So how would a newcomer go about getting gigs?

A big question. There is no simple formula - luck, time, hard work and patience, knowing the right people, talking to people and finding out who's who and being prepared to travel and do stuff for free.

If you do folk clubs, go and do floor spots where they are in reach. That can lead to all sorts of things, eventually.

For both festivals and clubs, the traditional approach (phone or email, sending demo, follow-up phone call) does work sometimes.

Festivals often like performers to come on a "try-out" basis - maybe a complimentary ticket and a couple of spots to see how you get on - before taking you on for a full booking. So a good plan to start with is not to ask for too much.

Once you get started, the snowball gradually picks up. We were in a Sidmouth concert where the MC was Alan Bell who runs Fylde festival - months later we approached him about spending a day at Fylde festival because we were in the area - there we met someone who's involved in a club where we're after a gig... the chain reaction continues...

Anahata