'Music Students at The Spree 25-28 October 2012
The Spree is a new national festival to be held in Paisley from 25-28
October 2012. Traditional cultural venues in the town such as Paisley
Abbey, Paisley Town Hall and Paisley Arts Centre will be joined by a
Spiegeltent in County Square for the festival.
Graduates of Reid Kerr College Music Section will be playing in the
Spiegeltent on the 25th and 26th October at 5pm. These gigs are FREE to
the public. First up on the 25th is Julia and the Doogans.
Since graduating in Music (HND) from Reid Kerr, Julia and the Doogans
have performed all over the UK, including at the Wickerman and Belladrum
festivals. They've featured in the soundtrack of several BBC 4 dramas
and been given airplay on many national radio stations. In 2011, they
were the subject of a short STV documentary, 'A Portrait Of Julia And
The Doogans'. Julia has recently returned from playing some live shows
in New York to support the release of her first single there.
Julia said, ""Playing in New York was great. It was like starting all over again
because it's a massive city and absolutely no one knows you. It was a
great experience and I got a good reaction from the crowds/venues.
Meeting the label people for a drink in a cool bar in NYC felt kind of
like a dream but I was living it. They're nice people, though, and I am
glad to have met them through music.
College was great because it gave us the opportunity to play gigs from
the very start. When most of us started on the NC course, we had never
performed before and those that had, had only performed at school or
with orchestras/ensembles. While at college I gained confidence and
learnt how to (a) go about putting on a gig and (b) how to manage my nerves.
It's exciting to take part in a festival in Paisley. We have a lot of
memories there because of college and I am especially looking forward to
seeing the other Reid Kerr folk performing in the Spiegeltent - I'm
excited to see Laura Carswell play because she's really good!"
