Ian Kidd
I have been involved in hoochter teuchter music since I was at school, spending many years playing in pipe bands in villages and towns all round Scotland. Many weekend afternoons were happily spent marching behind horses and carts in the rain, eating chips on coaches, fending off midges and heroically navigating through crowds of drunken tourists and locals at the annual Cowal Games in Dunoon with my sporran intact.
Maturing into the ceilidh band scene, I spent more years playing in houses, schools, barns, village halls, tents, stately homes, castles, concert halls, exhibition centres and hotels all over Scotland, as well the occasional trips to Germany, The Netherlands, Lithuania, France and even England. I know the best hotels for wedding buffets, and the best lay-bys for a nap on the way home from a gig at 2am. I also know how to substitute a snare-drum with a Tupperware box, after arriving at a posh gig in Edinburgh only to realise I had left it at home.
Having been a huge radio fan all my life, I’m now looking forward to stripping your willows for you on Sunday mornings.