Continuing my dig into the motivations of the bands involved in Buckfest 2015 here are the final interviews from the day. Firstly here's Joe, singer and guitarist of The Phlegm.

DS - Joe, why are your band supporting this event?

Joe - We love playing – I suppose there are a few reasons why we are playing Buckfest this year; we had so much fun playing last year that we jumped at the chance to play again! We are also playing because we love the other bands that are playing, and we know them very well. It’s a great chance to see a bunch of great bands, who are also our friends. It’s also a good opportunity to try and reach out to the Glasgow crowds and widen our fanbase.

DS - What can we look forward to from The Phlegm?

Joe - We're playing at the Banshee Labyrinth in Edinburgh on the 30th (October) with Random Scandal supporting the Devil Jocks on their Halloween tour – which we are really looking forward to! In addition to that, we are hoping to get into the studio very soon to do some recording.

Later on I sat down for a few words with Becca' guitarist and vocalist of The Creeping Ivies. 

DS - Hi Becca, what decided you and the band on playing Buckfest this year?

Becca - We've played the event before and it’s always a great time. McChuills is a good venue and the crowd are always really into the music so that makes it enjoyable for us!

DS - And what does the near future hold for The Creeping Ivies?

Becca - We're playing McChuills again for a Halloween show on the 30th (the Witches' Sabbath 2015) with Fanny Pelmet And The Bastard Suits. We're also playing London on 11th November at Oslo supporting Shannon And The Clams so we're very excited for that!

Recording-wise, we're currently planning a new album. We have a huge amount of new tracks so hoping to get them recorded over the next few months.

Stevie, Organist of '60s garage punk combo The Kosher Pickles was next on the list for a blether.

DS - Evening Stevie, why are the band playing this year’s Buckfest?

Stevie - It’s an invitation to play that you don’t turn down without a really good reason. We’ve know The Rage a good few years so if you get an invite to play with them you say, “yes please”. I think we did the first one and maybe the second in the 13th Note.  

I guess the main incentive is knowing you’re going to be playing to a receptive crowd. The Rage pick all the bands. You pretty much know that everyone’s going to be on a similar wavelength. I think all the other Pickles had heard the Phlegm before but I hadn’t - I thought they were ace. So you hear new stuff and it’d be odd if you didn’t like it.

DS - Anything in the pipeline for The Pickles?

Stevie - We’ve got a gig in McChuills on Halloween. I think we’ve bought giant cobwebs and we have our lights and stuff so that’s a fire waiting to happen!  It’ll be a good laugh. Really we’re just in this for good times.

Recordings, well we’re really slow at putting stuff out. We did a split 7” with The Bucky Rage a couple of years back so that’s kicking about and there’s the odd track on the internet. We’re hoping to get some recorded stuff finished off soon and we’ll probably put that on bandcamp, do some CDs to hand out at gigs etc.

Last up I had a sit down with Carl Brick, who performs as The Locarno Big Beat.

DS - Carl, could you tell us why you are supporting the Buckfest this year?

CB - I've been playing Buckfest for what must be at least 5 years or so however this is the first time I've played as The Locarno Big Beat - in fact that's the first gig ever. 

I wasn't just sitting around watching the bands & drinking tea in McChuill's at the weekend, oh no. Interviewing the bands was all part of the day and first off I caught up with Alan Gemmel, guitarist of The Bucky Rage, bassist of The Kosher Pickles, and one of the organisers of Buckfest 2015.

DS - Alan, tell me about Buckfest i.e. how it got started and why you think it is able to carry on year after year? Also, as it's a free event, what are the incentives for the bands involved to come and play?

AG - Buckfest has been running for the last five or six years, it’s basically an annual all day party. We invite a bunch of our favourite bands to come play and get messed up with us. We started it with a view to getting some out of town bands over to play with the bands we played with loads, looking to forge links with places a bit further away so that all the bands involved could get to meet each other and all benefit from travelling to new places for return gigs. It’s quite an easy affair to organise, and depending what the Bucky Rage have been up to kind of decides for us who we book. It’s basically a big excuse to get a bunch of our friends together and listen to the kind of music we all like!

I think it manages to do well and keep going because it’s a simple concept, and brings together a bunch of like minded people and has always been organised with a good, fun day out as the most important aspect. The bands are always looked after, treated with the warmth and respect that The Bucky Rage look for when we are playing.  

A lot of these bands we have been playing with for years, and like ourselves it’s great to see how everyone progresses. As everyone gets more gigs further afield and releases new records and CDs, as well as their own lives moving on, having kids etc., it can sometimes feel that Buckfest becomes the time of the year when we all catch up. Years ago it would not be uncommon for The Rage to play gigs with a lot of these bands a few times a month, certainly speaking for The Bucky Rage we play less gigs than we used to now that 3 of us have young kids, and jobs that are a bit more full time etc. that kind of limits how much time you can spend away from home.

DS - And so to The Bucky Rage. What can we look forward to in the not too distant future?

AG - We have a new EP coming out fairly soon. It’s all been recorded, just finishing the mixes. We’ve started organising gigs for next year, got a couple of shows booked down South and looking to organise some more European gigs. Got a few things booked up for the rest of the year, and just getting on with the usual stuff. Practicing, writing and bamming each other up!

Next in line for a chinwag was guitarist and singer of Geek Maggot Bingo - Acid Maggot. 

DS - Can you tell me why your band are supporting Buckfest this year?

AM - The Bucky Rage are good pals of ours - they may deny it to keep their street cred but they love us really! Hey, they must at least like us as they keep asking us back to Buckfest! Between my old band and Geek Maggot Bingo, I've played at most (if not all?) Buckfests and it's always wild, riotous and sometimes (always) a bit (a lot) on the chaotic side. We wouldn't have it any other way!

DS - And what are Geek Maggot Bingo are up to at the moment, what can we look forward to? It sounds like you have a lot of exciting things happening just now ...

AM - We recorded an album's worth of material last year at Angus McPake's Ravencraig Studio and we're still looking at how to release it properly. We've had some label interest and that's definitely the road we'd prefer to go down for the sake of releasing on vinyl and having some distribution.

One of the songs ('Where It's At') we recorded was written as a thank-you for Elvis Shakespeare [the Edinburgh book and record shop] and we self released that on CD along with four covers. There aren't many copies left now but if anyone wants one (we're not making any more once they're gone), they can get a copy from the New Hellfire Club shop (Glasgow), Elvis Shakespeare, our gigs, or our Bandcamp page.

Another of the songs from the Ravencraig session has been used as the theme tune for a documentary called ‘42nd Street Memories’ which is available on the DVD and BluRay of ‘Anthropophagus’ from 88 Films and is getting an American release on the BluRay of ‘Pieces’ from Grindhouse Releasing.

We've got enough songs ready for another album so we're looking to record that as soon as we can and we've also got some film related things happening but that's all very hush-hush for now.

The next gig that we're really looking forward to (we look forward to all gigs but this one's extra special) is with The Bonnevilles at the Franklin Rock 'n' Roll Club (Edinburgh) on 28th November. Tickets are on sale from The Parlour Bar in Edinburgh. Last time we played there with The Bonnevilles, it sold out and a fair few people who turned up to pay on the door were unfortunately turned away, so anyone who wants to go should get in there and buy a ticket right away.

Later on in the day B-Side Boy was happy to answer a few questions.

DS - B-Side Boy, please introduce yourself ...

BSB - Well basically B-Side Boy is just me on my own. I'm a one man music machine who makes music because I have to or my brain will explode. I sing and play along to specially prepared backing tracks while jumping about in a dress and heels. Oh and I wear a top hat too :) Having been in and out of bands for many years, I thought I'd give going solo a try. I've been doing B-Side Boy for a year and this will only be my fourth gig. Also I've put together two albums in this time (The Other Side of B-Side Boy & Throw Enough Shit, Some Of It Sticks) and am midway through a third as yet untitled one. They can all be streamed or downloaded (name your price) from my bandcamp page.

DS - And what does playing Buckfest mean to you?

BSB - I've known the Bucky Rage for many years and I especially love playing Buckfest because of the consistent quality line-up they procure. I feel honoured to be a part of it, that's probably the primary incentive. It's always a great night! Secondly I honestly do love playing music, I tend to be rubbish at everything else.

DS - What is next for B-Side Boy?

BSB - As for gigs the only other one I have at the moment is Sinister Wink at The Bungo bar on Sunday 29th November where I may throw in a Serge Gainsbourg or Technotronic cover. That will be an acoustic show so I may wear a slightly more informal dress at that one!