We had a fine time at the Celtic Connections festival in Glasgow. Our main gig was the ABC, a renovated cinema. It was our first time in the ABC, for a big venue it had a lot of good
vibes. As it was a Showcase Scotland gig with a short set length we played a bit faster than usual with no breaks to fit the tunes in. Our club gig was in a new room in the central hotel which sounded
great thanks to Craig on FOH sound Joe on monitors. For those who don't know the Central it is an old railway hotel attached to central station in Glasgow. It's got a kind of faded
grandeur (very faded) if you go through some doors you'll find rooms filled with junk, that look like they haven't been touched since the 1930s.
Its corridors are reminiscent of those of the hotel in The Shining, very long with old red carpet. If you see identical twins, it's time to check out!
James Luke and Quee also had a gig with Kaela Rowan who did her first ever solo set at Celtic in Oran Mor.
Angus' father, Aonghas Grant also had a great gig accompanied by Christine Hanson, Ross Martin, and Paul Connolly, playing tunes from his recent Shoogle Records release "The Hills of Glengarry".
The Shoogs Canadian tour got off to a good start in Winnipeg. It was great to catch up with a couple of our friends from the band "The Duhks" on their home territory. We didn't even find it that cold, apart from Garry who's bag didn't arrive but he pick up a good few t-shirts from various venues and a good second hand pair of cowboy boots. Calgary was a good wee gig, thanks to Tim who supplied a nice old Ampeg bass amp and a Fender Deluxe for Quee and Malc. The Empress Theatre in Fort MacLeod was next, it's an old theatre with the addition of neon tulips on the roof and a dedicated audience some whom travel quite a distance to get there.
It was onwards to Edmonton. The the car with the GPS was led astray up a dirt track for several miles so the good old fashioned map readers were wondering what had happened to them. They did arrive in time for the gig of course.
Banff was spectacular, with incredible views of the Rockies, thanks again to Kurt who organized the gig there. We spent a welcome three days without driving in Penticton at the Dream Cafe, which has great food, and fantastic staff. Back the way we came to Salmon Arm Community Centre, a huge hall with plenty of space to dance, and most of the audience did, which always makes for a good one.
It wasn't too far to Vancouver at St James' Hall which proved to be another dance crazy crowd in an old church. We went looking for food after the gig and ended up in what appeared to be a cross between an restaurant and a Techno club, I don't know is the Technoraunt will become like the new coffee house with one on every street corner, but you never know! We finished off our tour in Harrison Hot Springs which is quiet at this time of year but looks incredible, with all the trees frosted white in the morning. A good place to finish with the local wooden hall.
On our return to Scotland we spent three days in Birnam House Hotel recording an album with Angie's father: Aonghas Grant, the world renowned left handed fiddler. He was accompanied, on guitar, by Ross Martin, on some tunes, with cello, by Christine Hanson, concertina by Paul Connolly and a bit of fiddle from Angus. It's shaping up to be a great sounding album, for Shoogle Records, so we'll let you know as soon as it is finished.
See some photos from the session
We've been getting good feedback following the release of "Troots" (which is just as well considering how long it took us to get it finished!). We'll put up reviews as they come in. Tanya, (who sang on Track 2 "Excess Baggage") came to sing at the launch at Celtic Connections which really made it a special gig for us. If you want to have a listen to one of the tracks from "Troots" visit our myspace page and you can have a listen online. Check the links page for distribution in Australia.