Published in the Inverness Courier – 6 January 2012 by Calum Macleod
BOGBAIN’S Yvonne Murray admits to having a grand plan for the farm turned visitor attraction and now music venue — nothing less than turning it into the festival capital of Scotland.
Not that she and Bogbain director, musician and broadcaster Bruce MacGregor, are out to challenge T in the Park or the Highlands’ own Belladrum and Loopallu.
Groanbox Boys - coming back to Northern Roots
Instead they plan festivals more modest in scale, though perhaps greater in number, Murray commenting that it would be great to have a festival every month of the year.
Bogbain has already made a start with its now well established Northern Roots Festival nicely complementing MacGregor’s other persona as a founder-member of Blazin’ Fiddles and presenter of BBC Radio Scotland’s “Travelling Folk”, with more recent festival arrivals in the form of the Inverness Whisky Festival and Inverness Wild West Festival, both of which were launched last year.
2012 will also bring a new festival in the form of Brew at the Bog, Bogbain’s new partnership with Fraserburgh-based independent beermaker BrewDog.
“They have a really cool brand that I wanted Bogbain to be associated with,” Murray explained. “They have a few bars around Scotland and England and I really wanted to introduce their brand to the Highlands. They are very
modern, nothing tartan about them, but they are very Scottish in their sense of humour — they brought out a Christmas beer called There Is No Santa.”
Murray, recently named Young Ambassador of the Year at the Highlands and Islands Tourism Awards, is putting together the first BrewDog festival with a line-up of up and coming indie bands which should complement both the BrewDog image and Bogbain’s growing reputation as a venue which, as well as hosting several folk acts, has also been visited by such groups as Kassidy, Brocken Records and the USA’s Low Anthem.
“We are trying to get the bands we think will be bands of the year like Kassidy (who have also played at Bogbain) were the band of the year last year,” she explained.
Murray’s pick is Three Blind Wolves, featuring singer-songwriter Ross Clark, who will headline the festival when it takes place on Saturday 5th May. Other acts scheduled to appear include Endor, Washington Irving and The Seventeenth Century.
Murray revealed that the idea for the BrewDog Festival began with a joint concert from Inverness act James MacKenzie and The Aquascene and Glasgow’s Kitty the Lion which brought a new audience to Bogbain, so it is only apt that Kitty the Lion also appear on the BrewDog bill along with Grantown musician Findlay Napier and his band the Bar Room Mountaineers, Beerjacket, Open Day Rotation and Matt Norris and The Moon. Also representing the Highlands will be the recently revived KOBI and Inverness’s He Slept on 57.
Though the line-up is broadly described as indie, Murray has noted the “Mumford and Sons effect” on some of the acts taking part.
“Most of them wear braces and play banjos,” she added.
Woody Pines - appearing at Brew at the Bog
Which is why the old timey music of American visitor Woody Pines, previously seen with his band at Eden Court, is not too out of place among the indie kids at a festival where informality rules, not least when it comes to sustenance. Festival goers will eat at long benches, helping themselves from big pots of stew, instead of more polite eating arrangements.
“It’s a typical Bogbain event, quite relaxed,” Murray said.
“I think there is something about Bogbain that’s a bit different. It’s the sign of any good venue that it has an atmosphere of its own even when it’s empty. I walked into the barn the other day and it’s not like walking into an empty area at all.”
From beer to spirits, and the Inverness Whisky Festival returns for a second year over the weekend of 6th and 7th April, though with some changes.
Instead of being confined to Bogbain, the festival will begin with a Friday night shindig at Hootannany’s Ceilidh Bar, giving the festival the city centre presence it previously lacked, before returning to Bogbain for a day long event of talks, whisky tastings and music, including the likely return of broadcaster Tom Morton’s Malt and Barley Revue.
Bogbain’s longest established event, the Northern Roots Festival, celebrates its fourth year over the weekend of 1st to 3rd June 2012 and promises to be the biggest one yet with a line-up including the Kathleen MacInnes Band, Quebec’s Le Vent du Nord — soon to be seen at Glasgow’s Celtic Connections Festival — guitar maestro Wizz Jones, the Halton Quartet and the return of the popular Groanbox Boys. Bruce MacGregor has not had to look far for some of the acts taking part. Along with Blazin’ Fiddles, he also appears alongside cellist Christine Hanson, with whom he recently released a new album “Kissin’ is the Best of A.”
The country and Americana themed Wild West Festival is also likely to return, though Murray conceded it had probably been the least successful in terms of day visitors, resulting in a change of date for this year.
“Though the evening concerts were sold out, we’ve realised that to have it a week before Belladrum was probably not a great idea,” she said.
There are other changes afoot at Bogbain, which has called a halt to its children’s activities to concentrate on music and adult events.
Murray added that the venue’s portfolio of festivals might not yet be complete.
“I’d really like to do a classical festival,” she revealed.
“We had Scottish Opera doing ‘A Little Bit of Rigoletto’ and with the singing going up into the rafters of the big barn, it was stunning.
“If we had a mini-festival here every month, that would be fantastic. We’re not planning on being the next Belladrum.
“We want to do things differently — farm style.”