We're Still Having A Whale of a Time!

..... And now it's Saturday morning and I'm writing this sitting in a cottage right on the edge of Spey Bay. We are at the WDCS - Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society's Wildlife Centre. It's very beautiful - much bleaker and wilder than our own lovely Dorset coast but totally wonderful. So to continue where we left off ... what did I say about a curry and a beer being the end of a perfect day?? Never again. I definitely was not at my best the following day! Keith, our drummer, who is obviously a man of the world, managed to open the door of the bus and chuck me out on to the grass verge all in one swift, seamless movement. But then, as I said, at least one person has to be violently sick or it's not a proper tour!! Still the show must go on...and it did! Newcastle was a splendid setting. Right in the heart of the town centre playing under the shadow of Earl Grey. It was a steaming summer's day - the sunshine has followed us wherever we've been - and Paul Wappat from BBC Radio Newcastle came along at 12.15; did an interview and then we played Red Waters live on air from Grey's Monument. The gig was great - we weren't entirely happy with our sound - we were missing the Noizy Boyz - but it still went well, we had a lovely response from the audience and Newcastle City Council were very happy with it and had had some very positive comments from the general public. We sold some CDs and gave out lots of information on the Stop Bloody Whaling Campaign so, all in all, a great success. Then it was back on the bus and on our way to Edinburgh. Now, I was very concerned that I'd not managed to generate any radio coverage for Scotland but I'd taken all my press books - the Music Week Directory and the Unsigned Guide (both books a must for any aspiring band like us) and on Wednesday evening ,driving along, I managed to track down a little radio station called Leith FM. Leith FM is a community station that covers the whole of Edinburgh and they were delighted to hear from us. What's more, they were quite happy to squeeze all the band into the studio. So as soon as we arrived in Edinburgh, we made for Leith studios (upstairs from Leith Dockers Club - if we'd known that we might have organised another gig as well!). We had a great interview with Mike Templeton, they played the CD of Red Waters, sang Morning Glory live with just acoustic guitar but all the band joined in the chorus and it went so well they invited us back for the following day. We stayed overnight in another lovely flat - this time provided by Hannah from the WDCS - and the next day we were up and ready to do our gig at The Forest Cafe. We had to stop at a drum shop en route - Keith has an inbuilt homing device - he can sense a drum shop within any five mile radius - we also needed some more shaky eggs ( there's a surprise) as we'd lost a few in Newcastle! And then on to The Forest Cafe. What a brilliant place this is! So receptive to live, original music and does fabulous food. It's a cafe and arts venue run on a co-operative basis, huge squashy sofas, artwork all around, a real community feel, just great. They made us so welcome and, although there was only a modest-sized audience, we really had fun and they loved our music. You can't ask for more than that. We will definitely go back there again but to play an evening gig. Then back to Leith FM where, this time, the whole band played live on Lynsey's show Leith Talk. Keith brought his African Drum, Malcolm plugged his bass into Alan's acoustic amp, Sam and Alan just played acoustically into the mikes and I sang. D'you know what? It sounded bloody good! We played Spellbound and Ain't Nothin' live and they played the CD of Red Waters too. We had a really good long interview with plenty of opportunity to talk about the Stop Bloody Whaling Campaign and how Red Waters came about. Playing live as the whole band in the radio studio was a first for them and for us but, it was such a great experience, that alone would have made this whole trip worthwhile. Then it was back in the bus and on our way to Spey Bay. What a beautiful journey, winding roads through craggy mountains, waterfalls and lochs and as it's solstice it was still light at 11.00pm. Eerily beautiful. We stopped at a lovely little Italian restaurant in Aviemore and finally arrived at the WDCS at close on midnight. A cup of tea. Watched a bit of Glastonbury live...I tell you what, they're not having a better time than us..into our sleeping bags and all ready for our gig on the shores of Spey Bay! If you want to know more about Red Waters and Stop Bloody Whaling, log on to our website www.stateofundress.com or the WDCS www.WDCS.org.
Och Aye the Noo!
Charlie x
State of Undress