A POPULAR music festival was the site of a Dumbarton and Vale invasion last week, with eight of the area's best bands descending on Moffat to play Eden Festival.

Have Mercy Las Vegas (HMLV), Holy Pistol Club (HPC), The Unstoppable Flying Raincoats, The Icelandic Revolution, The Midnight Specials, The Collective Good, Shona Penfold and Andy Broon all travelled to the event.

HMLV played the Saturday night on the Rabbies Tavern stage. Crispin McAlpine, lead singer for the band, spoke to the Reporter after the festival was finished.

He said: "It was a massive success, we were all ready for a really good weekend, the weather helped right enough. We have played various festivals before and the weather's not been great, this is the best festival we've played, even playing Wickerman last year wasn't as good.

"It was the first night our fiddle player had as a permanent member of the band so it was quite a big night for him but he definitely held up his end of the bargain."

The band also played a major part in one couple's big day. Crispin added: "We actually played at a wedding in the festival too - we played She's A Rainbow by The Rolling Stones for the bride walking down the aisle.

"Then later that night the bride and groom came to see us and spent their wedding night in the crowd it was really amazing to watch them getting married, it was quite surreal. There was hundreds and hundreds of people there watching us, I'll remember it for as long as I live."

Crispin added: "At the end we got all the local bands up on stage to sing our last song Tear To My Eye - there was about 20 people singing our songs. I went to see every single act from the area, it was really good all the bands were there and very supportive of each other.

"To have our area represented at such a reputable festival like Eden is tremendous, everyone can be really proud of how they performed."

The band enjoyed the experience so much, Crispin says they would love to return next year. He told the Reporter: "Hopefully next year we can play the big open air stage, but everyone was well received in the Rabbie's Tavern tent - the sound man Phil Plunkett was brilliant.

"We have got a strong folk/blues back bone, so I think everyone connects with our kind of music. The response we got from the crowd was really electric, I was really proud to see the full crowd sing our songs."