Tell us about your tour vehicle. Any notable breakdown stories?
We’ve had a variety of vehicles over the years, many cars and battered old vans! They have all broken down at one point or another, and our bassist Dave’s current car hasn’t seen the outside of the garage for over two years now! One thing we’ve learned over time though is that having all three of us in the same car for extended journeys is not very conducive to playing good shows at the end of those journeys!
How do you eat cheaply and/or healthy while on tour?
Tricky one that … it’s got a lot easier in the UK in recent years with the introduction of much healthier food outlets at service stations, but it used to be absolutely terrible! I’m T1 Diabetic myself so staying active and eating healthily on tour is a pretty constant challenge in terms of finding the time to exercise and getting non-sugary foods.
How many strings do you break in a typical year? How much does it cost to replace them?
For me, only a couple a year with the fiddle, but many, many bow hairs get left strewn on stages. I restring the fiddle once a month on average for about £80 per set, and I need to rehair the bow at least twice a year, costing £90 a go.
Where do you rehearse?
We all live in different parts of the country, and rarely get time together to do dedicated rehearsals to be honest. When we can make the time to get a week or two together, we tend to go to a beautiful place in the Highlands called Inshriach House – a beautiful big house next to the River Spey where we can really comfortably write, rehearse, and just enjoy the environment.
What was the title and a sample lyric from the first song that you wrote?
‘Demons’ was one of the first band songs, best sample lyric: ‘I think that Demon is you’
Describe your first gig.
There were so many little started gigs with slightly different line-ups of the band, we used to busk around the country a lot as well before we were formally a band as such. The first proper gig for the band I guess would be the Danny Kyle Awards for Celtic Connections in Glasgow. The first full gig I did with the band was at a beautiful festival called The Insider Festival in Scotland, it was a riotously wild affair, and was also the genesis of the song ‘Leg Of Lamb’.
What was your last day job? What was your favorite day job?
It’s always been music for me. I did a year teaching horse-riding when I was 17/18 just to see if I could handle a year without music. I couldn’t, so here I am now!
How has your music-related income changed over the past 5-10 years? What do you expect it to look like 5-10 years from now?
It’s tricky. The band is getting more and more successful, so we’re seeing much greater income from that. However the industry is really dying for bands that just want to make great music and tour around. People are struggling to find the money to go and see live gigs back home, and people don’t buy CDs anymore so getting returns from your albums is much harder, especially with the ridiculously unfair amounts of revenue gleaned from streaming services.
What one thing do you know now that you had wished you knew when you started your career in music?
For the last couple of years I’ve been trying to write a daily journal about anything that has been happening or going through my head. I wish I had started that much younger – it’s already proved so useful as a well of material, and can be embarrassingly hilarious as well to see what was bothering you at a particular moment in time!