It's been a bad year for the Bananas as we've lost two of our good friends.  Our good friend and drummer, Clark Robinson died on the morning of Thursday 31st January 2008 after a short illness.  Clark had been depping with the Bananas for a number of years, jumping in the band sometimes at a minutes notice when our other Banana drummers were busy.  Personally, all I can say is that I am heartbroken and will miss Clark dearly. 

I first met Clark in Perth back around 1991.  It was around 1994 when I travelled with himself and a dozen or so musicians to the Emerald Isle to play music.  This was an unforgettable trip in which Clark played a huge part.  As well as his immense musical talent, I will never forget his huge personality and great sense of humour.  We often called him "Ming the Merciless" and when he sat in with the Bananas he loved to use the quote "Ming in Bananas!"

He will be missed by all, he was a one of a kind.  RIP Ming!

We held a musical tribute on Sunday 4th May at Scone Aerodrome to celebrate Clarks life.  The gig started at 3pm and went on until midnight.  Around 14 bands and performers played their hearts out.  Clark was definitely there in spirit, he was felt by many of us. 

As if that wasn't bad enough, we lost our good friend John McConnell in March.  John was a Stirling Boy, he was a professional photographer and a dab hand with a camera.  He had a great way with people and getting that perfect shot.  John had been taking photos for me for many years whether it be for promo shots, album covers or for placing within my book.  He was a big help when I was putting the book together and he had always good ideas.  It was John that was responsible for the picture above with Clark on the bike.

I first met John in Roadshow Music, Bridge of Allan around 25 years ago and continued meeting him for many years later, in Roadshow, always drinking tea and coffee and moaning about the world.  He was a great guy and was way crabbit but that's one quality which I loved about him and would never have wanted to trade.  Recently we used to regularly go for breakfast in our local stop - Corrieris in Causewayhead, Stirling.  Over a huge breakfast and several cups of tea, we would discuss past and future gigs, politics and I'd chuckle to myself as he'd have his usual moan about the Cooncillors. 

He'll be missed.  Cheerio China! 

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Unfortunately after all of these years on the road, the Bananas are throwing in the towel and will be stopping in September.  The band has been unsettled for a number of years now with each member heading for different goals.  It was decided to split the band and let individuals follow their own musical paths.  It has to be said that the guys are all still friends, talking and there's no bad feelings, it is simply time to move on.  Although the band is finishing up and the guys are slowly winding down, the guys will still be playing their own gigs around the country with other musicians and bands so should you need music, feel free to contact Stevie at stevieg90@hotmail.com or Jock at jockthebox@hotmail.com

Thank you to everyone for being so supportive of us over the last years and coming along to the gigs to Go Bananas.  There's been too many people and  gigs to even mention but you all know who you are and Thank You all. 

In the meantime the Banana myspace page is still running so come along and be our pal.  We can be found at http://www.myspace.com/boxo39bananas 

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Latest - Charlie Dewhurst, a good friend of Stevies, has been chasing Stevie for a number of years in order to carry out a radio interview and just last week a date was sorted and the deed was carried out.  Charlie now lives in Stornoway and he has his very own programme entitled "No Celtic Boundaries."  Charlie has already interviewed musicians such as Mary Black, Paul Brady, Cora Smith, Natalie McMasters, Runrig and his latest were my old pal and musician, Gregor Lowrey followed by myself.   Charlie has a few big names that he will interview in the coming months, watch his space for details.

Their are two interviews, each being an hour long.  Charlie has placed these shows on his web page in an MP3 format which you can click on and hear at any point when you have the time.  It would good if you could make the time and drop Charlie an email and give him feedback with your thoughts. 

In order to hear the interview click on the link below.  On the main page, click on the heading, Interviews.  Scroll down a little until an audio player appears.  Click on the on button at the bottom left (sometimes you have to click twice) the player will light up.  Use the controls to play and move forward onto the relevant  interviews.  At the moment Gregor Lowrey is number 19 & 20.  Stevie Gillies is number 23 & 24 although these numbers will change the more interviews that Charlie adds to the page.  Enjoy.  www.nocelticboundaries.com 

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This year The Scribblers Picnic has been moved from June onto August so hopefully it suits people a bit better and you never know, we might just get a better day eh?  The date is Sunday 24th August at Bridgehaugh, Stirling Rugby Club Grounds.  Once again thanks to everyone who came along to the past Picnics and performed, spent money or aided in any way.  You all helped us to raise a lot of money which is all donated to cancer charities. 

Please note that you can sponsor a Scibblers bear at any time.  Once a bear has been sponsored, the bear has to be taken with you and the family and photographed in as many places as he can travel and with as many well known people as the bear can meet.  The money raised from the sponsorship all goes towards cancer charities.  The Scribbler bear pictures are collected and may be shown or printed in the newspaper all helping to advertise the Scribblers Picnic and this on going well worth charity.  Please help us wherever you can.  Check out the The Scribblers Bear Page

Graham Whitelaw was a friend, schoolteacher, writer and a musician who died from cancer in April 2001.  He had a regular column in the Stirling Observer where he was known as "The Scribbler."  Please find the time to read the article about Graham - The Scribbler.

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Oh aye and just a wee bit of info for the non believers who saw us support the Stranglers at Campbeltown last year.  I must say that I was hooting myself at a review with comments from some tchueter from Campbeltown insisting that the Bananas were using backing tapes and sequences.  This is all complete nonsense.  For anyone that knows the Bananas, the use of backing tracks, sequencers or drum machines has been a no go area since the birth of the Bananas back in the early nineties.  Even the thought or mention of it would be worth a punch in the puss. 

We do however use a facility called MIDI with the accordion.  For the non musical folks this stands for Musical Instrument Digital Interface.  This allows the accordion player to play bass guitar sounds from the bass end of the accordion and piano or string pads from the right hand side of the accordion.  There is a small black unit which sits next to the accordion player which contains these sounds.  There is no facility to record or playback with this equipment, the unit only contains the sounds but all of the parts have to be played live. 

Regarding the extra guitar parts, the guitar used is a Parker Fly which has a stereo output with two separate guitar outputs - one for the electric guitar which firstly goes through a tuner, a volume pedal, a wah wah pedal, an octaver pedal, an effects processor, a power amplifier, 2 speaker cabinets and then miked up through the PA system.  The second output is for the acoustic pickup which goes through an EQ pedal, an acoustic amplifier then sent to the PA system.  There is no spare guitar player hiding behind the curtain, it is simply a huge guitar sound. 

Regarding the extra drum parts, there are none at all, we just have a brilliant drummer.  Too much drink I think if the tchueter is hearing extra guitar and drum parts.  The drummers kit is simply miked up through the PA and all of the parts are played live.  There are no samples or backing tracks. 

So, sorry to disappoint y'all but the Bananas do have a big sound but then again we do use a lot of equipment but definitely no sequencers or playback machines.  It doesn't take a genius to work out that we play live, there are plenty of mistakes but hey - that's what live bands are all about eh?  If you don't believe any of the above, come along to a gig and ask us, we'll gladly show you what we use on stage.  We have nothing to hide, as I said, all of the parts are played live, what you see is what you get. 

You should hear the band when Stevie gets his MIDI guitar going as well.

Once again thanks for taking the time to visit the Bananas Web Page. 

Till the next transmission, cheers