So, that'll be the end of 2011 for The Shine... Last gig played at the mighty Finnegan's, time to stick on the Santa hats, uncork the wine and get pissed for a fortnight... And reflect on the "happenings of 2011"!
What a year it's been! There's been very good, pretty bad and some changes within the band. And still the monster of The Shine rolls on throughout Scotland. I thought I'd take the chance to just have a wee recap from my point of view...
What a year it's been! There's been very good, pretty bad and some changes within the band. And still the monster of The Shine rolls on throughout Scotland. I thought I'd take the chance to just have a wee recap from my point of view...
Before we "hit the road", we had a pretty unique opportunity back in February when we were invited by Ewen Cameron and Cat Harvey to perform live on the Real Radio Breakfast Show as part of Scotland's Got Real Talent! Very surreal experience playing live at 7.30am but we did a pretty cool version of our stripped down "Somebody Told Me" by The Killers - me on 12 string acoustic and vocals, Andy on 6 string acoustic and vocals, Stevie on bass and plumbing and Iain on his newly purchased thunderbox and vocals. If you want to see how it went (and the insides of Scotland's premier radio station), check out our Media section! All I can say is this was possibly the most nerve wracking performance I've ever done! Get it wrong and potentially millions of listeners could go "Ha, he fucked up"! But we didn't and it was an amazing experience! Many thanks to Ewen & Cat!
Round about the early part of the year personally I wasn't in a good place as a bad dose of the flu triggered a case of Bell's Palsy - a pretty debilatating condition which paralysed the left side of my face. Thankfully I caught it in time with steroids but still spent a good few weeks with the paralysis - one of the latter weeks coinciding with a gig in Skye. Thanks to the advice of a good friend of mine George Futter, we just pressed on with it and everything was fine.
Talking of Skye, this was another highlight of 2011. Following the demise of our previous Skye venue, the King Haakon, we were honoured to form a new alliance with a venue which turned out to be in a completely different league - Saucy Mary's in Kyleakin. As someone posted on the KH Facebook page (not me I hasten to add) "F*** off you dead viking". Couldn't agree more! Saucy Mary's is just amazing, great people, professional and an absolute pleasure to play with no bullshit!
Perhaps related on a tangent to this, new venue / new band member! On a fairly amicable basis we parted company with Stevie around the middle of the year and welcomed John Petrie in on bass - within 48 hours! John's an absolutely stunning addition to the band (with a gorgeous stable of basses), an old friend of Iain's and within minutes became a soulmate to Andy and I too. The great thing is John didn't experience King Haakon, so Skye at Saucy Mary's was just fantastic! Not only a stunning player but John is just such a lovely guy!
On Stevie, great guy and left a legacy of humour, great laughs on the road and a fine collection of live videos. Worthy of mention from the " Stevie days" is a certain visit to Oban when we decided to go for a Chinese before the gig. An oyster mushroom fell off someone's plate and, from it's appearance, Simon the Slug was born! It looked exactly like a wee slug... So we gave it eyes made of rice, fed it some Chinese greens, took some photos and laughed until the tears were running down our faces!
And so, the end of 2011. As posted below we finish the year off with a stonking gig at the mighty Finnegan's Wake in Edinburgh.
On Stevie, great guy and left a legacy of humour, great laughs on the road and a fine collection of live videos. Worthy of mention from the " Stevie days" is a certain visit to Oban when we decided to go for a Chinese before the gig. An oyster mushroom fell off someone's plate and, from it's appearance, Simon the Slug was born! It looked exactly like a wee slug... So we gave it eyes made of rice, fed it some Chinese greens, took some photos and laughed until the tears were running down our faces!
And so, the end of 2011. As posted below we finish the year off with a stonking gig at the mighty Finnegan's Wake in Edinburgh.
All that remains is to thank everyone who's come along, sang along, danced and made every night a party with The Shine during 2011. By our Reverbnation stats, I reckon that's about 4,500 of you! We're now approaching our 8th year together and all our favourite venues and all the audiences make it so worthwhile - it's the most fun you can have with your clothes on (optional)!
Finally to Andy, Iain and John - thanks for just being yourselves! You are a great bunch of guys and a tremendous bunch of people who I'm proud and honoured to call mates!
To everyone, have a brilliant Christmas, New Year and hopefully see you somewhere on the road in 2012!
Peace, best of luv and stay alive!
Neil
Finally to Andy, Iain and John - thanks for just being yourselves! You are a great bunch of guys and a tremendous bunch of people who I'm proud and honoured to call mates!
To everyone, have a brilliant Christmas, New Year and hopefully see you somewhere on the road in 2012!
Peace, best of luv and stay alive!
Neil
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