Headlining a festival but not played in 5 years.
I made a little documentary about a band I’m in called the Hot Rock Pilgrims. I talk about how I moved to London, started playing on the London music circuit, how myself and a friend formed the band, gigged and toured UK Ireland and some of Europe then disbanded for 5 years and then came back with a headline slot at a festival. Yes, FIVE years!
It's not a huge festival but it really doesn't matter, if you're headlining you have to have your shit together. The gig started off with me plugging in a live guitar and almost deafening the audience.
Who are the Hot Rock Pilgrims?
Well for that we we must go back into the dark ages of 2010. I was getting tired of playing pub circuit in Ireland and jobs were scarce In Ireland as it was just after the crash. Myself and my Darling Dillon went to work in St Georges Hospital, London. I started playing around the music scene there and became friends with a guy called Bruno. Bruno introduced me Bluegrass. I hadn't a clue what that was but that's not or this blog post. We met up every week and practiced two songs a week for the best part of a year I guess. Long story short Bruno and I started a band called the Hot Rock Pilgrims playing old time and bluegrass.
We started gigging we made an EP, got a graet fiddle player, then recorded an album and toured up and down Ireland the UK playing, pubs, Folk clubs, house parties, bluegrass sessoins, The Green Note, the Royal South Bank Centre, Isle of Wight, Cambridge Folk festival to name a few. We even did a few tours around Ireland and the UK got Holland france to play festivals over there and THEN, Covid came along and flipped everything upside down.
The band went on a prolonged hiatus... Bruno started a fancy microscope business, I tried to learn piano, failed and write an electric solo album. Then we had some kids (Siobh and I, Not Bruno and I).
Then One Day:
I get an email wondering if the Hot Rock Pilgrims would be interested in the headline slot at Crossover festival 2024! So now it's five years, four babies, three houses, two stone bodyweight heavier (combined), and one pandemic later—and WE’RE BACK! Flash forward to 2 weeks before the gig and the only time out of the 9months before that gig that we can actually practice together and I fly over to England to practice with the lads.
Then Like all good rehearsals, you sit around for a very long time trying to do everything but actually practice. Procrastination is a key part of doing this.
The rest of the story is best told through your eyes and ears, so have a look at the finished documentary on YouTube https://youtu.be/7L4aoyrH1eM
Our Set List for the Gig:
Liza Jane
Sitting on top of the world
Keep your lamp trimmed and burning
make me down a pallet
The Storm
Whiskey Eases the Pain
Squirrel Hunters
Blue Night
Walking the dog
Aragon Mill
Gospel Plow
Garfield’s Blackberry Blossom
Window Faces the South
