STANDING amongst a sea of yellow at The Barrowlands, as David Blair surfs by on an inflatable crocodile, it is difficult to imagine the madcap wackiness of Colonel Mustard & The Dijon 5’s Yellow Movement being grasped by anyone out with Scotland’s west coast.
Following their set at Zandari Festa in Seoul, South Korea however, David quite rightly points out, an international crowd can go even more mental for their “mustard mirth, merriment and mayhem!”
Through the sprawling, eccentric network of the Yellow Movement, the Glasgow collective were able to crack open the door to their Asian adventure. Mickey 9s manager Damien Beattie recommended Colonel Mustard and The Dijon 5 to festival bosses at Liverpool’s Sound City festival back in 2015.
Given a slot on the north stage, David could not believe the reaction afforded to them from over a thousand ‘6th Dijon’ fans and a few well kempt faces.
“By the end of our set we even had Phil Saxe, who’s worked with Joy Division, New Order and the Happy Mondays singing the chorus from ‘These Are Not The Drugs (You Are Looking For)’,” he said.
The Dijon 5 returned in 2016 to open the main stage, this time equipped with more revellers and ‘crowd-sailing’ from The Dijancer. The perfect recipe for a trans-continental adventure.
David said: “Sound City have a partner tie-in with the South Korean festival in Seoul, Zandari Festa. They brought a few bands over from South Korea and one of them was Dead Buttons, who were on the main stage after us.
“We ended up playing table football backstage with them after our sets and got chatting to Dalse, who is the CEO and co-founder of Zandari Festa. He loved our set, gave me his business card and said he wanted us to play in South Korea.”
From there The Dijon 5 packed their bags for an October trip to the orient. It so happens glitter ball helmets, a rubber dingy, and a toothbrush is all you need for a near 11,000-mile round trip. Colonel Mustard and The Dijon 5 played the festival’s largest venue on the Saturday night and the closing party the following Monday.
David said: “To travel 5,371 miles and watch a predominantly South Korean audience go as wild and get as involved in our ‘Dance Off’ song as much as The 6th Dijon back home makes you realise the power of music to bring everyone together and create happy and joyous memories.”
If Colonel Mustard and The Dijon 5 cracked open the door to a lucrative, expanding music market: gatekeepers of the Scottish music industry hope flavour of the month Be Charlotte can throw it wide open.
The young Dundee duo fronted by Charlotte Brimner, last September were rewarded £15,000 of Creative Scotland funding to embark on an autumn tour of South East Asia, recording her debut album in the process set for release this year.
The trip was the brainchild of Be Charlotte’s manager Louie John Lowis, formerly of Glaswegian hip-hop outfit Hector Bizerk.
Having previously conducted music therapy based work at Lanna Rehab Centre in Thailand, the Breathe Under Water Management boss is aiming to set-up a long term partnership between his roster, others in the Scottish scene and industry professionals in the region.
Louie said: “Be Charlotte played eight gigs in five countries in the region including Thailand, Vietnam, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore.
“The gigs were set up to introduce the band to a territory where we expect to build long term working partnerships as part of a long term strategy to export live Scottish music to this region.”
Not only promoting their music and ethos, these few pioneers are developing an unlikely global reach for Scotland’s burgeoning music scene.
The outward-looking and inventive leadership from the likes of David and Louie is heartening. Instead of blending into the beer stained carpets that adorn many open-mic nights across the country, these ambitious musicians are stepping out and playing to their strengths.
Off the back of the tour, Be Charlotte secured more foreign dates in a busy January, with the European hotbeds of Hamburg, Paris and Berlin under their belt.
February sees the electronic two-piece return to more familiar shores for a mini-Scottish tour starting 15 February in Inverness.
