Bombskare celebrated their win with champagne onstage at the weekend. The winners of BBC TV’s “Best Part-Time Band in Britain” competition, were playing the headline set at the Gatehouse of Fleet Midsummer Music festival as their triumph was announced. Singer Andy P. stopped to check the time before announcing to a packed primary school hall that they had won the competition, and then popped the cork before launching into a furious celebratory song.
Bombskare’s set was the climax of a weekend of music which had seen punk, reggae, Americana, folk, psyche-blues, folk-rock and even some ukuleles performed throughout this small town (population 800) in south-west Scotland.
Chair of the organising committee Michelle McClure was delighted that the weekend had gone so well: “We had no idea Bombskare would be on television at the same time as they were on our stage when we booked them!” she said. “They were clearly delighted at their win, and they were very pumped up during their set, which had the whole hall dancing. That was our tenth festival in its current format, and the best yet. It’ll be a challenge to match it next year, but we will definitely be trying!
The Festival, which received grant from the Big Lottery Fund this year to invest in video equipment, will be releasing excerpts from the performances in the coming weeks, so keep an eye out on www.gatehousemusic.com for performances from Bombskare, Samson Sounds, The Barr Stools, Zoe Bestel, The Razorbills, Brownlee and Blantern, The Moot, Victorian Death Yard and many others.
The accompanying photo from Kim Ayres Photography http://www.kimayres.co.uk/ shows Bombskare’s moment of triumph!