Ahead of this summer’s big Highland festival The Aviemore Stopover, Susan Welsh talks youth hostels, happy memories and news sounds with Ted Dwane, from Mumford & Sons
It’s an area known for its stunning beauty and scenery. But for the first time, Aviemore is being put on a map of major musical festivals, with 25,000 fans expected to flock to the Gentlemen of the Road Festival this summer.
The festival is headlined and organised by Mumford & Sons and the band will bring it to the beautiful Rothiemurchus Estate on the weekend of July 31 and August 1, an occasion predicted to be “the biggest event of a lifetime for Aviemore”, according to one local councillor.
Ted Dwane, bassist of the multi-award-winning British rock band, can’t wait, and said: “I visited the site when I was in the area doing a distillery tour with a friend about a month ago and can tell you it’s an amazing spot. We’ve done quite a lot in Scotland and have a real love for it. The landscape is amazing. It just gets better and better the farther north you go.
“Potentially the whole world is a place to have a Stopover, so the list of potential places is whittled down until you get destinations that really work. We’d previously done two Highland tours and really enjoyed them, which is why the Highlands came up when it came to discussing the Stopover Festival.
“There are lots of prerequisites for the locations and Aviemore ticked all the boxes. Then you go and visit, speak to the locals and see if this is something they actually want, because it has to be a reciprocal agreement.”
As Ted said, Mumford & Sons have connections with the area, having previously headlined RockNess and Loopallu in recent years. Just before they hit the big time and became the global superstars they are now, they played a gig at music venue Hootananny, in Inverness, where they were supported by a couple of local bands.
Local music event organiser Dougie Brown booked the show and the band’s accommodation at a local backpacker’s hostel. “I remember that clearly because the hostel had a really good view over the town,” said Ted.
“We had been sleeping in the van, so staying in the hostel felt like total luxury and we really enjoyed it.”
Some 19,000 fans are expected to opt to camp at the festival, but Ted wasn’t saying whether the band would camp, or indeed revisit the Inverness hostel, but did confess that their rider was to include a basketball hoop and ping-pong table.
“That’s a bit weird, right?” he asked with a big smile on his face.
It’s certainly not what you’d expect to find on a list of rock band must-haves on tour, especially from a group who have revealed a new heavier, rockier sound with their latest single, Believe. Their third album, Wilder Mind, is due for release on May 4.
“Obviously, we’re immensely proud of the first two albums, but we didn’t really get time to evolve,” said Ted.
“We were really keen to allow ourselves that time this time round and had a lot of fun making this record. We took a bit of time and space to develop as a band and what’s happened is there’s been an evolution that we’re really excited about.
“I think, inevitably, we might scare a few people, but you can’t just make the same album over and over again. You have to stretch yourself and evolve and that’s what we have done. It’s a very exciting feeling. At the Stopover Festival, we’ll be playing for around two and half hours, a nice mixture of old favourites as well as the new tracks.”
The man with the task of helping organise the festival is Robert Hicks, who also organises the Loopallu festival in Ullapool. He admitted that the logistics of organising such a large event in the Highland village make for “a challenge” and revealed that planning had secretly got under way last summer.
Mr Hicks said: “We’re overwhelmed that Mumford & Sons have chosen the Highlands, and in particular Aviemore, as the only UK and, indeed, European leg of their touring Stopover Festival. The Aviemore Stopover is a unique opportunity for the Badenoch and Strathspey area and the Highlands as a whole to shout about what an incredible place we live in. Being announced alongside Stopovers being staged across the US and Australia brings us a truly global audience.
“This is a real highlight for me and the Beyond team, having worked with Mumford & Sons since they toured the Highlands back in 2009 and numerous times since.”
Ted said: “A lot of our friends will be playing the festival with us, so it’s going to be one big party for us and the whole area.”
Tickets from www.gentlemenoftheroad.com/tickets, www.skiddle.com, www.ticketmaster.co.uk, www.seetickets.com, The Old Bridge Inn in Aviemore and the Ironworks in Inverness.