rorymcleodplayingtrombone

Rory McLeod playing trombone

I’d already been to two Fuji Rock Festivals when I first realized that the Naeba Shokudo was an official stage and not just one of the food places letting some buskers throw out some impromptu tunes. I knew there was a stage called the Naeba Shokudo, and I knew from the map that it was somewhere near the Red Marquee, but it never occurred to me those first two years that the little wooden platform next to the noodle place was it.

Usually it plays host to some cheeky little Tokyo act that didn’t mind catching the bus to Naeba. This year is the first year there’ll be an international artist on the Naeba Shokudo stage that I’ll make a special effort to see: Rory McLeod.

Rory lives in Orkney. That seems like quite a long way to come for a show in front of 15 people. But Rory seems like he’d be happiest on that ramshackle stage, right up close with the audience, as well as on the Mokudo-Tei in the woods, likewise with the audience by his feet. Check him out on Last.Fm or YouTube and read the comments. I’ll put money on him playing elsewhere at the festival, even if it’s outside your tent at night.

He’s had one of the more interesting careers in music. He’s a Londoner that began performing with a circus in Mexico, then won harmonica championships in Texas, recorded with Ani diFranco and Ali Farke Toure among others, before moving to the Orkneys, which are not normally the best base for a music career.

Normally I’d link to one of his tunes, but here’s a clip that sums up what everyone, everyone says about Rory – that he’s an unbelievably top guy. One of the comments under the vid echoes that sentiment (”Once I was too unwell to go and see Rory play so a friend went along and asked Rory to speak to me on the phone… which he did!”)

Follow the related vid thread to his music.