This week I have decided to go with a little bit of Belle & Sebastian for my weekly cover version. I have had this pencilled in for a while now, I must admit that it took me a while to decide which song I was going to go with as there are so many cover versions out there. I am sure if you do a bit of hunting on google you'll be be able to find a copy of a wee bootleg consisting solely of cover versions. I chose to go with their cover of the Beatles 'Here Comes The Sun', which I guess is a bit odd for me as I have never really been a massive fan of the fab-four, but for some reason this version really appeals to me.
Campfires in Winter I couldn't not mention this, in fact I have been dying to share this with you all for a while now. Monday there saw the release of the Campfires debut EP, 'Cardboard Ships', they just finished a wee tour of folks flats this week, which was a hell of a lot of fun. They're playing this evening at the Pin Up Nights festival, it should be a cracking evening. Anyway, enough of my ramblings get downloading their EP over on their Bandcamp now.
Adam Stafford & The Death Bridge Convention He runs one of the most innovative labels in Scotland, Wise Blood Industries, he is the front man of cult Falkirk band Y'All in Fantasy Island and now he's gone and released a covers album with his backing The Death Bridge Convention, there really is no stopping Adam Stafford. You might remember that I posted his cover of the Twilight Sad in the first ever 'We've Got It Covered' post, well now you can download the album in full. Check out his takes on various artist including Daniel Johnston, Sting and Devo, here.
Randan Discotheque You might remember this lot from last years single 'Daily Record May 18th 1993' which pretty much did as it says on the tin, it was them singing about all the headline that they found in the paper from that date. Class wee tune it was too. Now they're back and this time they're jumping on the freebie wagon, what kind souls they are. They have posted “U/18’s”, a collection of songs recorded between 1996 and 2001 up for free on their Bandcamp.
Retreat Festival You might have picked up on this in my last Weekly Roundup, basically it's a wee festival that's taking place in Edinburgh in the last weekend of August. To entice you in they have posted free downloads from all of the bands, it's quite a compilation that they have for you. Make sure you check out Benni Hemm Hemm's song 'Retaliate', one of the finest songs to have come out in 2010. There are also tracks from folk like Meursault, eagleowl, Wounded Knee and The Douglas Firs. Download yourself a copy here.
The Miniature Tigers I know I featured them a few weeks back, but as they never got the full attention that their debut deserved I am going to try and make sure a few more folk pay attention to their second offering. Stereogum have another song taken from it, 'Bull Fighter Jacket' is up for grabs here.
Debutant He's a member of Meursault, he also does his own solo ambient stuff, he's one talented bugger and he has also posted three songs for free download over on his Bandcamp page. Get stuck in.
The Cinnamons You might remember that the I posted the Cinnamons first single from their '5 Songs of Summer' project. If liked what you heard or you missed out the first time round then it's time to do some catching up as they have posted up two more songs, 'Where We're Going' and 'Leave If You Want To', for free on their Bandcamp. Merge Records Have posted a free sampler, featuring tracks from Radar Bros, Superchunk, Spoon and She & Him amongst others. To get get yourself a copy you have to register your details, if that sounds like a fair deal to you, then get in about it here.
Marnie Stern She has a new album coming in October, as a wee teaser she's given The 405 a free download of one of the tracks, 'For Ash', which is taken from her self titled album.
Sonny Marvello The Glasgow outfit are currently working on an EP, which is due out some time in October. They are such a nice bunch though, so they've posted up a free high quality demo of their song 'Love Ain't Sweet' on their Bandcamp. They're also playing at tonights Pin Up Nights Festival at the Flying Duck, which promises to be an amazing evening. Macabre Scene The Glasgow band are just about to go on a short hiatus as one of their members is disappearing off to Denmark for six months. Fear not though as they tweeted a couple of demos for your listening pleasure, right click save the following 'Planks' and 'Garage Band'. Les Savy Fav Pitchfork have a free download of their new song 'Let's Get Out of Here' up for free download in exchange for your email address.
J.Tilman The Fleet Foxes drummer continues to hammer out cracking tunes of his own, his new album 'Singing Ax' is due pretty soon. As a teaser you can download 'Three Sisters' from it for free here.
Sean Carey This week really is all about the drummers, this time it's Bon Iver's man at the back Sean Carey, who has a solo album coming out on the 24th of August through Jagjaguwar. If his song, 'In the Dirt' is anything to go by, then Justin 'Bon Iver' Vernon might just need to watch his back.
Song of Return Who you might remember as Union of Knives, have posted a whole load of songs up on their Soundcloud which are available to download completely gratis. Thanks to Jim Ayetunes for the tip off.
Dinosaur Pile-Up They have posted a free download of their B-side 'Birds & Planes' over on their homepage.
Space Ghost The Oakland outfit have posted a free download of their 'Ghostly EP', you get yourself a copy here.
T Break There are a whole host of MP3's up for you to download over on their website.
Dios The much missed Planet Sound once raved about the LA band's single, "Some Alcohol", and after coming across the single again in a drawer, the good Doctor go googling to see what they were up to. Turned out that they had a new album out last month on iTunes plus a live gig there too. If you go here, there's a link to download a track from the live gig, all you have to do is sacrifice your email address.
And Now for Something Completely Different..... There has been an overly large percentage of indie-folk bands in the past few months. So it's time to bring in some rock, and not your average run of the mill rock. No this is some of the most ferocious, intense noise to have emerged from this wee nation in many a year. What makes it even more impressive is that there are only two of them. Now I am going to be honest, when I first heard Bronto I didn't 'get it'. Whilst all my fellow blogger-type friends went crazy over it, I found myself slightly bemused as to what all the fuss was about. Then I saw them play live, then suddenly it all made perfect sense. It really was a jaw dropping moment, that soon turned into a massive grin. Quite simply they are one of the most brutal and entertaining bands I have ever seen. When I saw them up in Inverness they had their drumkit set up in the middle of the dancefloor, they are beasts that just won't be tamed. Their debit album, 'The White Crow', is an intense head fuck of an album, be warned it's not for the faint hearted. Anyway, that's enough of my ramblings I'll leave it to the boys to provide some words of sense.
Would you care to introduce yourself?
We are Niall and Iain. Iain is from the Orkney Islands and Niall is from Inverness
How would you describe the music you make?
Energetic, sarcastic, visceral.
How did the two of you first meet and decide to form a band together?
Niall got the name at college and did some recording/gigs under bronto as a 3 piece but it wasn't complete until Iain got introduced through a mutual friend and we thought it would be more interesting to be a 2 piece.
How did you start out making music?
Strumming guitars, hitting skins and noises out the mouth
What process goes into the way you write songs?
Sometimes they come out of just jamming in the practice room and seeing where we can take it. Other times Iain may have a drum beat and then we build it from there. Or Niall will have songs or riffs that he's written on acoustic guitar.
Who are your big musical influences?
Dillinger Escape Plan, Shellac, PJ Harvey, Converge, Refused, Madonna
You are possibly on the most unrelenting live bands that I have ever had the good fortune to witness. Did you find it difficult to replicate that amount of energy on your debut album?
We decided before we made the album that the live show and our recorded output would be two entirely different things. Trying to recreate on record what you do in a live setting is almost always doomed to failure so we actually tried to make a 'record' with it's own atmosphere and layers but is still bristling with energy. Our producer Marcus Mackay was amazing and able to get sounds that we asked for and some good ideas to throw in. We're already looking forward to the next record now that we've found him.
The Detour Scotland boys seem to love having you boys play in some pretty weird places, in the middle of an island, down back street lanes. Is there anywhere that you think the boys couldn’t convince you to play?
Don't think so. We want them to push us further!
Having played gigs in Norway and Ireland, are you looking to try to continue to play gigs a bit further afield than just Scotland?
Yep gonna be hitting Scotland, England and possibly Germany and Ireland before the years end.
Lastly, what can we expect to see/hear from you in the rest of the year and beyond?
Well on August 6th we are releasing a single from the album for free download at www.brontoskylift.bandcamp.com the song is called Wolf.We will have our first music video online aswell which is shaping up brilliantly.Few tours coming together, supporting Kong, playing King Tuts 20th birthday...busy beesThere will be more with Detour Scotland maybe at a festival that coincides with single launchAt Xmas we will prob have another single out and we will be beginning to demo our second record.And for 2011 we have America in our sights but we can't say anything at the moment!buy our album here - www.brontoskylift.bigcartel.com
Bronto Skylift play King Tuts in Glasgow tonight alongside The Xcerts, , Otherpeople and Dupec, in what promises to be one of the most ear bleeding gigs of the summer. There are a limited number of tickets still available here. Their debut album, 'The White Crow' is available to buy through their Bandcamp page.
Normally I would have stuck this in the Weekly Roundup, but seeing as I only found about it last night I thought I would give it a wee plug today. Plus I am afraid that I don't have any sessions to post today as last night Radio Scotland band aren't really my cup of tea. Anyway, if you are free on Thursday night and you're not going to Tuts for French Wives, Seventeenth Century, Washington Iriving and Rachel Sermanni (what a fucking line up that is) or The Captains Rest for theapplesofenergy and Toro Y Moi - I am going to try to go to both of these gigs! Then you should head down to the 'Note for something quite special from the Second Hand Marching Band, RM Hubbert and Sarah Banjo. What they plan to do is get everyone who comes along to the gig to get involved be it banging instruments or singing a song. In return they will send you a limited edition recording of the song on CD with your name printed on the inlay.
All you have to do is write a verse for the song in the video below, then bring it along with you to sing on the night. Or you could just learn the chorus and sing that, or if that doesn't tickle your fancy then you can bring along an instrument and play in the chorus, and if that doesn't stir your bones, then you could just bring along drum and bang out a rhythm. Sounds like it would be a hell of a lot of fun. Sadly I won't be able to make it along as I will be floating between the Captains Rest and Tuts, should they do anything like this in future then I will make sure I go along and make some kind of a racket. Further details can be found here.
Would you care to introduce yourself? Hi I'm Russell Kostulin, originally from Banchory in the north east but now living in Edinburgh. I am the man behind Mammoeth.
How would you describe the music you make? I have previously described it as "sweetly sick sour pop" which is a gimmicky way of trying to convey the basic premise that this album contains quite a few songs which are musically upbeat and poppy with the saccharine pop being subverted by, and juxtaposed against, the dark lyrical content of many of the songs. High concept pop maybe with some multi-instrumentation? Think the Bay City Rollers (without any alleged paedophilia) if they were produced and arranged by Sufjan Stevens in collaboration with Dave Fridmann, with lyrics by Nick Cave during his murder ballads period and voiced by Emitt Rhodes.
How did you start out making music? I was forced and bribed (1p per minute going towards xmas pressies - seriously) into playing the violin from an early age (5) by my mother who is obsessed with music. Then as most people do, in my teens I formed a band to get girls (didn't really work), and then started learning the guitar and writing kind of sh*t songs (inspired by Supergrass and other pioneers of the interesting chord change) which I think/hope became less sh*t the more I tried. I tried really hard not to be sh*t for ages and I think got better as time went on. I built up a body of tunes which had a theme and which I considered to be pretty good and then I decided to record an album and now we arrive in the here and now, where I'm trying to peddle both the album and the accepted wisdom that I'm not sh*t at writing songs and that people should pay a bit of attention...
What process goes into the way you write songs? Well I always (almost always) start with a chord progression that I like and then I improvise singing over that until I find something which I think is good and I record it onto my dictaphone and forget about it. Then I revisit it later (sometimes hours sometimes months later) and try it again and see if I still like it or if it needs to be changed. That is almost always the "verse" for some reason, I never start at the chorus, and once I have that it's mostly pretty easy to get a chorus. Normally I'll just play chords until I find something that feels like a lift or that feels natural and I'll sing over the top of that and then I'll record that too. Sometimes I put in a bridge, sometimes an outro sometimes a few more sections depending on what moves me. Then I sit on it for ages until I find some lyrical inspiration and once I've finished the lyrics I demo it. The hardest part is finding the first chord or chord progression that unlocks the song - that's the key that opens the box, once you've got that and a decent melody it's normally easy enough to finish it. Most of my songs start with serendipitous mistakes which I like the sound of. Lyrics are a nightmare, that's actually the hardest part most of the time. I'm pretty obsessed with songwriting - it's a bit like solving a puzzle, except there are many ways to solve it and you're the invigilator and marker, so you can't go wrong, unless you solve it rubbish melodies I suppose.
What can people expect from your live shows? A pretty faithful reproduction of the album, some mediocre between-song chat, some handsome violinists, a couple of beards, a soupcon of awkwardness and an impressive laser display.
What are you all listening to at the moment? All of me listens to a mixture of new and old - I listen to the old when there isn't much new that interests me. In terms of old I like most things, I'm going through a Giorgio Moroder phase at this very moment but all the usual stuff applies. I've been listening to a lot of Flaming Lips recently too, some Nick Lowe, some Kate Bush, some Brian Eno stuff - mostly that recent collaboration he did with David Byrne particularly Strange Overtones which is so good. Ach, loads of stuff - all the normal stuff that gets fed to people as classic stuff. There so much that's "classic" these days that people can't get through it all anymore never mind the stuff that is not deemed "classic". In terms of new stuff, the new Yeasayer record is patchy in terms of pop tunes but the highs are super high, stuff like Ambling Alps and ONE and the production is uniformally great, very interesting. That Morning Benders tune "Excuses" was really good, I got butterflies the first time I heard the live version they did of that for Yours Truly. I've been listening to Stornoway too, mainly to try to decide if it's good or not - it's deeply uncool but there's something naively charming in that and I like the fact that they're signed to 4AD and getting lots of attention - it's paradoxical. I've kind of been listening to the new National album but it just seems like more of the same but without a killer tune like Fake Empire to get you hooked in. I know they're a grower though so in 3 years I'll probably like it more. The producer I work with did the Magic Arm debut album and I don't know why that didn't get more attention last year - to me it was a great record in terms of mixing styles, and it was thoroughly melodic and really interesting - so much going on. The vagaries of the music business. Why do we bother?
What can we expect to see/hear from you in 2010? Well there's a debut album out today called "Nascent" (which you can order from my bandcamp page!) and shows preceding that in Edinburgh (Wee Red) and Glasgow (Classic Grand) on the 24th and 25th, respectively - they'll be proper full band shows. There will be a tour later in the year too and hopefully I'll start recording album number 2 towards the end of the year, there's 3 or 4 tracks written that I want to demo and record before the year is out.
Monday - Penguins Kill Polar Bears sunk their teeth into some Fresh Meat Tuesday - Scottish American outfit, The Wynnton Marshals Radio 2 session got a well earned posting. Fans of the Teenage Fanclub would be recommended to check them out Wednesday - The Seventeenth Century stepped up to the plate and became the 25th entry into the Scots Way Hay club. Great band, great post, great tunes, if you missed it on Wednesday make sure you check them out. Thursday - The legendary John D from Pin Up Nights did some Community Service, plus I also posted live sets from this T Break Stage. Friday - Yet another week filled with some amazing Freebies, including tracks from Peenko favourite King Post Kitsch, a greta new tune from Edwyn Collins, up and coming Edinburgh outfit Trapped Mice and some solo tracks from Ryan Joseph Burns of the afore mentioned The Seventeenth Century. Saturday - Camera Obscura were our We've Got It Covererd stars with their take on the Abba classic Super Trooper
News, gigs and any other gubbins......
Right it's Sunday, Sunday's nights are usually pretty dull nights, the fear of work the next day tends to start to kick in late in the afternoon. So what better a way to cure those blues than by heading along to the Classic Grand tonight for Mammoeth’s debut album launch. Formerly known as Team Turnip , the band have organised cracking wee line up featuring Sunset Song (formerly Wake The President), recent 'Ayetunes vs Peenko' starlets Randolph’s Leap and the a talented young lady by the name of Georgia Seddon (the daughter of Incredible String Band legend Mike Heron- now that's some impressive heritage). Doors are at 7pm and tickets are only £6, possibly the cheapest Sunday night blues curer that you're ever going to find. You can find further details here.
Now for the bit where I go all corporate on you all. Some of you (i.e. Jim) might remember that I ran a post a while back about the end of the Mill, 'cleverly' entitled 'Run of the Mill'. I had picked the information up from a bands blog, but as they had their fingers rapped for it I had to pull the post. Turned out that it was actually true though, the Mill is no more, some might argue that it's not that great a loss, but I always thought it was a good idea that could have been tweaked. I guess once you give things away for free it kind of devalues to a certain extent, which usually meant that you ended up with a lot folk being there to be seen rather than to see the bands. I know I am getting older, but seriously why the fuck do people go to gigs just to talk shite to their mates. The older I get the more I can relate to Larry David. Anyway, there was a point to this, honest there was. Basically the Mill is no more, in it's place Miller have used their research to find a product more tailored towards what 'the kids' want. It's called Miller Filtered and t sounds like it good be a much better way to market beer and music together. What they have decided to do is go with the novel idea of bringing big name bands to Oran Mor (sorry Edinburgh, but there will no longer be any East coast Miller gigs), and to have them play their songs in a stripped back fashion. Kicking it all off are The Doves, a band that are billed as one of the biggest in Britain, or at least that's what the press had us believe. Weren't they supposed to do an Elbow last year, I don't think they ever quite made the major league breakthrough did they? Still though, they are a pretty big band, I think the fact that the gig sold out in less than 24 hours can vouch for that. In addition to the Doves they have two local bands playing, one of which is Pearl and the Puppets. An artist that I will that I have never really painted in a positive light, after seeing her play at the launch I can appreciate that she's talented. Not my cup of tea, but she should do well. As for the other band that are playing on the night, they were so bland that I can't fully remember their name. Right that's just about enough of my ramblings on Miller Filtered, basically it sounds like an interesting concept. The Doves gig is sold out so you'll have to wait until the next event before you can check it all out. Apparently they have someone pretty special lined up, but they won't be releasing any details until after the first gig takes place. So basically keep those eyes peeled, I am sure they have something exciting in store for us all.
In case you missed the plug for it during the week, then here's a wee reminder that this Friday is the second ever PinUp Nights Festival, featuring sets Mitchell Museum, Sonny Marvello, Futuristic Retro Champions and Campfires in Winter. Plus DJ sets from Scott from Sons & Daughters, Remember Remember, plus loads more. Check their website for further details.
Innovative Edinburgh base label, Gerry Loves Records, celebrate the release of their second split single. After the success of their first split release which featured Conquering Animal Sound and Debutant. Now they're back with another really interesting combination, Yahweh and Trapped in Kansas. The single is out next week (2nd of August) on limited edition 7", with the added bonus of a download of the two tracks, plus also an exclusive bonus track by each of the artists. Plus if you're quick off the mark then there is also going to be an extra special super limited, deluxe edition. You can pre-order yourself a copy by heading over to the Gerry Loves website.
To celebrate the release they're putting on couple of gigs in Edinburgh and Glasgow. The first one is this Thursday (29th) at the The Wee Red Bar, Edinburgh, with the bands relocating to Glasgow for on Friday the 30th July at Nice n Sleazys. Trapped in Kansas and Yahweh play live on both nights, plus support. You can stream both of the singles below.
Next weekend sees the launch of the inaugural Captains Rest Festival. It takes place over two nights, Saturday 31st July and Sunday 1st August, with the 'Rest is being taken over by a whole mixture of Scottish and international bands. Saturday's line-up looks something like this World Atlas (Brooklyn, Ny) Lenzie Moss (Glasgow) Male Pattern Band (Glasgow) Lady North (Edinburgh) Q Without U (Glasgow) Calacas (Glasgow) Mike Nisbett (Glasgow) While on the Sunday they have Young Empires (Toronto, Ca) She's Hit (Glasgow) Un Cadavre - (SEE THEY CAN STILL GET GIGS IN GLASGOW, FUNNY THAT IT'S WITH PCL) Xprolifex (Glasgow) Tangles (Glasgow) Curators (Glasgow) Little Kicks (Aberdeen/Edinburgh). Further details are available here.
Tickets for this years Retreat Festival go on sale tomorrow, billed as a strung out weekend of DIY pop music in Edinburgh. The event which is in it's third year, takes place over the weekend of the 28th and 29th August. Featuring 16 acts from Edinburgh and Glasgow, the event has a a cracking line up in store for you. SATURDAY AUGUST 28TH : eagleowl, Enfant Bastard, FOUND, Jesus H. Foxx, Skeleton Bob, Withered Hand and Wounded Knee SUNDAY AUGUST 29TH : Benni Hemm Hemm, Conquering Animal Sound, The Douglas Firs, The Leg, Meursault, Milk, Rob St John and The Wee Rogue Day tickets are £7 and Weekend Tickets are just £12 Click here for further details.
Lastly, next week sees the launch of another independant Scottish Festival, Doune The Rabbit Hole, which surprisingly enough takes places up in Doune (near Stirling). This one is for charity, it has a cracking array of Scottish talent, it looks something like this Meursault (Song, By Toad), The Junipers , Withered Hand (SL), Rozi Plain (Fence), Francois & The Atlas Mountains, Wounded Knee, Hidden Masters, Lipsync for A Lullaby, Les BOF!, Modus, Sara & The Snakes, and much more, as well as (DJs) Rudi Zygadlo (Planet Mu), Josh Jones (Death Disco - The Arches, Glasgow), Tall Paul Robinson (The Go-Go Club – Studio 24, Edinburgh), and GRNR. Now that's what I call a line up! Tickets are very reasonable £15-£47, you can buy them here.
I honestly thought that I would have run out of covers by now, turns out I have millions of the buggers. This week I am going with Camera Obscura's take on the Abba classic 'Super Trooper', possibly one of the most up beat and happy songs the Swedish four piece ever produced. After listening to Tracyanne Campbell & Co's take on it you'd think it was one of the most miserable songs of all time. I reckon it takes quite a talent to take something so happy and up-beat and then to turn it into something quite morose, they really do make this song their own. Camera Obscura - Super Trooper (Abba Cover)
King Post Kitsch For any of you that have frequented this blog for a while, you might remember me getting just a tad excited about King Post Kitsch at the start of the year. His self-titled EP, was an absolute cracker, now he's back with his new EP, 'Monomaniac', and once again he's come up with the goods and then some. Just head on over to his Bandcamp page and get downloading, then you'll soon realise why I've been getting myself so excited about.
Edwyn Collins If you register your email address for Edwyn updates, then in exchange they will send you a download link for the first single and title track from his album, 'Losing Sleep' for free here.
Ryan Joseph Burns He's a member of the Seventeenth Century (mind I featured them on Wednesday there), he also has does some solo Americana type stuff on his own. If you head over to his Soundcloud page, then you can download a couple of corking wee tracks. He's one talented guy, even if he does spend most of his day in bed - his band mates words, not mine!
Trapped Mice The Edinburgh folk-rock outfit have a whole host of free stuff up for grabs on their Bandcamp page, if you are looking for somewhere to start then I'd recommend you start with 'Secret Letters', that being said all of these tunes are pretty damn good.
El Guincho It's been a while since we last heard anything from the Spanish tropical pop artist, well now he's back with new album 'Pop Negro' due out later in the year. As a precursor he's giving away a free download of 'Bombay' which it's taken from.
Delorean One week, two Spanish acts, now I think that must be a first on here. This time it's from hot young band Deloran, who's alum 'Subiza' has been somewhat of a revelation this year. If you fancy checking it out then download their song 'Real Love' here.
Calexico The Americana band have posted a free download of a live recording of a live set recorded in Nuremburg. Download it here.
Pooch The indie pop starlets are the stars of Vic G'a 'Back of the Net' feature this week, so if you fancy checking out their song 'Lights', then you can download yourself a copy here.
Audience The electronica outfit have posted their 'Cloudlike' EP up free download on their Bandcamp page.
The Bees The NME has an exclusive free download of their new song 'Silver Line' up for grabs here.
The Great Valley Some of the blogosphere seems to be going mad over this, I'm not sure what to make of it yet. There are certain bits that remind me of a ramshackle Wolf Parade with added ghost cartoon noises. Sound like it be your kind of thing, then why not download their ' Holiday, Holinight EP' which is up for free on their Bandcamp page.
Fez The London outfit have put a couple of their tracks from their forthcoming EP 'Hot Light' up for free download, get downloading here.
SUUNS The recent signings to the Secretly Canadian label have put up a free download of their 'Zeroes EP' all you have to do is give them your email address in exchange.
Ra Ra Riot Yet another band I had almost forgotten about, once tipped as a band to rival Vampire Weekend, sadly the death of their drummer put them back a step. Still though it's good to have them back, they have a free download from their forthcoming album, get yourself a copy of 'Boy From the Orchard' here.
I'm old, I don't go to nightclubs anymore. There I said it. Come eleven o'clock on a Friday I am usually in no state to be out on the tiles and the call of my bed or some form of really unhealthy deep fried food tells me it's time to call it a night. That being said, I did manage to stay out and make it to Pin Up Nights for the first time about three months ago. That might well have had something to do with the fact that they were daft enough to let me DJ at one of their nights. Having stumbled along after the first Peenko vs Ayetunes gig at the Captains Rest, I had possibly on of the best nights of my life. Not just because I got to inflict my tunes on others, but because I found myself in possibly the coolest indie disco I've ever been to. The vibe of the place struck me instantly, it was just nice and chilled, full of good folk and more importantly there were some top tunes being played (with the possible exception of my set). The question I found myself asking was "why wasn't there a club like this when I was a bit younger?". There probably was one, but it must have completely passed me by. I've never been any good with knowing where the good places to go where. Give me the safety of a sweaty gig any day of the week. That I guess is where Pin Up Nights comes into it's own, as they also put on bands as well. They continue to pick up on quite an array of amazing up and coming acts, both locally and from these shores and sometimes even further afield. They recently were the focus of a rather crude smear campaign from a not so nice band who's name isn't even worth mentioning. In response to this the online community got together and showed their support for what is an excellent night that does a lot of great things to support local bands. For that reason I thought it would be a good idea to get John D the founder of Pin Up Nights to do a bit of Community Service...
Would you care to introduce yourself and the rest of the Pin Up Nights team?
There’s myself, John D, who started the night way back in 2003, and I suppose I have formed a crack team of creative “Pin Ups Chaps” - Paul Smith, Iain OC. James “Butcher” Cassidy, Young Niall and Baillie. We all have varying levels of involvement depending on how busy we are with what I call “Terrifying Real Life” during any given month. For example, I did a fair amount of background work to set up the last two Pin Ups, but I had to miss both of the actual nights.
What was it that inspired you to start running your own club night?
I suppose it was the classic case of “I’m now in my early twenties, I’ve been going on nights out for years and nowhere in Glasgow is playing the mix of music I want to dance to”. My big brother Gerry has always had exceptional musical taste, and in the early noughties he was running successful soul events in Cardiff, promoting folk as renowned as Edwin Starr. I had been messing about in bands, the most "successful" of which was The Friday Night Motel (ha ha I am surprised the myspace still works!). I loved the National Pop League in Glasgow because the atmosphere was terrific, and although the playlist was very indie/C86-centric you still heard pretty unusual stuff like Wire, the Smiths, Pavement, Dinosaur Jr and Yo La Tengo. I would also go through to Edinburgh Art School ‘s Wee Red Bar on Saturday nights. The night was (and still is) called “The Egg”. The mix of music was fantastic. They played the Clash, Toots and the Maytals, New Order, the Specials, Pulp, Marvin Gaye, Kraftwerk, Roxy Music, Super Furry Animals, Northern Soul. So, come 2003 I decided I wanted to start a night in Glasgow that offered that sort of quality and variety. I also loved Vic and Bob’s “Big Night Out” and the idea of an “indie disco” with added hilarity. At Pin Ups the jokes were originally confined to articles in the fanzine which we give out to the first 100 through the door, but in recent years we’ve gradually become a bit bolder. There might be an odd “Guest DJ Jesus Christ” or “escaped gorilla” that slightly confuse folk, but by and large such fun has been very warmly received, so much so that folk have started to expect it every month. I call Pin Up Nights a mixture of “new music, chaos and hilarity”.
For you personally, what would you say has been the best thing to happen since you started the night?
Personally, Pin Ups has given me an outlet for whatever creativity I have. It has cemented some prized friendships, it has kept me interested in music, and in the words of fellow Pin Ups chap Paul Smith, “Pin Up Nights has kept us all young”!
Which band/night have you most enjoyed the most?
It really would be impossible to choose. We have met a load of famous musicians and have 101 daft anecdotes as a result. I caught Terry Hall trying to smoke a joint under the DJ decks. A slightly tipsy Florence (of Florence and the Machine) tried to snare a Pin Ups Chap for the evening by giving him her diary (the Chap in question was spoken for - he gallantly went home but returned the diary to her the next day). I got Gary Lightbody past the bouncers and into a sold-out Woodside Social Club (the night Editors DJ’d for us) by getting him to sing “that ‘Light Up’ song” to prove he was the guy who had just headlined Live 8. Justin Currie appeared as our "secret hunky treat" at the Ladies Night earlier this year. Rick Witter of Shed 7 joined the dancefloor during Disco Down. And so on. As far as nights go, our Circus themed one from last September was a bit special. I think people thought we were bluffing, but we had jugglers, magicians, coconut shys and clowns, and thankfully hundreds of people showed up to see it all come together. Bands-wise it was very pleasant to see Glasvegas break through a few years ago. Pin Ups was one of their first gigs. They were friendly and armed with very catchy songs, and I fought their corner on messageboards etc (this was before Scottish music blogs really existed) as they weren’t trendy or embraced by the Glasgow Art School fraternity. I’m actually a bit disappointed more bands we promoted haven’t gone on to bigger things. I was very into Findo Gask, for example. The Fridays have morphed into Astral Planes, which is great. The likes of the Plimptons and Popup won’t be defeated! And I currently have my fingers crossed for the likes of Nevada Base, Sonny Marvello and Mitchell Museum.
You have your very own indoor Festival planned for this months event, what can we expect to see/hear on the night? Am I cool to wear my wellies and my straw hat?
Definitely! I had my wellies on at our first Festival last year. You can expect to hear 4 of Scotland’s best new bands – Sonny Marvello, Micthell Museum, Futuristic Retro Champions, and Campfires in Winter and a smashing selection of DJs – Scott Paterson (Sons and Daughters), Remember Remember (signed to Mogwai’s Rock Action label), the very handsome Craig Brothers, man about town Craig McGee and of course the Pin Ups Chaps. You can expect to see straw, inflatables, glowsticks, cider stands, festival stalls curated by Glasgow collective Made in the Shade, The Mystical Peeling Field and the Legendary Wham Tent! The Festival is an entire Festival experience packed into 6 hours and a lot of good things are going to happen. If we told you about all of them now it would ruin the surprises.
You were recently the ‘victim’ of an online slur campaign on your good name (linkage), did this ever make you start to think about giving the night up at all?
It was disappointing, but giving up never crossed my mind. You can’t let bullies like Un Cadavre win! I offered to meet them, in person, to talk about their grievances. But they refused, boasting about their “online campaign” and saying they were going to publish an article criticising Pin Ups in some magazine or other. So I felt my only means of replying was to write openly about the whole situation. I have thought long and hard about how to make the payment system for bands at Pin Ups as fair as possible. We have used the same system now for 2 and a half years and every month I invite bands to propose a better alternative, and nobody can think of one. I think that proves beyond doubt that it’s as fair as possible. Therefore I believed that Un Cadavre’s online slur campaign was unjust and that we had nothing to hide. I wanted to set out our position, set out the correspondence between Pin Ups and the band, and let people make up their own mind.
Were you surprised by how much support you received from the online music community?
I was incredibly surprised and very grateful. There’s a lot of cool, clever and creative people out there supporting the music scene and it was wonderful to get so much support. I didn’t realise there were so many people who actually knew about Pin Ups or appreciated it in any way. It gave me a real wee boost.
For all the folk out there that haven’t been to Pin Up Nights before, why should they come along?
A common comment I hear from people who finally make the effort to come along to Pin Up Nights is “how did I not know about this sooner?” or “I feel like I’ve really missed out”. If you make it along you will hear a lot of good music – indie, punk, soul, electropop, allsorts really - and you will definitely have fun in the process. Our venue The Flying Duck is really unusual and worth seeing. I also think it’s fair to say that we are consistently ahead of the curve. I see our artwork and ideas ripped off all over the place – imitation. flattery, etc! Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs, who is currently getting a hefty push from Radio 1 and Annie Mac, played live for us last September. Wild Beasts, who were nominated for 2010's Mercury Music Prize earlier this week, played Pin Ups in February 2007 and in 2008 we booked MGMT for their first Scottish gig. Stretching back to 2004, we were interviewing and playing Arctic Monkeys, Editors and Kaiser Chiefs months before anybody else. I have video footage somewhere of loads of folk going mental on the dancefloor to “I predict a riot”. It would now probably make for excellent blackmail material!
Would you care to share any of the events that you have lined up for the rest of the year, or should we just learn to expect the unexpected?
Arr arr, if I told you I’d have to make you walk the plank, matey…pass the rum please!
The Pin Up Nights Festival takes place on Friday(30th), once again they have a sterling line up in store for you all, with DJ-sets from Scott Paterson of Sons & Daughters, and Remember Remember (of Mogwai’s Rock Action label), The Fabulous Craig Brothers and the Pin Ups DJs. Plus live sets from Sonny Marvello, Mitchell Museum, Futuristic Retro Champions and Campfires in Winter. In addition to all of that (as if that wasn't enough for you all) they have The magnificent Wham Tent in which you can pay homage to all things Wham! (including wham bars). You can take time out to visit their mysterious, mystical and interactive Peeling Field which will have to be seen to be believed, browse a lovely selection of vintage stalls curated by Glasgow’s very own Made in The Shade. You can expect straw on the floor, folk with glowsticks, tacky inflatables and bunting (really? - there is no need for that kind of thing!). Tickets are only £5 or £4 if you buy them in advance (from their website or through Ticket Scotland). It promises to be a cracking evening, hopefully Mrs Peenko might let me out for the evening... actually who am I kidding I'm sure she'd be happy to get rid of me for the night.
It was roughly about a month ago that I was up at the goNorth festival, remember that I wrote that long rambling post about it? Thought not, you might remember that I cam back raving about a couple of bands that are based in Glasgow. Don't you just love the irony of me travelling hundreds of miles to catch artists that I could quite easily have seen in my own backyard. Anyway, I digress, one of my personal highlights of my adventures in Inverness were The Seventeenth Century, a band that my fellow bloggers have been getting quite excited about for a while now. Having only heard a couple of songs prior to their set I was excited, yet still felt that they had something to prove before I would be fully convinced. I think they won me over in the sound check. Yep, they were that good. Once again I find myself getting just a little bit over-excited about a band that have a folk-rock tinge about them, but then saying that somewhat sells them short. The stirring vocals of lead singer, Mark Farmer, combined with one of the tightest outfits I have seen in ages, makes for a wonderful combination. I have really high hopes for these guys, with the right amount of support they could be something really fucking special...
Would you care to introduce yourself?
We are a Glasgow based five piece called The Seventeenth Century. The members are: Andy Truscott – Drums Mike Truscott – Cornet, vocals Mark Farmer – Violin, vocals Ryan Burns – Acoustic Guitar, vocals Nicky Grant – Electric Bass, glockenspiel, vocals
How would you describe the music you make?
Dramatic folk rock music with orchestral influences and a somewhat distorted pop sensibility.
How did you come together as a band?
Andy, Ryan, Mark and Nicky met when they were studying at Reid Kerr College. Andy's twin Mike was brought into the picture shortly after they met because he was just so darn talented.
How did you start out making music?
We started out by playing covers, same as every other band really. When Mike came into the band we started experimenting with song ideas and began forming the sounds we were looking for.
What process goes into the way you write songs?
The unique thing about the band is that we all pretty much have equal input into the songwriting. Each member of the band has written a song lyrically and song structures are always put together by the band as a whole, not by one person alone.
Who are your big musical influences?
We all have differing tastes in music and come from different musical backgrounds as well which is important in shaping our sound. Mike is classically trained and studied music at Glasgow Uni so he brings the orchestral aspects to the songs. Mark grew up listening to a lot of folk music from the Sixties such as Fairport Convention and Incredible String Band so most of the folk melodies come from him. Andy and Nicky are into more underground music and post rock music and Ryan brings the pop sensibility to the band's sound. We all draw influences from similar bands as well. The use of dynamics in the songs comes from the influences of bands such as Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Dirty Three and we are all heavily influenced by Sixties music, in particular The Velvet Underground and The Beach Boys.
You’ve got a gig lined up next Thursday (29th) at King Tuts alongside the French Wives, Washington Irving and Rachel Sermanni, now that is one hell of a line up. Do you reckon you can compete with them, or do you think you’ll be the one’s showing them ‘how it’s done’?
It's definitely one of the best line-ups we've had the fortune of playing on. We're big fans of all the acts and have witnessed what amazing live shows they put on. Sonically each band is very different though, so I don't think there will be any competing between the acts. We put a lot of energy into our live sets so hopefully that will come across in the performance.
Having seen some of you throwing some shapes on the dance floor at last months goNorth festival, have any of you ever considered sacking it all in and becoming professional disco dancers?
Glad to hear you approve of our moves! Our reputation as dancers ise witnessed the amazing beginning to overtake our reputation as a band so the opportunity to move into a career as a dance troupe is a possibility. Nicky isn't much of a dancer though but he is looking into a career as a stunt double for Mel Gibson (he's hard at work trying to recreate the Lethal Weapon mullet as we speak.)
What can we expect to see/hear from you in the future?
We are hoping to get something released this year sometime. Probably a 7” single then some sort of EP. It would be fantastic if we could find a label to help promote and distribute our music to the masses. We just want to increase our fan base and let as much people as possible hear our songs. Hopefully that would mean that the next time we were to throw shapes on a dance floor, girls might dance with us as well. The Seventeenth Century - Young Francis
The Seventeenth Century play at King Tut's next Thursday (the 29th) as part of the series of Summer Nights gigs being put on in July. Joining them on the evening are French Wives, Washington Irving and Rachel Semanni, quite possibly the finest line up of bands you are likely to see all summer. Sadly I can't make it along as I already have tickets for another gig that evening (Gribb in the unlikely event that you are reading this, you had better be amazing!) if that sounds like it tickles your fancy then you can buy a ticket here.
We are Penguins Kill Polar Bears, a post rock band from the quiet town of Linlithgow in Scotland. We formed in April 2009 and since then we have been bringing our massive melodic sound to venues all over Scotland.
How would you describe the music you make?
A explosion of post and alternative rock music, fueled by angsty vocals, intricate guitar parts, massive bass lines and driving drum beats. We like to write songs with some dynamism behind them, the kind of music that makes you want to go outside and climb a mountain and relax at the top and enjoy the view. It's intense at times, but we know how to get some chilled out vibes going. Imagine the ginormous sound of Mogwai funnelled through the anthemic power of Manchester Orchestra...
How did you start out making music?
We all went to high school together and played in a variety of different bands across various different genres. Once we had all left school we formed Penguins Kill Polar Bears through a love of bands such as Brand New, Nirvana and The Smashing Pumpkins. We took flight in April 2009 and since then we have been writing, recording and playing all over Scotland.
What process goes into the way you write songs?
Most of our song writing happens when we get together in the studio. We usually spend a few hours jamming out some ideas and seeing what happens with them. Once we're happy with the basic structure of the song we'll demo it ourselves and see what parts need working on. Normally it'll take us about 2 weeks to get a song finished and sounding the way we want it to. We're not really sure how we go about writing lyrics; we usually write the songs first and then get a feel for it. The lyrics tend to have a negative vibe to them; it works well as an emotional out put.
What can people expect from your live shows?
Our live shows are known for having a chaotic atmosphere. We always aim to play our songs with as much energy and passion as we can, whilst creating a massive sound. At the end of the day, our goal is to get out there and play our music as passionately and as well as we can. We've had one incident where Ben took on our drummer Kieran and his drum kit mid show but sadly the drum kit won the fight and Ben ended up unconscious on the floor. Drum Kit 1- Ben 0
What are you all listening to at the moment?
A bit of everything, we're always listening to bands such as The Appleseed Cast and Manchester Orchestra. We listened to the new Pulled Apart By Horses album a lot when we were away on tour. It's pretty crazy and has some mind blowing riffs. I think it's safe to say, we've all got a soft spot for a little bit of Ellie Goulding every now and again.
What can we expect to see/hear from you in 2010?
Bigger riffs, louder songs, and are planning a UK tour. We've also just started writing new songs for our debut album which we hope to release within a year. We're all very excited about what the future holds.
Now here' something for all you wee indie-pop fans to celebrate, Belle and Sebastian have announced their first UK tour in almost four years. The band have been on a bit of a hiatus since the summer of 2006, with front-man Stuart Murdoch putting the group on hold to work on his other project, God Help the Girl. They're just back from LA where they were recording their new album which is due out out later in the year. Anyway, here's what you want to know, the dates, tickets go on sale on Friday the 23rd of July.
5 Dec - Gateshead, Sage 6 Dec - Birmingham, Symphony Hall 7 Dec - Manchester, Apollo 9 Dec - Bournemouth, O2 Academy 14 Dec - Leicester, De Montfort Hall 16 Dec - Bristol, Colston Hall 21 Dec - Glasgow, Barrowlands
Belle & Sebastian playing the Barras four days before Christmas, I can't think of a better way to kick off the festive season!
Monday - was a busy wee day with live recordings from Admiral Fallow and Frightened Rabbit. Plus we had the amazing Randolph's Leap taking on some Fresh Meat action Tuesday - there was a bit more Frabbit, this time it was a recording of their Shock Session Wednesday - Edinburgh outfit 'Mayhew' became the 24th entry into the Scots Way Hay club Thursday - even more sessions, this time there were recordings of Tired Pony and The Boy Who Trapped The Sun, and even more excitingly Heidi from We Sink Ships did some Community Service for me Friday - this could quite possibly have been the greatest week for Friday Freebies ever, if you haven't already make sure you get the We're Only Afraid of NYC 0.3 EP downloaded. Trust me, just trust me. There was also another wee Tired Pony session for you to download. Saturday - We kicked off the day by introducing non-Scottish band, Bear Driver, I think they're amazing hence the reason for me making an exception and giving them a plug. Even more excitingly I had a specially 'commissioned' recording of Randolph's Leap covering Ivor Cutler's 'Everybody Got' for We've Got It Covered'. Plus as if all of that wasn't enough, their was a session from the amazing National and some more live recordings from T in the Park.
News, gigs and any other gubbins......
The King Tut's Summer Nights gigs continue this week with several cracking wee gigs, here's what they have in store for you... Mon 19th - The Boy Who Trapped The Sun, Bear Bones, Lou Hickey and Crow Road Tue 20th - Kitty The Lion, Martin James and Associates, Julia and the Doogans and the Second Hand Marching Band Wed 21st - The Hostiles, Energy, He Slept on 57 and Fires Attract Thu 22nd - Lightguides, Makes Sparks, Penguins Kill Polar Bears and Oliver Stays Fri 23rd - Mickey 9's, Vendor Defender, The Emma's and The OK Social Club Sat 24th - Astral Planes, Galleries, Cancel the Astronauts and Casino Brag
I think that's all for this week, I would just like to use the opportunity to thank everyone who came along last night and to We're Only Afraid of NYC, Randolph's Leap and Little Yellow Ukuleles for playing for us. I had a great night, I hope you did too, now to start planning Ayetunes vs Peenko 3. How we are going to top that I have no idea.....
It's not very often that I can say that I have a genuine exclusive cover version for you, more often than not it's a song that I have ripped from a radio session. Then just likes buses, two come along at once. Last week we had We're Only Afraid of NYC's cover of Tom Waits, and this week we have this little beauty. I honestly feel very flattered to be able to share this song with you, it's a Randolph's Leap cover of 'Everybody Got'. Last week while I was messing about on their Myspace I came across a video of them covering the song, so I sent their lead singer Adam asking if they had a recorded version that I might be able to use at some point in the future. Now from what little experience I have had dealing with Adam, I can pretty much vouch that he is truly a wee star. He took it upon himself to get into the studio and recorded this cover with Glasgow musician Eldifidle on production duties. Another cracking tune, from another band that's playing at tonights 'Ayetunes vs Peenko 2' gig. If this doesn't convince you to get off your backside and come along, then you have no soul! Randolph's Leap - Everybody Got (Ivor Cutler cover)
Warning I am about to do something which I haven't done in ages and feature a non-Scottish band, why am I doing this you might ask, well quite simply this is an amazing band that deserve your attention. Right on with the show....
There really aren't enough bands with Bear in their name nowadays are there, I mean you only really have Grizzly Bear, Bear Hands, Bear In Heaven, Panda Bear.... okay I'll stop there as I guess you get my point. The point I am trying to make, which I guess I am doing pretty badly at, is that if a lot of bands have similar names it can make it that little bit more tricky for them to stand out from the crowd. Normally a band like Bear Driver would pass me right by, I am easily confused and have become so blinkered that I often find that anything that isn't Scottish passes me right by. Thankfully though Bear Driver just clicked for me, I'm not sure where I came across them first. It was either on the Line of Best Fit or in the Guardian's Band of the Day feature, a few years back I used to check their recommendations on a daily basis, but as I become more and more focused on what was going on in my own backyard. So nowadays I normally just skim through, picking out words or comparisons that might appeal to me. However, I often find myself getting pretty disinterested and not really paying that much interest. I couldn't tell you off hand what it was about Bear Driver that first pricked my attention, but something stuck with me and I took a chance and I ordered their EP. I am so glad I did as it's a cracking wee pop record that reminds me of bands like Architecture in Helsinki and Broken Social Scene. As I liked it so much I thought it might be nice to get the band to answer a few questions for me, and they very kindly obliged...
Would you care to introduce yourself?
Hello I’m Harry from Bear Driver, also in the band are Oli (vox, guitar), Cassie (vox,), Jon (bass), Joe (keys) and Rich (drums).
How would you describe the music you make?
Colourful, fuzzy, psychedelic indie-pop.
How did you start out making music?
Oli and I lived together, we kept saying for ages that we should start making some music and it never seemed to happen. So we just booked a gig which meant we had to write songs and get a live show together. The two of us just played shows with an ipod backing track. The band then grew organically, with more members joining to help with the live show until we somehow managed to end up with six members in the band!
What process goes into the way you write songs?
Normally Oli or I will have an idea then we’ll email that idea to each other and start adding melodies and instruments. This emailing will happen for a few weeks then we’ll meet up to jam the songs, work on structures and get a decent demo recorded. We’ll then send this to the rest of the band and work on the live sound at rehearsals.
Can we expect to see you playing any shows north of the border any time soon?
Hopefully so, we’re looking at organizing a mini tour in September. Hopefully we’re going to do a show at King Tuts in Glasgow.
What can we expect to see/hear from you in 2010?
Well as I mentioned above we are going to a do a mini tour in September. There’ll be another single at some point and we’re going to start recording our album soon.Bear Driver - Thousand Samurais
Bear Drivers debut single 'Wolves' is out now, it is available to download on iTunes and 7digital, it will be out on vinyl on the 26th of this month. Home Facebook Myspace Twitter
This week I have decided to go with a little bit of Belle & Sebastian for my weekly cover version. I have had this pencilled in for a while now, I must admit that it took me a while to decide which song I was going to go with as there are so many cover versions out there. I am sure if you do a bit of hunting on google you'll be be able to find a copy of a wee bootleg consisting solely of cover versions. I chose to go with their cover of the Beatles 'Here Comes The Sun', which I guess is a bit odd for me as I have never really been a massive fan of the fab-four, but for some reason this version really appeals to me.
