All the way from Virginia USA the ever popular Hot Seats play hard-driving bluegrass, old time, ragtime, jug blues, and early country music.

These fantastic musicians have built up an amazing reputation on multiple tours of the UK playing at many of the major festivals.

“If you don’t have a good time when the Hot Seats play, check your pulse. You might be dead.”– Chris Bopst (Richmond Times Dispatch)

Tickets are £15 and can be purchased by following the ticket link on this page or they can be purchased in person at The Re:Store, 4 Queen Street, Lossiemouth.

Bring Your own refreshments.

“The action is virtually non-stop, themusicianship superb, with fiddle, mandolin, banjo and guitar coalescing with humour and speed and powered by a communally owned and played double-bass, drums and washboard.” – Glasgow Herald

4 Things About The Hot Seats

1. We like to play music: stringband music. We call it stringband music because it's just too tedious to try and get into whether it's old time, bluegrass, ragtime, country, or general freakout music.

2. We have done so since 2002, mostly based out of Richmond, VA.

3. We've been lots of places, including all throughout the USA, the UK, Ireland, and a little piece of Europe. Some of our festival highlights have been: Tønder, Celtic Connections, The Shetland Folk Festival, The Orkney Folk Festival, South By Southwest, Floyd Fest, Bristol Rhythm and Roots Festival, The Watermelon Park Festival, Red Wing Roots Festival, Richmond Folk Festival, The Northeast Kingdom Music Festival, Didmarton Bluegrass Festival, Maverick Festival, HebCeltFest, Speyfest, Leicester Summer Sundae and multiple occasions Edinburgh Festival Fringe (including a Herald Angel Award in 2006).

4. We like to: play fast, be funny, spasm, herk and jerk, eat exotic and frightening things, and ride in a van.

For 22 years, The Hot Seats, have gained and burnished the reputation as the carriers of an important and overlooked tradition of American and international folk music – social commentator, satirist, and entertainer. The Skillet Lickers, The Hoosier Hot Shots, Woodie Guthrie, Gus Cannon, Uncle Dave Macon, Frank Zappa – these are pools in which The Hot Seats swim.

Formed in 2002 by a group of like-minded friends for a weekly bar gig, the band’s live shows quickly became well known for on stage antics, one-act plays, and Dada-esque humor, underpinned by a foundation in hard-driving bluegrass, old time, ragtime, jug blues, and early country music.

Since 2020, the band’s original core of Ben Belcher (banjo, bass, fiddle), Josh Bearman (mandolin, banjo, guitar) and Jake Sellers (percussion bass) have been joined by Rudy Bee (fiddle, tuba, accordion, piano), JM Nobile (mandolin, guitar), and Charles Arthur (banjo, fiddle, resophonic guitar).