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Forres band Bad Actress' first England tour ends in A&E


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Chick began feeling pain in his stomach before Bad Actress' gig in Nottingham.
Chick began feeling pain in his stomach before Bad Actress' gig in Nottingham.

A LOCAL rock band's first tour to England ended with an unexpected trip to A&E in Nottingham late on Sunday night after the group's lead guitarist developed acute appendicitis.

Chick McFarlane (20), from Forres, complained of stomach ache in the hours leading up to the band's final England concert at the Old Salutation Inn in Nottingham.

"Late on Sunday the pain came and went," McFarlane said hours after he was discharged from the Queen's Medical Centre University Hospital.

"Directly after the show I felt like I was going to collapse."

He decided to go straight to A&E, where his appendix was removed early on Monday morning.

Chick in hospital, where he had his appendix removed.
Chick in hospital, where he had his appendix removed.

Doctors at the hospital told him not to play for two weeks.

The up-and-coming hard rock band also appeared at venues at Windermere, Chesterfield and Sheffield in July as part of their Red Hot Summer UK Tour and the launch of their new EP, Red Hot. The EP was recorded remotely during the lockdown.

The show at Windermere in the Lake District was the group's first live appearance since March last year.

The Scotland leg of the tour also includes concerts in Bathgate, Forres, Aberdeen and Inverness. The tour kicked off at the Dreadnought Rock venue in Bathgate on July 24 where they won the Stormbreakers heat in a battle of the bands contest.

They were scheduled to play at the Eagle Sessions in Forres this Friday night.

Eric Kleintges, music promoter of the Eagle Sessions, said this weekend's gig was cancelled.

"Best wishes to Chick – it's quite a big operation he's had," he said. "But maybe it is better this way. The restrictions are still in place this weekend. It will do the band better justice if they can appear after the restrictions have been lifted.

"Otherwise, the gig would be sit-down only with no dancing allowed."

He said the Eagle Sessions gig will be moved to a date around September 26.

The other Scotland gigs booked for September are to go ahead.

Chick in action.
Chick in action.

Get-well wishes and messages of encouragement from fans have been pouring in for the young guitarist on the band's Facebook page and other social media platforms.

The glam rock band includes Chick's two brothers, Vinnie Vexx (21) on vocals and Lui Q (17) on drums. Their bandmates are Tommy B (24) on guitar and Alexi (23) on bass.

Music reviewer Kev White has reviewed the new EP. He described the band as "quite possibly the best band the country has produced since Nazareth".

The title track of the EP has been played on radio stations around the world and recently ranked number one on Australia's Banks Radio daily top 10.



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