Duncan’s Blog – October/November 2013

Most annoyed with myself that I didn’t get round to writing anything in the last couple of months – as I write this, we’re well into December!

October was pretty much gig-free, although I did manage a guest appearance with local rock band Digg, singing Roy Orbison’s ‘Pretty Woman’ in our local pub….quite nerve-wracking. Although I’ve played hundreds of songs in cover bands over the decades, it’s usually been as bass player or rhythm guitarist. I’m reprising the spot on 29th December, and actually getting to sing two songs this time, adding Chuck Berry’s ‘Never Can Tell’. Rehearsals are very sociable, and great fun.

In early November, we played a headline spot in the inaugural Inverclyde Folk and Roots Festival at the fabulous new Beacon Arts Centre in Greenock. I have to say that the treatment we received from the promoter, Neil Lochiel, was among the best we’ve ever experienced – lovely three-course meal, great dressing room with drinks, snacks, chocolate etc. This was an ambitious event held over four weeks, and I’ve heard nothing but rave reviews from everyone I’ve spoken to who took part or attended. I really hope Neil runs the event again next year, even if we’re not in it – it deserves to succeed, and will get my wholehearted support.

Work was really busy around that time too, taking part in music industry seminars all over the place – Glenfinnan, Skye, Newcastle, Hawick and Edinburgh to name just a few. I love meeting up and coming musicians and songwriters – my job can be great fun, a lot of the time! It’s tiring too, though, so we took ourselves off for a week in Lanzarote in mid-November, which was great for recharging the batteries.

Quite a fair few gigs have come in already for 2014, which I’ll get round to posting up any day now, but one of the most exciting will be doing the opening set at the Tron Theatre on Wednesday 29th January, as part of a Celtic Connections concert called ‘McGinn Meets Seeger and McColl’ headlined by our good pals Duncan and Johnny Cameron, with Andy Hamilton. It celebrates the work of Matt McGinn, and the time he met and worked with Ewan McColl and Pete Seeger in NYC in the 60s. The Cameron Brothers have been touring the show for some time, and I’m just thrilled we’ll be part of it at CC – and, hopefully, a few more venues around the country in 2014. Watch this space for details!

Right, that’s it for now – I’ll hopefully have more to tell you in the December post.

Have a wonderful Christmas, and I’ll try and get somthing posted for December before the year is over!

Duncan x

Duncan’s Blog – September 2013

Well, September’s over – blimey, that was quick! No gigs, sadly, but I’ve taken a deep breath and started to send a few emails out – couple of successes so far, so I’ll post the dates up as soon as they’re confirmed. I really don’t like self-promotion, wish the work would just come in of its own accord, but life ain’t that simple…

Highlight of an otherwise unremarkable month was a week in Puerto Pollensa, in Majorca – Irene and I just spent it wandering around the town, reading books and eating out every night. Just what we both needed – hope the effects last for a while!

Only bit of music news this month is that I’ve been asked to do a guest spot with Digg, a really good four-piece covers band based in our village, at their concert on 19th October. We rehearsed today at my pal Dave Lang’s studio Abair Audio, and it seemed to come together well – ‘Pretty Woman’ cover, but I had to sing it a tone lower than the Big O!!

Anyways – don’t forget the Inverclyde Folk and Roots Festival, that’s happening over two weeks in late October/early November. It’s a new event, and the organiser Neil Lochiel has put a phenomenal amount of work into booking loads of fantastic artists. We’re playing on Saturday 2nd November at the Studio Theatre in the fantastic new Beacon Arts Centre in Greenock, supported by the superb Lynnie Carson and her band. Doors are at 7.30, and tickets are only £5 if booked in advance. Come along and support the festival if you can – it’s a bold initiative, and it’s great that folk like Neil have the passion and energy to make these new events happen – he deserves to have a great success with it. Here’s a link to the Facebook page :

https://www.facebook.com/groups/142017992675565/

So that’s September, then – autumn colours are becoming well established out here, and summer’s a fading memory…….looking forward to the crisper weather, I must say.

Keep safe and well

Cheers

Duncan x

Duncan’s Blog – August 2013

I’ve got a love-hate relationship with August. On the one hand, the weather’s been pretty good overall, and everything’s in full bloom, but on the other – you kind of know that summer’s coming to an end, and the green of the trees and bushes is starting to look a bit tired.

We had all sorts of plans to go off in the campervan for another week, but too much going on – never got round to it, but we did manage a couple of nights in Kilchoan, Ardnamurchan, where my daughter Julie has been filming a series on female ghillies for BBC Alba. I still can’t get used to this confident, immensely capable young woman, who seems to have friends and contacts in every town, street and village in Scotland – it seems hardly any time ago she was starting out at primary school….I can’t imagine there’s a prouder dad in the World.

Two really nice gigs this month. We played the Edinburgh Wee Folk Club on the 22nd, which has been running every night throughout the Fringe – an acoustic set, with no PA, amps etc. Run by the irrepressible ‘Paddy’ Bort, it’s a fantastic wee club for enthusiasts, and the programme is truly eclectic.

Last night, we played the Corstorphine Folk Club, at the Dower House, a truly special 16th Century mansion, once inhabited by Bonnie Prince Charlie during his time in Edinburgh. What a great club – always sold out, very professionally run by Ian and Frances Macrae and just a very special place to play. Stevie wasn’t able to do the August gigs, so Cy and I were joined by our great pal Jim Yule, a truly amazing guitarist and a really entertaining character – playing with him is an absolute ball.

One piece of really good news is that my friend Neil Lochiel has managed to secure funding to put on the first Inverclyde Folk and Roots Festival for a couple of weeks in late October/early November. We’ve been booked to appear at the Beacon Arts Centre on Saturday 2nd November, supported by the very talented singer-songwriter Lynnie Carson, so that’s very exciting. I’ll try and post a link on the site, if I can work out how to (!).

Writing-wise, Cy and I manged to finish the latest commission of a few Celtic tracks for TV, and we wrote a song for an album that should (fingers crossed) be quite a big seller at Christmas. Can’t say any more at the moment, but it’s a real fun project, nothing too serious.

Anyway, that’s it for now. No gigs so far for September or October, so it’s time I started sending out a few feelers, I suppose – argh – I hate marketing stuff!

Keep safe

Duncan x

Duncan’s Blog – July 2013

Nothing much to report on the music side of things this month – no gigs, and a chance for Irene, Duggie the Dug and I to get a couple of weeks away in the campervan, after we’d cleared the guitars and songwriting paraphenalia out of it. I took my wee Taylor acoustic away on holiday with me, but it didn’t come out the case at all.

As always, we headed for a week at Carradale Bay in Kintyre, and for once the sun beat down on our upturned apple cheeks for the whole week – fabulous weather in the most fantastic place, and great as always to catch up with all our pals who live there. On the first night we went to a concert of local musicians paying tribute to the late John Martyn, who had Carradale connections, and the standard of performances and musicianship was astonishing for such a wee community. Local artists the Twisted Melons from Campbeltown should be much more widely known, and watch out for singer-songwriter Adam Fortune, who I think has enormous potential – an accomplished and constantly-improving songwriter and a charismatic live performer, too.

Week two saw us upping sticks and heading for South Uist, after spending a night in Skye with my old band-mate from Dapplegrim Billy Ross and his lovely wife Christine in Skye. Billy was a founder-member of and lead singer in the acclaimed traditional band Ossian back in the 80s, but we go back all the way to our first band Hot Toddy in 1970 and have stayed close friends ever since, so we always look forward to seeing them.

What a change in the weather, though – we left Carribean sunshine in Kintyre to find mist, fog, gales and torrential rain in the Uists. A real shame, as I spent several summer holidays in Benbecula as a teenager on my great uncle’s croft, and love the area dearly. There was no respite from the endless mist and rain, though, so we cut our losses, abandoned plans for two days in Barra and headed back from Lochboisdale to Oban and then….back to Carradale, where the temperature was around 28! What a wonderful country this is – so many contrasts over such a short distance, but we don’t get enough days off to sit in a campervan staring at endless mist and rain, hence the sun-chasing. We’ll get back to Uist as soon as possible, though – this time last year that was where the good weather was, and I really love the islands.

Sadly, I got some awful news the day we returned to Carradale. Alan Neve, my colleague and friend at PRS/MCPS was killed in a cycling accident on his commute to work. Alan was only 54 – a dapper, cultured and utterly charming man who was universally liked and respected. Always helpful and friendly, and a really experienced and competent cyclist. I’m not sure of the circumstances of his accident, which involved a collision with a lorry outside Holburn tube station, but it brought home the vulnerability of all cyclists. My daughter Julie cycles to work in Glasgow city centre every day, and it just terrifies me, but there’s nothing I can do about it – she’s a grown woman, and in any case never took much notice of my nagging from the day she could first talk. Wouldn’t have it any other way, but I wish she’d just get the bus…..R.I.P. Alan, and thanks for all your help, advice and friendship over the years. Your wife Penny and 16-year old daughter Tilly have been much in my thoughts, although I haven’t met them – such a sad waste.

On happier matters though, a couple of new gigs have come in, and Cy and I are planning a trip to Islay in September, hopefully to play at the Port Charlotte Hotel. I’ll keep you posted.

That’s about it for now – I hope August brings a return to the fantastic sunshine we’ve had this month, and I’m looking forward to my gigs at the Wee Folk Club during the Edinburgh Fringe, and at the Corstorphine Folk Club on the 30th. Don’t know why I’m telling you about that one – it’s been sold out since early June – how good is that!!?

Anyhoo – wrap up well, and keep safe and healthy!

Cheers

Duncan x

Duncan’s Blog – June 2013

Well, not much to report this month. Probably more sunshine than we got all summer last year, so managed to et the new barbecue we bought up and running. We had a great time with our musician pals Chris Stout and Finlay Macdonald and their better halves, along with Cy and his wife Mairi, Dee and Emma (Dee manages Biffy Clyro, and we’ve been pals for years – he’s also bassist with the Pearlfishers) and of course the McCrones…..as I write this at the very end of June though, rain is falling and our campervan trip in July isn’t looking quite so enthralling….

Musically, we had a couple of projects, but no gigs. We recorded a song with Billy Stewart, a good friend of many years’ standing. He had written it in tribute to his son Gordon, who lost his battle with illness almost a year ago. Gordon had been planning on making a recording with us right up to the end, but it wasn’t to be, so this is a hugely important thing for his dad – Cy and I were so glad we could help make it happen. The song’s called ‘May I Walk in Your Shadow’, and will be available for download soon, to raise funds for – an awareness of – blood cancer charities. It’s a cracking song – very uplifting and breezy – and very suited to Gordon’s cheerful and optimistic personality.

We also managed to complete some library tracks we’d written, and worked with some cracking musicians at 45 a Side Studios in Glasgow – a great facility, and Paul McInally, the owner and sound engineer, did a great job for us.

London trip at the start of July, then it’ll be a couple of weeks off. Looking forward to Kintyre as always, and maybe a few days ‘on the road’ searching out places we’ve never visited before. In the West of Scotland, can’t be that many…!

Anyway, July’s gig-free as well – I’ll really need to think about plans for later in the year, as the diary’s empty after our two August concerts in Edinburgh. I just heard that the Corstorphine gig on 30th August is sold out, so we must be doing something right!

Hope everyone has a great summer, and that the sunshine manages to re-appear at some point!!

Cheers

Duncan x

Duncan’s Blog – May 2013

I’m writing this in our campervan, looking out from Sunnyside Croft in Arisaig – the sun is shining on Eigg and Rhum. Bliss, or it would be if the van’s 12v electric system hadn’t failed – again. It’s been one thing after another with this beast….it spends most of its life being used as an office cum writing studio in our back garden, and seems to dislike being made to go anywhere. This is its first trip since last August, and it’s done just over 4000 miles since new. Needless to say, none of its faults are ever covered by the warranty (read the terms and conditions, sir…). Ach well, the sky is blue and the view is stunning, so shut up, McCrone.

It was a real privilege for Cy and I to travel over to Carradale earlier in the month to play in the inaugural Noufest weekend – a three day celebration of the life and work of novelist and playwright Naomi Mitchison. Marvellous stories from her family and local musicians, fishermen and farmers, and great to work with our pals Mark, Stephen and Paul Johnson (aka The Twisted Melons) and the brilliant piper Lorne MacDougall.

A week later, Irene and I spent a coupe of great nights with a group of old friends in York, but I had to come back early to play at the Fintry Music Festival, where we supported Blazin’ Fiddles in front of an enthusiastic crowd of over 300. I’ve known everyone in the Blazers for years now, and we had a great time – they certainly know how to work an audience.

No gigs in the diary until August now, but I’ve a few ideas for later in the year and for 2014. It seems that promoting our own concerts might be the way to go, and I’m talking to another band about a series of double-headers. Do I need the stress of it all? Not really, but I do need to play and sing – can’t imagine a life without making music.

I really do love this time of year, though – June in particular always lifts my spirits, although the light nights sometimes make it difficult to get enough sleep. Apparently you need less as you get older, so I better get used to it!

Anyway, I reckon the long winter is finally out of the way, so here’s to long days, hill-walks, barbecues and happy times.

See you later,

Cheers

Duncan x

Duncan’s Blog – April 2013

Just about getting the blog done before the month’s over – it’s fairly flown by, and still no real sign of proper Spring weather here in Central Scotland.

Irene and I took off for a long-delayed and much-needed week in the sun, and Lanzarote certainly didn’t disappoint….something of a heatwave, with the hire car’s dashboard telling us of 38 degree heat on one sweltering day – unusual for this time of year, apparently. We lived high off the hog all week, eating out every evening, so I’m not looking forward at all to next month’s credit card bill!

We sat most evenings looking out over the Rubicon Marina in Playa Blanca, watching the yachts and floating gin palaces at their berths. It seemed like a fabulous view until we realised that all we were really seeing was a cluster of millionaires’ toys, obscuring the view out across the Atlantic. It’s quite possible that some of these dazzling yachts and cruisers were just bought for tax purposes, and that in some cases their owners have never even seen them. Wonder where their money comes from…….? By contrast, we spent one evening in the village of El Golfo on the west coast, eating fresh fish in a wee taverna and watching the sunset. The only boats were small, and belonged to the local fishermen.

Anyway, back home again, and looking forward to gigs next month in Kintyre and Fintry. Quiet times just now, although there are some irons in the fire for some really nice concerts later in the year. I probably need to put more effort into promoting the band but, as I’ve said before, it’s not something I’m at all comfortable doing.

On the writing front, Cy and I will hopefully finish recording eight tracks for a London media music publisher, and I’ll be looking to upgrade my recording set-up at home, hopefully to become more productive.

One very important task just now is to record a new song with our pal Billy Stewart, from Lanarkshire. Billy’s been a great help and support to me for many years, and has written a beautiful song in tribute to his son Gordon, who lost his long battle with cancer last July. In the two weeks before he left us, Gordon had been hatching a plan with me to record three songs to leave to his mum and dad, and our mutual friend John Weatherby at Sound Sense studios in Moffat, was geared up to bring his mobile recording rig out to Gordon’s house. Sadly, it was too late. Billy wants to see his son’s project to fruition, and only now feels he can get through the process – Gordon’s initial idea will grow into a fund-raising album, and several well-known Scottish artists have agreed to donate a track, so watch this space.

So – a month off in April, and definitely feeling the benefit of the break. Summer can’t be far away now (eh?) so fingers crossed for some barbecue weather!!

Cheers

Duncan x

Duncan’s Blog – March 2013

Good times at the March gigs – Glenfarg is always a great night and really friendly people, Cy and I enjoyed the annual Matt McGinn night in Linlithgow (as we always do) and it was a welcome return to Dalgety Bay. We played here four years ago, however Stevie’s mum had sadly just passed away and he was unable to play with us that time, so it was good to come back with the ‘full team’ and we had a great time playing to a capacity crowd.

That’s it for a while, though – no gigs at all in April, but we’re in Carradale and Fintry in May, so very much looking forward to those. No time to rest, though – we’ve some media music tracks to produce, and my daughter Julie has commissioned us to write a short piece for a series of thumbnail sketches she’s producing for her company’s archive – a bit stressful, as she’ll be a tough boss.

Easter weekend is looming, so Irene and I will be heading through the snow for a weekend in Skye, staying a night with my sister Anne and brother-in-law Ian in Broadford, then two nights with my old pal and former Dapplegrim band-mate Billy Ross and his wife Christine in the North of the island. Can’t wait – long walks with our dogs Duggie and Dougal, drams by the log fire and dinner at a nice restauarant in Portree on the Sunday.

We’ve also booked a week in Lanzarote in mid-April, which we should have done weeks ago. 2013 has been a bit full-on, and last year ended badly when we lost Irene’s dad, so some time in the sun is very overdue. I’m not great at relaxing, but I’ll do my best…….

It’ll be good when winter finally takes its sorry ass off to Australia, or wherever it goes, though. Just had the campervan serviced in readiness, so hopefully a few good trips in prospect this summer. It’s a grand big bus, and doubles as an office and writing room/studio when it’s parked out in the back garden (which is 97% of the time!), so I’ve spent a few happy hours out there with the guitar and wee recording set up over the winter months – wish I could say I’d written a whole lot of great songs, but I’m still struggling a bit for ideas. Thing is not to think about it, or I’ll get psyched. The TV music tunes are sounding good, so at least there’s some good ideas still there, thankfully.

Anyway, that’s about it for March. By the time I get back to you with April’s story, hopefully Spring will have finally appeared. See you then – keep warm!

Cheers

Duncan x

Duncan’s Blog – February 2013

February’s gigs were both crackers – Edinburgh Folk Club, followed by Stirling five days later. These are both long-established, knowledgable clubs, and I was quite nervous. I needn’t have worried – we were well received and even sold a fair few CDs! I sometimes think the whole gigging thing is too stressful – dealing with the promoters, organising the band, rehearsing etc etc – and wonder whether it’s worth the hassle, but when I get to play really nice venues like these, I end up buzzing for ages afterwards, and that’s why I keep horsing on – it’s an itch you never lose, and you gotta keep scratchin’ it….

February also made me shiver, as the song says. My dear old pal Harry Barry called me right at the start of the month. We spoke for an hour or more about songwriting, mutual pals, gigging, his new play about Coatbridge’s history which is planned for May and the World in general. He was in great form. Three days later I got a call to say that Harry was gone – suddenly, during the night, and with no apology. An aneurysm, apparently – just tapped him on the shoulder. I spoke at Harry’s funeral – a real privilege and an honour for me, and also terrifying. I remembered a fine songwriter, a master writer of radio and TV jingles and a funny, daft, kind and utterly passionate human being. Bill Torrance led the service, and his pal Roy McCallum delivered a heartfelt eulogy, while Alastair Macdonald sang his song ‘The Leerie’ with words by one of Harry’s favourite poets, Robert Louis Stevenson. I can’t believe I’ll never see or speak to him again.

But life goes on, even though something will be missing. There’s a definite hint of Spring, and the endless cold sunshine definitely lifts the spirits. I spent today in Edinburgh, and even a chauvinistic old Weedgie like me was impressed, strolling down Prices St in the sunshine.

Musically, there’s talk of some more film and TV music to be written and produced by me and Cy, and we’ve got a couple of song ideas on the go (at long last…!). Three gigs in March, then nothing until late summer, although we’ve a few ideas about some trips to the west coast over the summer. I’d like to put on a few small shows around the country, but it’s finding the time to organise and promote them. I still work full-time in the music business, and love my job to bits, but it does take up a lot of time and energy. I think Irene and I might take off for a week in the sun, then I’ll come back with recharged batteries. After that, weekends in Skye, Arran, Islay, Kintyre and a few other places as yet undecided – good times ahead!!

Anyway, that’s February for you. Off to London for a couple of days tomorrow, then a weekend seeing various pals we haven’t seen for ages – can’t wait.

See you again in March…

Cheers

Duncan xx

Duncan’s Blog – January 2013

A really nice festive break, but not that relaxing….lots of places to go, pals to visit, friends coming over, parties in the village etc etc. I like to get fired up for the new year ahead, but the early January weather is so grey, misty and dull it’s not easy to get into gear!

I always enjoy Celtic Connections, and I’m hoping to spend quite a lot of time in and around the Concert Hall – always good for meeting friends I haven’t seen for a while. It was fantastic to be offered a gig at the festival this year, and our concert at the Glasgow Art Club was a huge deal for us. We were supporting Jim Malcolm, who was delightful to work with. His set was superb, and featured his daughter Beth, who we all thought is a star in the making. If I could play guitar half as well as Jim I’d die happy, but we went down well too – it was a fantastic venue, and a really nice crowd. Icing on the cake was that two more gigs came in for us on the same day – Corstorphine and Dalgety Bay folk clubs.

I’m still struggling to find ideas for new songs though, and it’s starting to worry me a bit. I’ve never been able to churn stuff out, but I can usually manage a couple of new songs every year. I sit in the music room and spend most of the time chucking stuff away – maybe I’m thinking about it too much. Cy and I have just been asked to write a few new tracks for TV use, so maybe that’ll get things moving again! I’ve got a campervan parked out in the garden, that doubles as a studio cum office, so I’ll be spending a bit of time out there with the guitar and the workstation – wish me luck!

Another new year resolution is to de-clutter my life a bit. I’ve too many guitars, and too many vehicles! My lovely old Morris 1000 Traveller is earmarked for the old heave-ho, which will be tough, but it’s doing less than 300 miles every year, and it’s time someone else got to enjoy it. Driving it is wonderful – everyone smiles at you, and no testosterone-poisoned sales reps or sad ‘petrolheads’ carve you up. I can’t part with my 1968 MGC roadster, though – we’ve been together for fifteen years now, and it’s true love, even though we don’t spend enough time together. Selling guitars is altogether trickier. I did try to sell my Taylor Big Baby on email a few months back. Someone won it for 2/3 of its worth, but didn’t like it when it arrived, and complained it ‘wasn’t as described’, having more marks on the top than I’d indicated. I refunded the money in full, and paid another £25 to get it back, and I still think it’s in fantastic condition for a 10 year-old instrument. It’s put me right off eBay selling, though. In any case, you know what they say – whoever dies with the most guitars is the winner! I must be somewhere near the front, I’d say, but still a million miles behind my band-mate Stevie Lawrence!

Anyway, just in from a brilliant hill-walk in deep snow with Duggie the Dug. Irene’s been taken away for a weekend treat in Harrogate by our daughter Julie, so I’m home alone. I’ll have absolute control over the TV tonight, and with a roaring log fire and a nice bottle of Shiraz, life feels pretty good!

Stay safe and warm!

Duncan xx