Perthshire Amber 8

The Big Gig

On a frosty Sunday morning (and I literally mean frosty, it was -4 again & the world had turned silver & misty), four Súnas members took a caffeine & nicotine addicted Scotsman to Perth Theatre in their trusty steed Mick Jaguar. Not because we were pleasant company or anything, but because it was ‘fookin’ baltic’ outside & Dougie loved the heated seats.

Once we arrived it was all systems go rolling big carts full of gear onto the stage where the sound guys would plug everything in and ascertain a general air of order, which meant soundchecking would happen as soon as they had finished the subwoofer stress test (awesome, but not much fun when you’re right behind the stage!).

Then something happened that was unexpectedly wonderful –we were firmly told by Julia that as we were on the bill for tonight our role as backstage helpers was over & we were from now on performers who should relax in their dressing room.

It felt so weird. Wonderful, but weird!

The first thing that happened after this revelation was that, three hours before we were due to go onstage, Dougie grabbed us all and had a conversation:

Dougie: ‘I’ve finally cracked it!’
Paul: ‘What?’
Dougie: ‘You guys are gonna do Singing Land with me tonight! Ok?’

We glanced at each other nervously. Ok, no worries, but we had originally been asked to rehearse & perform Turning Away. But sure, Singing Land it was!

Dougie: ‘It needs a tune in the middle of it though. Something slow-ish that fits the rhythm.’
Bridget: ‘Sarah wrote a tune that fits!’ She explains to me which tune she is talking about.
Dougie rounds on me & commands: ‘Hum it.’
I, slightly shocked at this point, comply.
Dougie: ‘Perfect. Get your instruments, be in my dressing room in 5 minutes, we’ll rehearse it, then sound check it, then you’ll be ready to go. Ok?’

Not wanting to argue, we threw down some juice & egg & lettuce sandwiches & went to get our instruments. Thank GOD for iPhones. I quickly downloaded Dougie’s lyrics & pasted them into my notes as I knew he’d want me to sing a verse. 5 minutes later Dougie herded us into his dressing room to rehearse Singing Land. It was actually a lot less stressful that we had thought, Dougie makes a point of writing melodic yet simple songs and we had it up & running in no time. We ran through my tune a few times & considering it had never been performed it before it was pretty thrilling! Then Dougie & I had a conversation that went like this:

Dougie: ‘That’s a great tune! What’s the name of it?’
Me: ‘ “Tune for Bridgey” ’
Dougie: (pause) ‘Really? That’s the name?’
Me: ‘Er, yeah. It’s a fiddle tune, I wrote it for Bridget’
Dougie: ‘Can’t we rename it “Mist on the Loch” or something?’
Me: ‘Um, well … ‘

In the end it didn’t matter about the name of my tune, but I was still thrilled that we were debuting it at Perthshire Amber! We soundchecked easily, had a lovely ‘wow’ moment learning that Dougie’s stellar band would be playing with us on Singing Land and Tune for Bridgey. Wow indeed. I was also asked by the lovely Eliza Lynn to sing some harmonies on her fantastic old-timey bluegrass song ‘Apron’, to which I was happy to oblige.

And then the nerves set in. Not performance nerves, but shaking, cold sweat & stomach cramping to the point of throwing up kind of nerves. Which is odd in my case, because I very rarely, if ever, feel like this. I was so nervous I couldn’t finish my dinner (which hardly happens) or talk to anyone (which never happens) and just went downstairs to get ready to go onstage.

Dougie went on first and performed ‘Holding Back’. This song will always be synonymous to me of the time when the four of us were waiting in darkness backstage in a theatre in Scotland clutching our instruments and surrounded by friends who had become family over the last two weeks. Then, it was our turn.

I remember the lights blinding me and how cold my hands were attaching Bridget’s fiddle mic to her dress. I remember the audience laughing at our crap jokes and during our tuneset looking over to see that the rest of my bandies were having a fecking amazing time. Dougie came on with his didge & we played Travelling Man, then went straight into Singing Land. I remember singing Dougie’s verses and not making any mistakes. As we were going into my tune I will always remember the drums giving it a massive entrance and the rest of Dougie’s band joining in, including the amazing Ali on electric guitar and Chris on bass. And just like that it was over and the Swedish band Calaisa were performing.

I was so proud of my bandies

After Calaisa performed we had an interval and signed masses of CDs… and I began to realise that my nerves weren’t nerves at all, but food poisoning. I made my excuses, ran upstairs into our dressing room bathroom and proceeded to throw up so violently that I thought a boot would come out of me. After ten minutes, I fixed my hair & makeup, cleaned my teeth, chewed a mint and went downstairs to accompany Eliza onstage. There was no way I was letting her down!


Sarah Performing with Eliza Lyn and Duncan & Sorren MacLean

Francis Black followed Eliza and then we all assembled to sing ‘This Love Will Carry’ followed by 'Caledonia'. During soundchecking we were told that there would be some pyrotechnics but that we weren’t allowed to turn around and look! So coming into the last chorus of Caledonia, we could see the audience lit up by 12 fountains of sparks, and came offstage in rapture and excitement & ready for the final encore of Auld Lang Syne.

Only it didn’t come.

Dougie was literally on stage thanking everyone when the smoke caused by the pyrotechnics set off the theatre smoke detectors and they started shrieking insistently. The fire brigade was automatically called and the theatre had to be emptied immediately. The majority of the audience had handed their coats into the cloakroom –and they weren’t allowed to retrieve them, they had to go outside straight away. It was another chilly night, down to -4.

So what did we do? The girls from Calaisa grabbed Soren MacLean's guitar out and started singing ‘I’ll Tell Me Ma’ to the irritated waiting crowd. They went absolutely crazy and demanded more, so the girls gave their guitar to Paul & we did ‘Sylvest’ and we were in fear of getting mobbed afterwards. It was fantastic!

What a way to end a tour!

Perthshire Amber 7

Tonight was wonderful.

It was a fairly cruisy day as there wasn’t much to organise apart from the Dougie & Friends concert tonight. I was really looking forward to this one as tonight’s concert featured Julie Fowlis, who happens to be one of my favourite singers!

Seeing as our beloved Helen & the unstoppable Lyn were at Perthshire Amber attending the shows we all decided to go out for lunch. It was cold & wet (surprise there! I loved it) but we were inside a fascinating hotel cafe that had its own chocolatier. The smell was mouth-watering to say the least, and although I didn’t buy any chocolates (I’m only a fan when I’m in the mood which isn’t often), I was quite content to breathe in the heavenly aromas whilst enjoying my latte. I’m a caffeine addict, what can I say? We all had a moment having lunch together –Sunas with Helen, halfway across the world sharing incredible moments and having great laughs– surreal!

Then it was back to the Pitlochry Theatre where Bridge & I got straight into our official Perthshire Amber jobs –buying the riders. I had no idea what a rider was until Jenny explained that it’s a list of food/drink/other particulars that each performer (or their agent) has requested, and then Van Halen’s legendary requirement of a bowl of M&M’s with the brown ones taken out made much more sense! I am happy to report that there haven’t been any requests for weird things. The weirdest one of the lot was an iron & an ironing board, which actually made perfect sense. A lot of the time it was just guess work, as the list would be quite vague, eg, fruit, snacks, alcohol. So we’d go ahead and guess. The most popular food items that Bridge & I bought regularly were grapes and Maltesers!

After we had stocked everyone’s dressing rooms with their riders, we walked back upstairs to the theatre foyer and found Paul gesturing wildly for us to come up into the theatre. We get up there, Paul opens the door, and soundchecking on stage with Dougie was Julie Fowlis & Eamon Doorley. I’ve never been more spellbound in my life. Julie is nearly 9 months pregnant and combined with her small frame looks ready to pop! Bridge & I were then assigned the task of looking after everyone backstage, meaning we’d actually get to meet everyone. Brilliant

We sat down to dinner and met the MacDonald Brothers who are absolutely lovely. These two guys rose to fame on the British X Factor four years ago and came fourth. Not a bad effort, considering they were a wedding duet beforehand! What struck me (and this goes for every major performer I’ve met so far) is apart from being funny is how humble they are. They couldn’t believe their good fortune getting so far on the X Factor and were delighted to be performing with Dougie.

Our jobs were assigned this way: Mannie, Larry, Mike & Finn usually did the job of charming the audience beforehand and sold programs. I believe Finn sold the most because he knew everyone (having grown up with Dougie I literally mean Finn knew everyone). Paul was Dougie’s right hand man, making sure he had the right guitars on stage and generally making sure Dougie didn’t speak too much to save his voice. Bridge could be found at the merchandise desk (I helped on and off, but UK money still confuses me & I’m not quick with foreign change, so I left it to the professionals), but usually Bridge & I were with Dougie’s daughter Julia in the sound room making sure the live internet stream was working and relaying problems to the sound guys during the concert, as well as making sure all of the performers were happy.

Watching Julie & Eamon perform was magical. Eamon is an incredibly sensitive bouzouki player; he and Julie performed at 45 degree angles so as to always maintain eye contact – and it was breathtaking. From a performer’s perspective I have never seen a pair follow each other they way they did. Julie told me later that she & Eamon normally have a 5 piece band backing them & it was the first time they had performed together as a duo for a while, so they were really nervous. They were perfectly in time in a ‘this-is-difficult-but-we’re-not-letting-it-show’ kind of way. What impressed me the most was Julie’s ability to sing mouth music whilst heavily pregnant and still stay perfectly in tune – she sounds exactly like her recordings. They are both lovely humble people and it was just wonderful to watch their gig!

Tomorrow night is our Big Gig. It’s now 2am, and we have to be gig-prepped & ready to meet at Pitlochry Theatre for 10am to decide on the schedule for the day, as we have to move all electrical & sound equipment to Perth Theatre. I’m trying not to focus on it too much; we have more important things to think about before then, like which song of Dougie’s we will be performing with him …

Goodnight!

From Bodmin to Beyond

On Friday Carmen took us walking on Bodmin Moor to visit the Cheesewring. The first thing that struck me was that there was no cost, unlike so many of its contemporaries. We had been walking for only 5 minutes when we came across not one but two stone circles. No one really knows how long they have been there and I was so pleased to see that it wasn’t as touristy as other places we had visited. The silence was palpable and heavy, if you believe those sorts of things, which I happen to do. I have a healthy respect for the untapped power over here. Standing in the circles was an absolute priviledge and a wonderful moment!


The Hurlers




The Cheesewring is a massive mount that was used by giants hundreds of years ago. Legend has it they used to roll cheese down the hill for sport, which still occurs in Gloustershire. The area around the Cheesewring is dotted with stacked stones, heather, gorse, bracken and other tough nasty thorny plants! The wind literally dominates over here, bending all foliage to its will. Here’s what happens when I leave my hair out on the moor:



We visited King Donoght’s Stone which was erected before his death in 982AD, and Trevethy Quoit, which is an unknown grave that was only recently covered in earth. It’s in a bit of a tricky place to find, so Paul & Carmen stopped a lady on the side of the road for directions:

Carmen: Excuse me, could you tell me where to find the Trevethy Quoit?

Woman: (pause). Oh, um, hmmm.

Paul: That’s ok, we’ll find it.

Woman: No no, I’m just trying to think of the way for you. One way is to turn around, follow the road to the end and turn left where you’ll come to a lane.

Paul: Yep.

Woman: Now, don’t go that way …

In the end we happened to come across a lovely friend of Carmen’s who drove us there :)


A Quiot

Saturday saw us visiting the tiny seaside town at St Agnes which hosts a great little shop called the Sugar Shack which sits off the main road and sells all sorts of vintage knicknacks. Check it out here.



All of us in the band (bar Bridge) are huge fans of the BBC show Doc Martin which stars Martin Clunes (also known as Paul's doppleganger. Google him and see for yourself!). It was fascinating to wander the streets of Port Isaac where the show is filmed and see the locations firsthand. Port Isaac is a beautiful little fishing town and we parked in the harbour. Literally. The tide was out, and the battered parking attendant (who looked more like a fisherman extra on the show) told us we had to be out by 3:30pm at the latest. We left at 3:15, and it was pretty hairy, the water sure does come in quick!




Of course, you can’t explore Cornwall and not see the Men-an-Tol. So we did. It was fascinating and incredibly eerie. The Men-an-Tol is situated in open moorland and the silence is so still and heavy. I felt as though my presence was being monitored. After a fairly lenghtly silence I said to Paul & Bridge:

‘It’s so quiet here, you can’t even hear any birds.’ (bird tweets merrily nearby). Paul & Bridge start laughing hysterically. Epic fail!


Yeah, but what does it *do*?


You can look through it and see goblins

We were recommended by Steve & Carmen to have a dinner of fish and chips at sunset over Cape Cornwall.



It was, to say the least, a wonderful recommendation and end to our day!

The Schnack Blog

Forgive me Lord, for I have schnacked.

Once upon a schnack there were three travelling musos. They had roamed the land far and wide looking for small delicacies to nom whilst on their perilous journey. One day, they came upon a supermarket called Marks & Spencers . . . and their schnack journey began:

Travel schnacks include Quavers (a cross between Twisties and melty like prawn chips), Hula Hoops (hard & smooth finger-sized rings of salted goodness) and crisps (otherwise known as potato chips) in astonishing flavours such as smoky bacon, prawn cocktail, sea salt & cider vinegar, hot chilli & lemon, roast chicken & thyme and lots of flavours including cheddar and something else, and some involving sausages, roast ox and the like.

Gourmet schnacks include Swiss Alpine Herb Twists, Mediterranean Twists (with black olives for extra flava). Hobnob biscuits covered in dark chololate, starbars, galaxy chocolate, Cherry Coke (diet too!), and just about anything with Marmite in it. We went shopping before we left Kent and came back with so many schnacks Paul and his Mum had to put the seats down in her little car. The schnacks actually take up a whole seat by themselves, complete with little seatbelt. We have a Twiglet nest under the driver’s seat, and a compartment of Fox’s Glacier Mints in the door.

You won't recognise us when we get back. We roll into gigs these days. If it wasn't for Carmen's amazingly healthy breakfasts involving grains we've never heard of and exotic fruits such as apples and pears, we'd've been lost at Heathrow.

Penzance

Cornwall is just gorgeous. But we know that, right?

I’ve had a brilliant day today. We were supposed to be up early and off exploring, but I had other ideas (and tingly fingers, which can only mean one thing). Since we’re staying with a Cornish tune wizard I roped Steve into a session around his kitchen table. Actually, I don’t really know who instigated it more, Steve or myself! Cue a good few hours later and I (reluctantly) dragged myself away to head to Penzance. I have a new obsession with finding as many Cornish and Manx tunes as possible. So far so good!

It’s 1:30am and we're currently driving through the mist back to Carmen & Steve’s place in Liskeard from Penzance. Our gig tonight was at the Studio Bar. We were told quite apologetically by Johnny, our booking agent and music lover extraordinaire, not to expect much. Actually the conversation went a little bit like this:

Johnny: ‘It’s a great pub. Unfortunately it’s a small room, but I’ve been really busy promoting your gig.’

Sarah: ‘Thanks for that Johnny, I’m sure it’ll be fine.’

J: ‘Well there may not be many coming tonight - you could be playing to two or ten.’

S: ‘Ok, we’ll do our best anyway.’

J: ‘Just letting you know it could just be the bar staff tonight. Oh, and the pub’s a bit smelly.’

S: ‘Oh (pause). Ok then.’

What a way to sell up your pub! We had absolutely no idea what to expect. At the very least we were happy that we had one of the best meals of our lives at the Ship Inn in Mousehole (pronounced Mowzel), so the night couldn't be too bad!


Cornish fish pie, prawns, fish & chips, breaded garlic mushrooms, Cornish Rattler cider and Keltic Magick ale. And three chuffers.

However the cider gods were smiling on us because the gig was two hours of joyous insanity. The crowd was rowdy but appreciative and they demanded we play the fastest tunes possible while stomping through the floor next to the bar. Thanks to everyone who came to see us & bought a CD, it was wonderful to see you all!

I would like to dispel any negative rumours regarding the Studio Bar. It’s not a huge place, but the ambiance is well thought out (candles and soft lighting) and both staff and the locals are lovely. The only smell we could identify was a fresh coat of paint, and we definitely played to more than ten people. What a fantastic night.

What’s better - the anticipation of driving to a gig, or the satisfaction of driving home from a gig?

Judging by the exhausted grins on Bridgey & Paul’s faces I’d have to say both :)

My Accent on the Phone

London Calling!

I must admit I’ve been looking forward to this for as long as I can remember. My father is from Manchester and would tell my sisters and I stories about Big Ben and the Thames when we were young and couldn’t sleep & we’ve wanted to visit ever since. I must admit, thanks to a love of Mary Poppins and Enid Blyton stories, I’ve always had a fairly romanticised view of London (I even loved Dick van Dyke’s awful attempt at a cockney accent!).

Be warned, I am unabashedly touristy in this blog and I make no apologies for it. My first excitable London moment was seeing the Tower Bridge and St Paul’s Cathedral as we pulled into Charing Cross station. I literally had a surreal ‘Feed the Birds’ moment and couldn’t stop singing the song all morning :)

As we got off the train the frst order was to have a Cornish pasty and a coffee. So, on The Strand and clutching my Starbucks latte I decided to ring Mannie and sing ‘London Still’ by the Waifs down the phone. We were still laughing when I hung up, although he gave me a bollicking for not saturating the site with blogs! I miss my Mannikins and can’t wait until we meet up in a few weeks. Big Nuala hugs to you, my Eamon :)

But I digress. It was a gorgeous clear autumn day, so we decided to check out the enormous London Eye. We walked along the Thames and passed Big Ben! Cue big grins from Bridge & I and much photo snapping. I absolutely adore the architecture of the Houses of Parliament.



Anyway, onto the London Eye - I have resisted the temptation to visit that great city landmark in Queensland, the Brisbane Eye, considering it’s almost half the size of this one and broke down on the first day! I came away pretty impressed by the London Eye.



The lines are long, but the waiting isn’t as the crowds are constantly moving which gets a great big tick in my book. The view was as expected, incredible, and security is ever present - attendees check all ‘pods’ for explosives before and after your trip.

At one point I looked up and exclaimed to Paul and Bridge about the number of sky-writers and there must be some sort of convention going on. I lived in my sky-writing fantasy for another 5 seconds before Paul laughed and told me the sky-writing was in fact the paths of enormous planes at 37,000 feet crossing England from places like Brussells. I was a bit red-faced, but still appreciate the marks left!

We diverted to Covent Garden for a swifty and a snack. The infamous buskers didn’t disappoint either, they were brilliant and I loved it. Bridge & I are on a mission to try a different cider at every pub we come to, and so far we’ve been successful :) Needless to say I am hopeless at ‘swifties’ and after downing a pint in 10 minutes was pretty trousered.



Must work on expanding my liver capabilities! Much walking ensued in order for me to burn off the alcohol and we visited Soho, Regents Street, Piccadilly and Leicester Square.



I had another touristy moment seeing the real parts of the Monopoly board :) The plan is to hopefully see a show in West End (my fingers are crossed for Wicked!) when we come back again at the end of the tour.

Yesterday we came back for another crack at London, this time doing the Tower of London & Buckingham Palace. I was quite keen to visit the infamous Tower, but not too keen on paying £17 to get in! Yeah yeah, castle upkeep etc. Next time just rob me properly you fecking footpad.



I’ve always been fascinated with the story of Henry VIII and the ongoing debate of whether he was a great king who did a lot of great things for England or an egotistical bastard with no respect at all for women. Friend or foe? You decide. There was an exhibition with Henry’s actual armour, and when he was young it was quite impressive (and slim), although after seeing Henry’s sizeable armour when he was pushing fifty I immediately decided to go on a diet. If I was a soldier and saw that enormous barrel-chested podger coming at me I think I’d fall on my sword just to avoid a collision. We walked around and checked out the family jewels, sorry, *crown* jewels. Lizzie’s got herself an impressive collection of bling in the vault! The armour exhibition really was worth the visit; the rest was interesting but pretty commercial. I am glad I went though, just to see the ravens on the White Tower.



So, the verdict: No contest. I utterly love London, the accents, the cabs, the architecture, the pretty much everything about it. It’s a grand city. When can I move in?

Arrivals

Well, we arrived safely at Heathrow. Our flight from Singapore was on the new A380 airbus and I’m here to verify reports of its enormity! There are only so many times you can sit through Transformers (once in my case, and it was 2.5 hours too long) before plane exploration becomes a necessity. Paul, in all his geekiness, had already boldly gone where no Sunas member had been before and nosed around the entire plane. Unfortunately we experienced some pretty hefty turbulance (particularly while Paul was in the men’s room and the air hostessess kicked him out - four times and counting!), so I focused on trying to beat the upcoming jetlag and sleep.


We loved this. We *think* the diagram says 'Get Poked in the Clackers then Puke in Bowl'

My first experience of London from a driving point of view was rain :) No real surprise there! Ok, there’s too many things to write about from a first timer, so I’ll list them here:

• London cabs. Black and cool.
• Red things - telephone boxes, double decker buses and post boxes. Bridget & I kept exclaiming over these - we practically screamed ‘Tourist!’.
• Tudor houses (thanks to Henry VIII) and semi-detached houses.
• Pear cider! Bridge and I are on a mission to try a different cider everywhere we go. We’ll keep you updated on this!
• Trees whose leaves are turning. Green, orange, gold, red, they’re simply stunning.
• Hedges! So many roads are lined with them, and I am becoming insatiably curious to know what’s behind them.

The Sunas tour bus is an X-type Jaguar wagon that we’ve named Mick Jaguar (thanks to Bronwyn Todd for the suggestion!). Apparantly we scored this because Bridget's amazing Dad John ticked a small tiny box that saids 'would you like a luxury car if available? (for no extra cost)

Mick, the newest member of the band. Eco-friendly diesel too!

After the initial shock (and desperately trying to act cool!) we were on our way to Westerham in Kent for lunch at the Grasshopper on the Green pub. There’s a huge personal touch to pubs that I’ve noticed - Allan, the owner of the Grasshopper, greeted us warmly and peppered us with questions in between offering meal & alcoholic suggestions. He then offered for us to use his phone to contact Paul’s Mum (who we’re staying with this week) since our phones were paperweights. My first pub meal was typically British - *gigantic* fish & chips with mushy peas! I had a lovely moment with this, it took me straight back to when I was little and my parents gave me mushy peas for dinner. Oh deliciousness :)

Fish the size of a flugelhorn

We’re spending this week catching up with family and doing touristy things like London, Canterbury Festival and Hever Castle. It’s 8pm on Tuesday night and we’ve all been awake for 36 hours, so are suitably knackered. The plan was to try to stay awake all day in order to knock the jetlag on its head. I think we can hold out for another hour before pure exhaustion kicks in … *snore* ...