BRIGHT FUTURE MAPPED OUT FOR THE SEA ATLAS
Interview Release
Hebridean Celtic Festival
Year of Creative Scotland 2012
- Debut for island group
- HebCelt invite caps memorable year
- Big stage beckons for musicians
These are exciting times for folk rock duo The Sea Atlas. The band from Uig, in the Isle of Lewis, played their first gig only at the end of June last year, have recently made their first EP and this summer will make their debut on the festival scene.
The group – made up of Calum Buchanan and Ian Schouten “and whoever else we can rope into it” – will appear at the award-winning Hebridean Celtic Festival which runs from 11-14 July on their home island.
It marks another leap forward in the rapid progression of the band and tells their founder they are doing something right: “Things have been happening very quickly in the last year for us, said Calum. “I think we are probably past where we expected to be at this stage.
“So we hope we can just continue to keep doing this at the rate it’s going at just now.
“Being asked to play at HebCelt made us think ‘whatever we did for this we better keep doing’. It does feel amazing to be invited to play one of the top summer festivals in the UK.
“It’s very weird that we will be playing at a festival where it’s taken years for some really established and awesome bands to play at. So we are very honoured to play.
“But we are still a very young band so there’s still a long way to go before it could be considered a complete success.”
The Sea Atlas, who will be expanding into a four-piece for the festival, will be rubbing shoulders with the likes of The Waterboys, The Proclaimers and Kassidy who are headlining HebCelt, which is now in its 17th year, and Calum believes bringing their music to the festival stage will be a major milestone in their short career.
“It’s a chance for us to expose our music to a much larger audience than we normally play to, and get to see bands we might not normally listen to, which is always a plus.
“For us this is our first festival and it’s also going to be the biggest stage we have played on. We are really looking forward to playing and hopefully making some new friends and fans.
“There will be new songs, banjo solos, foot stomping, vocal harmonies and hopefully we will get the crowd involved with what we’re doing so it doesn’t feel like the band is just the guys on stage but that the band is everyone in the tent.”
So how do The Sea Atlas follow the last year? “More gigs and getting our debut EP out is what the plan is just now”, said Calum.
“We hope to release a couple more EPs and one day eventually release an album, but that’s looking very far down the line. Playing more gigs and festivals are at the top of the list on things to do in the next few years though.”
End
For more information on this release contact:
John Ross
Lucid PR
01463 724593; 07730 099617
johnross@lucidmessages.com
NOTES TO EDITORS
1. The 17th HebCelt takes place between 11th and 14th July 2012 and will, for the second year running, have two main stages on the Castle Green in front of the Lews Castle in Stornoway, as well as performances in An Lanntair and throughout the rural community.
2. This year it has been selected for the second year in succession as one of the top 10 UK summer festivals by music magazine Songlines. It emerged victorious as Best Large Festival at the industry-sponsored Scottish Event Awards 2011, in a three-way final with Edinburgh’s Hogmanay and Glasgow’s Celtic Connections.
3. HebCelt injects more than £1.5 million annually into the local economy.
4. It is regarded by critics, performers and festival-goers as one of the top Celtic music festivals in Europe.
5. The festival is made possible through the support of funders, advertisers and a vital and large volunteer workforce- http://www.hebceltfest.com/backstage/sponsors. It relies on scores of volunteer workers who clock up over 3,500 unpaid hours during the event.
6. HebCelt has twice won the Best Event of the Year award at the MG Alba Scots Trad Music Awards, which is voted for by the public.
7. HebCelt has been hailed as one of the UK’s top 50 festivals by the Daily Telegraph and one of the top five by The Scotsman.
8. A large quantity of children under 14 can attend concerts at the Festival Arena each night for free if accompanied by someone who is 18 or older.
9. This year’s headliners are The Waterboys, The Proclaimers and Kassidy. Other artists appearing include Julie Fowlis, Skerryvore, Admiral Fallow, Roddy Woomble, Niteworks, Mànran and Larkin Poe.
10 HebCelt has its own YouTube channel, Facebook and Twitter outlets.
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