (which there will always be – I have no idea why it continues to surprise us…) we had a great time and it seemed to go down well. A few of us hit the beach to skim stones, get drunk and take some photos, while the rest headed to the Seaforth Hotel for tea. We met some interesting characters on the beach (Rory: "So, you're a prawn fisherman, that must be a pretty exciting career?", Prawn Fisherman Gary: "It's fuckin' shite") then went to join the others over a Cajun chicken and a few beers. We never actually made it back to the main tent, missing both King Creosote and the Levellers, but instead headed round to the Arch Inn for a celebratory drink to toast a successful week. My memory gets a little hazy about now, I do remember making for the exit before Hutch asked where I was going. "The bar's shut" was my reply, to which I was told to stand still and shut up for five minutes, then suddenly the bar was reopened, and the night went completely down the pan. I must've found my way back to the hostel however, as I woke up in my bed with a splitting head and no idea how I was going to last the four and a half hour drive back to Edinburgh. We had somehow lost Rory on the way and opted to abandon him as we were sure he could find his own way back like a giant hairy homing pigeon. I managed to get all the way to Leith Walk (so close!) before I gave up and spewed in the van, then it was home for some laundry, pizza, bath and sleep. The next day was a more familiar location, the Doghouse in Dundee, and it was our first gig of the tour with Ian back on the gee-tar and Gill in his more comfortable position of the shuffling bassman. Gill and Rory managed to find their way back from Ullapool ok, although they brought with them horrible stories that I was apparently responsible for shutting down the water supply for the whole town. Given my condition on Saturday night, I was in no position to deny these claims, but it appears that actually I was just the last person in Ullapool to have a shower before said water crisis… After soundcheck we headed into the country to Grant's "Bat-cave", where we were treated to a fantastic dinner (cheers Julie!), then it was back to the venue where we had unfortunately missed the Sparrow and the Workshop, but had arrived in time for a surprise appearance from Kyle "fae the View" in our dressing room, who proceeded to have a go for our rider for having Brie on it, whilst I shuffled out the door to catch Val Verde from Dunfermline before there was cheese and fruit all up the walls… It was good to get everyone back on stage (in the words of the Blues Brothers, to "get the old band back together") and I thoroughly enjoyed myself with my big monitor on one side and T's stupidly loud amp in my other ear. We headed back for Edinburgh again (as most of our laundry was still there…) and opted to get some rest in before Tut's and the "English leg" of the tour lasting through until next Sunday. More to follow… BR xxx
	geplaatst door Broken Records