London Calling

So Spriggan Mist marched on London .....in fact contrary to my last blog ..this was the 3rd time we had ventured into the Smoke! Percussionist Andy Wilkin bowed out at a semi acoustic gig in Mortlake last year. The other was a private party in Ruislip where we had Armen Gevorkian guesting on the drums.....ah memories......quickly crushed ....as this London adventure was a different kettle of frogs! This was for The 40th anniversary of the Pagan Federation at the Archangel in Kensington...this was with the new band and in the great company of established folk prog rock band Magic Folk who were headlining! The stage was small but the event huge!..and after suffering threats of having our mixing desk ceremoniously shoved up my nether regions from Rie the Sprigs manager after I remarked how nice it was to get a professional on the desk (she reliably does our desk usually) we finished our sound check and scoffed some food as all sorts of Witches, Druids and teddy bears (yes there was a man in a teddy bear outfit ...said it was a druid thing....??!?!?!) soon filled the club.
The wonderful Kate and Corwen kicked off proceedings ...now I’ve seen them before and they do melancholy medieval atmospheric brilliantly...but on this occasion they went uptempo and had the dance floor packed with robe clad peeps dancing making the whole area look like a medieval banquet....Corwen plays this instrument which looks like a She –wee in fact hands up... Kate referred to it as a she –wee and I didn’t make the connection as to what a she- wee was or is...so I had the honest and genuine belief that he was playing an instrument called a she –wee. Corwen if you are reading this let us know what your she –wee is? And how Maxine can get her hands on one...instrument that is not a she-wee.


I actually wondered if Spriggan Mist’s brand of folk inspired Rock was going to go down quite as well as Katem and Corwen ...and I have to admit during the quiet bit of our set I did wonder as I saw a few gaps in front of us that maybe ...we were the wrong music ......but then Gary looked at me...I looked at Max and there was that face of lets sock it to them... and then we did.... full tilt....Gary teetered on the edge of the stage his remote guitar bug allowing him freedom to get into the crowd ...I could see he was itching to go in so I helped him with a knee up his backside then he was away the crowd were back on the floor (they had only gone to refill their glasses!!!after all they were all Pagan)

it was hot it was sweaty but they were there bouncing up and down with me and the Fluffmeister as Max belted out electric life.......Colin was spanking the kick drum like he hated it Bex with her Cello turned up to 11 bowed away as the closing notes of the song rang out the cheers and whistles got louder ....then on it went... jumping and stomping right to the encore of Gypsy Witch! A great night ....job well done....we sold some CDs and got a few more gigs off the back of that performance so we were all very happy. Even Magic Folk bass player...Ben Glover commented on the set and “What a finish” Magic folk were brilliant I hasten to add, love their music however i just felt they went on a bit too late and after Kate and Corwen and us had got that party vibe going their prog rock brilliance was rather misplaced I did however enjoy their set, Heliopolis a favourite of mine at the moment...must play some on my radio show.

On the way home we had the pleasure of Rie and Fluff in the back of the Sprig mobile and it was about 0045 when we reached the rather rough suburbs of London ...we were all thirsty so Wifey directed me to a garage which was on a night service from the hatch jobby. So out Fluff and I climbed both of us in stage gear me in my black kilt Fluff in his knee high boots, bandana etc...At the hatch were two black Hounslow type geezers buying their rizlas ....

One of them had the trademark jeans around the thighs bases ball cap slightly a skew more bling than Mr T. He took a double take at the pair of us.....
“Hey Man what’s dem den!”
He pointed his ringed finger down at the kilt”
I replied “They is legs innit”
He replied “Yeah you like Vikings or summink.?..it’s like wid da kilt an all dat?” Didn’t want to really correct his lack of history knowledge kilt? Vikings? Etc?
I said “ No we are in a band just been gigging in London...innit” thought get down with the lingo less likely to be rolling around the floor with the chap.
“Awlright like wid da pipes innit ?”
“No I play bass we are a rock band” trying to look as rockstar as I could possibly could.
“Respeck man you is looking cool innit ya I like dat ..looks like Vikings innit...where you like headin now?”
I was going to say to an after gig party full of drugs and page 3 models but checked myself....
“Going home innit....”
He smiled as he strutted off he said “You ave a good one ..”

I jumped back in the Sprig mobile and headed for the safety of the Berkshire border...before you knew it we were home...innit!
Photos on this article were taken by John Steane with whom many a hug was had ....and the chorus of "We love you Johnny "belted out from the Sprig mobile everytime he and Bex drew level at lights in london's streets