Reflecting on last year has taken some time for me; after all, it has been quite a year.
Our year started in Dundee with an acoustic set @ Druthey’s, we had been invited up by Andy who looks after The Trade a Forfar band, it was a real experience I have to say I was very nervous , the guys made us very welcome and it has been great getting to know them
62 is the total of gigs we have done over the last 12 months venues such as Cosmapol both in Glasgow and Clydebank The Bank house, The Wee houwf and a few others in paisley along with a lot of venues in Glasgow, Montrose
Some of the more memorable gigs we have done were in the most unlikely of places, Glasgow Kelvin hall was one such venue along side David Epton and Vivien Scotson and Patrick Bullen seemingly there were 1,000 tickets sold Another odd one was when Patrick invited us along to play The Glasgow underground festival, we spent a few hours playing in a carriage on our famous clockwork orange Within a very short time we have met some wonderful people a few great bands and had the most fun I have ever had.
Recording is always a special event and this year we recorded the EP Touched although it is not available in any store you can get a copy at a gig or by dropping us a message on my space
And we also done a few more demo’s with Jamie Martin @ VU Studios only a very young 17 year old with the world at his feet and a thoroughly nice young man keep your eye out for him I predict big things for him and remember you heard it here firstBeing on the radio was another event that I could never have foreseen, Roy Weeton from Millside Radio was the first to play a track from the touched EP, of course Neil and I travelled down to Galashiels to do an interview with Scott McMullen this didn’t go as to plan due to our car giving up the ghost 10 min’s after we set off needless we were really late and only got there 30 mins before the end of the show.
Playing live on the radio also presents itself with new barriers to climb but climb them we did Appearing on the Mary K Burke show to celebrate the 60th birthday of Chuck Warren who is a professional story teller, Chuck is native American Indian and treated us to some tails from his vast collection on the Ottawa tribe
A big thanks to Tarbert music festival who gave us a slot we really enjoyed playing our first festival and fingers crossed we can get a slot this year tooWe can’t go too far down our year review without mentioning the arrival of our newest member of Strangetouch “ Ken MaCrechan “Who found us!
Ken as those of you who read our blog or have attended our gigs will know is 61 He seen an ad I put on another site when I first thought of getting a band together, He made contact with me and we arranged to meet the thing that struck me when I first met Ken was his passion for music and what do you know he fits in so well, within 3 weeks he had the basics of all our songs down to a T and now? Well he has settled down into a role that makes such a difference to our music it allowed us to pick up our electric guitars and start evolving
The year ended with a gig at Maggie May’s on boxing day who I must say from an artists point of view run a good ship it has to be the most hassle free gig I have ever played
I have to also say a big thanks to Stewart Fullerton who has done our photoshoots over the year what a talented guy only last night he was doing the shoot at the Hogmanay bash at George sq withTommy Reilly, Black Hand Gang, Bahookie and of course.......... Deacon Blue To mention everyone who supported us in what we are doing would take far too long so all I can say isThank you to everyone who made 2009 such a special year for Strangetouch we wish you all a very happy new year and be good it pay’s to be good
Thomas x
