The Riverkicks play Druid Fest

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The folky band I am in, @theriverkicks, have only played a few gigs and last weekend we returned to the venue of our first at Druid Fest. They must have liked us as they asked us to come back.

Druid Fest is a get-together of people who celebrate the autumn equinox and partake of various activities such as natural crafts and healing. They have a lovely venue in the woods of Hertfordshire. It is a good thing they have a covered area as the weather was not looking great. It was not too wet when we were setting up, but we had some downpours during the performance.

There is no mains electricity there. That is not an issue for my drums, but we do need some amplification for vocals and some of the instruments. There are some neat battery units that can supply 240V A/C to deal with that.

We were missing a couple of band members, but were joined by Jim, who is one of the druids, on flute. @daniellemurray played recorder and clarinet, @purplesinger was on piano, Bob on flute, Anne-Marie on guitar and Paul on bass.

It was a fairly small crowd, but we enjoyed playing them a load of tunes from across the centuries. There was some dancing. This is the only song I sang this time. I feel I did pretty well considering I have had a cold for the last few days. I was feeling a bit rough that morning, but after the gig I felt much better. Maybe music really does have healing properties.

We are open to playing other events and will see what comes up.

I am still looking into upgrading my drum kit. Better cymbals and drum skins may be next. I like the kit itself as it is so portable and easily fits in the back of our car. I need some proper cases to protect it rather than my improvised bags.

Rock on!


▶️ 3Speak



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15 comments
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European pre-christian traditions are very interesting. People were much more in tune with nature and their immediate surroundings back then. I was just reading about Harvest Festival yesterday (the closest Sunday to the Equinox), which is when the Harvest Festival would have been celebrated back in the day. Ironically its usually only remembered by the Church that replaced those customs. Druid Fest sounds interesting.

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They seem a nice bunch of people with their own quirks. I really don't know too much about their beliefs, but I'm all for being in tune with nature.

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Nature forms such an important focus of their reverence, that whatever beliefs they hold about Deity, all Druids sense Nature as divine or sacred. Every part of nature is sensed as part of the great web of life, with no one creature or aspect of it having supremacy over any other. Unlike religions that are anthropocentric, believing humanity occupies a central role in the scheme of life, this conception is systemic and holistic, and sees humankind as just one part of the wider family of life.

You can read more here

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Wow, another festival? Nice job!

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It's a slightly smaller scale than the last one, but with less pressure. We're mainly doing this for fun anyway.

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Well that's cool. It's always nice when you can relax.

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Nice easy song :)

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I don't want it too complex when I have to sing as well. I throw in some fills on others, but I'm still finding out what works. We do mix it up with songs in 3/4 and 6/8.

!BEER

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Nice! I have never been able to sing while drumming...

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It was good fun. I have never tried singing and drumming at the same time...not seriously anyway..only sort of humming along when I'm practicing something. I can do that, but not sure I could perform something. I think the words would go right out the window.

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It's not too bad if you stick to simple rhythms. Not much different to strumming a guitar, without the chord changes. Playing piano and singing looks harder.

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