Cold Turkey feat. Scott Hutchison & Hollie McNish set for Summerhall

Cold Turkey brings together Neu! Reekie!'s Michael Pedersen with poet Hollie McNish and musicians Scott Hutchison and Withered Hand

Article by The Skinny | 06 Oct 2017

Neu! Reekie! mastermind Michael Pedersen has announced his latest venture – a festive bash at Summerhall featuring a motley crew of N!R! collaborators. Cold Turkey features contributions from Pedersen, Frightened Rabbit frontman Scott Hutchison, Edinburgh folk-rock royalty Dan Willson aka Withered Hand, and award-winning poet and author Hollie McNish.

The event follows Neu! Reekie!'s curation of the spoken word programme at this year's Electric Fields festival which featured sets from McNish and Pedersen, while the festival itself was headlined by Frightened Rabbit. Earlier this year, Hutchison and Pedersen joined forces for Pedersen's new collection of poetry; Oyster features illustrations from the Frightened Rabbit man throughout, and the duo have toured across the UK introducing the book.

Talking to The Skinny ahead of the launch of Oyster, Hutchison said: "I hope the live Oyster shows can begin to bring pieces of artistic endeavour together in a cohesive (or comprehensibly chaotic) way. Michael is the master of the variety event and I think we'll both relish chucking ideas about in front of willing eyes and ears. It's a thrilling prospect, venturing out under the wing of a great friend and admired collaborator. I'm always much happier playing second or third fiddle, or indeed no fiddle at all."

Cold Turkey promises to be a multi-faceted extravaganza, which "may or may not" feature a Q&A session with its participants, but definitely does promise an epic musical pay-off. We're told: "There will be a grand finale for which Hollie McNish is bringing her recorder, Pedersen has found a bell – Withered Hand and Scott Hutchison have the rest covered."

Cold Turkey, featuring Scott Hutchison, Hollie McNish, Michael Pedersen and Withered Hand, is at Summerhall, Edinburgh on 1 Dec. Tickets for the show go on sale on Fri 6 Oct at noon via Summerhall. Neu! Reekie! also present a Scottish Mental Health Festival/Literary Dundee night at Bonar Hall in Dundee on 21 Oct, featuring Jenni Fagan, Loki and Kevin Williamson – details here.