Tuesday, 9 December 2008

I am not left handed

That may seem a strange title coming from someone who is a southpaw but it doesn't refer to me. It's the name of an Irish band. Out of curiosity, I emailed them to find out why they had chosen this name and Kathryn Williams (one of the band members) kindly sent me this reply:

"To begin with, I grew up in a small town in Ireland. I went to an old Catholic school and some of the older nuns there believed very firmly in things that many people didn't. When I was 4, no-one in my class was actually allowed to be left-handed - we were all told we had to write with our right hand. (Luckily I had a very sweet lady who taught me when I was 5 who said we could colour in with any hand we liked, but it definitely made an impression) The band name is a throw back to that year of my life.

The more we thought about it, left-handed people still seemed to have a certain reputation. They're the creative types, they're artistic, they're musicians... We felt that, even though we were musicians, we didn't fit into the artistic/creative bag. We play because we enjoy it, but you couldn't define any of us because of it.

And finally, I have to presume that everyone has seen this sword fight at some point in their lives: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3gfFVmw0kA It was my favourite film when I was a kid, and the bass player and I bonded over memories of this movie when we first worked together. It's such a brilliant moment, how could we not name the band after it?"


Thanks to Kathryn for taking the trouble to reply ot me. Here is the band's website: http://www.iamnotlefthanded.com They are playing in Scotland at the moment:

10 Dec 08 - Pivo Pivo, Glasgow

11 Dec 08 - Paisley Student Union, Paisley

13 Dec 08 - The Forest Cafe, Edinburgh

14 Dec 08 - The Tunnels, Aberdeen

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