Music to our ears at Stramash 2017

The organising team behind Stramash are expert at putting together a healthy blend of emerging local musicians, established bands and acts, and a generous sprinkling of musical heavyweights.

The festival is completely free of charge for all with donations collected over the two nights instead going directly into the coffers of local charity ‘The Leanne Fund’.

The Leanne Fund is the foremost Cystic Fibrosis charity working with individuals and families across the Highlands, Islands and Grampian regions of Scotland.

The charity provides vital social, practical, emotional and financial assistance, supporting the whole family.

For fans this year there was plenty of music to sample.

Top of the bill at Friday night’s Stramash were bands: Some Random Guy, Michael Libby, Neosa, Sean Harrison & Band, The Howling Lords and Spanish and Band.

If you were dipping your toe into Stramash then perhaps the Saturday Matinee session would have suited you better than the evening gigs and this year the crowds were entertained by some favourite local names.

Taking to the stage to entertain from 1pm to 4.45pm were on Saturday were: young singer/songwriter Rosie Sullivan, sweet voiced Eleanor Nicolson, along with Trouble Is, Dun Ringles and Strange Brew.

The weather was a bit changeable over the weekend and as the late afternoon gave way to early evening a looming dampness settled in and the vicious Lewis midges started prowling, however there were still plenty of music enthusiasts out in force, despite the insect man-eaters, for Saturday night’s finale.

The Saturday night session was was set to high-level ROCK and featured bands including: Seldom Few (making their first ever festival appearance), The Broken Ravens, who treated fans to a raucous display of vocal power, more local favrourites Dedrock were up next as the crowd well and truely got into the spirit of the proceedings.

Last on the stage for this year’s event were the magnificent Mason Hill, who have their origins in the Glasgow music scene, but who brought the curtain down in great style on Saturday night.

All in all Stramash goes from strength to strength thanks to the efforts of the organising committee and the local support it receives.

This year there was also a particularly poignant aspect to the festival as the stage was christened the ‘Iain Crawford Rocks’ stage and featured a plaque in memory of local music fan ‘Crawfie’, who sadly passed away last August.

The Stramash team said of this year’s event: “We are very proud to have provided a much needed platform for local music to continue to shine and we are glad that we can also offer a little bit of assistance to a fantastic local charity in The Leanne Fund.

“Thank you to all the incredible bands and helpers this past week, 2017 was undoubtedly the best festival yet.”