BELLE & SEBASTIAN
“Captain” Stuart and guitarist Stevie
This summer, Belle and Sebastian’s ‘Boaty Weekender’ sails round the sunny Med, with Scot pop pals Teenage Fanclub, Mogwai and others aboard. For Stuart Murdoch, frontman and founder member of the Glasgow group, it will be a long-cherished dream come true.
“It’s not just in the blood, it’s in the name,” Stuart explains. “Murdoch actually means sea captain or seafarer. My dad was a sailor. My brother’s still on the ferries.
“When the band was first going, we wanted to do a ferry tour around the British Isles, but it fell through at the last minute.
“When this Mediterranean thing came along, we thought, ‘Wow, we’ve finally got our chance’.”
Stuart admits that the audience
ALL ABOARD The Boaty Weekender ship
likely to join the cruise will be different to fans who have flocked to previous weekend events and festivals that Belle and Sebastian have hosted in their 23-year career.
“We might get a lot of people who just really like to come on cruises and like music on the side.” says Stuart. “But obviously we’re hoping to get a nice mix of people.”
The close relationship B&S have built with fans over the years – and since their 1998 classic The Boy with the Arab Strap
– will continue on board. Stuart says: “There will be music all the time and we’re going to be mixing with the people on the boat the whole time.
“We’re going to be doing different classes and we’re going to be putting on film festivals and a big sort of pub quiz with lots of rounds. So there’s going to be a lot of fun interaction.”
A special performance of the band’s fourth album, Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like a Peasant – now 19 years old – will be staged for 400 earlybird ticket holders.
Other bespoke B&S performances for the 2,000-plus on board will follow over the weekend. “They’ll be sick of us by the end of it,” jokes Stuart. Fans will also be able to join him for a gentle morning workout on deck.
“I’m 50 now, so I enjoy the, shall we just say, slower arts,” he adds. “I’ve done yoga for a while and I think it’s going to be just perfect for the ship.”
With a film soundtrack and series of short themed instrumental releases (“We’re thinking Music for Movement, Music for Meditation – things like that”), Stuart’s post-cruise B&S plans are well developed. What could possibly go wrong? He grins, saying: “It will be a disaster if we get on and find somebody’s seasick and can’t play.”
Let’s hope not.
■ The Boaty Weekender is a four-day festival at sea, on August 8-12, from Barcelona to Sardinia. To book, visit theboatyweekender.com Conceptually rigorous, musically exalted and compositionally outstanding, The Healing Game marked an obvious return to form and career high for Morrison on its original release. But this reissue, two years late for its 20th anniversary, adds whole new layers of excellence. Didn’t He Ramble is a highlight, as are collaborations with formative influences including John Lee Hooker.
It’ll be a disaster if someone’s sea sick and can’t play a note!