"You mentioned poetry at this music festival? I actually thought there was a bit of music at this poetry festival!"
The man correcting our tongue-slip is Michael Pedersen, a familiar face on the Scottish poetry scene and one half of Neu! Reekie! - a literary, music and animation collective with an international output and regular nights across Scotland.
We're chatting to him at Electric Fields festival, where Neu! Reekie! have put on two full day-time line-ups across Friday and Saturday on a stage bearing their own name.
Now in it's fourth year at Drumlanrig Castle in Dumfries and Galloway, Electric Fields boasts a whole heap of both big-name musicians and poets, from headliners Frightened Rabbit to former Scottish makar Liz Lochhead, Band of Horses to British poetry royalty Hollie McNish and Glass Animals to a woman quite familiar with both forms of art, Kate Tempest.
The article-opening quote from Michael came after we had asked him how he set about putting together the bill for the Neu! Reekie! stage, at a weekend which while perhaps not a straight-up music festival, is certainly one that most punters turn up to with music in mind.
"We're very particular," he says. "So we've put on poets and artists that we know can go head to head with the musicians and who can win eardrums back from DJ-sounds spiralling into the back of our tent from elsewhere at the festival.
The man correcting our tongue-slip is Michael Pedersen, a familiar face on the Scottish poetry scene and one half of Neu! Reekie! - a literary, music and animation collective with an international output and regular nights across Scotland.
We're chatting to him at Electric Fields festival, where Neu! Reekie! have put on two full day-time line-ups across Friday and Saturday on a stage bearing their own name.
Now in it's fourth year at Drumlanrig Castle in Dumfries and Galloway, Electric Fields boasts a whole heap of both big-name musicians and poets, from headliners Frightened Rabbit to former Scottish makar Liz Lochhead, Band of Horses to British poetry royalty Hollie McNish and Glass Animals to a woman quite familiar with both forms of art, Kate Tempest.
The article-opening quote from Michael came after we had asked him how he set about putting together the bill for the Neu! Reekie! stage, at a weekend which while perhaps not a straight-up music festival, is certainly one that most punters turn up to with music in mind.
"We're very particular," he says. "So we've put on poets and artists that we know can go head to head with the musicians and who can win eardrums back from DJ-sounds spiralling into the back of our tent from elsewhere at the festival.
"We're sort of going to war with music today. Just between the hours of 13:00 and 18:00. Outside of that we're completely zen!"
"We're sort of going to war with music today. Just between the hours of 13:00 and 18:00. Outside of that we're completely zen!
"But aye, we're booking people who we know can handle these audiences and these crowds and this fluidity of audience, and people who we know can bring people in and get them to stay. We're armed to the teeth in this fight for your affection."
They certainly were. As well as the aforementioned Lochhead and McNish, Michael himself was reading poetry on the Neu! Reekie! stage alongside none other than Scott Hutchison from Frightened Rabbit. Michael armed with his book, Scott with his guitar.
"But aye, we're booking people who we know can handle these audiences and these crowds and this fluidity of audience, and people who we know can bring people in and get them to stay. We're armed to the teeth in this fight for your affection."
They certainly were. As well as the aforementioned Lochhead and McNish, Michael himself was reading poetry on the Neu! Reekie! stage alongside none other than Scott Hutchison from Frightened Rabbit. Michael armed with his book, Scott with his guitar.
Michael continues: "It's about luring them in with the likes of Scott doing a wee acoustic set in the tent before he then goes and headlines the whole fucking festival with Frightened Rabbit, and then all of a sudden it's flowing into Hollie McNish and our old makar Liz Lochhead and the people who were there to watch Scott do not leave.
"It's a cliche but people are always coming in and saying 'I didn't really expect to like that' or 'where can I buy her book?' or 'I only meant to pop in and stay for 10 minutes but I ended up staying an hour'. We're taking people by surprise and that's the way we like it."
We can vouch for Michael's reasoning as well. A packed-out tent did indeed watch him read from his latest collection 'Oyster', which Michael describes as "a big, sexy book of poetry", and which is illustrated by Scott Hutchison, the Fightened Rabbit frontman.
"He's done illustrations throughout it and a cover wrap around it," Michael tells us. "I guess a lot of people don't know that Scott did illustration at art school. It's technically, in his words, the only thing that he's trained to do. So it's really nice to collaborate on something which is outside what he's commercially known for, and I think he relishes the opportunity to do it too."
"It's a cliche but people are always coming in and saying 'I didn't really expect to like that' or 'where can I buy her book?' or 'I only meant to pop in and stay for 10 minutes but I ended up staying an hour'. We're taking people by surprise and that's the way we like it."
We can vouch for Michael's reasoning as well. A packed-out tent did indeed watch him read from his latest collection 'Oyster', which Michael describes as "a big, sexy book of poetry", and which is illustrated by Scott Hutchison, the Fightened Rabbit frontman.
"He's done illustrations throughout it and a cover wrap around it," Michael tells us. "I guess a lot of people don't know that Scott did illustration at art school. It's technically, in his words, the only thing that he's trained to do. So it's really nice to collaborate on something which is outside what he's commercially known for, and I think he relishes the opportunity to do it too."
And the people did stick around the Neu! Reekie! tent, not only to see Hollie McNish, above, after Michael and Scott had finished, but all weekend. It's no wonder, with the strength of the line up.
Louie and the Lochbacks were one of the most compelling acts at the festival. The eponymous rapper/poet Louie, formerly of cult Scottish duo Hector Bizerk, speaking over the brilliant vocals of the all-star Lochbacks, who on this particular occasion included the wonderful Be Charlotte.
Poet Leyla Josephine ran through high and low emotions, asking "when did we start measuring love by poor mental health?" before making audiences question their allegiances to both travel pillows and face-wipes in quick succession.
Hollie McNish and Liz Lochhead showcased two different generations of top-level poetry, while the Tam O'Shanter Ensemble produced a stunningly unique display of contemporary dance, music and spoken word which brought Rabbie Burns' epic poem into the modern day.
Louie and the Lochbacks were one of the most compelling acts at the festival. The eponymous rapper/poet Louie, formerly of cult Scottish duo Hector Bizerk, speaking over the brilliant vocals of the all-star Lochbacks, who on this particular occasion included the wonderful Be Charlotte.
Poet Leyla Josephine ran through high and low emotions, asking "when did we start measuring love by poor mental health?" before making audiences question their allegiances to both travel pillows and face-wipes in quick succession.
Hollie McNish and Liz Lochhead showcased two different generations of top-level poetry, while the Tam O'Shanter Ensemble produced a stunningly unique display of contemporary dance, music and spoken word which brought Rabbie Burns' epic poem into the modern day.
"A big part of running these nights was to put them on on Friday and Saturday nights when DJs are going on and go head to head with all that."
For us though, Falkirk author Alan Bissett perhaps best demonstrated Michael Pedersen's point. We walked in to the tent between acts to see him and ended up unable to leave until the end of his set after being left in stitches by a reading from his novel 'Pack Men'.
For Michael, the packed out tents will have been no big surprise, of course. Neu! Reekie! have been putting on nights for seven years now, breaking down barriers and making art accessible for all who find them, whether it be by searching or stumbling.
"A big part of running these nights was to put them on on Friday and Saturday nights when DJs are going on and go head to head with all that," he tells us. "This was your big night out. Your hangover was going to be just as bad the next morning.
"We agreed to do it, me and Kevin Williamson, in 2010, and started doing shows in 2011. Now we've done shows all over Scotland, in New York, Tokyo, Barcelona, we've been to Africa, to New Zealand.
"It was a meeting of generations. At that point in time I was a young writer with my first book out and Kevin was coming out of retirement with Rebel Inc. He'd put out Irvine Welsh and Alan Warner and Laura Hird and all these big writers and had made his mark on punk and cult literature, so taking the influences he had along with the energy of these young artists at the same time, I guess it was just a combustible formula.
"It became a fertile breeding ground where anything could happen. It was all just about putting together the right types of writers, different generations, bringing music and animation into it and not delivering individual performers but delivering a show."
We think there would be few in attendance at Electric Fields who would disagree that Neu! Reekie! delivered exactly that.
Follow Neu! Reekie! on Facebook to keep up with all their latest news and upcoming events
Stuart Kenny
"A big part of running these nights was to put them on on Friday and Saturday nights when DJs are going on and go head to head with all that," he tells us. "This was your big night out. Your hangover was going to be just as bad the next morning.
"We agreed to do it, me and Kevin Williamson, in 2010, and started doing shows in 2011. Now we've done shows all over Scotland, in New York, Tokyo, Barcelona, we've been to Africa, to New Zealand.
"It was a meeting of generations. At that point in time I was a young writer with my first book out and Kevin was coming out of retirement with Rebel Inc. He'd put out Irvine Welsh and Alan Warner and Laura Hird and all these big writers and had made his mark on punk and cult literature, so taking the influences he had along with the energy of these young artists at the same time, I guess it was just a combustible formula.
"It became a fertile breeding ground where anything could happen. It was all just about putting together the right types of writers, different generations, bringing music and animation into it and not delivering individual performers but delivering a show."
We think there would be few in attendance at Electric Fields who would disagree that Neu! Reekie! delivered exactly that.
Follow Neu! Reekie! on Facebook to keep up with all their latest news and upcoming events
Stuart Kenny
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