Hello You.
This week’s show sees us recounting our very recent sojourn to the Fence Collective’s Homegame 6 alt.folk Festival in Anstruther, Fife, via a series of interviews & sessions captured on the hoof & in between our gallant quaffing of vast amounts of alcohol & boxes of famous fush n’ chups.
Be jaysus, did our legs/feet hurt by the end of the weekend - we stood, walked, ran, stood, stood more, squatted, stood again, walked, walked, & etc. from the moment we got there to the moment we returned. We now know the streets of Anstruther far better than I think we, as a visiting weekender, really should.
The quality in a couple of the interviews is a bit iffy, but that’s generally down to the sudden burst of background noise (in pubs or outside venues) from festival punters, genuine tourists & locals alike. That, however, is what we wanted - a rough & ready summation of our time there; giving you the ambient experience rather than a clinical bell jar report.
In between the interviews is a smattering of sessions & recorded tracks from other bands/artists who performed at the festival; we would have liked to include everyone we saw play live (as well as interview so many other bands/artists/the organisers of Homegame/etc. &c) but that would have been a 4hr show at least… next year (for this was our first Homegame) we’ll judge & structure the whole thing better.
Until then, enjoy what’s on offer because it is quite excellent.
Addendum: the wonderful Mr. Toad has posted the excellent, albethey alcohol drenched, Meursault sessions on video over on his musi-blog here. Go watch them, + a rather knackered TWoTH (she’s sitting in the corner, to the right of the action but to the actual left of Neil Meursault), NOW - for they is rather good. If drunk.
Bit of Admin:
We must sincerely thank Mr. (& Mrs) Toad of Song, by Toad for allowing us to kip in the spare room at Toad Hall before & after the trip North, & for letting us use his rather nifty recording equipment; Andy from the Off The Beaten Tracks music project for allowing us to piggyback the Slow Club session (at the end of the pier) that he & Toad had set up; + Dylan from Blueback Hotrod, who (apart from invaluable introductions to bands & artists) kept our spirits up with a variety of accidental madness (forgetting his camera battery charger then said battery running out start of the second day), alcohol induced madness (losing his sleeping place to some random after a party & wandering the town of Anstruther all night/morning until he fell asleep on the beach - waking up with a shocking red facial sunburn), & purposeful madness (Baby Fence). Thank you all for helping us lose our Homegame cherry.
Also, huge thanks to all the bands who participated & put up with our intrusive microphone & sometimes over earnest questioning: Charles & Rebecca of Slow Club, Gerry & Andy of The Phantom Band (as well as their lovely manager Stephen who set it up for us), & Diana from Candythief (who was quite barking mad, but in that delicious way that only the small few amongst us can be).
Next week ½DC is off to the USA for 10 days (Virginia, to be precise, should you wish to meet up for a drink or many), so apologies in advance for the inevitable delays in the missives spurting out of DCHQ.
Tune in, then, you, tomorrow. Usual time, usual place, usual blather. But with added Scottish excellence.
You know what to do.
½DC + TWoTH
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Well this was a patchwork of wonderfulness, wasn’t it?!? The interviews were interesting, if a bit difficult to decipher (accents, you damn Uk folk!) and did shed some light into the songs. I have to admit, I’ve never really delved into The Phantom Band’s work, but I will now, you’ve got me quite intrigued! Can’t wait till next Homegame to see how you capture it now that you’ve had some experience there.
That Withered Hand song is pure genius, by the way. As is King Creosote’s “My Favorite Girl”… loved it! xoxo
Oh god, listening to this is just killing me. I want to go to bloody Homegame! Yorkston’s “Tortoise Regrets Hare” is a magical tune. I see you’ve converted Tart to the joys of the Phantom Band, as you did me. Well done.
Ha Ha. Well, it was designed to hopefully give you (& t’other listeners) a flavour of the festival. I think the varying sound levels & noises for all the links & interviews, coupled with the excellent musics inbetween, do ‘place you there’ on occasion.
& Homegame isn’t so much of a trial to get to, is it? It’s pretty child friendly (if you don’t mind them picking up the odd sweary Mary & smelling of alcohol for a week after), it’s in a beautiful part of Scotland, & only an hour away (by car) from Edinburgh — where, I’m sure, a very warm welcome from the Toad Army would be felt.n Get in.
Indeed, indeed. Come one, come all!
You’ve got direct flights into Edinburgh from Americafordshire now, so Homegame’s only a few hours’ travel away…
Thanks for including “bimbling”.
“We just want him home..”
Dylan, glad you enjoyed the reference to “we just want him home”. Wasn’t convinced we should include it as it was an in-joke.
Also loved the reference to “bimbling”. Diana’s reaction was priceless.
All in all, it was a good weekend. And we managed to get a great show out of it.
So, all good.
Tart & C&B, glad you’re getting into The Phantom Band. They’re absolutely brilliant live. If they’re ever in your neck of the woods, you have to go see them.