>> Highland News 4/1/2002
2002 to see Croft No.Five take Manhattan

FIVE Inverness musicians look to have an eventful year ahead - and its all part of their drive to keep moving forward.

Croft No.Five were due to celebrate Hogmanay playing the huge Edinburgh street party and the band already has plans to head off to New York in the spring.

Just 10mins into 2002, the band was expected to appear before 15,000 people on the waverley stage as part of Edinburgh's Hogmanay celebrations.

And 2002 - as well as a planned series of dates around the UK, and Europe and an apperarance at Celtic Connections - already includes gigs in New York in April.

Misha Somerville said: "We're going there as part of a one off, UK and New York three-day festival in Manhattan with the idea of promoting British culture over there.

"It's a great opportunity for us to go there and develop a bit of media intrest too," said Misha.

Five of the six members of Croft No 5 - guitarist Barry Reid, fiddler Adam Sutherland, bassist Somhairle MacDonald, accodionist John Somerville and brother Misha Somerville (whistle) - come from Ivverness, the band emerging from the ashes of Inverness folk-rock line-up Dryzabone which started as a precociously powerful shool band.

The youngsters went on to win a BBC award as a result, play the Royal Alber Hall!

Croft No 5's debut album Attention All Personnel - complete with samples and what thaey call "an obese rhythm section" - was released last June with reviews drawing attention to the band's wide range influences, from an album that revelled in a variety. But, for some, that has been seen, as a problem, whistle-player Misha revealed: "Some of the press reviews have been suggesting that there are too many ideas going on and the tempo is quite fast all the way through, though some have seen that as part of a good fesh feel.

"We had very little studio experience before we did the album, but we wanted to sound as live as possible and basically we recorded a live album and I thik that has kept some of the freshness - though it is rough round the edges."

Spontaneity is also set to be the hallmark of the album, which is already being planned and seems set to be quite different from Attention All Personnel.

"We're working on material, though we don't quite know where we are going with it yet," said Misha.

"You can push the music, but not quite know where you are going to end up - or what's going to happen next. We're just trying to work hard at puttinh everything together in a more professional way than before." And part of that is we don't want to two albums out that are exactly the same!"

Material from the album and new tracks were due to be played at the Edinburgh gig. 2001 saw the band performing in Europe and the UK including, last years Edinburgh Hogmanay street party. Upcoming dates include King Tuts wah wah hutin Glasgow, a full Scottish tour as well as festival dates in England, Europe and New York.

The band also has ambitions closer to home, revealed Misha. We'd really like to do a tour of the Highlands with the Lush Rollers - maybe in May, if we can sort out the dates!"
For band details, check out their website on www.croftnofive.com.