The gig on the Reaper was just great and also gave us the opportunity to get some nice promo shots. The setting was just stunning with such a beautiful evening, playing on a fine historic ship with the backdrop of an amazing sunset over Oban Bay.

The previous evening Pigtown Fling joined forces with the Ceilidh Bandidos to play at a private function. This was a ceilidh for marine biologists from all over Europe. From the very beginning, while playing unplugged, the audience thoroughly enjoyed the music and when it was time for dancing they were all on the dancefloor for the rest of the evening.

With the members of Pigtown Fling involved in other projects, this promises to be a fruitful time for the band and its members.

Next up for the band is a return to Kames to Play at the Kames Hotel, the scene of many good times last year. The staff and locals are always friendly and it can get quite wild at times, but that all adds to an entertaining time. We may see the return of the “breakdancing” displays, which made for an alternative way of expressing yourself to traditional music, but each to their own.

We will be playing on the Saturday night and we will also be inviting other local players to join us on the Sunday afternoon for a traditional session. Hopefully the weather will be good enough to play outside, but whatever the weather, I’m sure our trips to Kames will be as entertaining as ever.

The following Satuday Pigtown Fling will play at the Puffer Bar on the little island of Easdale to celebrate the first birthday of the new ownership of the bar. I’ve had many fine times on Easdale and in the Puffer and it’s always good to be back, and even better to be there playing with the band.

June comes to a close with myself and Stephen travelling to Dent Folk Festival in Cumbria to play on the Friday night and over the whole weekend. Unfortunately Chris is not able to join us for this one. We will be playing fast and furious tunes on the Friday night in the beer tent, just before one of our old friends, Jon Brindley, takes to the stage. Jon was with us on our first trip to Slovenia and by sheer coincidence is on the same bill as us.

On the Saturday we will be inviting players to join us for a traditional session, where we will be joined by Colin Blakey and others. There may also be some pipes and drums over the weekend, so it promises to be an eventful time.

The following months have a lot in store for the band, particularly in August, when Pigtown Fling visit Brittany for a mini tour. Along with this are more trips to Kames and no doubt more opportunities will present themselves. We are also hoping to start recording our first album this year, and with the other projects we are all involved in, it promises to be an exciting time for Pigtown Fling.

Reaper is a floating museum with displays on Scotland’s long gone herring industry, the boats that fished for ‘the silver darlings’ and the men and women who kept the industry going.
The boat, crewed entirely by volunteers, is touring the west coast of scotland stopping of at many ports to allow visits from school children and the general public.
A civic reception was held on board on Thursday evening and Pigtown Fling provided the music.

We had a lovely evening and would like to thank the crew for looking after us so well… they even gave us a tea-towel!

The trip started with Stephen leaving his home on the Isle of Seil at 4.30am in his motorhome to pick up Rab in Oban at 5am, then on to pick up the other carnival band members, Rob Welsh from Lochwinnoch, and Sara Ann Cull from Glasgow. A non-stop 48 hour drive through 9 countries then ensued. When we finally arrived in Ptuj, carnival was already underway. We had enough time to grab a few precious hours of sleep before we introduced ourselves to carnival for the second time.

We were invited back after their last successful trip 2 years ago by Peter Vesenjak, owner of Hotel Mitra, to bring the Scottish connection back to the town. Castle Ptuj, in the centre of town, was once owned by the Clan Leslie, and Peter wanted to bring a taste of Scotland back to the town by creating a special “Scottish Week”. Each night Pigtown Fling would introduce different aspects of Scottish music and dance to the people of Ptuj, whether it be highland dance demonstrations, pipes and drums, or a full blown ceilidh, held in the main suite of the hotel. We even played for a mothers and toddlers group, run by our event organiser Simona Gaiser, who has taken time out of work to be a mother to little Ela.

Hotel Mitra had previously undergone a massive expansion last year and had only just been re-opened, so carnival and “Scottish Week” were seen as the perfect way to mark a new era for the hotel. The band were asked to bring some Scottish beer for the weeks festivites, so the guests could get more of a “taste” for Scotland and its culture. This was kindly provided by the Islay Brewery. 180 bottles of different varieties of ale were driven halfway across Europe, and the guests of Mitra thoroughly enjoyed the experience, with the bottles going rapidly from the bar.

The week’s festivities were such a success, plans are already underway for next year, where a further expanded and refined programme will be introduced. This could include an introduction to a Burns Night or St Andrews Night, with the band introducing and demonstrating different aspects of Scottish culture and social events, from music and dance to food and drink.

Ten gigs in 6 days marked a very busy time for Pigtown Fling, who are about to embark on another busy season, with regular gigs throughout Argyll and the islands, plus a tour of Brittany in August. A previous visit last year to the Friends of Jean Langlais Festival in La Fontenelle proved such a success we have been asked to play more in the area this year with 4 gigs planned so far, plus a day of teaching celtic music to local people.

Every day of Scottish Week, Stephen created and updated a blog for this website, which can still be viewed here. This year the site is due for expansion, to not only be the web presence for Pigtown Fling, but for many other bands and music and dance projects that are ongoing in the area.

The band also are planning to record an album this year so our brand of music can leave a lasting impression on the different people and cultures we encounter.

Pigtown Fling now has a new member!

We are delighted to welcome Christine Beveridge to join us on our travels into music and beyond.

Chris comes from a variety of places (?) including Yorkshire and now stays in Taynuilt, Argyll.

She plays among other things fiddle, concertina and clarsach. No doubt more instrumentation will appear through time but that’s all she’s telling us about for the moment.

Chris’s fine playing was first witnessed by me at one of the sessions in Oban where she played fiddle and concertina. It was noticed very quickly her aptitude for picking up new tunes and playing them as well as anyone else just after hearing them for the first time.

(I still don’t know how she does it. I’ve been looking for wires and other tell-tale signs of robotics but nothing yet)

Then she brought along her clarsach and it was then we knew we had to snap her up before someone else did!

Anyway

Chris brings another new and exciting dimension to our already wide variety of sounds and textures.

The new line up and instrumentation now goes like this:

Stephen McNally: Border pipes, gaita, whistles, mandolin, vocals

Robert Woods: Guitar, mandola, banjo (hopefully), harmonica (ever so slightly), vocals

Christine Beveridge: Fiddle, clarsach, concertina

We have been working on new material and hopefully will have something recorded quite soon to put on site and on to demos to send out to all you lucky people.

We have also invited Chris to join us on what will hopefully be a mini tour of southern England and Brittany at around the Easter holidays 2008.

Only one booking as yet but we hope we will add to this and get a mini tour from our trip.

Also joining us will be Rob Welsh, who helped make our carnival trip in February so memorable.

I doubt it will be as wild as our trip to Slovenia but you never know!