Last night Island Mouse became Metal Mouse, as my siblings brought the Heavy Metal Buffet to Mareel. It was an awesome night! I did my bit by helping to flog lots and lots of tshirts on the merch stall and, being in the know at Mareel (my other job), by finding all sorts of useful things very quickly.

I was super proud of Dirk and Marjolein, plus the two Jamies, Dave, Chloe, Joe and all the volunteers. The whole night went off without a hitch and instead with a really great atmosphere and loads of music fans of all ages and genres. The emphasis was on enjoying some great live music in a local venue and not on getting so rat-arsed you couldn’t stand anymore.  Everyone really supported this ethos and just got on with making the most of a mini-festival.

Here are some of my highlights:

Hoygir – best hair/guitar combo of the night…

 

Beef Cleaver – Marjolein’s last gig with them (sob!) and with added strings.  Classy…

 

 

 

Eat Dr. Ape – Shetlander JP Parsons plays bass with this Glasgow based band…

 

 

Semperfi – Aberdeen based and fresh from Download (cue massive scream – I screamed purely for the guitarist’s awesome beard)…

 

 

And local favourites Ten Tonne Dozer – with Dirk on Mouth-Digeridoo-Throat-Singing-Effects…

 

 

 

It was really great to see Dirk’s artwork everywhere – on the logos, CDs, t-shirts, hoodies, back-drop…a guy even came in with the HMB logo tattooed on his hand!  Hardcore.

And an honourable mention to our parents, who stood up against the barrier and moshed with the kidz. They may look all calm and collected in this shot, but later on I couldn’t get a clearer one because they were having it large!