Whether it’s first day at a new school or being heard among the lamb kebabs Roddy Woomble is prepared for pretty much anything.
I'm just back from the Shetland Isles. Where I was wandering around in the midnight sun, or 'siminer mm as it's known up there. It's a remarkable place. full of Interesting characters straight out of some crumpled novel. It was the final of some Norwegian sailing challenge. coupled With Shetland food week. so the audience at the concerts were an interesting mixture of drunk ruddy-looking Noiwegians in wraparound shades dribbling their pints of Shetland ale. and foodies taste testing marinated herring and Shetland lamb kebabs while we worked through another number With suitably bemused expressions on our faces.
To be that far north and still part of Scotland is one of the best things about this country, I think. For such a small place it contains so many subtle differences: it's like every island is its own little self-contained country. I could imagine myself liVIng up in Shetland. although I'd have to get used to the flight in a tiny pencil- like plane. not to mentiOn the lack of trees. Some old fellow was telling me the first time he saw a tree was when he was 20.
Another strange thing for me of late has been playing music on a stage and in a practice space With a different group of people. Not in a bad way. mind. it's just that I've been playing music for over ten years with ldlewild. so it feels like joining a new class at school or something. except I know all the people already, and I already know who I'll sit beside. and we drink Wine at playtime instead of eating 5p crisps. I'm really looking forward to this short tour in July. it'll be unpredictable fun.
On a closing note. mongages are a royal pain in the ass. Enjoy the festival.
Roddy Woomble's solo album My Secret IS My Silence is out 24 July on Pure Records. See Book Now for full details of his forthcoming tour.
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ii( )(lK THE GOSSIP ABC2. Glasgow. Wed 19 Jul
Good things may come to those who wait . . . but this Arkansas-spawned soul-tinged disco punk trio have had to hold out a little longer than most to gain the widespread acclaim they have really always deserved. After years of burrowing away on the underground to a smattering of hardcore devotees, it took the release of stomping dancefloor filler, ‘Standing in the Way Of Control' from their third record of the same name released earlier this year, to really make waves across the mainstream music scene; a method in stark contrast to the current ‘hype today, backlash tomorrow‘ philosophy of the industry.
They may have played the long game - The Gossip met through mutual friends and formed in Olympia in 1999 - but feisty and fiercely intelligent lead singer Beth Ditto, who is in possession of by far and away one of the most phenomenal voices in modern music, wouldn't have had it any other way, as she explains from her home in Portland, Oregon. ‘I definitely prefer our method of growing and progressing and gaining fans gradually. I think a lot of bands now take fame for
granted whereas we realise you have to work hard and pay your dues otherwise you don‘t appreciate it.‘
‘I think that all the kids being told they're the shit after their first ‘twinkle twinkle little star‘ song is a hit are not going to know what that's Iike,’ she adds. ‘lt's not a bad mark on their personality but it's not going to pay off for them in the end. I mean, come on, Arctic Monkeys?!”
Growing up in rural Arkansas, which Ditto describes as ‘like the beginning of ‘Walk The Line' but with more modern clothes and cars, Wal-marts and waffle houses‘, the singer was always surrounded by music but it’s just one of a few very important outlets for this multi-talented and passionate threesome. ‘l was brought up singing,‘ she says. ‘Mama Cass got me into it and Poly Styrene from X-Ray Spex inspired me to keep doing it, but the band’s versatility is very important to me because I don‘t like to be pigeonholed. I know that the other guys are as passionate about their club nights as I am about doing a photo shoot for a larger ladies’ clothing line or making clothes, which are both very feminist acts. However, I think I could die happy if in 20 years time, boys were doing drag as me instead of Cher. That is seriously my true goal in life.‘ (Camilla Pia)