MASK Blog - ButeFest 2019 (Part 2)

MASK Blog - ButeFest 2019 (Part 2)


Before each day of the tour begins (nothing before noon!) I usually send out a WhatsApp group message to everyone to explain what’s happening - this was the message I sent out before we played Edinburgh… 


“This is a recorded live album but that doesn’t mean we should be holding back or playing it safe. Fuck that! I’d rather have mistakes than our performance be flat/mistake-free. 
Let’s enjoy it and kick the doors in!” 


I don’t think I’m going to win any awards for my ‘pep talk’ skills but the guys sure did listen to the words and I’m pleased to say we did “kick those doors in” haha… 


It wasn’t all plain sailing - we had a hard-drive malfunction when recording, which meant we lost a full track but all in all, it was a great live show and I’m delighted with what we will be releasing for a live album later in the year!  


After playing Edinburgh we returned to Glasgow for the night. We got to bed around 1 am and it was off to the Isle of Bute for ButeFest at noon. As we were about to set off on the journey, Paul our native Scottish drummer informed us that the views along our intended route we were going to be “Scotland as fuck” and he wasn’t kidding! Every corner our jaw’s hit the ground with how staggering it all was. The downside of this was the slow pace of the traffic as every other jaw was on the floor instead of the accelerator pedal… 


Eventually, we arrived, and I must confess at this point. We (the band collectively) prayed for rain! Reason being, our stage was next to the main stage and unlike the main stage, we had shelter! Muhahahahahaha….. I honestly think we may be linked to some higher force because I have never seen a bigger turn in the weather in all of my life. It humped it down! We nearly felt bad for the MASK rain dance that was conducted prior in the week! 


We watched the band we were to follow by the side of the stage and they were rocking out. I remember the sweat bouncing off the drum kit with each hit! This, without doubt, spilt over to us as we sat poised ready to go on. After a five minute set up, it was time to go. I can honestly say now, for the first time in my life I wasn’t even a little nervous! 


Reason for this is, I had complete faith in everyone and everything we had done to get to this point. All the arrangements, headaches, travel, worrying and administration was all for the next forty minutes. It was, without doubt, the best live set we’ve ever done. The raw power we generate creates unbelievable energy and it was the fastest forty minutes of my life. 


After we simply spent the evening together in a sort of tribal way haha - we had experienced something on another level and we may have had a few drinks, can’t remember much to be honest…

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