Fash Stewart continues his quest for world domination one gig at a time, and will be playing Hootananny 3rd of July, Strathpeffer Coffee Shop on the 7th of July and Bogbain on the 10th of July. Yet he still finds time to talk to invernessGiGs, thanks very much sir……
How’s the tour shaping up and where are you looking forward to the most?
The tour is shaping as well as I could hope for, it could always be worse, it could always be better. But, I take some comfort in an old military adage, called the 7 P’s, which is “Prior preparation and planning prevents piss poor performance”. You can’t argue with that really.
I’m best at writing the songs and performing them, but there are so many tasks to negotiate before the tour even starts including booking the gigs, starting in January, booking travel, accommodation, getting CD’s made up and so on which is all easier said than done!
That first megabus journey will be the worst! As a performer and an artist, you have to believe in your own talent and little things such as the prospect of a fourteen hour bus journey will give me plenty of time to question my sanity!
Added to the various journeys I’ll be making, criss-crossing the map a few times in the process, I’ll be playing various types of gig – music venues, coffee shops, festivals and with that comes different audiences, who will all be receptive to different songs of mine, and so it keeps me on my toes.
I’m looking forward to every gig, but Inverness is one of the ones I’m looking forward to the most. I spent part of my raising in Inverness so naturally, I have a soft spot for the town.
I last played in Inverness as part of the Belladrum fringe last July, so it’ll have been almost a year for me. Perhaps its just a bad case of “Absence makes the heart grow fonder”, but either way, I’m looking forward to it!
What struck me when we caught up was your love of being on the road, I was wondering where this came from?
My love for being on the road does not particularly stem from 14 hour bus journeys, or roughing it, which for this tour will mainly be in the form of camping. In fact, I’ve became quite a camping enthusiast over the past couple of weeks, picking out roll mats, lightweight titanium cutlery etc.
Really, without knowing it, I’ve become a camping enthusiast who happens to have a guitar with him, and a repertoire of songs! Seriously though, my love for gigging comes from the likes of Willie Nelson who is almost 80 and still plays a couple of hundred gigs a year.
Where do you draw your inspiration from for your songs?
I’ve been greatly inspired by a couple of artists, notably Americana artist Kevin Montgomery and Scottish Blues artist Dave Arcari, both of whom tour with a capital T!
Everyone has different ways of getting around, and I’ve found a way to do it at my level. I love a bit of sightseeing, a bit history and culture, and the chance to meet and try to entertain so many people is something I’m glad to have the chance to do.
You strike me as a man with a plan, can you tell me what it is?
I certainly have a plan, I’ll admit to that, anyone who says they don’t is lying! I will go with the flow as much as I can, but I can’t swim particularly well, so I know there is a point where I’ll want to get off the raft and on to dry ground! It’s a slow burning process, I’m always learning, writing songs and looking at opportunities to play far and wide, and hope to do it for a few more years yet!
For people that have not seen you before, can you pick a song that you would recommend and why?
I hate recommending my own songs, as I hear differing opinions as to people’s favourites, but “The Big Fish” or “Passer By” might be good starting points. My mother likes “I’ll see you in Inverness”, whilst some guy who I talked to after a set once said he liked “Gathering Dust”. He was very complimentary on the whole, but said that he couldn’t make up his mind whether I reminded him of Johnny Cash or Peter Sutcliffe.
You can keep track of Fash on his official website here (We tried my best to find the unofficial ones!!).
He will be playing Hootananny 3rd of July, Strathpeffer Coffee Shop on the 7th of July and Bogbain on the 10th of July
