Scots Way-Hay #22 - Dupec

Week 22 and it's time for some ROCK!
For those of you who haven't been following this blog for a while you might well have missed my original 'Introducing' featuring that I ran in May last year. I know I am going to repeat myself a little here, but hey it was over a year ago and there were nowhere near as many of you visiting the site back then. Dupec are an Edinburgh three piece rock outfit that I first came across after the Jetpacks named checked them in several interviews. Being the curious/nosey bugger that I am, I did little digging and soon found myself hooked by their loud catchy tunes. Having just toured round Europe with We Were Promised Jetpacks and released another excellent new single 'The Brown Owl Knows Best' (which they have very kindly allowed me to post)
Ladies and gents, Dupec......


Would you care to introduce yourself?
Hello. I am James Yuill from Dupec. Not James Yuill the solo guy from London.

How would you describe the music you make?
Rock music, I guess. A million different types of music influence the tunes we write but essentially we are just trying to write good rock and roll songs that we enjoy listening to and playing.

How did you start out making music?
Personally, I started going to keyboard lessons when I was 7 or 8 and got my first guitar for my 9th birthday. Everyone in my family loves music so I was always well encouraged. I started playing in bands when I was about 15. Dupec started writing songs around 2008, when my (and Paul's) old band split up.

What process goes into the way you write songs?
Normally we'll start out writing songs with a few guitar riffs or motifs I've come up with and then add the rock bits as we go. We'll practice and change things as it all starts coming together and almost always add lyrics last.

Who are your big musical influences?
Pretty much everything I listen to influences me a bit and so I'd say its hard to determine a handful of big influences. Here's a few records/bands I've been listening to a lot recently or over the last few months: Foals "Total Life Forever", FaltyDL "Love is a Liability", Meursault "All Creatures Will Make Merry", Errors "Come Down With Me", Motown 50, Luke Vibert "Rhythm", Maps & Atlases, Gallows, The Twilight Sad "Forget The Night Ahead".

You recently toured around Europe with We Were Promised Jetpacks, how was it for you guys?
Unbelievably good. Basically a brilliant two week lad's holiday where you get to play a gig every night and get paid. Jetpacks have been brilliant to us and this was by far the best thing they've done for us. The venues and crowds in Europe (Germany in particular) were great. Everywhere we turned up in Germany we got amazing food (mostly ham and cheese) and beer and whisky. Me and Steel are wanting to move to Berlin next summer we just need to convince Paul that he needs it too.

What can we expect to see/hear from you in 2010?
Probably won't hear us on Leith FM again... We are in the process of trying to arrange an EP or Album release off the back of the double A side we have just released ourselves. When we have something out we will go back out on tour.

Dupec - The Brown Owl Knows Best

If you fancy catching the band live, then you're in luck as they're one of many amazing local bands playing at King Tut's as part of July's Summer Nights festival. Dupec will be playing alongside The Xcerts, Bronto Skylift and Otherpeople on Wednesday the 28th. Now that's what I call a line up! Tickets are available to buy for just six of your earthly pounds, you can pick yourself up some without any of that booking fee nonsense if you go direct to the venue. Otherwise it's online and your left to deal with the mystical beast that is 'admin fees'.

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Frightened Rabbit - Marc Riley Session (29/06/10)

Track Listing

1. The Loneliness And The Scream
2. The Wrestle
3. Living In Colour
4. Footshooter

Download

Meursault - Live at Glastonbury 2010

Track Listing
1. Crank Resolutions
2. What You Don't Have
3. One Day This'll All Be Fields

Download
Stream the Videos

Rockness BBC Campervan Sessions 2010

Track Listing

1. Meursault - The Young Gentleman’s Guide To Maintaining Standards
2. Astral Planes - Talking To Strangers
3. The Seventeenth Century - Young Francis

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Fresh Meat Monday - Oscar Charlie

picture by Chris Melgram

Would you care to introduce yourself?
Hello, my name is Reuben Quinn. I write and sing songs in Oscar Charlie.

How would you describe the music you make?
I grew up listening to a lot of stuff, mostly Frank Zappa and Paul Simon. Aretha too - I'd like to think that we sound like some kind of mix of these but we don't. My mantra is that good taste doesn't matter and that good music does - anything goes so long as it isn't shit. I suppose we sound quite poppy, a bit emotional and gay. I like far too much.

How did you start out making music?
My Mam and Dad got me an upright piano for Christmas when I was seven or eight - I really wanted a Tyco Psycho remote control car. I was a spoilt little turd so I think I got both. I got piano lessons. I was going to be a jazz pianist, but I got a guitar when I was thirteen and it was so much easier. And rewarding.

What process goes into the way you write songs?
I'll have an idea for a chord sequence that will come into my head when I'm sleepy or stoned and then I'll work it out and play around with the sound for far too long, and then I'll go on the computer and program the drum part and then Tom will replace the drum part with something better. Jim will put together a bassline. Lyrics come last.

What can people expect from your live shows?
Well, it's been a long time... We'll be playing live again soon with an entirely new set of songs. I don't know what to expect but I've got a few ideas that may or may not be realistic - bubbles with lasers going through them and a tricycle/gas mask character appearing. If anyone has a projector they want to sell I'm interested. Mostly I want the band to be precise and for there to be a real musical event going down when we play.

What are you all listening to at the moment?
This brilliant version of Sexual Healing has the best sounding horns I've heard in ages. They just squeal for like nine minutes. Nobody will listen to music with me anymore because I keep telling them to pay attention and ruining it. Tom showed me a band called Kong who are really good, saw Health recently, who were not as good as they are on record. We've been listening to Holy Fuck's album a lot, it's great.

What can we expect to see/hear from you in 2010?
Well, we've really kept quiet for a while now so we'll be returning to the stage in Glasgow for sure with the new show. Maybe we'll make it south of the border for a few shows as well. Hopefully we'll be taking some new tracks down to Blueprint Studios in Manchester towards the end of the year, and I want to make a music video at St Peters Seminary. Really though, I want to be in our factory writing and practising so that when it happens, something amazing pops out of this coccoon.

Hello Chrono by Oscar Charlie

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Weekly Round Up (27/06/2010)

Monday - Dems became the latest Fresh Meat in a Peenko sandwich
Tuesday - Silver Columns session for Vic G's Radio Scotland show
Wednesday - Washington Irving got the keys the door as they were our 21st entry into the Scots Way-Hay club
Thursday - Kid Canaveral took the time out to talk us through their amazing debut album, 'Shouting At Wildlife'.
Friday - Freebie time, make sure you check out the free download of the Pink Nasty album 'Mold the Gold', trust me it's a great wee album
Saturday - King Creosote was our latest We've Got It Covered star, with his interpretation of some Tears For Fears

News, gigs and any other gubbins......

If you are free this afternoon and looking for an alternative to the footy and you live in sunny Glasgow, then you might want to check out Hazy Recollections over at Glasgow University Union (GU) as part of the West End Festival. Returning for it’s third outing, the bi-monthly event aims to showcase the finest in contemporary Indie/Folk acts from Glasgow and beyond. Taking place from 2pm-6pm, the line up includes Alex Cornish, French Wives, Aly Macrae, Kitty the Lion, The Cliftons, The Hidden Lane Choir House Band Findlay Napier and the Bar Room Mountaineers.



Next Saturday (3rd) see Kid Canaveral launching their debut album, 'Shouting At Wildlife', with a gig at the Roxy in Edinburgh. Support for the evening comes from The Come On Gang and the Scottish Enlightenment. With DJ slots from Cancel The Astronauts and yours truly, it promises to be a beast of an evening, personally I can't wait.




Another gig which is really exciting me this week is the latest Elba Sessions presents gig on Thursday (1st), featuring 'good friend of the blog' RM 'Hubby' Hubbert , Yusuf Azak and my boys Campfires in Winter. Two amazing acts for free, sweet! It's at the Liquid Ship, it kicks off about 9-ish and it should be one hell of a good night.

Tonight you can catch, Milk, Schnapps and Wilson Tan as they take to the stage at the Captains Rest as part of the celebrations of this years West End Festival. Apparently we can also expect to witness a collaboration of around twenty people crammed on to stage equipped with anything close to hand. All gathered around a huge and beautiful organ for a short improvised set and stage tage invasions are welcome. Who knows how they'll manage to fit anyone else on stage though.


Meanwhile down in Gourock (yes Gourock), Glasgow indie pop outfit, Ace City Racers will be headlining a gig at the Summer Pool Party. Sounds like something they should be having in LA, not fucking Gourock. If you live in that neck of the woods and you fancy some top tunes whilst having to witness lots of half naked locals then the party kicks off at 6pm and it's only £1.40 to get in, cheap as chips!.


If you're not in Edinburgh next week for the KC album launch, then you'd be advise to head down to Box in Glasgow to catch previous Fresh Meaters 'Night Noise Team' who are playing a free T-Break warm-up gig, with support from Patricia Panther and Digital Dinosaur.

Community Service #10 - Born To Be Wide

I know I have been a bit lapse with my Community Service posts lately, sorry kids. I promise that I'll try to do better in future, 'try' being the operative word there. Some of you that were paying attention to my ramblings about my adventures at GoNorth might have picked up on the fact that it was the good folk from Born To Be Wide that invited me up to cover it. I bet they're still regretting that decision! While I was up in Inverness I attended a fair few different seminars that they put on, really good they were too. Hence now that they have another event planned for this coming Thursday in Edinburgh, I thought I would get them to answer a few wee questions for me, letting them explain how they are and what they do.
Having seen what they do in person I would urge any musicians out there who are serious about giving it a go to try and 'make it', to attend their events. They're spot on guys that know their stuff, and more importantly they give you the opportunity to go out there and talk to folk that you would probably never have access to. Now I'll pass you over to Derick from Born To Be Wide for some more sensible chat...

In your own words describe what Born To Be Wide is and does?

Born To Be Wide is a networking and social music industry night where we invite music industry professionals to provide insight into their particular field (whether that’s publishing, management, PR, touring, etc). Generally takes the form of an informal seminar, followed up with self indulgent DJ sets from our guests, as long as they don’t play the Smiths, Morrissey or Joy Division. Olaf only invites those he genuinely believes are the best in their field, so it’s always really high quality, high profile guests. Born To Be Wide provides a platform for the professionals to share their experiences and expertise with our audience but most importantly the DJ club aspect of our night allows bands, promoters, budding managers, anyone that attends, an excellent opportunity to network with our guests, and get the best from their knowledge and develop what they’re doing, all in a relaxed environment.

What was the inspiration for starting up Born To Be Wide?

You’d really need to ask Olaf that one as he started it six years ago, but I’d say Born To Be Wide was inspired by the lack of any real scene in Edinburgh, lack of community, Olaf was looking to address that, get industry, media, managers and bands all talking and provide a focal point for everyone to meet. Olaf being Olaf, with his bulging address book was the man to make that happen. Today, Edinburgh’s scene is extremely vibrant; there is no doubt in my mind that Born To Be Wide contributed heavily to that. I think when everyone knows each other, networks and co-operates the overall scene becomes healthier and healthier.

What would you say to any musicians out there who are thinking of coming along to one of your evenings?

I’d say it’s the best couple of quid you are ever likely to spend on your band. Seriously, I know bands that have got record deals, publishing deals, tours, even just one off gigs as a result of meeting our guests or being introduced to people that come to Born To Be Wide. Most recently, as a result of our German Birthday party in February, Olaf set up a festival slot for five Scottish bands in Berlin, that’s the sort of opportunity on offer at Born To Be Wide every month. Not only is it worthwhile meeting our guests but we have a really good bunch of regulars that come down too, including journalists, promoters, managers, record labels, A&R folk and more. Myself and Olaf are always happy to introduce bands to anyone at our night and we’re also more likely to say yes if you want meet us for a chat or write about your band if you support us and come to our night.

What has been your personal highlight of Born To Be Wide since it started?

Actually, it’s difficult to choose any one highlight, it’s always amazing. Also, I can only speak for the years I’ve been to Born To Be Wide, so for me it’d either be our all day festival Wide Days or possibly our sixth birthday party with the German Consulate. Perhaps because I’m more involved in the live scene so I enjoy having bands perform. So yeah, Wide Days as we got gigs as well as venue tours and slight variations and similarly the German night as we had Jean’s Team play as well as the music quiz with cool prizes, amazing seeing the Counsel staff DJ ing too, that was cool. In fact, we always have a big party in August to coincide with the Edinburgh Festival. A couple years ago we had Irvine Welsh, Kristin Hersh and more incredible people, that was an excellent night, and it’s always cool hearing what our guests favourite tunes are, always surprising too.

Your next seminar is all about ‘Booking Agents’, who do you have lined up for that? Is it focused on bands that are at a certain level and want to know more or do you think it could be useful to artists at all levels?

We’ve got some brilliant guests for our Booking Agents seminar. Lisa Whytock from Active Events, the biggest agency in Scotland, mostly in the folk and jazz world of booking and I think she programs a lot of Celtic Connections festival too. We also have Joanna Malpas from ITB and Alex Lloyd from Main Stage Artists, (who incidentally we drunkenly met at goNorth last month and invited him up) both of them are brilliant at what they do and also represent Scottish acts. Finally, young Jason Edwards who founded his own agency The Art Of.. and is shortly moving to 13 Artists. The seminar will be essential to artists at all levels, we’ll be covering what an agents job is, what an artist should look for and hopefully go a long way to giving bands valuable insight into their role and how they could help. I think agents can be extremely important to an artist, an agent can make the difference to getting paid and getting festival slots or not. Really good agents also tend to develop the profile of bands they work with, so really invaluable for any artist at any level I reckon.

Lastly, what can we expect to see from Born To Be Wide in the future?

We have lots of plans and variations in the pipeline. Of course next year will see the return of a bigger version of our all day seminar and showcase event Wide Days, that’s going to be a challenge to better. We have plans to extend Wide Days into one off events in other parts of the country and a few other ideas we’re discussing too. Either way, whatever we do it should be worthwhile and valuable to people that come along and support us.



The next Born To Be Wide Seminar on 'Booking Agents' is being held on the 1st of July at the Electric Circus in Edinurgh. You can order tickets here (NB there are discounted tickets if you are a member of the Musician's Union).

Born To Be Wide
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We've Got It Covered #7

Seeing as KC announced that all future Fence releases will be on vinyl from now on, it's time to milk all of these digital releases while we still have them. He's done a fair few amazing covers over the years, but this is my personal favourite. It's a cover of the Tears For Fears classic 'Pale Shelter' that he recorded as part of a session he did for Vic G in May last year.

King Creosote - Pale Shelter (Tears For Fears cover)

Friday Freebies

The Twilight Sad
The 'Sad boys recorded a session for LimeWire (when did LimeWire go legit?), they're currently giving away “Cold Days From The Birdhouse (Live At Lime)” as a free download here.

Jenny & Johnny
Perhaps you might know them better as Jenny Lewis of Rilo Kiley fame (does anyone know if they've officially split up?) and her Glasgow born boyfriend, Jonathan Rice. Well they've decided to make an album together, as a wee preview they're giving away a free download of their song 'Scissor Runner'. Pleasant enough it is too, although I must admit that it did make me pine for another album from Jenny's 'old' band.

Pink Nasty
Now here's a blast from the past, I haven't listened to Pink Nasty in years. In fact I must admit that I had totally forgotten about her, I must admit that I do feel kind of guilty about that, as 'BTK Blues' featuring Will Oldhan is one of my all time favourite songs. I guess she must have a new album coming out soon, as she's giving away her album 'Mold the Gold', featuring the latter song. Absoloutley gorgeous stuff, I'd be chuffed to hear what you all think of it.

Eels
With a new up album in the offing 'E' and his boys have posted new song 'Looking Up' for free download over on their homepage.

Any Color Black
The Glasgow electronica duo have posted a free download of their cover of Britney Spears '3', get yourself a copy here.

Tired Pony
Gary Lightbody's new supergroup, featuring folk from REM and Belle and Sebastian, have posted a free download from their forthcoming album, 'The Place We Ran From'. I think this was a US only download, but I'll save you all the signing up nonsense, just click here to download a free MP3 of their song 'Point Me At Lost Islands'

British Sea Power
They're not the kind of band that you'd expect to write a World Cup, but they have, it's titled “Football (Kick It In The Goal),” and it is available to download for free on their website.

Superchunk
Amazon have posted an MP3 of 'Learned to Surf' from the bands 'Leaves In The Gutter' EP up for free.

The Good Gods!
The Londoners are giving away an MP3 of their new single "Lying On Our Bright Red Backs", in exchange for your email address.

The Giving Tree Band
The folksy eight-piece Americana band are giving away a free copy of their song “Circles”, just sign up for their mailing list and they'll send you it (scroll to the bottom to find the widget).

Earthtone 9
I don't know anything about these guys, apart from the fact that they're giving away a collection of their songs from 1998-2002. If you know who they are, or your just plain curious, find out more here.



Kowalskiy's Komplimentary Korner

Beerjacket

This weeks offering from the 'Doc' are a couple of cracking live shows from Beerjacket recorded live at King Tuts. He hopes the it might console some of you folk out there who missed out on seeing him at last weeks postponed gig.

Peenko Exclusive: Kid Canaveral: Shouting At Wildlife - Track By Track

It's not very often that I can come on here and say that I have a genuine exclusive for you kids, but today is different. This week has been a pretty amazing week on ye olde Peenko Blog, on Monday, after waiting about a year to re-apply/get my act together, I finally got myself on Hype Machine. Now this might not mean much to you guys, but it meant a lot to me.
Even more excitingly, we have this little gem of a post (my ramblings excluded), we have the amazing Kid Canaveral talking us through their forthcoming album 'Shouting At Wildlife'.

As I have stated previously, I don't do reviews. I am not a musician, nor a journalist, so I don't think it would be fair for me to critique someone else's hard work. I can however, tell you all about the stuff that I really like. Having heard this album come together as the band worked on it in the studio, I am so chuffed about how it sounds. Yes, I could be accused of bias, but quite frankly I don't care as this is one of my favourite albums of 2010. A true Scottish-pop classic in the making, I really hope some of you out there love this album as much as I do.
Now it's time to pass you over to the Canaverals to let them talk you through their debut album in their own words...

Good Morning

01 Good Morning by Kid Canaveral

David: This seemed the logical choice to open the album. We frequently open the set with it, as it sets the tone for our live show and probably for the album as well. It’s up-tempo, occasionally raucous, but consistently melodic. I was uncomfortable about the swearing at first and actually re-recorded the vocals without it, but a wiser head than I convinced me not to sanitise it by questioning me along the lines of: "you’ve played it like that for a long time, do you feel less strongly about it now?". I didn’t want to seem needlessly crass, but I think it’s justifiable.

Kate: I think the title alone makes this an album opener but it is definitely a good intro to us as a band too.

Rose: I think this might be my favourite song to hear and to play, it never fails to make me happy when everything kicks in.


You Only Went Out To Get Drunk Last Night

D: This was just the "Las", the chords and (some of) the lyrics when we went to record it. We messed around with the structure a wee bit and then settled on something that we all thought really worked. Kate worked a Kaossilator loop into it, we got the Wild Life choir on it (6 ably-lunged women) and it's turned into something we're incredibly happy with. It’s pop music, Jim, but maybe people with SERIOUS RECORD COLLECTIONS can like it. (That was meant to be a 60s Star Trek reference. I don't think this is AyeTunes). Arguments in relationships are fun, aren't they? Especially towards the end.

K: This is the most fun song (ignoring the heartache that inspired David obviously!) on the record for me. The drums are ace and when the last verse comes in it just makes me feel incredibly happy.

Scott: This is definitely one of my favourite tunes on the album. I think David, Kate and Rose had messed about with the vocal riff before I joined. When David lived in Glasgow we used to go to the studio during the week to jam and the drum licks evolved from one such session. It took some time to get a distinctive structure that made the tune flow but once we found it we were very happy.

R: The la's were recorded crowded round a microphone on a deserted set of a low budget production of 'The Wiz'. I think it really shows.


Left and Right

D: I REALLY love how this turned out.

K: I am dead pleased with this too. I like pop music - I especially like pop songs with fun backing vocals and storytelling led lyrics. This is my attempt at one of 'em! It's a pretty universal (and sappy) story - boy/girl chance meeting type of thing. Obviously my proudest moment on this tune is that I managed to get "rubber gloves" into the lyrics. I love David's solo on this - it reminds me of super jangly indie pop from the late 80s/early 90s. I can't quite remember how this song came about. What usually happens is I record a pretty shoddy demo, then the real musicians (the rest of the band!) come along and make it sound good. We also tend to double the speed of anything I've recorded in demo form!

D: There should be a limit to the amount of self-deprecation Kate is allowed. The song was there, I just suggested speeding it up...

S & R: Ditto.


Cursing Your Apples

D: When we were writing for the album, I was trawling through some old demos we had on a portastudio. I came across an unfinished song that Kate had recorded and pinched the chorus from it as it settled nicely, lyrically and musically, with the beginnings of a song I that I was working on. The pained "yaaaaaaas!" at the end is me, as this was another song we’d finished writing in the couple of days before actually recording it, and, as we like to try and keep overdubs to a minimum this was take 20-something. That's why we left it in. A long couple of hours, but I think worth it in the end. The majority of the lyric is spawned from an hilarious conversation overheard by a friend of ours.

K: The chorus bit was actually part of the second song I ever wrote, probably in 2003 I think. I’m pleased we got to use it, I think it’s one of the only songs where David and I have lyrically combined stuff. It worked out pretty well so hopefully more of that to come.

S: We recorded this tune in the studio without a click as Gal suggested that the spontaneity and vibrance of the original demo recordings might be lost. We all agreed but it did take a fair amount of takes due to my inability to nail the final fills. I still can't remember how many times the middle 8 and the outro fills are played...

R: We have a tendency to play this as fast as we humanly can when playing live, if anything adding to the joie de vivre I associate with this song. That and bass-hand cramp.


Smash Hits

05 Smash Hits by Kid Canaveral

D: Our Debut single. Threats were made by some if this wasn't included on the album. I had my reservations about putting it on, but as Jeff Bridges says in ‘Crazy Heart’... "this song's been good to us". I'm paraphrasing. An observed night at the 13th Note Café in Glasgow: Boy likes girl, Girl has made poor musical choices, Boy goes over the top in his musical criticism and ends up with a faceful of cinematic snackage and his jotters. A pop tune with it's tongue in the right place... Recorded for the 7" version at CaVa sound in Glasgow. I re-sang the vocals at Chem19 during the sessions for our 2nd, 3rd and 4th singles as I was never happy with them due to the time constraints and illness I had during the original recording.

K: I was definitely one of the advocates for this being on the album. I think it has stood the test of time – I am still excited about playing it live.


Quiet Things Are Quiet Now

06 Quiet Things Are Quiet Now by Kid Canaveral

K: This is the only song that I recorded myself at home. I was a bit scared that it wouldn't fit in with the rest of the album but I'm actually really happy with how it turned out. You have no idea how many vocal takes I did - ridiculous - much better getting a professional in to record these things for you! This one's a bit of a sad one and a bit less narrative based than most of the stuff I write. I rather selfishly chose to play every instrument and do every vocal myself. Luckily I had the wondrous Kaossilator to help me out so I use the term "play" very loosely indeed, and you'll notice that I didn't attempt any drumming. Phew.

D: It's nice to know when you're not wanted, isn't it? ;) I think it sits perfectly at the centre of our record. If any of the formats this is available on had sides, this would be the end of Side 1. S: I think it would take away from the mood of this track to have too much percussion - a very selfless position for a drummer, I know.

R: I was pretty offended.


And Another Thing!!

07 And Another Thing!! by Kid Canaveral

D: This is one of those songs that gets written in about 20 minutes. I was sitting in the first proper sun of the year last March messing about with some chords and I just started playing the chord progression for this and humming a melody. It’s a song about necessity, dependency, desire, pigheadedness and failure. This was the first time I had managed to write a song in 11 months. I had been suffering from severe writers block. Ali Davison provides Viola on this. It sounds like there a quite a few more stringed instruments beyond the viola and guitars in the middle, but it is just one viola and a few reverbed, distorted and delayed guitars. I'm really happy with it. I can hear all sorts in the white noise and reverb towards the end. Ali also plays Keys on a good few of the songs on the record and provided the Viola on 'Stretching the Line' from the 'Left and Right' E.P. She's a talented young woman.

K: I very much enjoy the massiveness of this recording. The end is nuts. In a good way.S: The dynamics of this track are wonderful and this is another one that I feel evolved quite a lot whilst we were recording with Gal - very much down to many hours put in by the guys, often into the wee hours of the morning. My contribution was very often to turn up with a hangover and moan.

R: I very much enjoyed Kate and I shrieking 'and another thing' like the harpies we are - the final take is considerably more angelic than it was originally.


On Occasion

D: A relatively old song compared to most of the album. One of the first we recorded for the Album along with ‘And Another Thing!!’, ‘Good Morning’ and ‘Left and Right’ with Gal at the old 4th Street Studios. I love the drums on this. The female backing vocals add a nice ethereal quality to them. Punk Enya. I think we need a sticky label for our album along the lines of "Parental Guidance: This Record contains four sweary words"

K: We haven’t played this live for at least a year so you should all come along to the album launch (Saturday 3rd of July at the Roxy, tickets are available here) and see how we get on. I am amazing at subtle plugs.

S: Recorded before my time and I'm pretty sure it has been played very differently by the last two guys. That being said it is nice to introduce your own style and this has become one that I really enjoy playing live.



Talk and Talk

K: This was another demo that David, Rose and Scott worked their magic on, turning what was a rather forlorn acoustic number into a full-on pop assault. Rose says the lyrics sound like they have been written by someone who doesn't speak English as their first language. I've decided to take this as a compliment (!) - it is a homage to J-pop. Or something. I was especially pleased with the backing vocals - I think they completely make the song. This is going to be one of the harder ones to replicate live as we played around with the drums quite a lot (adding glitchy filters etc) and David did about a million guitar overdubs too. Hopefully we'll be able to pull it off.

D: After me saying we like to keep overdubs to a minimum, too... I think the choruses on this are especially brilliant. Spangly pop music. The original demo had a stylophone on it. I don't know why we got rid of it. The drums on the first verse sound like they have been through a fancy trebly filter (which is what we were looking for) but the effect we settled on was simply the guide vocal microphone that had been left on in the same room as the drums. We came across it by accident.

S: In terms of percussion, this is stripped down minimalist drumming which is (I think) extremely effective in complimenting the rest of the arrangement.

R: I LIKE the fact it sounds like it was written by someone who doesn't speak fluent English. Like Shakira, or Dappy from N'Dubz.


Couldn't Dance

D: Our second single. It’s like a cross section from a bad night out, not seen entirely from the first person either. Personal experiences mixed with the experiences of others. The stupidity that can arise from our culture of getting hammered, emotional and engaging in, and saying, things we’ll later regret. This is the original recording from our sessions with Andy Miller at Chem 19 remixed by Gal at 4th street so that it sat with the rest of the album. One of the most fun songs to play live...

R: I love the stamping kick drum on this, and if I hadn't already said the same about Good Morning, this would be my favourite track to play live.


Her Hair Hangs Down

D: Entirely written during the recording sessions for the album. Well, with an older, adapted lyric. It started with me and Gal taking a break from recording "Talk and Talk" and filling our "break" messing about with a recorded loop of my guitar played with an ebow. The loop isn't as prominent as it was on the original. We stripped it down after we got a bit carried away. It's still audible in the final verse. The finished song is a great example of why Gal was such an asset to the Album, and such a joy to work with. Lyrically, it’s about one of the times where you stop and have a look at everything around you and everything that’s happened in the past few years. Taking stock of the things that have happened when it seems like you’ve been on Autopilot, and taking time to try and work out how you got to the point you’re at now. Thankfully, I no longer map the passage of time using mould.

K: The contrast between this and the previous track is pretty stark, but I think it makes sense. A good way to start the end of the album.

S: In my opinion, written by David close to time he wrote "Stretching The Line", which I adore, this track is similarly melancholy but also uplifting at the same time. I loved contributing vocally and especially enjoy being able to play guitar when we perform this live. It's not very often a drummer gets "released" from behind his kit...


Good Morning (Reprise)

D: I know bands occasionally come in for stick for having a reprise as it is seen as self-indulgent or a filler or whatever, but I had an idea for a nice mash up of an old Kid C song from one of our old demos WAY back when we first starting out. It was in the same key as 'Good Morning' and I had some ideas to make it a sombre finish to the album with a reprise of a lot of the elements of the opening track. I recorded it at my old flat in Glasgow. It pulls together a couple of musical and melodic aspects from the album: the key and main melody from 'Good Morning' and a similar vocal rhythm to the choral section of "You Only Went Out To Get Drunk Last Night". I thought it was an appropriate closing track due to the lyric at the death, and I think it is strong enough not be just a bit of throwaway filler. I hope we've made an album rather than just a collection of songs. That's one of the reasons we didn't put absolutely everything we've released on it. It would then be boring, repetitive and a bit of a rip-off for people who'd already bought our other releases. There are a few songs I'm not too sad about leaving in the past, too.


Shouting At Wildlife is available to pre-order over at their website, there's the added bonus of some extra stuff being chucked in there too. For £10 (+P&P) you get a rather snazzy digipak edition of “Shouting at Wildlife”, an exclusive cassette tape edition of their recent single “You Only Went Out To Get Drunk Last Night”, which includes mixes from Kwaing Creasite and Becky Becky Parentheses and a shed load of other stuff (lyric sheet, badges, digital downloads and more).

The band celebrate the launch of the album with a gig at the Roxy in Edinburgh, on Saturday the 3rd of July. Joining them on the night are fellow powerpop merchants Come On Gang! and “Sessionette Rockers” The Scottish Enlightenment with DJ sets from Cancel The Astronauts and some dodgy fellow going by the name of Peenko. You can buy your tickets in advance for only £5, it'll be £6 on the door. If you buy them now, then they'll post them right out to you free of charge, what a bunch of sweeties they are. If any of you are coming along for the night, make sure you come and say hi to this beardie twat playing dodgy tunes.

Scots Way-Hay #21 - Washington Irving

I'm not sure if it's just my perception, but there seems to be a lot amazing indie-folk bands coming out of Scotland at the moment. The latest band to add to this list, are Glasgow based six piece, Washington Irving. Taking their name from one of my all time favourite books, 'Catch 22', they were always going to be a winner. That and they've just released their debut EP on one of my favourite Scottish labels at the moment, Instinctive Raccoon Records.
Their sound takes elements of Celtic and Eastern European folk, added with some indie-pop to boot, giving them a sound which stands out from the crowd. Much as in the same way that the Pogues took their folk influences and added splash of punk, Washington Irving have done something pretty similar. Their songs just make you want to dance with a big f' off smile on your face, and in my book that's a winner every time.

Would you care to introduce yourself?

My name is Martin, I play guitar in the band Washington Irving.

How would you describe the music you make?

Loud, lively folk/rock.

How did you start out making music?

The band started with Joe and Chris who have been playing together since high school in Oban. When they moved to Glasgow they already had the name Washington Irving and some songs. The first time me, Rory, Chris and Joe played together was in a Murano Street Student Halls' kitchen during fresher's week. We took it in turns to solo with the electric guitar (mainly Jimi Hendrix songs). The band was then pieced together over the next three years until we reached the current six members.

What process goes into the way you write songs?

Joe comes to the band with a song on an acoustic guitar then we all start playing over it (fighting for attention). Everyone throws in suggestions/parts until we settle on something. Some songs have taken months and months of work while others have just slotted together. Some songs have just come and gone, usually forgotten because they didn't sit quite right. It always involves an argument over drumbeats. It can be quite difficult with six people all trying to voice their opinions on different things at the same time, but we get there!

Who are your big musical influences?

For the band as a whole I'd say The Pogues, Belle and Sebastian, Beirut and Sufjan Stevens.


Your new EP is out on Instinctive Raccoon Records, how did you hook up with those guys?

We met Ross Clark at Dunstaffnage Music Festival in 2008. He enjoyed our set so we ended up playing his single launch at the Oran Mor a few months later. We met his manager and Instinctive Racoon head honcho Jamie Webster. Our friend Ben Soep then got involved with IR and the guys took us on board to help with putting out our single the Magician in April 2009.

Can we expect to see you putting an album out with them some time in the future?

There are no plans at the moment. It's a very expensive business! The EP took a lot of combined effort and stress to get together. We have lots of songs we want to record, new and old, so we'll hopefully get cracking with that soon.


Lastly, what can we expect to see/hear from you for the rest of 2010?

We have lots of gigs lined up all over Scotland including a slot at T in the Park. We've been all over the country already in the past month and even made it over to Ireland. I'm covered in insect bites from the weekend at Insider Festival, which was great. There will be more of that I'm sure. There's a list over on our myspace of all our upcoming gigs. Especially looking forward to Endor's album launch on the 2nd July and heading back up to Stornoway for the Heb Celt Festival. We're going to start heading south of the border soon hopefully, something we've ignored for too long!


Washington Irving - Islands

Washington Irving's debut EP 'Little Wanderer, Head' is out now on Instinctive Racoon Records. They play Brel in Glasgow tonight as part of the West End Festival, followed by dates in July, including the Endor album launch in Stereo on the 2d, Oban's Cuan Mor on the 3rd, and The T-Break Stage at T in the Park on the 11th of July. This is followed more dates throughout Scotland, please check their Myspace for further details.

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Silver Columns - Vic Galloway Session (21/06/10)

Track Listing
1. Always On
2. Warm Welcome
3. Brow Beaten

Download

Fresh Meat Monday - Dems

Would you care to introduce yourself?

Hello. I'm Dems, Dan to my mum. I'm 23 and I've lived in Edinburgh since 2008 though I'm originally from South East London.

How would you describe the music you make?

Synthetic and atmospheric. I use my MacBook Pro, an oversized Roland Groovebox, guitars and a microphone.

How did you start out making music?

I've only recently taken the opportunity to make my own solo material. I used to sing in a band at school, but a few years back, student radio got me more interested in audio production and I took time to familiarise myself with good software. Much more recently an interest in DJing got me thinking more about samples and mixing.

What process goes into the way you write songs?

I'll have an idea of the basis of a track, get as much as I can down, then play with combinations of samples and beats until I'm happy with it. I'll tend to have most of the components dotted around, and then it's a case of being ruthless with what you've got and not being closed off new ideas. Songs don't necessarily need verses and choruses, but I like them to build up to something.

What can people expect from your live shows?

More songs. And a plan. I haven't got anything lined up yet as I'm still putting touches to a few more tracks. Live performance will require a bit of thought too, I'm pretty sure it'll require more musicians than just myself; I like what Glasgow's Over The Wall do a lot, a good balance of analogue and laptop.

What are you all listening to at the moment?

The new Chemical Brothers track, 'Swoon'. It's amazing, it's bound to be a summer smash. Also a fair bit of Titus Andronicus and the latest Oneman set on Mixcloud. I'm enjoying waking up to 6Music and going to sleep to 1Xtra.

What can we expect to see/hear from you in 2010?

You'll be hearing more tracks and I'm going to do my best to take opportunities play them live. I wouldn't claim to know exactly what I'm doing, but people seem to like it.

Dems - Jarndyce vs Jarndyce

Bandcamp
Soundcloud

Weekly Round Up (20/06/10)

Monday - this weeks Fresh Meat Monday were Ming Ming and The Ching Chings, shite name, great band
Tuesday - I wrote my epically long review of my time up at goNorth,
Wednesday - The Lava Experiments became the 20th entry into the Scots Way Hay club
Thursday - nowt happened as I got invited along to the launch of Tennents new marketing campaign. Still not entirely certain as to why they asked me, but hey I'm not one to turn down a freebie. Having turned up knowing not a soul, I managed to find a friendly face in Chris from The Daily Dose and proceeded to milk the free bar dry. This later lead to me turning up at the JD Set in a rather merry state and sporting a top hat. It ended with me telling Jim Ayetunes about how I wanted to kill a seagull. I shouldn't be allowed out in public.
Friday - it's Freebies time, this week we had some corking Scottish bands giving away free stuff, including Mitchell Museum, Aerials Up, Ghost Pants, The Vaselines and Healthy Minds Collapse. There were also some live recordings from Rockness, which included some pretty interesting covers and lastly, there was Frightened Rabbit's World Cafe session.
Saturday - Mitchell Museum were this weeks 'We've Got It Covered' stars, with their interpretation of MIA's Paper Planes. Plus there was the added bonus of Any Color Black's session for Leith FM


News, gigs and any other gubbins......

For any of you that follow me on Twitter or saw Jim Ayetune's Facebook last night, we are pleased to announce that 'Ayetunes vs Peenko' is back for a second outing in July. It's going to take place at the 13th Note on Saturday the 17th with we're only afraid of NYC, Little Yellow Ukuleles and Randolph's Leap. Ticket details and the like are still to be confirmed, we just wanted to get it announced. So get it pencilled in your diaries, it's going to be a cracking night.

Next weekend sees the introuduction of new Scottish Music Festival called Solas Festival. It takes place over in Biggar, and it has a fair few cracking bands from this neck of the woods. The lineup looks something like this....

Friday - Iain Morrison, FOUND, The Starlets, Findlay Napier & the Bar Room Mountaineers, Esther O'Connor, The Homecoming String Band with more bands still to be announced.
Saturday - McIntosh Ross, Jo Mango, We See Lights, Juliet Turner, Theatre – Scaramouche Jones, The Lowly Knights, Alex Cornish, Old Solar, Calamateur, Andy Thornton, Yvonne Lyon, Sol, The Merchants, Suplex the Kid, Brian McGlynn, Augusta Fireball, Paul Shevlin and Hannah Kitchen
Sunday - Peatbog Faeries, Mr McFall’s Chamber, Stanley Odd, Kitty the Lion, Monica Queen & Thrum, Blueflint, Three Blind Wolves, Kim Edgar, Fair Witness, The Russian Choir, Easy Tigers, Michael McLennan, The Lonely Oatcake, Adam Stearns, Rory Butler and Jamie Wilson

If that sounds like it would be something of interest to you, then you can find out more about the festival over on their homepage or alternatively, you can check out their blogspot.

If you live in Edinburgh, and you have no plans for next Saturday night (26th), then might I suggest you head down to the Roxy Arthouse to catch Fiona Soe Paing who is playing at the Roxy as part of a night entitled 'Is This A Test'. Having caught her at GoNorth just last week, she defo gets the Peenko seal of approval Admission for the Video Lounge part is free, £5 (£3 advance from artists) for performances in the Roxy Room. For further information contact: colliderscope@gmail.com

If you are still a bit gutted at missing out on tickets for the Fence Collectives Away Game, then this might bring a little consolation. The East Neuk label have to announced that they are having their own new summer festival in Anstruther. It's called Haarfest and it runs from Monday 16th to Saturday 21st of August. It's being held in the Hew Scott Hall from Monday to Thursday, and then moving to the Cellardyke Town Hall for the Friday and Saturday. A ticket for the whole week, which you access to everything, will set you back £50. With individual tickets priced at just £12.50 per evening show (with concessions for U12s if their licence allows, U7s free). Here's the line up in full.....

Mon 16th - Admiral Fallow, Adem, Silver Columns.
Tue 17th - The Oates Field, Inspector Tapehead, The Pictish Trail's "Bit Of Strange".
Wed 18th - Onthefly, Seamus Fogarty, Eagleowl.
Thu 19th - Lonepigeon, Pip Dylan, HMS Ginafore, Gummi Bako.
Fri 20th - FOUND, Withered Hand, Meursault
Sat 21st - King Creosote, Kid Canaveral, Smackvan.

You can buy tickets for the event here.


It's the end of the month, which means that it's Pin Up Nights time. This coming Friday they have yet another belter of a night planned, playing live they have Foxgang, Little Yellow Ukuleles and Casino Brag. With DJ-sets from Pooch, Ace City Racers and Mitchell Museum.
On top of all this action they've decided to offer up a special offer reduced entry for their Facebook and Mailing list chums. On the night they're running a £3 guest list, with the usual £5 entry on the door. To get yourself and any of your pals on the £3 guest list all you have to do is send a Facebook message or Email to Pin Up Nights with all the names you want added to the list before midnight on 24th June. You gotta love those kids.


Also taking place on Friday (25th) is a very special show by the Noise Abatement Society. Taking place at a secret venue, it features a cracking wee line up, Yahweh, The Japanese War Effort, Field Mouse and RM Hubbert. Tickets are very limited and will only set you back £4, if you're quick off the mark then you might still be able to buy one here.