Alistair Hulett’s Sporadic Newsletter.

Sat here as I am, virtually on the cusp of a brand new Antipodean adventure, it’s probably well past time to get another Gallows Rant written and posted out. The motivation is mainly to say ‘sayonara’ to all my northern hemisphere chums (no particular reason for saying it Japanese, but then why not?) and a warm and cheery g’day (Strine) to all those pals I look forward to meeting up with soon Down Under. And to let those folk know how to find me.

There’s one final Scottish gig to do before I leave Blighty behind for now though, and it’s this coming Saturday 15th at the well-loved and ever so small-but-friendly, Wee Folk Club at the Royal Oak in Edinburgh. I always really enjoy this intimate little venue and it generally fills to capacity most nights during Edinburgh Festival. That’s around 30 souls if everyone hudges up, so ‘wee folk club’ means exactly what it says in this case. The show kicks off at 8pm but it pays to be there early to beat the house full sign. Thirty in is ‘maximum numbers’ at this venue, and being part of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, it will probably manage to get that many along on Saturday.

The trip over to OZ isn’t exactly a ‘tour’ as such this time, more an extended visit with a few weekend gigs chucked in here and there. First of those is at The Harp Hotel in Sydney on Saturday 29th August. My ‘welcome back to Oz show’ this will be and I’m hoping to see a goodly bunch of Gallows Rant readers and Roaring Jack veterans along at this one.

Other booked dates include two festivals, Majors Creek Folk Festival (NSW) in October and Folk in the Foothills, near Jamberoo (NSW), in November. There is also a three gig stint in Melbourne in November too, beginning with a night at the Lomond Hotel in East Brunswick on November 19th, ‘Traditions Of Resistance’ at the University of Melbourne’s 1888 Bar on the 20th and Melbourne Folk Club at The Grand View Hotel in West Brunswick on the 21st.

Hopefully some other venues in towns around the place will be added to this list before long, but the cut-off date for the schedule is already locked in, with a couple of Early December ‘Farewell Shows’ in cahoots with the excellent Sydney band Wheelers And Dealers. We will be performing twice as a double-header show, doing one set apiece before we join forces for a longish bracket of songs together, culled mostly from the latest album with my UK band The Malkies, ‘Suited And Booted’. That one’s out on Limbo records and available by mail order worldwide from www.themalkies.co.uk or from Four Dogs Music at www.fourdogsmusic.com by the way.

The first of these ‘farewell gigs’ will be on Saturday 4th of December at Hotel Gearin in Katoomba up in the Blue Mountains. Next day, on Sunday Dec. 5th, we are at The Harp in Sydney – and that will almost certainly be my last show in OZ before I head back to Blighty in time for Xmas. You can check out the mighty Wheelers And Dealers via their website at www.wheelersanddealers.com.au

Details of these gigs and others will be appearing ASAP in the gig list on my own website at www.alistairhulett.co.uk Anybody wanting to set up a gig in their locality can contact me via that site as well. Hopefully we can work something out, but it’s a ‘weekends only’ affair on this visit for the most part. From Monday to Friday I’ll be pursuing my ‘other vocation, as a ‘Bush Regenerator’ with the National Trust. That’s a sort of professional woodlands preservation worker, for anyone unfamiliar with the more colourful, Aussie name for the job.

So, that’s an up-to-the-minute summary of what I’ll be up to musically over the coming months, folks. Hoving into view on the horizon next year will be some touring with The Malkies in Britain and Ireland and a solo tour of Italy, well Rome and nearby surrounding parts really, as well. And I’ll also be taking part in a full-cast performance of the word and song tribute ‘Ewan MacColl And The Politics Of The British Folk Revival’ at Plockton Song Festival here in Scotland. But I’ll write more of all that closer to the time. For now, Australia beckons and my last gig in Scotland for a few months is just one day away, on Saturday night. That’s the morra!!! Jings, crivvens, help ma boab!!!! ‘Sufficient unto the day’ and all that kinda thing…

That’s it for now, folks!!
Orra verra best,
Alistair