Sunday Features...

In no particular order other than mildly chronological;

FEIS SPE, INSIDER PICNIC WITH ASSORTED JAZZHEADS, MARTIN GREEN, THOMSON & SALTER, DUNCAN DREVER, THE CONSULTANTS, HOPWOOD & BLACK, CHRIS BRADLEY, JARLATH HENDERSON, MACMASTER & HAY, JAMES MACENZIE, THE DUPLETS, ROSSCO GALLOWAY, INGE THOMPSON, GEESE, STATE BROADCASTERS, MICHAEL MARRA, ZOETROPE, LAU, HIDDEN ORCHESTRA, DJ DOLPHIN BOY, LETS TALK ABOUT TREES AND CHARLIE MCKERRON.

Saturday Features...

THE LAST BATTLE, ABAGAIL GREY, TRAPPED MICE, CROW ROAD, SAM LEE, THE BEVVY SISTERS, ROBIN ADAMS, ADOPTED AS HOLOGRAPH, DEAD MANS WALTZ, THE LITTLE KICKS, HOW TO SWIM, FRENCH WIVES, DONNA MACIOCIA, KITTY THE LION, BANANA SESSIONS, JOHN KNOX SEX CLUB, STANLEY ODD, ADMIRAL FALLOW, DJ NEM, WOODENBOX WITH A FISTFUL OF FIVERS, GECKO 3, LORD ROCHESTER, ASTROBOY, MIKE KEARNEYS KA-TET, THE HORNDOG BRASS BAND, PROVINYLIST KARIM.

And in various secret locations;

BLACK CATS, UNPEELED BANANAS AND OTHER STRANGE FRUITS, OVER THE WALL and BRONTO SKYLIFT

And that's just the tunes...

Friday features...

SOUTRA, MICHAEL MCLENNAN, THE INSIDER ORCHESTRA, DJ EAMONN, FINDLAY NAPIER, THE BONFIRE BAND, DUKE YOWIE, KETTLE OF KITES, HOMEWORK, RACHEL SERMANNI, NITEWORKS, WASHINGTON IRVING, DOWNTOWN WOLVES, MANS RUIN, MESUMA, ADAM HOLMES, CAPITALS, RURA, BONFIRE BAND, NEVADA BASE, KREEP AMONG OTHERS.

Full day by day line up coming tomorrow...

Get Steaming...

We have decided to run a charity auction on Saturday to benefit our favourite local Victorians, the Strathspey Steam railway. Anyone who decides to take the trip from Aviemore to Broomhill over the Insider weekend can do so for a childs price as long as they are in Victorian costume and we have 2 family passes valid until the end of the year as prizes for the moustache and flying machine awards.

Anyone who doesn't behave gets 2 years hard labour rebuilding their track out to Grantown.

Hidden Orchestra.

We are overjoyed to have Hidden Orchestra returning to the Insider.

A dress rehearsal.

Thanks to the many weddings we have had at Inshriach this month we can give you a taster of how the main stage field is going to look. It will have 2 less tipis and one more enormous saddlespan main stage, lots of furniture and revellers and a load more tents, food, a huge bar and ephemeral Victoriana but you start to get the picture.

Did someone say 3 weeks today?

Bring it Victori-on.

Thanks to Joe Maclay for the picture, click on it for a bit more detail.

The G2 Flying Machine awards.

Rally forth you inventors.

Thanks to Mike at G2 we are going to be honouring the pioneers of aviation with the Insider Festival Flying Machine awards. Great prizes and glory await the inventor of the cannyest machine.

There are some rules. We have already determined that a steam engine does not have the power to weight ratio required for flight so we recommend mechanical (ie human) power, or the power of witchcraft or alchemy. Airships, gliders and balloons are permitted. Your flying machine must be portable, excess weight is the enemy of flight in any case. You must be able carry the machine to the launching point at the top of a steep hill so do not make it the size of a horseless carriage and you must be able to to strap your machine firmly to your body. You will be inspected by a team of experts for mechanical integrity before flight and only be cleared for take off if we are satisfied these conditions have been met. Insider management cannot take responsibility for the loss of either aviators or their machines during flight but we are responsible for the safety of spectators underneath the flight path.

To win the award you will be required to make a flight of 100 feet, we allow a continuously downward trajectory at an altitude between 50 and 10 feet from the ground and you will be launched from a short but perilously steep runway approximately 60 feet from the ground. Flight stewards, supervisors and medical professionals will be on hand.

Chocks away.

Moustache Awards.

If you choose to enter the Moustache awards you will find the following hotly contested categories;




The Full Face Spanner. This gentleman is pushing the structural integrity of his moustache to its very limits. From the perfect bird-on-wing swoop to its stunning density, this moustache is an exceptional example of this rare and difficult style. Consider the wit, wealth and women this gentleman must have enjoyed!











The 'Reverse face shelf'.
As popularised by the Amish and sported by authoritarian patriarchs throughout history. It has been claimed that the very seeds of feminism were sown from this unnatural co-location of facial and chest hair. There have been unconfirmed sightings of Abraham Lincoln already in the Spey Valley.



The Insider will feature prizes in the categories of Nietzsche, Custer, Stalin, Dali, Full Pugwash and Massive Ginger, plus the freestyle event (including the Burn-Out) and the ladies competition. We have developed a revolutionary handicap system to take into account the presence of French giants.

May we issue a word of caution to the unexperienced competitor, we must advise against any rash moustache butchery after the Insider - unmoustached life may not be worth living for any proper gentleman.



We wish you the best of bushy luck and pay thanks to the esteemed blog 'Mustaches of the Nineteenth Century' and recommend you refer there where necessary.

Admiral Fallow.

We are big fans of Louis Abbott and Admiral Fallow at the Insider and think they are going great places - we are delighted to be having them back to see out Saturday night on our main stage (that's before we switch to two smaller stages for the late night sessions).

This is what they have been up to this year.

We're thrilled to be invited back to the Insider after a glorious evening last year. It was warm and welcoming and no sooner had I left down the windy road to the train station I was itching to do it all again.

The Band has had a pretty interesting year since last Insider. We were lucky enough to tour the UK with the very fine Frightened Rabbit last Winter finishing with two sold out nights at the historic Glasgow Barrowland Ballroom. After a brief hibernation we toured the UK ourselves in early March and flew straight out to Austin, TX to play a number of shows at the South By Southwest festival. It was not too dissimilar to the Insider in some ways, our last show taking place in a stranger's back garden who took a punt on inviting us to play just one day before. She plied us with beer and barbecue and with the Texan sun on our backs we played the hottest show the world has ever known. Temperature wise.

We were lucky enough to be invited to play in Durham, North Carolina, New York City and Boston, MA before heading home for a rest.

We also have a new guitarist for the next chapter in Mr Craig Grant of the fine glasgow band Song of Return. Craig joined us after the sad departure of Tom Stearn who left us to dedicate more time to his band Kettle of Kites (also performing at Insider).

As for our gig this year, people can expect a good time late on Saturday night filled with some brand new songs as well as tunes from our album. We're hoping to have some sexy collaborations for you all too though i can't say who as even they don't know yet!

Cannae wait. AF x

The websmith.

This really is Rufus White in the process of building our website. No joke. He and Molly and Mathew have pulled a stormer with it. All the animations and squirrels and everything has been hand drawn by him and there can be no doubt it is now Victori-on.

Rufus will wearing another hat at the Insider, that of the mobile silversmith and jeweller. You will find him and his wiry apprentice plying their trade, taking commissions and making beautiful things during the festival. In the meantime if you would like to get in touch with him for anything just Telegram us at the Insider.

The photo we half-inched from a recent series of portraits by Helen Abraham

The Insider recruits.

Stoke your boilers!
We need a strong and beautiful crew to oil the cogs of the great Insider engine room.
We need spit roasters and genteel pimms pourers, urchins, giants and ringmasters.
Involve yourself.. swap us 2 shifts for a full weekend ticket, crew camping and of course the finest food and drink.
To apply email insider@insiderfestival.com

What Lau have to say about it...

Lau are totally delighted by the chance to curate a night at The Insider this year. The thought of being allowed to choose which of our fave musos get to come and join us at what is going to be a highlight of our summer festival season has made us like greedy folk kids in an alternative sweetie shop.

It is an absolute stotter of a line-up and a total joy for us to be involved in making this night happen. Alongside ourselves on the Sunday afternoon/evening will be:

The incredible Hidden Orchestra (formally the Joe Acheson Quartet) whose debut album Night Walks is surely one of this years soundtracks to the summer. Any band citing Aphex Twin, Debussy, Radiohead and Squarepusher as their influences is pretty cool in our musical colouring book. With two drummers, deep basslines and strong jazz and classical influences they make beautiful, cinematic music perfect for an Insider Sunday night.

We are honoured and delighted to announce the appearance of legendary singer songwriter Michael Marra at this years Insider. Michael is often spoken of in the same breath as Randy Newman and Tom Waits and delivers songs of comparable quality but with the added bonus of his unashamedly native delivery and Saharan wit. Who knew Dundonian was so beautiful!?

The music of Geese encompasses all that is great about fearless experimentation in music, mind-warping electronics and sublime strings. Great technique, and indie chic, Geese have it all. If you can find a more rockinger band that is two violinists and a drummer, Lau will give you a tenner.*

Super-duo Macmaster/Hay are a distillation of the forward-thinking soul at the heart of the Edinburgh folk upheaval of the last 15 years. Mary Macmaster and Donald Hay have been involved independently and collectively in a staggering number of the most successful and exciting projects in modern folk history. They have finally come together uninterrupted by the noises of others to produce music of jaw-dropping beauty with drums, harp and voice.

Jarlath Henderson from Dungannon, Co Tyrone is the leading light in a generation of gifted and riotous musicians. He is a vistuoso on uillean pipes and whistles with an anarchic style that only comes years of studying the tradition. Also is a fine singer he’ll be joined on vocal and ‘cello duties by his sister Alana. The prodigy Mathue Watson completes the triumvirate on guitar and fiddle. Expect wild tunes and beguiling songs from this inventive young band.
Hopwood and Black are a meeting of minds of powerful songwriters Phil Hopwood (The Marrs Effect) and Lindsey Black (The Bevvy Sisters). At the beginning of this year, Phil and Lindsey came across a peculiar looking duo playing lounge music in a lonely corner of a local Leith establishment and thought, although ragged round the edges, these two boys had potential. So they will be introducing them to the Insider for their first festival appearance as a quartet. Hopwood and Black would like to introduce their new and improved line–up with Donald Hay on drums and Al Wishart on bass.
*please note conditions apply**
**and we don’t really have a tenner

Whats that I hear you say?... Free tickets?

Why that's splendid.

Our friends at Canopy and Stars, who run the rentals on the Inshriach yurt, the Beer Moth and lots of other lovely places across the country, are giving away 2 pairs of tickets to the Insider, just visit their website and register...

The Tipi has landed.

Being the season of matrimony at Inshriach has given us the opportunity to try a few things out. These 4 tipis are now up in the main stage field and 2 of them are coming back to be the Insider main bar. Last years bar and BBQ shack in the foreground is this years Golddiggers Saloon stage so we finally got the roof finished.

Next week the lovely fellas from Red Kite Yurts are here for a wedding with their monster 42ft yurt.

Musically you can expect the full line up from us next week and if you want a preview Lau will be playing at the Old Bridge Inn on Monday May 16th.