Andy Letcher & Cliff Stapleton

I did a beautiful gig with Cliff Stapleton in the depths of Somerset at the weekend. In this side-project to the Bees we play bagpipes and hurdy-gurdy for French and Breton dancing (bourrees, schottisches, hanter dros, that sort of thing), a dronetastic pairing.

Cliff is an old hand at this having played with Blowzabella back in the early days and more recently with (the much missed) Primaeval. We've written all the tunes between us and we delight in simple tunes, played over and over so the music starts to get trancey. It's what people did before electrickery - organic trance on rasping instruments of hoof and horn. We played for at least two hours and still they were calling for more.

We were playing in someone's house, a converted studio loft, all decorated with greenery and drapes. Here's a photo of us setting up - you'll have to imagine the room full of dancers! We're playing again soon in Dorset - if I can find out where I'll post it up here.

Andy xxx