Australia

Admiral Fallow returned - ever so slightly wearied - from Australia a couple of days ago. It was a great trip; we managed to do and see a lot while we were there, and it was brilliant to be supporting Frightened Rabbit again. Here's a few snapshots of our time there, variously stolen from Kevin, Joe and tour manager Davy. The worst quality ones are mine. Kev's first (and last) foray into the world of Instagram

An ibis strutting its stuff in the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney

Basement Records, Melbourne

Familiar faces

Some local heritage

It was vastly hotter in Brisbane than this picture suggests

Tyne bridge

Had to be done

Bondi Beach on our last morning 

Folklub photos

So now it's one day until Australia! Thought I'd share this before we leave. Just been sent these marvellous photographs of Folklub last Tuesday, taken by Sean Purser:

 

I had a lovely time that night! Kristan Harvey & Sean Gray, and the Ross Ainslie & Jarlath Henderson band were all fantastic. Big thanks to everyone involved, especially David Foley for organising the night and Jack Smedley for his new-found compering skills! I was lucky enough to be joined onstage by good pals and two of my favourite musicians, Jennifer Austin and Fiona MacAskill.  Our usual guise is as a trio, Wildings; we've been plotting to make a recording sometime this summer.

Admiral Fallow in Australia

Two days from now, I'll be sitting in the illustrious surroundings of Glasgow Airport waiting to go to Australia for the first time! Admiral Fallow have some shows supporting Frightened Rabbit (see Gigs page for details), so we'll be there for a couple of weeks. My attempts at photograph-taking are usually pitiful, but I'll make a proper effort this time.. See you in a few weeks!

Folklub

On 23rd April I'll be playing a solo support slot at Folklub, a monthly event at Stereo, Glasgow. The main act is the Ross Ainslie and Jarlath Henderson band, and you can check out all the details at Folklub's Facebook event page here. And 'like' the page while you're at it! Really looking forward to the night, and I may get some pals to come and play too.

Folkworks Summer School

I'm so happy to be a tutor - along with Jock Tyldesley, Tom Kitching and Dave Gray - at this year's Folkworks Junior Summer School in Durham. I was a participant at the Youth Summer School for several years running, and can honestly say it was one of the most inspiring and exciting experiences of my life.  More information on the Adult, Youth and Junior programmes here. 

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Last week was a very busy one with Flutes en Route... We visited eight different schools and a village hall, and played a total of twelve concerts, meeting lots of lovely people along the way. I think I'll have the tunes in my head for a while now, especially our ABBA medley. Gets me every time.

I managed to fit in my usual weekly teaching, and also an Edinburgh photo shoot with Archie MacFarlane, which I'm really looking forward to seeing the results of.  And at dawn on Monday morning (well, near enough) Jennifer Austin of Kirkwall passed me some top secret documents in the form of illustrations for my EP artwork.  She is one talented woman.  

Next up are the two solo support slots for Rick Redbeard: 12th March at Electric Circus, Edinburgh, and 17th March at CCA, Glasgow.  I am this excited:

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