Well, having reviewed a small number of the artists who particularly struck me at this year’s Homegame festival I thought it worth mentioning a few thoughts on the overall weekend, for those interested.

First, however, a little background. Kenny Anderson – a.k.a. King Creosote – was in a reasonably successful band back in the early 90s called the Skuobhie Dubh Orchestra. They released a couple of good albums but internal politics did for them, and Kenny was dropped by his record label. He continued recording, setting up a record shop in St. Andrews, and putting out self-released CD-Rs every now and then. To cut a long story very short, his two musical brothers, Lone Pigeon (of Beta Band fame) and Pip Dylan and a few other musical friends ended up clustering together to become what is now known as The Fence Collective.

Recently there have been some pretty high-profile releases from the Fencers as the whole enterprise has gathered momentum, including a couple of very well-received albums from King Creosote himself, as well as the lush and lovely fireside folk of James Yorkston. K.T Tunstall is also one of theirs, I think, but I don’t hear that much mention of her these days. Late last year Barbarossa released one of the most successful records on Fence Records to date, with Chemical Campfires – KC and James Yorkston release their stuff through larger labels. So the whole thing is starting to really take off, which is excellent because a more deserving bunch of people you couldn’t hope to meet.

Anyhow, once a year the Fence Collective and various other pals of theirs all come together back in Anstruther for a weekend (two weekends this time, due to popularity) and play lots of gigs shared amongst the local town halls, get pished as newts and generally have a right old laugh. The sell a couple of hundred tickets, and everyone spends the weekend in a lovely Scottish seaside town, walking from one gig to another, down to the seafront for fish & chips, or just generally dossing about and relaxing.

The music varies from bizarre electronic noodling to uber-hippy folk to immaculate indie pop and full on electro-disco-punk thrash. For the most part, however, the kind of introspective indie-folk of the likes of King Creosote tends to dominate – thoughtful, often slightly eccentric songs, largely acoustic, with threads of electronica and experimental accompaniments. Musicians turn up all over the place, wielding the washboard here, accompanying someone on guitar there, and then playing their own set somewhere later – I swear I even saw James Yorkston playing power chords on an electric guitar and pogo-ing around the stage at one point. There tend to be the odd surprise invitee as well, such as Blood Music and The Singleman Affair this year, and a couple of Scottish indie heroes, Malcolm Middleton and Ballboy, made appearances as well. By and large, though, this is just a bunch of old mates getting together and playing their music together. And we get to come too.

That is the best thing about this festival. Apart from the fact that it being in Anstruther completely avoids the bald, plastic glass-strewn fields and shitty campsites of other festivals, as well as giving indie widows such as Mrs. Toad something to do. Basically, the musicians are all attending the festival the same as you. They do all sorts of work on things like sound and dragging people’s hand-made CDs around so people can buy stuff from the bands they like. And I’ve never seen a bunch of people so completely unassuming and entirely tolerant of being accosted by drunken fans slurring incoherently at them. They were all up at Legends on the last night, getting plastered with everyone else and basically just enjoying the whole business.

And that’s the thing. As a fan, The Fence Collective starts to feel like something you belong to almost as much as they do, despite not actually doing anything yourself in particular. Perversely, I don’t want it to get too big because there is nothing in the world so pure and sincere that a marketing department can’t utterly fucking ruin it, but then if there was anyone in the world that you really want to see succeed then it’s these guys. So subscribe to your Fencezine, be sharp, and do your best to get tickets next year. Honestly, it’s easily, easily worth it.

For an introduction to the Fence musicians, get down to your local independent record shop and buy their sampler, Don’t Fudge With the Fence Made. Here’s a couple of highlights from that CD, plus a couple of songs from the mainstays of Fencelyness:

King Creosote – Circle my Demise (It’s miserable, this one, but gorgeous)
King Creosote – Klutz (A bit more cheerful for you)
James Yorkston & the Athletes – St. Patrick
Barbarossa – Aeroplanes
The Pictish Trail – All I Own
Adrian Crowley – Northern Country