Little Fire Music Column

Mar 15 2013 by Little Fire, Ayrshire Post

Hello folks I hope you’re having a good week.

I’d just like to start by saying a huge thanks to everyone for their support in voting for myself for the Best Acoustic award at the Scottish Alternative Music Awards.

Culann from Irvine and myself were both nominated for awards and I know they and I are both very grateful for your support in bringing the trophies back to Ayrshire, so a huge thank you!

•I caught up with Siloé Gavillet, a commercial music student at the University of the West of Scotland.

Siloé is the brains behind the upcoming UWS Creative Festival which will take place at the Ayr campus between March 18-22.

Featuring a diverse line up of artistic exhibitions and performances, the festival will be an engaging and inclusive event which is both open to the public as well as students.

Featuring events during the day as well as the evening the festival is a brilliant opportunity for UWS students to exhibit their work to their peers as well as to the wider public.

Siloé told me: “I’m so impressed with the wide range of artistic talents here at the university.

“It’s fantastic to be here as an exchange student from France. The talent here is hugely impressive and it’s important to me that I created an event to celebrate that talent and for everyone to be able to see what everyone else is doing.

“I think communication is the key in the arts world and I’m very glad that the University is facilitating the event, it’s very encouraging and I cant wait for the festival to begin.”

Student Dean Cargill added: “It’s great to see the student union being put to proper use.

“Our university is filled with creative courses and I feel the union could definitely become a buzzing, vibrant place which represents that.”

Siloe is bringing together the different creative disciplines in the university and I really appreciate that.

It’s brilliant to have exhibitions for the film students, the media students, the music students and everything all together rather than being disparate elements.

The creative industries are all about people from different sectors working together and Siloé and the UWS Creative Festival is doing just that.

It’s going to be a very busy and exciting time at the university.

I’m performing three times over the festival with three different bands – Holli and the Ivys, Black Doves and Rebs and the Imaginary Friends.

For more information see twitter.com/UWSCreativeFest.

•Check out BBC Rapal this Thursday evening at 10pm to see Ayrshire’s Paul McGranaghan, Brown Bear and The Bandits and Anna Sweeney along with the excellent Three Blind Wolves from Glasgow perform their songs on the fantastic new BBC Alba music programme.

Essential viewing for those of you keen to see quality Scottish new music talent who might indeed be on their way to bigger things.

•One of the top gigs this weekend is on Saturday night at the Basement, Ayr, when the award winning Hector Bizerk perform. Get there if you can.