The most northerly town in mainland scotland, Thurso greeted us with a now-familiar sight – two young men sitting on the floor pissed out of their skulls singing unrecognisable songs and hurling casual abuse at people at 4pm. Still – you shouldn’t judge a whole town on two loud drunks, so let’s get to the venue.
The venue, inevitably, greets us with more men pissed out of thir skulls singing unrecognisable songs and hurling casual abuse at us. I’ve quickly discovered that the quickest way to get into trouble is to be meek and retiring. Give back as good as you get, say it with balls and you’re away.
One guy who looked so obviously like Francis Rossi from Status Quo it wasn’t even worth pointing it out came over to talk to us. He wasn’t alone however as he quickly admitted – “sorry boys, I farted before I came to talk to you and I hoped it would be ok but it’s clearly followed me over, sorry”.
Thank god for Isla – she’d taken over this place when she was 19 when it was a den for drug traffiking criminals, cleaned it up and doesn’t take shit from nobody. What a lady. She really cares, and made us feel very welcome. They’d even made a banner advert for the main street…
The gig went really well – engaging a saturday night crowd with acoustic music isn’t easy, but by the end they were chanting for more. John and I are so tight now, both musically and personally, that the gigs are just flying.
The rest is a blur of Guinness, whisky and random shots all night. I think it looked a bit like this…
Work hard, play hard. Thank you Thurso.
Postcard sent to: Jori
Next postcard to: Isla Mackay
Thanks to: Andy the very sound sound man, Isla, all the other staff at the Newmarket Bar, Megan who played a great support set, and the mystery stranger who paid for our pizzas.
5 Comments on “#4 Newmarket Bar, Thurso”
THAT WAS ME! the Francis Rossi from Status Quo lookalike AKA the phantom fart smuggler was me! lol! The music may have been sweet but yip the stage area was pungent with the essence of duck eggs gone wrong1 LOL
Hope to see you back soon lads, I will stay away from the duck eggs…honest!
Ah mate – the whole staff were superstars. Bar manager included!
hank god for Isla – she’d taken over this place when she was 19 when it was a den for drug traffiking criminals, cleaned it up and doesn’t take shit from nobody. What a lady. She really cares, and made us feel very welcome. They’d even made a banner advert for the main street…
lol, take it she wrote at herself!!!! And not a word about her bar manager without doubt e best barman in town and a damn handsome chap!!
‘Let’s see how Jake & the band are getting on’ is now a regular part of my day. Hearing what’s going down on the tour, how these far reached places are receiving the best thing that’s happened to my iPod and the acoustic music world in ages is giving an extra dimension to what started for me as a random invitation to the apple store in Covent Garden to hear some bloke called JM. Your blog is like the filling in a Many Fish sandwich from the JMFLM Sandwich Emporium Shop; Covent garden in July and Winchester in Oct is the bread!! Jake, you rock!
I Love your Blogging, it brings many smiles! :-)