Michael Biggins and I will perform a one-off show at the Acoustic Music Centre at the Ukranian Community Centre as part of the Fringe Festival. Each time we’ve played here, it’s selt oot, but this year will understandably be very different with limited seating. Get yer tickets now!
Doors 18:30 // Music 19:00 Tickets in advance – General £13 // Concession £11
My first printed article in the Sunday National. Mentions the lack of support musicians have recieved from the UK Government, vaccine passports, the great job the Musicians Union have done in representing 30,000 musicians.
Also mentions the musicians who have been #excludedUK from UK Government support. Despite Rishi Sunak changing eligibility for Grant 4 and 5, this will only help around 15% of musicians surveyed by the The Musicians Union
Also mentions folk band Gnoss, who’ve effectively (very responsibly) had to take public health messaging into their own hands to keep themselves + their audiences safe on their English tour after Boris Johnson lifted compulsory wearing of masks in public spaces.
I’m doing a show with Michael Biggins on Friday 10th September at The Blue Lamp in Aberdeen. Support from folk luminary Danny Couper. Tickets are on sale now, but might be available on the door too.
Advance ticket sales: £12 general admission / £6 for students plus 50p booking fee.
On the door ticket sales: £15 general admission / £8 for students
A recontextualisation of Woody Guthrie’s ‘Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos)’ inspired by the events which took place on 13th May when the UK Home Office sent a dawn raid to Kenmure Street on the Southside of Glasgow to deport two asylum seekers, Sumit Sehdev and Lakhvir Singh, on the last day of Eid. Hundreds of people took to the street for eight hours to surround the van that the men were detained in, and human rights lawyer Aamer Anwar was present to support the men. They were finally released by the UK Home Office van. We vehemently oppose the hostile immigration policy of the United Kingdom.
lyrics
The city is quiet, morning is breaking The people are making their daily commute Down in the southside, they’ve spied a big white van The government say they’re to end a dispute
Over two men who settled and thrived in this nation Who made it their home and who worked all their lives Torn from their homes on the holiest day And judged by the press through their bigoted eyes
The suits down in Whitehall make justifications For tearing a family apart in the street You won’t have a name when you ride the big airplane And all they will call you will be deportees.
But the people of Glasgow they took to the streets Defending their neighbours, raided at dawn For eight hours they sat there, chanting and singing Your home is in Glasgow, you’re where you belong
Why should we continue to stay in this Union A Union that doesn’t treat us with respect We should carve our own path and set our own rules And value the people we ought to protect
Think of that woman who makes the decisions Who wears her posh suit, and who smirks at the press She thinks “taking back control” means deporting our people Instead of the issues she ought to address
No one is illegal, no matter where they come from We’re still toiling through Westminster’s lies The system is broken but we see a way out It’s time now for Scotland to stand up and rise
The suits down in Whitehall make justifications For tearing a family apart in the street You won’t have a name when you ride the big airplane And all they will call you will be deportees.
Is this the best way we can grow our own nation How can we move forward if we can’t agree And they shouldn’t be sent to ride the big airplane When all they will call you will be deportees.