Jess Nashville and Tinshack set Sark alight. (Picture by Zoe Ash, 0760151)

THINGS just fall into place sometimes.

The right band, the right location, the right people at the right time.

If anyone was born to play Sark it was The John Wesley Stone: the outlaws of Guernsey music in the Channel Island that has the rugged outsider spirit, especially once the last boat has left and the sun has gone down.

Even the weather was joining in setting the mood – a mist formed a ring around the bottom of Sark that meant the island kept disappearing as the boat travelled through the glassy water to get there on Friday afternoon.

Once inside, most of the Wesleys kicked back, supping on ale. They would, wouldn’t they?

A few hours later and it was time to battle though the smoke in the Mermaid to see if they could pull Sarkees into their spell.

Would they be up for the raw country, hillbilly, back-to-basics sounds?

It was about six songs in when the Wesleys moved from playing to performing. Something appeared to snap inside Hillbill and at that point a crowd that had been simply curious moved to being one that was part of an event.

On the Wesleys played.

Beers flowed, cigarettes burned down and the pace built as the numbers inside grew. The band fed off the crowd, the crowd off the band.

They had pulled it off.

They played six encores.

Not the kind that come about because the band is playing tricks and would have done one whether anyone called for it or not, but because they were not allowed to switch off as the cheers and clapping continued.

If there had been any trepidation at the beginning, all bets were off by the end.

It could have gone on all night if exhaustion and licensing hours had not kicked in.

Sark has a magical quality at the best of times, and when we walked home by torchlight that night as the band packed up, we saw a shooting star dash across the night sky – that is probably what the saying the ‘icing on the cake’ was made for.

The John Wesley Stone – Tinshack, Hillbill, Jess Nashville and Lynchburg – do it Sark style. (Picture by Zoe Ash, 0759899)

It seems that the Wesleys will be back.

‘Playing in Sark was great,’ said Tinshack.

‘It took a few numbers for the audience to get warmed up but after a while they were on fire. People dancing and cheering always does it for a band. It’s why you play, really.’

He said that, to him, the trip was all about taking their type of music back to its rightful place. ‘I’ve always thought of Sark as a mountain, only surrounded by water.’

He summed the event up simply: ‘A brilliant night, brilliant venue and a brilliant audience.’

Hillbill was equally taken with the Sark gig.

‘I absolutely loved it. I thought it was going to be difficult … to be fair, I didn’t know whether it was going to work, as the equipment was very cobbled together, and I’ll know better next time.’

Outlaws in the right place then?

‘I think the band was perfect for Sark and, yes, we definitely have an outlaw, outsider spirit which, six songs in, they really understood.’

He would go back in an instant. ‘I really like Sark, always have, and the people are great. It’s a fresh challenge and that’s enjoyable because you have to win the audience over.’

I think they’ve succeeded.