Stramashing

A few months back, I was lying there trying to summon the elusive energy gods to will me to bed one night whilst doing some rare but pointless channel hopping - TV is dire, I never watch it- when I caught a wee snippet from the enigmatic channel of lilting accents and mist shrouded crofting stories that is BBC Alba.

It was a cosy scene. A low lit and mirrored, warm and worn wood panelled old Scottish pub with a mighty display of well stocked tipples. And up started the Siobhan Miller Band, squeezed between some old pews and looking very happy to be there. And then a month later, late in the evening, as i'm trying to summon the energy gods to will me upstairs to bed once again, I'm surfing the interwebber and I see the Band are playing Aberdeen as part of the Stramash Festival. Free tickets too. Nothing to lose I thought.

Now Dave, he says he doesn't do that kind of music so I had to rope in my go-to stand in gig wife, Kims Pims (Tess's nickname for Kim). Luckily for Kim's Pims, this gig coincided with my continuing voyage of Gin Discovery, and Kim's Pims, well, to say she knows her Gins would be an understatement. So after some wonderful veggie grub in some very nice back street pub, we head on up to the Blue Lamp, pretty Gin soaked and happy. Obviously too happy, as at one point I asked for two Harris Tweeds at the bar by mistake, but they knew what i meant. And as for the band? They were worth the visit into the big smoke. Siobhan has a rich, clear, strong but very gentle tone that makes every song she sings a joy to listen too, especially in the candle lit setting of the Blue Lamp. I was one drink short of staying for DJ Dolphin boy so we headed one door down to hear some regulars jamming up a fiddle storm on their instruments before calling it a night.

"I like my men like my whisky, aged and mellow" was a definite crowd pleaser.