Pablo in Oban.....

A couple of weekends ago, the 'Eskimo were invited to play the Dunstaffnage festival.  So, on the Friday, like good little band members, we packed our pals and our equipment in a rented (and now dented) van, said goodbye to rainy Glasgow and headed up the A82 to Oban (it ain't that far )

Needless to say it was rather wet on the way up, as it always is during the Summer months in Scotland. Half way there, we stopped into a café near the Green Welly Stop in Tyndrum to get the best fish and chips we'd ever tasted……which doesn't really count for anything coz when you've not eaten for near on 24 hours anything in the world can taste amazing…..

With our bellies full and our spirits high we got back in the van again up to Oban through the pissing wetness.   An hour later and we'd reached our destination and had obviously outrun the rain because it had stopped momentarily, almost as if to say 'go on ya bastards, you've got 5 seconds to get your tents up'…..which we did.

We had all planned to mostly stay in one of the tents that is described as 'a 6 man, 2 bedroom with living room' affair (minus flushing toilet I'm sorry to say )……  We went to the van, put the tent bag on the ground and started to unfold it.  Things were looking great until the whole thing was lying flat.  That was when we realised we'd forgotten to pack the bloody tent poles….a night kipping in the van was evidently on the cards.

Once everyone was rather wet (the rain had started again) and settled (mostly in the van at this point) we got to drinking, and drinking, and more drinking.  We met some nice folk, had some good craic, and even got the bbq going through the howling wind and wintry conditions….we drank until the sun came up (yes, you read correctly, the sun did make an appearance).

Cue Saturday…. and we say Saturday not because we remember it as such, just because we know it comes directly after Friday.  There were bands to see, grass to roll around in, showers to find cover from, sun to get burnt in, a gale force wind to tackle……and of course more booze to be had. Apparently we did all of this, and have video evidence to prove it, which is the only way some of us can actually tell you where we were that day.  I suppose we could all sit and piece together what actually happened, but we're not entirely sure we want to go there.        

Sunday…..we woke up hungover and burnt – not really coz of the sun, more windburnt, which really hurts……so to lighten our mood we covered the entire festival with Pablo Eskimo Flyers and accosted folk with Pablo Eskimo badges.  We then went over to the lovely guys at Oban FM and convinced them that it would indeed be an excellent idea to interview us, as we're great and not at all inebriated in any way….

So, we got interviewed (will get that put up here soon), talked a whole lot of shite and even did a wee acoustic number.  They were that impressed that we could even stay upright let alone do a wee tune for them that they offered to air our live performance out to the Oban masses…..as long as we didn't swear………..

Oops.

Cue some ungodly hour on Sunday, and the Eskimo are about to take the stage.  We walked out and were immediately blown backwards by the 10 force gale coming off the Loch…….but we persisted, and played a damn good gig, in front of a large and rather excited crowd which was great coz it was fucking freezing.  Unfortunately for the Oban folk listening to their trannies (and by that I mean radios, not their friendly local transvestite) there were a few uncouth words in there, but it made for an amazing set, and we quite literally blew the crowd away (thanks in part to the rather blustery weather).

Monday……..time to go home. We woke up with the most perfect weather.  I think that's called Sod's law.  Anyway, we took a wee walk to the local shop, where the owner told us he'd heard us on the radio last night and liked us, even with the swear words.  Good to know Oban FM stuck to their word.  What great guys they are!

Anyway, will get snippets of the interview and the gig on our myspace at some point soon.

Stay tuned till then!

Pablo Alaine