Duncan’s Blog – April-July 2015

Well, despite the best of intentions, the blog fell well and truly behind, overtake by events, as usual….

A few nice gigs over the Spring – supporting Barbara Dickson in Linlithgow, brilliant wee arts centre concert in Hawick and old favourites like Glenfarg and Gartmore. It would be great to be out and about a bit more, but – as I’ve said before – the work doesn’t often come looking for you, you have to go looking, and I’m hopeless at marketing stuff. We set up a Duncan McCrone Band Facebook page, and at the time of writing have almost 500 ‘likes’ – all genuine, I might add…..I don’t like the idea of ‘buying’ likes to boost the page, doesn’t seem quite the thing, to be honest.

Had a couple of nice trips away since I last wrote – took the camper van to Ullapool, Gairloch and Arisaig, and we had a fantastic ten days in Puerto Pollensa, Majorca. As always, over a month later I’m still fighting with the car hire firm, after being ripped off by over 220 Euros. It’s really not worth the hassle, hiring a car abroad. They just assume you’ll give up, and they can keep the money they extort from you, but I’m so mad about it I won’t let it go this time. Be very careful if you reckon you have to use these outfits.

Heading into the studio this month to record a new song for an as-yet un-announced album being released by one of Scotland’s biggest record labels. Wish I could tell you more, but should be able to announce something next month. Very excited about it, though.

August is shaping up to be one of the biggest of my life, as my daughter Julie is expected to give me my first grandchild on the 3rd. I’ve always been a worrier as a dad, so I’ll be glad when the wean is here and I know that all is well.

Anyway, Carradale Village Hall this month – a concert run by my great pals Shelagh, Lachie and Jane through their company Rolling Wave Productions. It’s one of my very favourite places on Earth, so here’s hoping we get a good turnout.

See you later

Duncan x

Duncan’s Blog – March 2015

Well and truly underway, 2015, so here’s the new year resolution to keep the blog up to date kicking off, three months in………

This is a huge year for me and Irene personally. Our beautiful daughter Julie and her husband Ally are expecting their first child in August. That kind of makes me a grandfather, which seems too much of a grown-up job for the likes of me. What will I be called? Gramps? Nah, old man vibe. Grandad? Do me a favour. I fancied Pops, but it’s been vetoed on the grounds it’s ‘too American’……..time will tell!

I started the month by playing solo at the annual Matt McGinn tribute concert in Linlithgow. Just two songs, and it’s a bit lonely going out alone. I think it went well, but I missed Cy and Jim. The Lithgae folk are all really friendly, though, so it was nice to be there. They do so much to keep Matt’s legacy alive.

A less happy event was the news that my pal Chris Harley had succumbed to his long illness. Chris was also known as Chris Rainbow, a successful pop star in the 70s, and later under his own name as singer with Camel and the Alan Parsons Project. A phenomenal talent as a producer, working with many big names such as KT Tunstall and most famously with Runrig, with whom he recorded their huge hit version of ‘Loch Lomond’. For me, he was a friend I had known right back to the early 70s, kind, talented and truly one of the funniest storytellers I have ever known. I’ll never forget evenings at my house and up in his home in Skye, laughing until the tears ran down my cheeks. I hadn’t seen him in three years, as he’d been fighting his illness, but I always thought one day he’d reappear. I hate to think I’ll never see him again – the World is a better place with people like Chris around.

I was delighted when folk and broadcasting legend Jimmie McGregor phoned to invite me to his 85th birthday party in Glasgow on the 10th. Guys like Jimmie are iconic – he looks about 65, and is an inspiration for all of us who worry about getting old. He’s got decades left in him! Among the many famous guests were a trio of lady dancers from the White Heather Club in the 60s, who also looked thirty years younger than they must have been.

Cy and I have started to write a few new library tracks for TV and radio, so it’s good to be productive again. We’re working on some ‘lifestyle’ tunes, to try and move slightly away (for a while) from our usual Celtic and traditional stuff. It’s important to keep the writing going, but not always easy, when there’s gigs and full-time jobs getting in the way.

Another excitement is that our good pal Bruce Davies, the well-known Scottish singer-songwriter from Fife, has recorded and produced his version of our ‘Song of the Skylark’, which we wrote a year or so ago for the Trust formed to restore ‘Skylark 9’, one of the famous ‘little ships’ which saved hundreds of lives during the Dunkirk evacuation. Bruce – as we knew he would – put heart and soul into his big, orchestral arrangement of the song, and I very much hope he can become identified as the musical ‘face’ of the campaign. It should be available for download very soon. I’ll be keeping you informed!

On a non-musical note, a couple of intriguing things happened this month. Firstly, we came home one afternoon to find an envelope stuffed with ancient documents. It had been pushed through the letterbox by a gentleman who had lived in our house back in the 1960s, and was a collection of hand-written missives relating to the sale of our cottage on various occasions since it was built in 1726. Fascinating to see the signatures of the landowners and local Lairds, and to think back then that they actually had the power to hang local peasants and subjects for ‘crimes’ which would hardly justify custodial sentences nowadays. It seems even nowadays that Irene and I, as owners of the house, have the right to drive cattle down the main street, and to cut peat in Flander’s Moss, two miles away! I’ll get round to it one day…..

The other brush with history came when I was looking into some of my family, especially the life and work of my great-grandfather Adrew Scott, the subject of my song ‘Colourblind’. His daughter Margaret was my Godmother, but was also housekeeper and companion to Annie Baird, sister to John Logie Baird, the inventor of television. I vividly remember Miss Baird, as I visited her and Aunt Margaret many, many times over the years until her death, by which time I was 22 years old. I found pictures of them on the heritage website for Helensburgh, where Miss Baird lived in the big family house, and wrote in with a few of my own recollections. I was delighted to get a email three days later from Malcolm Baird, John Logie Baird’s son, who is a retired Professor of Chemistry, now resident in Canada. We shared some warm memories of our eccentric old aunts, and I felt really chuffed with my tenuous and indirect links to the man who invented television. Now, if I could only turn that into a song……..;)

Writing this on the day the clocks go forward – love it!

Happy Easter – hope the sun shines for all of us.

Duncan x

Duncan’s Blog – December 2014-February 2015

Well, took my eye well off the ball for the last three months as far as the blog goes! I did actually write quite a long one for February, and somehow deleted it, then lost the will to start again………

Quiet start to the year, gig-wise, but we played a couple of really enjoyable concerts in February, at Stirling Folk Club and later at the fantastic wee Fort Theatre in Bishopbriggs.

I’ll try to get back on track from March onwards, so here’s hoping 2015 is a good one for everyone!

Cheers

Duncan x

Duncan’s Blog – October/November 2014

Well, October came and went. Highlights, musically, were taking part in the ‘Noufest’ tribute to the life and work of Naomi Mitchison in Campbeltown, and a rare solo gig at the fantastic Bank Street Gallery in Kirriemuir, sharing the bill with my great pal Dave Arcari. The Gallery has a strict ‘acoustic only’ policy, so it was a scary one for me, having neither the comfort of a PA system or the support of Cy. He and I are joined at the hip musically, and I’ve rarely played anywhere without him being there. I needn’t have worried though, as the small crowd (it was sold out, with a capacity of less than 30!) were brilliant, joining in and making both Dave and I feel that we were singing to a room full of old pals.

The rest of the month was mostly work and no play, but the Indian Summer and the fabulous autumn colours made it a good ‘un. We had all sorts of plans to visit Skye and to have a couple of weekends away in the camper van, but as usual life got in the way, and the van is now off the road for Winter, and has reverted to its role as office and home studio for a few months.

In an attempt to improve our marketing efforts, we commissioned Buzz Media for a photoshoot and to design posters, flyers and web applications for us. Cy, Jim and I met with Dave from Buzz in Helensburgh on what must have been the wettest day for months. We looked like drowned rats walking down the pier trying to look cool, and it’s a tribute to Buzz that the end product came out so well. It’s the same Dave Arcari mentioned earlier – one of Scotland’s most talented blues singers, but also an absolute master of social media and artwork design & production. Highly recommended to anyone looking for help with marketing and promotion – dave@radiotones.com will get you to him.

November has been brilliant, though. It started with a week of glorious sunshine in Lanzarote, and I returned all fired up and looking forward to four gigs. First was Stonehouse Folk Club in Lanarkshire – just our luck to be playing on the same night of the Scotland v Ireland game, and the Children in Need TV marathon, however a nice wee crowd of folk came along and made it a great wee night for us.

A ‘McGinn Seeger’ night in Berwick-upon-Tweed got cancelled, unfortunately, but Cy and I took the duo set to the Corran Halls in Oban as part of the Noufest event during the Oban Winter Festival. It was just a beautiful early winter evening…the concert was great, playing alongside our pals the Twisted Melons and after a fabulous short play based on Naiomi’s work ‘Return of the Alban’, performed by Jane Dunbar and Shelagh Cameron, with stunning archive footage of West Coast fishing scenes presented by Lachie Paterson. It was really just a party with good friends, and we loved every minute of it. Poignantly, the date – 22nd November – was also the 24th anniversary of the sinking of the Carradale trawler ‘Antares’ by a submarine snagging her nets. We sang ‘Surf and the Silver Fishes’, which we wrote in tribute back in early 1991, which even more emotional than it usually does.

A bit more marketing is required, of course, so we decided to set up a Duncan McCrone Band Facebook page. This is live now, but still very much work in progress, but we’re already up to over 350 ‘likes’, which seems to be the important thing. Please tell your friends to drop by and like it!

I rarely get colds and the like, but I got hit by an absolute whopper five days before our last gig of the month in Teviothead, a brilliant wee village hall in the Borders, some ten miles south of Hawick. For the first time in my entire life I thought that I might have to cancel – mainly because I almost completely lost my voice. I can’t explain how stressed I got about this – we had really, really been looking forward to it, and knew that a fair few folk had already arranged to come along. In the event, I opted for chemical warfare…I spent over £35 on decongestants, throat pastilles, snotter-looseners and Manuka honey, which, I have to tell you, is more expensive than malt whisky.

Duncan’s Blog – September 2014

Escape go the sun for a week at the start of the month – Irene and I spent a week in Port de Soller in North Majorca. We love the island, but hadn’t been to this part before. Soller is a beautiful rural town, connected to its port by a tram service. It’s a lovely area, with beautiful walks all around, but the heat was phenomenal (for me, anyway!). 33 degrees, and very humid, and our apartment was 122 steps from the top of a steep hill. I reckoned I’d have lost a stone by the time I get home, but…..not an ounce, sadly. Funny how small a world it is, right enough. Walking along the promenade we met two people we knew. David, from Anstruther, who brings his fish van to our village every week then, minutes later, Grant Dickson, who used to manage Dundee band The View. Grant’s living in Soller now, and spends most of the time on his yacht in the Port. Living the Life……

We also spent a couple of days earlier in the month attending our friends Gavin and Laura’s wedding at the beautiful Crear venue near Kilberry in Kintyre. My grandfather was born in Kilberry, and the area has a particular pull on me. Gav and Laura both worked at MCPS Scotland with me at different times, but their paths crossed on one occasion, which was enough to bring them together for life. Irene and I were special guests, as I’d been the one to introduce them to one another!

Then, of course, came the Referendum…..

I’ve always known which way I’d vote, but avoided posting on social networks or putting stickers on the car etc. This is partly because my work requires neutrality, but also I’ve been aware of the divisions the issue caused, and I genuinely don’t want to offend friends, neighbours or anyone coming to my concerts. I avoided discussion with anyone entrenched in the opposite view, but did try and talk to as many undecided voters as I could, as I knew the vote would be quite tight, and I do feel passionately about the future of this fantastic wee country. That 1.6 million voted yes, despite the relentless barrage of negativity, the scare stories and the lack of media support has been some consolation, and I guess we all wait and see how things roll in the future. That’s enough politics, now.

Picked up my new Lowden guitar when I got back from Spain and boy, what an instrument. I can’t put it down, and I’m trying hard to learn to play in the DADGAD opening tuning. First gig with it will be in Overtown, Lanarkshire, on October 1st, so can’t wait.

WE also had a great weekend in Carradale, Kintyre with our daughter Julie and her husband Ally. To help get over the real feeling of depression after he big vote, our pals Lachie Paterson and his partner Shelagh took us out for an afternoon in his boat the ‘Rolling Wave’ on my birthday. They’d bought me a bottle of cask-strength Springbank malt whisky, labelled with my photo and a bunch of saltires. The message on the label was ‘Everything is all right in the end, and if it’s not – it isn’t the end!’ Shelagh had also prepared a huge picnic, Julie had brought Champagne and our pals Davie and Carol brought Davie’s guitar, so we had food, drink, music and good blethers out in Dippen Bay, as the seals swam all around us, and two sea eagles soared overhead. It was a magical afternoon, and I got to drive the boat back to harbour. Great times with great friends – just imagine if it had been a Yes vote into the bargain!!

London for two days after I got back, and I seemed to have spent the whole month on the move. Three gigs in October, and quite a lot of travel in prospect, so I’m quite tired just thinking about it……

Tell you all about it next month.

Take care

Duncan x

Duncan’s Blog – August 2014

I’m never all that sure about August – one one hand, it’s still supposed to be summer, but after the first week or so, there’s definitely a wee feeling of autumn taking hold. Some of the trees begin to turn, and there’s the beginnings of a chill in the evening air. No gigs in the diary this month either, so it’s maybe time to start the horror of pitching for work in 2015…something I find really difficult.

It’s actually looking ok though – gigs confirmed for Stirling, Bishopbriggs, Edinburgh, Dundee, Glasgow, Edinburgh so far, with others booked but dates to be finalised. We’re also trying to book a few new venues for the ‘McGinn meets Seeger and McColl’ shows with the Cameron Brothers’ Band, so I’m hopeful of it being a good year. As always, there are frustrations – unreturned emails, and requests for CDs to be sent in, but no response afterwards. My CDs have always been released by record labels, so I have to buy them first – I think some people think they cost nothing! As always though, I’m very grateful to the radio stations that play our tracks and keep the name to the fore – Celtic Music Radio and ‘The Gaithering’ on TD1 Radio are great supporters, as is Iain Anderson on BBC Scotland.

One thing I did decide on was to cull my guitar collection a bit – I’ve really got far too many instruments, and I really only play my two Gibsons at gigs and in the studio, so with a heavy heart I made up my mind that my beautiful 1991 Martin D41 had to go. I’m the worst salesman in the World, so I asked my pal Bruce Davies, the acclaimed singer-songwriter from Fife, if he would sell it for me, and it duly went up on eBay. It’s been bought by an established and very talented artist on the Scottish folk scene, and that has softened the blow for me. I had bought the guitar new, but rarely use it, and don’t see the point of instruments lying in their cases. Spurred on by this, I also sold the 1997 Taylor 810 I used for several years with the Clydesiders, and a Taylor Big Baby travel guitar. and I’m getting ready to move on my Fender US Stratocaster and my Japanese-made Fender Mustang bass – both are immaculate, but never used. After all that, I needed to address the pain it all caused, so in two week’s time I’ll be collecting my brand-new Lowden O25 – cedar and rosewood – from Guitar Guitar in Glasgow. I tried two or three, and the one I’ve gone for is just gorgeous. We’re off to Majorca for over a week, so that will soften the blow of coming back to reality…..

So that’s about it for August – by the time I post the September blog, the big vote will have happened and one way or another, Scotland will have changed forever. I have really good friends in England, and I love their country too. Despite what the doom-mongers say, and whatever the outcome of the referendum no one from or in England, Wales or any part of Ireland could ever be foreigners to me, although as another friend recently said on Facebook – what’s wrong with foreigners anyway??!?

See you next month!

Duncan x

Duncan’s Blog – June/July 2014

I think this has been one of the best Springs of my life, what with the wedding, holidays and so on. Only thing lacking has been gigs – with everything that’s been going on I haven’t put much effort into ‘marketing’. It’s not easy, and I hate it, especially when clubs don’t bother to respond to personally written emails – I’d never spam them with generic marketing material. I know the sheer volume of social marketing attacks must be a turn-off, so I keep that to a minimum – just the odd FaceBook invitation sent to chosen ‘friends’ only. The answer is to arrange for someone to take care of all this for me, I suppose.

We had a fab time as always at Balerno Folk Club on the 24th June, an absolute favourite venue where everyone’s out for a good time. I think my blethers kept them a bit late, so sorry to anyoe who missed their bus. See me, see Ken Dodd…….. I was also delighted that folk icon Ronnie Browne of the Corries came along with his son Gavin, as did my pal Dave Gray from the Sound Cafe in Penicuick. We all meet up quite regularly for lunch and chat, and I really appreciated them making the effort.

Irene and I took the campervan to Arisaig for a few relaxing days in early June – Suunyside Croft is a great site, brilliantly run by owners Ian and Julie. Later, we went for our usual July week at Carradale Bay – surely one of the most glorious sites in Scotland (wee discount, Colin?!) – followed by an adventure taking us to Skye, Harris and Barra, in the sunshine. What can I say??

So it’s back to work, although things are very quiet at this time of year, which I really don’t like. My job’s much more fun when things are busy.

Time’s ticking away until the Referendum in September, and I’m swithering as to whether I nail my colours to the mast. I’ve never been undecided, but I really don’t want to upset the pals I disagree with, although there aren’t many of them. I don’t get involved in posting political thoughts – if in doubt ask a folk singer? Aye right.

Maybe I’ll post my thoughts in August – I’m sure very few people will give a monkey’s anyway! Meantime, be nice to each other and remember, we’re all Jock Tamson’s bairns, eh?

Cheers

Duncan x

Duncan’s Blog – April/May 2014

Very busy times this Spring, so as usual I’ve fallen behind with updating the site.

April was a gig-free zone, unfortunately, but it gave us time to head up to Skye for a few days, staying with my sister in Broadford for a night then a couple of nights with our pals Billy and Christine in Braes. We had a marvellous walk to the Fairy Pools in Glenbrittle, and I managed to get stuck down a ravine trying to rescue Dougal, our friends’ Italian Spinone. I have a real horror of heights, and the climb back up absolutely terrified me – nightmares for days after! Other than that it was a month of more work than play, culminating in a two-day trip to London at the end of the month, which was actually quite good fun – I still find the place quite exciting.

May promises to be the best month in years, and as I write this on the 26th, so far it hasn’t disappointed. We began with a gig at the iconic Barrowland Ballroom as part of the East End Social festival. What can I say…..sitting in the same unaltered dressing room that had been used by the greatest names in music – Beatles, Rolling Stones, Led Zep, Kinks and countless others – was emotional, but not as thrilling as standing singing on that famous stage. Definitely a tick on the bucket list, that one. Two days later, off with Irene for seven nights in Puerto Pollensa, Majorca, where we relaxed in the Eolo Hotel, which is becoming a home from home. Very basic, but really clean and comfortable, with the best views in the resort, by far. Much cheaper than other hotels, and great value for money. With what we saved, we ate out every night like rich folk. With a bit of luck, we’ll go back in September for another week.

While we were away, we missed the screening of ‘Creating the Kelpies’ on BBC Scotland, which was produced by our daughter Julie for Caledonia TV, the company she has worked for since she graduated from university. We caught it on the iPlayer though, and it was fantastic – very proud dad!!

Back from Majorca, three days at work, catching up on emails, phone calls etc, and it was off in the campervan to Carradale, in Kintyre, for the wedding of our pals Archie and Jane. Archie is a retired fisherman, who now runs a seafood smokehouse in Campbeltown, and his lovely bride Jane is a busy actor, who runs her own company and puts on plays all over Scotland. Celebrations began on Friday afternoon, and the survivors were tidying up the aftermath in the village hall at lunchtime on Sunday. It was an absolutely fabulous celebration with fantastic food (with Archie and Jane, the ‘purvey’ is always utterly stunning) and great music from local band the Twisted Melons, an indie band I’ve got to know well over the years. I’d never heard them play covers before – they were brilliant, and I haven’t danced as much in years.

Six days later, and we have the opening ceremony for our newly-refurbished village hall. Irene has been part of the group of local enthusiasts that have worked tirelessly to make it all happen, and the end result is just stunning. We’re all so proud of it, and the opening day brought the whole village together to celebrate an afternoon of theatre, dance and classical, jazz and choral music, featuring incredibly talented local people of all ages, both professional and amateur . In the evening Cy, Jim and I had the immense privilege of performing the first evening concert to a packed hall. It was a fantastic day, and one I’ll never forget.

The absolute pinnacle of happiness for me, however, is due to take place on Saturday 31st May, when my beautiful daughter Julie marries her fiance Ally in the new hall – its first wedding! I’ve been working on my ‘father of the bride’ speech, and have been sprucing up my 1968 MGC, which will be the wedding car. I’ve never seen Julie happier than she is just now, and she and Ally seem to laugh together all the time. He’s a very welcome addition to our family, so I’m really looking forward to the big day.

I’ll tell you all about it next month. Stay safe, and enjoy the Spring!

Duncan x

Duncan’s Blog – March 2014

A grand start to the month, with two days in London for a party celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Performing Right Society (PRS). I’ve been a member since 1982, and have worked for their sister society MCPS since 1989, so it was nice to get together with over 600 colleagues, amny of whom have become friends over the years. I’ve been so lucky to have made my living from music, one way or another, for so long. Everyone moans about their job at some point, but mine is really good fun – and interesting – and I’ve got to know an incredible number of decent, friendly people over the past 25 years. Good times, with hopefully many more still to come!

March has brought a perceptible shift in the weather, and it fairly lifts the spirits. I’m writing this bit of the blog on Sunday the 9th, and I’ve just taken my old MG out for its first run of the year. A bit lumpy and wheezy for the first couple of miles – the car was too, right enough (boom boom). I’ve vowed to use it more this year, otherwise I’d be as well selling it – I’ve had it for nearly 16 years though, and it would be a terrible wrench.

Things are racking up a bit in the referendum debate but I think I’ll keep out of it for the time being. I’m very decided, but I genuinely do worry that, whatever the result, we’ll have a divided country. I love Scotland with an absolute passion, and I’m devastated at the increase I see in poverty I see in a nation so rich in talent, ability and natural resources. Let’s hope we make the right decision on September 18th.

Two really enjoyable gigs this month – Greenock Boat Club, one of our favourite folk clubs, and a fantastic wee night at the Buchanan Memorial Hall, near Drymen. I love these village hall gigs, where everyone comes out determined to have a good time – it really lifts the band’s spirits, too.

Take care, and have a great Easter

Duncan x

Duncan’s Blog – February 2014

Normally weeks of relentless rain and gales would get to me, and I’d be desperate to head off to the sun for a while, but I’ve been so busy in all sorts of ways I haven’t spent too much time fretting about it. I just hope we’re rewarded with a good Spring and Summer – we deserve it, I’d say.

I think I mentioned before that Cy and I have been working on a song about ‘Skylark IX’, one of the ‘little ships’ involved in the Dunkirk evacuation during the early years of WW2. The ‘Skylark’ had been working as a cruise boat on Loch Lomond, unrecognised, for decades, eventually sinking at the moorings on the River Leven. A Dunkirk veteran, on holiday from the US, spotted the sad wreck, and identified her as the boat that saved 600 lives, including his own. A group of volunteers in the Vale of Leven have spent the past year or so fundraising to restore her to life, with the help of several young people who have not had the best deal from life, and who will learn new skills and play a part in the wee boat’s rebirth. We managed to deliver the song to the Trust this month, and at the time of writing, we’re hoping a well-known actor and musician will be recording it as a fundraising single. I hope to be able to name names next month!

Gig-wise, we’re hoping to go out on the road with Duncan & Johnny Cameron’s ‘McGinn Meets Seeger and McColl’ show, which sold out (with a waiting list of over 50 at Celtic Connections) so we’re busy sending out info to theatres around Scotland – two provisional bookings so far, so that’s a good start. March will see us at Greenock Boat Club (a particular favourite gig) on Saturday 15th and at Milton of Buchanan Memorial Hall, near Drymen on the 29th. Stevie Lawrence can’t make these gigs – he’s getting increasingly busy with his other bands, such as the Chili Pipers and Raintown – so we’ll be joined by our old pal Jim Yule, who is one of the most gifted guitarists we’ve ever worked with, and a founder-member of 70s and 80s folk-rock outfit New Celeste. He’s also a natural entertainer, so we’re really looking forward to the gigs.

In other news, we’re in talks about another Clydesiders CD – the one released at Christmas 2012 has sold really well, so the record label is keen to follow up its success. As ever, time is the enemy, and trying to get everyone in the band together to get things moving is really difficult, bt I’d really like to make it happen.

Cy and I seem to be getting a bit more productive at the writing, and we’ve a couple of quite strong ideas on the go. Because the band is in my name, a lot of people think that I write all the songs, but everything we do is a collaboration between the two of us – some are predominantly Cy’s, some mine, and some real 50/50s, but our ethos is that we share everything, and have done since we first started writing and playing together, abck in our school days. Cy Jack is a quiet, understated guy, and very modest, but I’d like to put on record that he’s very much the engine room of what we do. Far, far more of a musician than I could ever be, he’s responsible for many of the arrangements, and keeps the sound tight. I’m the blethery one who does the singing, and that gets the attention – rather unfairly. I’d be lost without him.

Anyway – late with the blog again, as per usual. March has come blinking into the sunlight already, and I can’t wait for the days to get longer and longer.

All the best

Duncan x