Edinburgh Festival was Fun
Hello there,
The Edinburgh Fringe Festival is once again upon us in Scotland. The festival takes place in Edinburgh for the month of August, entertaining audiences with every possible art form out there: comedy, music, dance, drama, books, and films. Check out the website for the unbelievable listings edfringe.com. Last year I had the pleasure of going to see Ken Kesey’s “One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest” with Christian Slater playing the lead role of McMurphy. It was incredible, especially as the theatre only held around 200 people!
T in The Fringe, which is a smaller version of T in the Park, also takes place at the festival … tonthefringe.com. Bands from all over the world descend upon Edinburgh’s cobbled streets to entertain the hungry music fans. My band, The Hedrons, played two gigs at the festival. One at Whistle Binkies, and the other at the Caledonian Backpackers as part of Tigerfest. We played to packed houses for both gigs and had an absolute ball. Whistle Binkies is a cavern style gig and is located on Edinburgh’s Royal mile, which is 500 yards away from Edinburgh Castle. It’s an amazing location. When we left the gig at 2.30am after playing a blinding set, the Royal Mile was jumping; the people watching was fantastic. You’ll find everything from jugglers to buskers, clowns to street actors. At the gig, there was a skinhead who must have been around 40 yrs old, who was standing at the very front of the stage dancing and really getting into our sound. After the gig, he came up to me and said that because The Hedrons is an all girl band, he thought we were going to be rubbish, but he was completely blown away! This is what I like to hear!!! The response we got from both Edinburgh gigs was brill! Many bands say that Glasgow is really one of the best cities in the whole of the UK, or even the world, to perform in, as the audiences are so up for it. I totally agree with this, from the point of view of a fan and as a performer. Edinburgh seems to have fully opened her arms to The Hedrons.
The Hedrons have been gigging like mad over the past month in preparation for going into the studio to record our debut album at the start of September. I am so excited, and cannot wait to get in there and do it. We plan to record the record live, so we’ll all be set up in the same room creating a great vibe, just like they did in the good old days. Every time I go into a studio to record, I take in lots of funky things into the room like lava lamps, lights, rugs, and loads of candles, in order to make the place my own. That reminds me, I better try and remember where all my bits, are!
On The Hedron’s myspace page, you can download a live version of one of our songs called Heatseeker. Check it out if you can, and I would love to know what you think.
In Glasgow, I live in the heart of the West End, a very bohemian / trendy area which is filled with lots of bars, restaurants, cool independent clothing shops, small book stores, coffee shops and small intimate venues etc (it’s like a miniature version of Soho in New York, even architecturally. Glasgow is like a mini version of New York). Last week I thought my flat had been moved to the Scottish highlands overnight, as all I could hear from the street outside were bagpipes!!! I quickly looked out the window, and the bars across the street were filled with pipers; some playing, some just hanging and drinking beer, and they all had on kilts!!!! It was bizarre. I’m a true rock n roll chick, but there was something very nice about the scene. I suddenly felt very patriotic. I later found out that the World Piping Competitions were being held in Glasgow. What a cultural city I have the pleasure of living in.
The Hedrons will be going to London at the start of November to do three gigs, two of which will be in Alan McGhee’s clubs (the chap who discovered Oasis / Creation records). It’s getting all very exciting. Will fill you all in when I get more details.
Anyway, I’d better get back out in to sun, as I don’t think we have much of our summer left in Glasgow.
Cheers
Tippi
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