Scottish neo-trad Highlanders, Elephant Sessions were so impressed with Australian audiences when they made their debut in 2018 they couldn't wait to get back here.
“We had an amazing time, absolutely loved it there; from the festivals to even our own club shows it was amazing,” mandolinist Alasdair Taylor says about their maiden voyage down under.“It's always amazing seeing a new place, but somewhere which embraced us so much was quite amazing. The crowds at all the venues and all the festivals seemed to get really behind and onboard with what we were doing – and they did party, they definitely did party, I'll tell you that,” he laughs.
Since then, Elephant Sessions have already undertaken a second Australian tour and will return again this month for an extensive run that includes some of the country's biggest and best folk festivals. “That's what we're hoping for, we want to come back as much as possible,” Alasdair says.
“Honestly, we do genuinely love it over there and it's such a beautiful place with so many amazing, fun people. We really do hope we can make it once, twice a year, whatever, as much as possible.”
Their experiences in Australia had a profound, inspirational effect on Elephant Sessions. So much so, their latest album 'What Makes You' features a song called 'Tyagarah' in honour of the Bluesfest site.
“The first time we came over [to Australia], we were at the point of we'd just started writing the album that became 'What Makes You' and we had maybe two tracks written,” Alasdair explains.
“We were in the very early stages anyway and a large part of the process of writing that album was down to our experiences on the road that year, and obviously we'd been to Australia – as far away as we could have got from home – and we found a lot of home comforts in Australia. We were amazed with how at-home we felt there.
“It seemed fitting and right to pay homage in some way to a trip that really shaped and helped the band so much. These sort of trips in particular put a mark on you, especially the first time you go. It was quite special for us, so it's a little nod to the time we've had in Australia.”
Elephants Sessions' tour starts at Woodford Folk Festival and includes stops at Cygnet, Illawarra and National Folk festivals respectively as well as a number of theatre shows.
It also coincides with 2020 being the Year Of Scotland In Australia, a country where at the 2016 census, over two million people claimed Scottish ancestry. “There's like 500 performances of Scottish bands and we're starting that over the New Year, which is quite an honour as well,” Alasdair says.
“If we weren't already excited about going and playing cool festivals in a cool country, we get to go and have the honour of doing that as well.”
Elephant Sessions 2020 Tour Dates
28 Dec-1 Jan - Woodford Folk Festival (Sunshine Coast)Wed 2 Jan - The Old Museum (Brisbane)
Fri 3 Jan - The Bellingen Brewery & Co. (Northern Rivers)
Sat 4 Jan - The Upper Lansdowne Hall (NSW)
Sun 5 Jan - Stag & Hunter Hotel (Newcastle)
Wed 8 Jan - The Spotted Mallard (Melbourne)
Thu 9 Jan - Rosny Farm (Hobart)
10-12 Jan - Cygnet Folk Festival (Tasmania)
Wed 15 Jan - The Brass Monkey (Sydney)
Thu 16 Jan - The Vanguard (Sydney)
17-19 Jan - Illawarra Folk Festival
9-13 Apr - National Folk Festival (Canberra)
