Viewfirth

[buddyrich]

Deemac mentioned a new viewfirth rising from the rubble and i would be glad for it to happen. It was the place to put on a gig, indoor or out-anyone have a memory or two to share? At the very least im sure Deemac can furnish us with some Edge of the World stories.

Most of the time i spent at the viewfirth i was terminally jangled but loads of things stand out-first proper gig out of school, waiting to be buzzed in at the front door, the weird partition thing on the stage/darts ockey in the sports bar, the not unpleasant aroma of the place, the door at the far end of the barn that led into the kitchen, the time a certain young guitar player got so mangled he got hauled off in an ambulance during a blizzard, the sour faces of the snooker players when we used the sports bar for band practice, the sheer joy and thrill of being underage but having secured drink and turning up totally spangled, and countless enjoyable gigs.

Remember Dodgy playing there? The drummer seemed to be the only original one left and he was flogging a particularly decomposed horse corpse.

[moncur]

I think most of us had our first out of school gig there. Mine was in the sports bar and I think it was organised through the youth club, I lost my favourite guitar strap at that gig and to this day I havent found one that feels as comfortable. Many a band practice and Paul Craigs 30th Birthday party jam in the sports bar. On occassion we would get told off for being so loud that the Bingo Biddys couldnt hear the bingo caller. Complaints from the snooker players and Bingo Biddys only spurred us on to play even louder!

[Deemac]

I saw the architects plans and drawings of the proposed new Viewfirth complex in Thurso town hall, in the room (to the left) just off the Dounreay exhibition space on the first floor. I assume this is for public viewing. The architect is Pentarq.

This looks like a fairly big budget project to me. There certainly featured a large performace space with the mention of a recording studio facility at the back etc. I recommend if your interested to check out the drawings/3D impressions for yourself.

[loganbiffy]

A good idea for a new Viewfirth, although it will never replace the old one.
It's a shame nobody could have bought the old one and done it up.

So many great nights in there, from underage drinking to great gigs.
Good times.

[zebedy]

aah the viewfirth, was my second home growing up. ( my great great Gran was born their in the house )

Was in playing snooker at the age of ten, well i couldn't reach the table properly at that point, but dad was playing and i'd happily sit and watch.

I really do miss that place, driving up Castle Green Road and looking over there now just makes me sigh every time without fail. Just doens't look right to me, and probably never will again.

Used to play Ping Pong in the barn every week without fail. Was brilliant. The banter was never dour for me anyway.

Can't say my first out of school gig was there, (was the good ol' REDWOOD rip) but I remember playin one of the E Rock Concerts there. Was great, Being on that stupid little stage. I loved every minute of it. And the wobbly DIY job stage on the front to extend. Ahh more good times.

I do remember going to see either the mighty' Voodooqueen or The Rehab Rejects in the sports bar one night, and being really freaked out because of Callums eyes when he sang, I was only 11 i think. But the chance to see them bands to play live I was there. Reason being why i picked drum sticks up was that band and their drummer :P

Band practices also ones to be rememberd in the sports bar for myself. having a wee break and playin some ping pong, or even the odd game of darts too if anyone had left some about the place. lol

heres hoping there is somewhere for live music there. (Y)

[Jeid]

Were you at the Rehab Rejects gig in there? Weird, you must've been well young then

[buddyrich]

Many a band practice and Paul Craigs 30th Birthday party jam in the sports bar.

Pauls party was textbook. Officially the last public performance from Stix before he became an honest man and the only time Punk Attakk ever played live. Probably for the best although Stix singing EMI was wonderful.

Did stevie t play that night too?

I mind we did a Metal Attakk set in there as well but i cant mind what the occasion was.

[The Pepsi Challenge]

Too many stories about the Viewfirth to mention here. Could certainly pen a nostalgic-romantic Stephen Cashmore-like epic - to be serialsied in the Groat over the course of a year - but then I'd rather be Hector Mackenzie (all ye young whippersnappers, bar Metalattakk, won't have a clue who he was, but the 'We Hate Hector' campaign gave him far too much of an ego massage) and write about that period as though it were Q magazine seen through the eyes of a misunderstood Kurt Cobain fan who reviewed high school concerts, again, like he was writing for Q Anyway...!

The Viewfirth holds a lot of memories, but it comes second, for me, anyway, to the late, great Moonshine Rock Bar (save that for another thread methinks). When I was playing music there - and well underage by about a good four years - it was all metal, metal, metal. The bands I tended to play in were more, whisper it, indie, but like everyone else who played there between 1988 and 1996, I, too, played more than my fair share of Suicidal Tendencies, Exploited and Chaotic Discord numbers

Back then, we also used to have what was once known as an audience. They'd even pay to get in - and - and! - stick around to the bitter end without leading an exodus (another bad metal band) to the Central, or Eves. Can anyone here apart from Metalattakk remember a time when gigs outside the town centre didn't force everyone to head off before 11pm? Didn't think so.

As I said, there's too many stories to tell, but one of the funniest - and one of the more 'recent' - was when Dodgy came up to play and they actually had to instruct the audience (verbally) on how to conduct yourself and react at a gig: i.e. not have 300 people make the main hall look empty by hiding in the corners at the back. Oh aye, and Colin Punler turning up drunk during the last number before getting peeved off that no-one would let him 'backstage' (the Sports Bar) to talk to the band afterward. Strangely, a review (by him), covering the entire event, appeared magically in the following week's paper. Reviewers, eh? Who do they get their tips from?


Viewfirth MK1 RIP

[the_big_mac]

Played a few quality gigs there. Of course never after the age of eighteen though!

I will never forget playing a Thrash/Death Metal set with Stix, Lugsy, Shaun McEwan and Paul Craig. We were absolutely atrocious! Stix got all dressed up, face paint, metal studs, the works, he had flour and fake blood wich he sprayed all over the sports bar during one of the songs, soo funny. Even better that there was only 8 other people there to see us

Also remember doing a gig with my more regular bandmates. Got there to set up and get orginised at lunchtime, started drinking, we went on stage at about 10pm after rocking out to 4 other bands, I was blootered and knackered! Couldnt keep up after the first track, brilliant!

[poppett]

Going to show my age here. My memories of Viewfirth were dances with "The Coasters" "Manson Grant and the Dynamos showband" "Rhythm Four" "The Debonaires" "The Newmen" and many south of the border bands who would play a Saturday night gig in Viewfirth for next to nothing as they played a Friday in the pavilion in Strathpeffer and Sunday at Elgin and needed a night in between.........The Hillsiders and West Virginia both from Liverpool did that on many occasions and became very good friends and we still keep in touch some 30+ years onwards.

Such happy memories of the late 60`s - 80`s in Viewfirth

[Sporran]

My memories of Viewfirth go back to the 60s and 70s, and I recall those local bands you mentioned as well, poppett. Happy days indeed!

They used to have a teenage disco in the Viewfirth Barn in late late 60s, and I can still remember dancing to Steppenwolf's "Born To Be Wild" there. I still love that song, to this day! The Barn was also home to the Thurso Folk Club, where I spent many a pleasant evening in the 70s. We had some excellent local musicians, such as Ian and Margie Sinclair, Ian Livingstone, Ray Crompton and Robert Disbury. We were also privileged enough to be entertained by big names such as The Tannahill Weavers, Silly Wizard, Archie Fisher and Jean Redpath, to name just a few. The artists came from far and wide, including the USA.

Then there were the weekend dances in the Big Hall, where you bought your ticket from "Punch", the ould mannie wi' the limp. He always looked very dapper in his dark suit, and his grey hair slicked back. At the end of the night, he'd go around the hall trying to chase away the hangers-on with "Homes to go to! Homes to go to, my friends!" I can still "hear" his voice after all these years!

As well as local bands of various genres, we also had some big names perform in the Big Hall in the 1970s. The electric folk band "Steeleye Span" was one of them, in the early 70s. What a night that was!

We even had comedian Billy Connolly, in 1974 . There the bearded "Big Yin" stood on stage, entertaining us in a white satin suit, which had broad black stripes on the baggy trousers. I guess you could say he was dressed a bit like a Liquorice Allsort, lol!

Hubby and I had our wedding reception in the Barn, and wedding dance in the Big Hall. We couldn't make up our minds on a local band, so we opted for The John French Disco instead, which was very popular at the time.

My husband used to like playing snooker in the Sports Bar. He's a Yank, and preferred the large snooker tables to the peedie American pool tables. Mind you, I always told him he had an unfair advantage, being 6 foot 6 inches tall - two metres to be exact. It was quite something to see him stretch over the snooker table as he played! He wasn't too bad at darts either, with those long arms of his.

I don't remember any bands playing in the Sports bar in the 70s, though. Maybe that came later.

PS - I've just remembered the name of the Thurso folk group that consisted of Ian and Margie Sinclair and Ray Crompton. It was Mirk. Are they, or any of the other local folk musicians still performing, does anyone know?

[The Pepsi Challenge]

I would have loved to have seen the Thurso Folk Club back in the day. My mum, who used to work there in the early-to-mid 70s, always said the place was stowed out (the Barn). Does anyone remember a certain Irish band from way back then called The (Royal) Viceroys?

[Gleber2]

Hey, Sporran, it was myself who used to play Born to be Wild in the barn!!!!!! We were called the Jam.

[buddyrich]

Played a few quality gigs there. Of course never after the age of eighteen though!

I will never forget playing a Thrash/Death Metal set with Stix, Lugsy, Shaun McEwan and Paul Craig. We were absolutely atrocious! Stix got all dressed up, face paint, metal studs, the works, he had flour and fake blood wich he sprayed all over the sports bar during one of the songs, soo funny. Even better that there was only 8 other people there to see us

Casket Garden-heard a lot about this legendary gig.

Did the 8 people include Pauls mum who was working behind the bar?

[Sporran]

Hey, Sporran, it was myself who used to play Born to be Wild in the barn!!!!!! We were called the Jam.

Didn't the Jam also play at Thurso Youth Club, Gleber2?

I remember Prairie Wolf playing in Viewfirth's Big Hall. Wasn't that one of your bands too?

[Gleber2]

Didn't the Jam also play at Thurso Youth Club, Gleber2?

I remember Prairie Wolf playing in Viewfirth's Big Hall. Wasn't that one of your bands too?

Aye, we played the Youth club. We were together late 68 to early 69. Myself, Johnny Gray and Graham Walker. Prairie Wolf were together in 74/5 to 77/78 but I was never a member although I played with them a few times.

[the_big_mac]

Casket Garden-heard a lot about this legendary gig.

Did the 8 people include Pauls mum who was working behind the bar?

Hahaha, yeah thats what we were called! Named after a song by dismember that I found on a free CD from terrorisor mag. Its actually a cracking song too.

Most likely, it felt more like a KISS dress rehersal than a gig

Good times

[moncur]

Did stevie t play that night too?

Yup, that was actually the first time I ever met him and I was blown away by his ability........ His ability to get absolutely spannered in the hour which Duress played before he went on lol

[Sporran]

I would have loved to have seen the Thurso Folk Club back in the day. My mum, who used to work there in the early-to-mid 70s, always said the place was stowed out (the Barn).

Yes, it was always a full house, or should I say, full barn. Every nook and cranny was filled. No matter who was performing, the place was packed without fail, and the audience was extremely attentive.

I forgot to mention in my previous post that Barbara Dickson performed there in the early 70s. She is, in my opinion, one of Scotland's finest female singers, whether she's singing traditional or contemporary songs.

[buddyrich]

Yup, that was actually the first time I ever met him and I was blown away by his ability........ His ability to get absolutely spannered in the hour which Duress played before he went on lol

Aye i remember now.

It was a quality night though.