Here's where you'll find the latest news from Deviltrain Central...
Wizard Festival.
We had a great time at the Wizard this year. We got invited by Maria Hall of AF Collective who was organising the new small acoustic stage at the event, called The Sunsets Stage. It was meant to be along the lines of the Potting Shed at Belladrum, but due to adverse weather conditions the stage was moved from an outdoor tattie box to inside the Wee Wizards tent. A thoroughly enjoyable time was had by all and the stage had a fantastic (some said magical!) ambience about it. Hopefully they'll keep and develop this idea for future events. The plug was pulled at two minutes to twelve, however (mid song!) and we never managed to thank everyone involved in putting Sunsets together. So thanks everyone for making it a memorable gig!
Mad Hatter's party (Hootenanny's).
Well this has to be one of our top five favourite gigs! The hottest, sweatiest, jumpiest gig we've ever done. The people of Inverness were great and made us feel most welcome. Definitely want to back there soon!
Seafest in Arbroath (a smokie place).
We all went down to Arbroath to play in the Seafest on the Sunday. It was "back o the larrie" time for us. We had the pleasant experience of meeting The Trade, a relatively local band, and they had hired a PA for the event. There was no sound engineer, however so we all had to muck in and do sound for each other. Cameron performed the heroics of the day by standing in for our absent fiddle player and playing the "fisher wedding" procession into the wee arena. We must thank the kind people of Arbroath for buying many t-shirts.
Last Village Sunset...
We played the (apparently) last Village Sunsets gig in Collieston. It wasn't really actively promoted and there were only a handful of people there, but it only takes a handful of people to pack the place out. Good to see some old faces from the distant (MHG) past.
Scottie's Fortieth.
The First Minister of Deviltrain became forty so we played a surprise party for him in Newburgh. He organised it!
Back in the Saddle?
Ok now Carol, our new fiddle player is nearly up to speed it's time to do a few more gigs. We tried her out at a birthday party we played with AKA Ska and she seemed up for it, so after a couple more rehearsals we're back in business.
New fiddle player needed urgently!
As you may be aware, we've parted company with Carmen, so we really need to find a new fiddle player. The sooner the better. We feel that it really completed the sound we were after so we're keen to find a replacement. If you can play, or know someone who can, contact us though the contact page and let us know!
A loverly Christshmuas time...
SHMU Radio are having a wee Christmas bash for some special guests and they're broadcasting it live on the 23rd of December - evening time, I think...
Sunday Showcase Special...
We did a wee session and interview with Original 106 FM's Andy Learmonth for the Sunday Showcase. It's been made available as a podcast (no. 53) available here
Album launch party...
Well that was a tremendous success! We selt hunners o CDs and t-shirts and got a lot of new people onto our email list. The unveiling of Carmen as our demon fiddler went down great as well. Thanks to the Woodland Orchestra and the Oxbow Lake Orchestra for their tremendous support.
What d'you mean secret weapon?
Oh yes, watch this space as we might have some very special news coming up! Let's say it's our secret weapon. Soon to be revealed...
Recording...
We're going back into the studio in October to record Police Chief Superintendant. Instead of Tom's where we recorded the first album we're giving Exile Studios a go. If we like the results chances are we'll record the next album there.
Some gig news...
Our official album release party takes place in the Tunnels on the 29th of November.
Belladrum 08...
Well I can safely say that this gig was the best we've ever played! The little Potting Shed stage suited us perfectly and it was the perfect end to a fantastic weekend. We were versus The Waterboys, but still managed to get a couple of hundred people to come up and they fairly seemed to enjoy themselves. The best bit for me was when we started playing the song Deviltrain and the fireworks started. They finished on the last note. Perfect!