Leaderboard

Have enjoyed this thread! My time involved in the scene was 2000-06 probably, but especially the first couple of years of that spell when I still lived in Laurencekirk and the next two when I was in Glasgow for Uni. Playing and attending gigs in Aberdeen was a huge part of my formative years and I thought nothing of going up to watch a midweek gig in Aberdeen in my school days, catching up with a room full of people who all loved the same things, getting tanked up and going back to school the next day. The variety was massive as well; we played gigs with a load of bands who were totally different to us (from the many pop punk bands to some heavy bands like Bodies, Risactonia and of course Black Atom who we shared many stages with). There was an awesome cameraderie in that era. Bands helped each other out, stepped in to support irrespective of genre or perceived level of popularity and just generally enjoyed each other’s company. I dearly dearly miss those times. A lot of the things I went on to do (stand up comedy, after dinner speaking, MCing etc) were natural follow-ons from being in sage with FeSTR and while I never had another band where I captured the same feelings of togetherness and shared purpose, playing music continued to be a big part of my life for around ten years. Getting back into jamming with the boys Orr the last nine months has been a great catalyst to reminisce on this era and it’s been lovely. This website was massive for me too. It was a source of entertainment, friendship and handy for finding out in one place what was going on. My involvement in the scene pre-dates it too. I can’t explain the excitement of logging on via dialup and going to the Fudge and AUBL bravenet message boards (each board had the same url but with a long number at the end differentiating it and I knew these off by heart because I was on so often) to see what gigs were coming up and what people were saying about the gigs we’d played. Some of the banter on here was huge as well. The Thong Song had me in tears on the bus, the ‘not headlining, just playing last’ nonsense, the main present debacle (still being justified a decade in!) the Big Bastard posts, Ben winding everyone up. Jamesy vs Scorge. Some stuff that’s got me laughing even typing it! The Stripey era was a funny one because it let me really refine my trolling of him from a formerly impassioned place to a much more distant poking, and while he brought a different musical perspective, the fact is he was just a cock. The laughs, the friendship and the memories all add up to a lot. Thanks to everyone who kept this place alive and made it possible for all these years!