1st Monday Music Movie-Seven Little Sisters

Named after William Willis' raft, on which he sailed from South America to American Samoa in 1954, the Seven Little Sisiters (SLS) also have their own story.

Ian and Guzzisue first met the band back in 1993 or 1994 on their tour of Scotland. Ian had noticed a poster in the tourist information centre in Portree, Isle of Skye, advertising a concert taking place down at the Sligachan Hotel that night. Upon entering the hotel, as the band were setting up their equipment, they were asked the question "How many are in the group now?" The band members were taken aback as they had not realised that their fame had stretched this far north. And so began a friendship that would last for some time.

In 1995 SLS released their album Cow Trousers, with a small gig in Nottingham's Virgin Megastore. Below is the poster advertising this gig.

Slowly the band were getting a reputation for being a great live act with their celtic, folk rock, bluegrass style. They had even supported the Oyster Band on several occasions. Things were really on a roll until the fateful day when their van, including all their instruments and equipment was stolen.

From that fateful moment the band just fell apart and the boys all drifted apart. Ian and Guzzisue bumped into Jon Harris in early 2010 and there was no mention of the band reforming, so how did this come about?

The tale starts one day when a friend of Jon's mentions a website, the A-Z of Bushcraft. This site has many short videos on Youtube, with SLS's song When The Wind Blows as theme music! There are many comments about the theme music, who is the group? are they playing anywhere? etc, etc, etc. One of the older comments was from a band member saying that they had split up some years ago and that a comeback was unlikely.....

Ian receives an email every week giving information about events, gigs and films for the following week in Nottingham. One that caught his eye was for a gig by SLS at the Salutation on September 25th! Well it would have been rude not to go.

Ian had already mentioned the gig to his friends and Guzzisue had informed her knitting companion. As we approached the pub several Sisters were outside having a cigarette and talk when they saw us. They were surprised and pleased to see faces from 12 years previous.

Understandably the band were nervous about their return, but the packed upstairs audience was with them all the way.

The reformed band have now played three times and have been well received at each venue. Gigs and festival bookings are now building for this year and a follow up album is being recorded.

Although the film clip is of poor picture quality, the sound makes up for this. Recorded at the Robin Hood Hotel, Sherwood, Nottingham. I give you the Seven Little Sisters!