Month: August 2014

Regarded as one of the finest contemporary folk bands, Other Roads are the guests at Irvine Folk Club on Wednesday September 3rd. Their excellent musicianship will make for an excellent first club night back after a particularly memorable Marymass Folk Festival.
Pete Abbott, Gregor Borland and Dave Walmisley are talented multi-instrumentalists. They play an impressive selection of instruments including fiddle, bouzouki, mandolin, guitars and harmonica. Expect to hear some fine harmony singing too.
The Other Roads repertoire reflects their diverse backgrounds in Scotland, England and Zimbabwe resulting in an eclectic mix of traditional, contemporary and original material that ranges from soft ballads to foot stomping Celtic fiddle tunes and choruses.
The friendship that is shared by Pete, Gregor and Dave shines through, as does the sheer enjoyment of what they do. Other Roads put the emphasis on firmly on entertainment and this they achieve very well.
As well as being multi-instrumentalists, their other musical talents include teaching Scottish fiddle all over the world, arranging music and song writing. Despite all of that, one of the band hankers to be a rock star playing bass.
The band played a two month tour in New Zealand at the beginning of the year and since then have been touring extensively in the UK. Following a September tour of the UK, which includes the Irvine date, they tour the Netherlands and Germany.
Other Roads will be at Irvine Folk Club on Wednesday, September 3rd, in Vineburgh Community Centre. The club starts at 8pm and its BYOB,
The website for Irvine Folk Club is now available at www.irvinefolkclub.org.uk

Marymass Folk Festival

‘Absolutely good!’ was the unsolicited verdict of a beaming Primary 2 pupil at St Mark’s after hearing Canadian Roots band My Sweet Patootie play – and it neatly illustrates the response throughout the 47th Marymass Folk Festival.
The concert at St Mark’s was one of four Folk Music in Schools sessions which were part of the 20 Folk Festival events with an exceptionally high standard of music and entertainment throughout.
Over the five days, audiences repeatedly said how much they enjoyed the music – in terms of quality and entertainment – and of course the musicians responded and the whole Festival just kept getting better. ‘When all the planning comes together it’s very satisfying for everyone concerned – audiences, musicians as well as those who help support the Festival financially or in kind’ said Folk Festival Chair Anne Clarke. ‘And it would be remiss not to mention the valuable role of the main venues – Vineburgh Community Centre, The Ship Inn and the Volunteer Rooms. They all welcomed the Festival and that was a key factor in the overall success of this year’s event.’
On the final day of the Folk Festival, former Kilwinning man now resident in Wales Bobby Connell went away with two World Championships. Bobby was the comfortable winner of both the Whammy-Diddling and the Chuckie-Chucking trophies..….and then donated the accompanying bottles of whisky back to the Festival!
And to round off a fabulous Marymass Folk Festival, it can be reported that the Festival Treasurer Joyce Hodge slept soundly happy in the knowledge that the Festival cleared its feet!

Marymass Folk Festival and Irvine Folk Club now has a Facebook page. At the moment it only contains a photograph of the Battlefield Band and a link to the Folk Club website page where you can buy tickets for Battlefield’s Marymass Concert (and other Marymass Festival tickets). How the page develops is up to you. Can I encourage all club members to ‘share’ this page on your own Facebook wall and to do something positive to encourage friends to come along to the Volunteer Rooms on Marymass Saturday night. This is an ideal opportunity to introduce people to a great folk music concert.

Visit the Marymass Folk Festival Facebook page: www.facebook.com/marymassfolkfestival

The 47th Marymass Folk Festival: Concerts, community events and sessions are the key elements of Marymass Folk Festival and this successful formula is why 2014 is the 47th anniversary of this Irvine event – thought to be the longest running Folk Festival in the country.

The five day Festival kicks off on Wednesday 20th August and runs through until Sunday 24th August. Twenty events make up the packed programme of which only six have an admission charge – yes, that means the rest are free! The valued support of sponsors like Irvine Probus who put their name against the Senior Citizens Concert on Thursday 15th in the Volunteer Rooms and also the Schools programme is very much appreciated.

Undoubtedly, it’s the world-renowned Battlefield Band topping the bill at the Marymass Saturday Night Concert in the Volunteer Rooms on the 23rd that will catch the eye of most people. The four-piece band – two Scotsmen, an Irishman and an American – play raucous instrumentals, plaintive ballads with the intuitive understanding of the world class musicians that they are. Battlefield, they take their name from the area in Glasgow, has undergone many line-up evolutions in their long history, and although having played in Irvine a number of times, this will be the first time for this particular line-up.

Leading up to the Battlefield, there are two concerts in Vineburgh Communuity Centre – a really good and intimate setting enjoyed by musicians and audiences alike. A Scots Chorus with Muldoon’s Picnic & Mick West top the bill on Thursday 21st. Inspired by the singing of acapella group Muldoon’s Picnic, A Scots Chorus was formed in 2012. Essentially it’s a group of people singing the most interesting and representative Scots chorus songs so that more people can join in singing a good Scots chorus. Simples! The marvellous and distinctive voice of Glaswegian Mick West is of course another attraction.

Infectious, feel-good music is guaranteed on Friday 22nd when Canadian roots band My Sweet Patootie headlines at Vineburgh. Three world class musicians, super vocal harmonies and great entertainers – that’s what makes MSP so very good. Terry Young & Sandra Swannell were members of the mighty Tanglefoot and they have been joined by Percussionist Bradford Novak. They play an invigorating blend of music culled from Country, Blues, Folk, Vaudeville, Swing and Hot Club Jazz. For information, a term of endearment is one of the explanations of the name My Sweet Patootie!

Three great concerts at Marymass Folk Festival are on the cards. Tickets for them are available now from Joyce on 01294 551047 or email JoyceIFC@aol.com. All Folk Festival info can be had from Joyce as before or visit www.irvinefolkclub.trad.org.uk or pick up a leaflet.

For more information on the Marymass Town Festival. The Marymass Festival goes back many many years, the Marymass Folk Festival is a relative youngster but has now been part of Marymass for almost 50 years. www.marymass.com