Fresh Meat Monday - Tanera Heights

Would you care to introduce yourself?

We are Tanera Heights! We're a three piece originally from Strathpeffer (North of Inverness) but are currently based in Glasgow and Edinburgh. I'm Colin and I play guitar and sing for the band. My brother Alasdair plays drums and electric violin and does backing vocals... ....and Tom does pretty much everything else (keys, synth, bass, vocals) although regrettably not all at the same time... yet.


How would you describe the music you make?

This is always the difficult part. We combine the above listed instruments and influences such as Pink Floyd, Sigur Ros, Radiohead, David Bowie and the Flaming Lips to create whatever genre that creates with an epic feel to it. (open to suggestions)


How did you start out making music?

Alasdair and I have been making music together since I got a classic Yamaha keyboard for Christmas when I was about 7 (still trying to find an excuse to put it in the set somewhere). Alasdair started bashing about on our dad’s drum kit soon after which only encouraged me to take up the guitar and continue creating music. Tom has also been making music for a long time, playing piano and singing since he first went to school. We started playing music with him in 2006 to form the line-up that exists now.


What process goes into the way you write songs?

We have three creative forces in the band which can spark some grudging brotherly arguments (not excluding Tom) in the rehearsal studio, but more often than not, produce some really rewarding results. Usually one of us will have a lyrical idea and a skeleton structure and then everyone will collaborate with their own ideas helping to achieve a result we’re all happy with.


What can people expect from your live shows?

Matching uniforms and powerful sounding music which will hopefully prevent you from leaving by inadvertently sticking you to the back wall of the venue. (providing the sound system is good enough!)


What are you all listening to at the moment?

A whole range really. I’ve really got into two great Scottish bands recently; Kid Adrift and the phantom band. Can’t wait to see them live. Also been listening to Berlin Trilogy era David Bowie and as a result of that a bit of Brian Eno this past week. LCD Soundsystem’s new album as well. Even had a cheeky indulgence with Nine Inch Nails one lonely evening last week.

Alasdair’s been getting into his postrock, listening to explosions in the sky, for a minor reflection and the twilight sad.

As well as various classical piano pieces, Tom’s had Arcade Fire, Crystal Castles and Klaxons on repeat on his ipod over the past few weeks.


What can we expect to see/hear from you in 2011?

Our first E.P Cannons and drums is due to be released in February. (Date tba but check our myspace and facebook pages to keep you updated). We’re planning on playing as much as we can get away with between Glasgow and Edinburgh and may even organize a Scottish tour. Hopefully a decent handful of festival slots as well although line ups are yet to be announced.

Tanera Heights - Endgame

Myspace
Soundcloud

We've Got It Covered #40

I realise that a fair few of you were a bit peeved that there was no Friday Freebies yesterday, I am afraid that as I was out manning the door at the Kid Canaveral SXSW fundraiser gig, it meant that I didn't have any time to draft something up. So next week will be a double roll over of awesomeness. Thankfully I still have time to ramble pish then share a cover version with you all, this week we have an Edinburgh artist covering an Edinburgh band, who says that Scottish music scene is a bit incestuous?! It's Withered Hand covering Eagleowl, and bloody lovely it is too. As Dan 'Withered Hand' is heading Stateside in a couple of weeks, as part of a tour which encompasses several appearances at this years SXSW festival it felt like a pretty apt time to share this with you all, enjoy...


Withered Hand - Into The Fold (Eagleowl cover)

Rachel Sermanni - BBC Radio 2 Session (24/02/10)

Track Listing

1. Breathe Easy

2. Song To A Fox
3. The Fog

Download

Scott Hutchison - Live at the Showbox Sodo, Seattle (22/02/11)

Track Listing
1. Intro
2. The Modern Leper
3. Nothing Like You
4. The Twist
5. Backwards Walk
6. Snake
7. I Feel Better
8. Head Rolls Off
9. Swim Until You Can't See Land
10. Lover's Spit Tease (Broken Social Scene)

Download

big man love goes out Ryan for sharing the recording

Jonny - BBC Radio 2 Session (22/02/11)

Track Listing
1. I Want To Be Around You
2. Bread
3. Ursula’s Crow

Download

King Creosote and The Earlies - Marc Riley Session (22/02/11)

Track Listing
1. Collector of Mundane
2. Trigger Happy I Am
3. I'll Fly By the Seat of My Pants
4. Swallow Dive
5. Bats In The Attic

Download

Kid Canaveral sign to Fence

Earlier in the week I was starting to think about how I could shamelessly give tomorrow nights Kid Canaveral gig at Stereo another wee plug. Then earlier today I found out that they had officially signed up with Fence Records, who will be re-releasing their debut Shouting At Wildlife on vinyl (packaged with a CD copy of the album). The 12" will be available to buy at this years Home Game which takes place in May. Before then the band will be flying out to America to play a series of gigs in New York, before flying down to Austin for this years SXSW, where they will play a a number of gigs and in addition to this they will also be providing backing band duties for King Creosote.


As I am sure you already know, they're going to be playing a couple of fund raising gigs in Glasgow and Edinburgh to raise some pennies to fund their adventures. Tomorrow night they'll be in Glasgow at Stereo, for a gig that I am putting with support from Randolph’s Leap and Martin John Henry. A limited number of tickets are still available here there will also be tickets available on the door too. Doors tomorrow are at 7:00pm, with the first act due on around 7:45pm


For those of you who live through in the East, fear not as the Kids will be hitting up
The Wee Red Bar this coming Saturday, with very special guests The Last Battle and Blue Sky Archives. A very very limited number of tickets are available here.

Right you know about the gigs, you know about the bands good news, all you need to do now is get your finger out and come along and give Kid Canaveral the send off they deserve. Hopefully I'll see some of your beautiful faces down at Stereo tomorrow.

Fence

Scots Way-Hay #48 - Mondegreen

I know I have said this plenty of time before, but I often find that the best way to discover new music is often by listening to the bands that you like have been tipping. Mondegreen first came to my attention after we're only afraid of NYC started raving about them. I actually saw them live for the first time supporting NYC back in the summer of last year at King Tuts. That night I am pretty sure they won over a number of new fans, or at the very least they converted me to the ways of the 'green. I think it's safe to say that the boys have got a few Pavement albums in their record collection, there are even touches of Deerhunter or perhaps even the Fall in their. Yes, they might well wear their influences on their sleeves, but at the moment they sound pretty much like nothing else that's going on in Scotland at the moment and for that I salute them.


Would you care to introduce yourself?

I'm Matthew and I play guitar and sing with Mondegreen. Fraser (drums) and Allan (bass) are my bandmates and we've been kicking around for a while now, you just haven't heard of us because it's all a big secret and nobody let you in on it.

How would you describe the music you make?

We like to mess around with the standards a little. It seems more natural to us to chop a few beats off our bars and add a few extra notes to our chords; that's just part of musical experimentation, but cut-and-paste pop became our thing after a while. We could never write a perfect pop song, so we throw a hissy fit and question what a perfect pop song is anyway.

How did you come together as a band?

Mondegreen is a test-tube band brought together through the power of wanted ads. I think we should all meet our friends this way, I only met one psychotic serial killer and he didn't even try to kill me.

How did you start out making music?

My neighbour gave me a short-scale acoustic guitar when I was six, but I never learned how to play till my parents bought me my first cruddy wee electric guitar when I was twelve. I stayed in and jammed along with The Bluetones and The Beatles and Nirvana until I could find a band of my own. I played in a few school bands playing Radiohead covers and started a few bands that failed - the best one was called Satanic Beate Troupe and I swear the world is a worse place without it. Mondegreen is a continuation of the first gigging band I was ever in, The Covergirls.

What process goes into the way you write songs?

The songs tend to be written around guitar parts - I'm only singer by default! If I come up with something useful I keep at it until there's enough there to jam with the band. I sometimes record demos and send them to the guys, and we show up at rehearsals and it usually just comes together. I suppose it's actually quite controlled, as there isn't really a great deal of improv other than the odd noisy guitar solo where we can let our hair down a bit. We like the songs to be short and eventful.

Who are your big musical influences?

Ennio Morricone was a big influence on the style of the band. He helped bridge a gap for me between popular and classical music. If you apply classical ideas to pop you can break the verse/chorus/verse monotony, and that was the idea I wanted to explore when writing. I like The Beach Boys, Scott Walker, Tom Waits, Jacques Brel, Evil Superstars, Brainiac, Cardiacs, Trencher, King Crimson, and I hear little bits of all of them in our recordings.

What kind of influence do you feel that where you come from has had on the music you create?

Scotland is a great wee place, don't get me wrong, but it is cold, dark, wet and miserable for long periods of the year. So unless you're able to poke fun at your situation you'll end up a pure miserablist. Our songs are pretty downbeat if you take the lyrics on their own, but the goofy music puts a positive spin on it and nobody's any the wiser. But we're crying inside :(

What can people expect to see/hear from your live shows?

You'll hear no sound checks (they are for wimps), zero chat in between songs, kazoos and 15% more cowbell for your money. And you'll see the drumsticks flying all over the place, high levels of concentration, higher levels of mistakes, and the lowest slung bass guitar in history.

Has there been a particular gig that has stood out for you so far (good or bad)?

We had a great time in the summer up in Aberdeen playing with Min Diesel and Pensioner, two great bands we highly recommend. That stands out as the most fun we've had at a gig, and the music was brilliant too. Even the drive there and back was a hoot.

What are your plans for the rest of the year and beyond? Do you have any new releases planned for any time soon?

We're recording our LP with Ross at Chime Studio now, that's our big target for this year. It'll be great to have it finished but we're having a great time messing around at Chime and seeing where the record takes us. Beyond that, world domination obviously, a duet with Dolly Parton and our own line of Mondegreen curtain/bed spread sets. That would be awesome.


Mondegreen - Making Cookies


You can catch Mondegreen playing live at the Captains Rest on Friday the 4th of March supporting last weeks Scots Way-Hay starlets PAWS. Their 'Headless' EP is also available to download on their Bandcamp, it's free, it's awesome and you really should check it out.

Bandcamp
Facebook
Twitter
Myspace

Broken Records - WNYC Session (22/02/11)

Track Listing
1. A Darkness Rises Up
2. I Used To Dream
3. You Know You're Not Dead

Download

Admiral Fallow - Radio Scotland Session (21/02/11)

Track Listing
1. Taste The Coast
2. Dead Against Smoking
3. Wagon Wheel (Old Crow Medicine Show)

Download

30 Pounds of Bone - Ally McCrae Session (21/02/10)

Track Listing

1. The Jonah Shanty
2. Crack Shandy in the Harbour
3. All For Me Grog
4. Uyeasond

Download

A couple of videos for y'all

Earlier this evening I had the great pleasure of finishing up slightly earlier from work to nip along to Love Music in Glasgow to catch French Wives playing a wee instore in support of their new EP 'Feel Safe Small ' which came out today. This in turn reminded me that I had meant to post up the video to 'Covered in Grace' to share with you all, so here it is in all of it's glory

It was also pointed out to me that I missed one of the tracks from the session that Mogwai did for 6Music on Friday there, which I have now fixed. Sorry about that, but they missed it off the track listing on the website, that's my excuse and I am sticking with it. Anyway, here's a video from the session that they recorded for Vic Galloway last month.

Fresh Meat Monday - People Places Maps

Would you care to introduce yourself?

Dee (Guitar), Ferg (Bass), Matt (Drums/Piano), Dan (Guitar/Vocals), Fordy (Guitar/Vocals), and Ryan (Vocals) We are People, Places, Maps and are from Dunfermline, Fife.


How would you describe the music you make?

We just consider ourselves to be a very melody orientated group, sometimes rock, sometimes folk, sometimes pop! We just try to make music that we enjoy and hopefully others will too. We're influenced by different stuff as individuals but collectively bands of a Folk or Rock persuasion, Arcade Fire, Idlewild, Frightened Rabbit, Jimmy Eat World etc.


How did you start out making music?

Well Dee living in Edinburgh at the time, and him and Ryan were at his flat, listening to some music talking about their old band and then decided to give it another go, we'd known Dan since High School and asked him to jam, then Fordy who was also in our last band. We messed about like that for a few months and wrote our first couple of songs and knew Ferg and Matt from bands we'd played with previously and we just went on from there, thats us been going steady about 9 months, Ferg's always leaving the toilet seat up, but we deal with it.


What process goes into the way you write songs?

Usually we do most of our writing on acoustics, one of the guys will have something on guitar, Ryan will add a melody, and then so on. Sometimes at practice somebody will just start playing something and we take it from there. Our only rule is that we try to write songs that don't sound the same as each other.


What can people expect from your live shows?

Well Ryan's awful chat aside, we try to put as much energy into playing live as we can without screwing up the songs! we find that if we go a bit mental the people watching don't mind doing it too! We just like to have fun and hopefully convey that we believe in what we're doing.


What are you all listening to at the moment?

As a band I don't think any of us are looking to far outside the Scottish music scene at the moment, we're big fans of the better known bands in the Scottish scene like Frightened Rabbit, The Twilight Sad, Twin Atlantic, We Were Promised Jetpacks etc.. Marshall Craigmyle (who produced our demo's) also did the first There Will Be Fireworks album and got us in to that when we first went to record with him, he's doing the second album for them as well so it should be great! Other than that some great bands on the circuit like Lightguides, Fatherson, and Sidelock definitely deserve people's attention! Also the new Arcade Fire album is pretty good!


What can we expect to see/hear from you in 2011?

Currently we're demoing songs in Strathaven for our first album which we will be self releasing at some point this year, you can hear some of them on our Facebook page if you feel so inclined, apart from that we just want to be playing as much as possible, and letting as many people hear us as we can! on that note you can get five songs from our last demo session for free at peopleplacesmaps.bandcamp.com, cheers!




People Places Maps - Plans

Facebook
Bandcamp
Myspace

Mogwai - 6Music Session (18/02/11)

Track Listing

1. Rano Pano
2. Letters To The Metro
3. George Square Thatcher Death Party

Download

Bits and bobs

As I have previously mentioned I can't be doing with running my Weekly Roundup posts anymore, mainly cause it became too big a pain in the arse, that and I wanted to have least one day off from blogging. Not that I actually avoid my laptop as I am still emailing folk, this blogging malarkey certainly does take over your life. Not that I am complaining mind, if I didn't enjoy it I would have chucked it ages ago.

Once again I appear to have gone off on a bit of a tangent, the whole point of this post was to round up some bits of news that might be of interest to some of you.


First up, in case you had forgotten this Thursday , Kid Canaveral will be playing the first of their SXSW fund-raising gigs at Stereo in Glasgow. As it's me that's putting on the gig it would be great to see some friendly faces for the evening. It all kicks off at 7pm with support from Randolph's Leap and Martin John Henry, with OnTheFly spinning some tunes too. Tickets are available to buy now directly from the band.

Tomorrow will see the release of the new French Wives EP, 'Feel Safe Small', a cracking wee record it is too. To celebrate the release on their own new label, Red Hat Records, the band will be playing an instore gig at Love Music (formerly Avalanche) in Glasgow at 5pm. So you might want to speak to your boss about nipping away early from work to get along for this one as it's almost certain to be pretty packed.

French Wives - Covered in Grace by peenko

Last weekend when I was through in the Edinburgh I got the chance to visit the newly relocated, Avalanche Records. I was genuinely pretty impressed with their new premises, plus any record store that sells cupcakes gets an automatic win. On top of having all of that, the store is also hosting a number of 'Scottish label' weeks, sadly Olive Grove haven't been invited to the party yet, but we're working on it. Our friends over at Chaffinch Records are lined up for 21st February, and they'll be releasing a special 10-track compilation CD titled 'Woodlands' featuring exclusive tracks from the likes of The Second Hand Marching Band, Burnt Island, South Downs, Lucky Luke and Immigrant. Then to top it all off the week will culminate with an in-store gig from Peenko favourites, Burnt Island on Saturday the 26th at 3pm. Further details can be found over Chaffinch HQ.

Next Monday, the 28th, sees the release of the next in the series of Eli & Oz singles. Their next single is going to be with Glasgow band, Open Swimmer, and their single 'Sugar Bowl' which you can stream below.

Open Swimmer - Sugar Bowl by eliandoz

We've Got It Covered #39

Once again I am not going to be In Glasgow this weekend, sadly I won't be gigging elsewhere. Instead I'll be down in Inveraray at a wedding, for those of you who know me in real life, you'll probably already know that this is where my wife is actually from and it's also where we tied the knot many moons ago. We haven't been back in ages, so I am looking forward to getting out of the city for a few days, there's something quite tranquil about being next to a Loch. Sometimes I toy with the idea of moving to somewhere more remote, then I quickly remember that I'd soon be bored out of my tits. The thought of not being able to go to gigs still horrifies me, perhaps one day when I am a lot older and my hearing is totally shot then it might be something I'd want to do. Talking of gigs, I am going to be recording another session next month, this time we've roped in the awesome Beerjacket to come along and play for us. Once again it's going to be a really intimate show, a limited number of spaces are up for grabs, so if you fancy coming along drop me a wee email using the link on the left and I'll try and see if we can squeeze you in. Support for the evening will come from a new up coming artist by the name of Michael Cassidy. He was actually brought to my attention by Sean who records all of the sessions, what a find he is too.
Anyway, I am not going to be announcing dates or the venue as spaces are so limited, you'll need to email me to find out. That brings me on to this weeks cover which comes from the aforementioned, Beerjacket and his cover of the Xx's 'VCR'. The song was originally posted as part of one of Kowalskiy's series of EPs, which you can find here.


Beerjacket - VCR (The Xx cover)

Friday Freebies

Letters
Edinburgh band Letters, have developed a bit of a buzz about themselves lately, with an array of Scottish bloggers already tipping them for big things. Kudos has to go out to Kowalskiy for being the first one to pick up on them. Personally, I think they sound like they have potential but I am not getting overly carried away, not yet at least. They've just release their new double a sided single ‘Grand National/Pipe Dreams’ as a free download. If you want to see if the hype is justified then you can make your own mind up by grabbing a copy here.

Male Pattern Band
If you're going along to see the French Wives tomorrow night in Edinburgh, then make sure you get down nice and early as the awesome Male Pattern Band are supporting. They're also supporting PAWS at their EP launch next month and as if that wasn't enough they've made their Summer Sampler CD-R available to download for free.

Maple Leaves
If you like your indie-pop with a touch of twee then you're going to love Maple Leaves, the Glasgow trio have just made their 'Threads EP' available for free download. Rather lovely it is too.

Kowalskiy
As I've already mentioned, our former Komplimentary Korner star has been pretty on the ball as of late. Not only has he been uncovering an array of talent that a lot us bloggers have completely missed, but he's been busy organising his eighth Free Monthly EP. This month he has an absolute corker up his sleeve, he's roped in some new up and coming stars in Wrongnote, I See Horses and Josef Llama, on top of that he's got exclusive tracks from the amazing Call To Mind, plus a hidden gem for Olive Groves very own, The Son(s). Hats off to the doc for his great work, you can download the EP on his Bandcamp.

Esperi
Our very own Olive Grove starlet, Esperi has just posted his new single 'My Tear Dissolved The View' up for free download on his Bandcamp. There's an awesome wee video to acompany it, which you can watch here.

French Wives
If you missed any of the French Wives series of 'Homefires' freebies then you're in luck as they've put all of the tracks up on their Bandcamp to download for a limited time.

Yeasayer
As a wee Valentines gift Yeasayer are giving away their 'I Remember' EP as a free download, get it here.

Panda Bear
Stereogum have a free download of new Panda Bear track 'Last Night At The Jetty' available for free download

Dam Mantle
If you sign up to his mailing list then he'll send a free download of his song 'Theatre', that kids is one awesome deal, dae it.

Moby
Blimey, I thought Moby had given up the ghost ages ago, I guess all the goes to show is that I clearly don't know what the fuck I am talking about. Then again I am sure you knew that ages ago. He's got a new EP called 'Be The One' and it's free to download here.

SXSW
In a months time pretty much anyone who's anyone will be descending upon Austin, Texas for this years SXSW festival. Sadly, I'm not 'anyone' so I will be staying in sunny Scotland, there will however, be an array of amazing talent from our wee nation heading over to showcase quite how amazing our music scene is. In fact there are shit loads of bands going over and you can download tracks form every single band by downloading this torrent which is a massive 4.49GB. Get it here.

Bear Driver
Talking of SXSW, Peenko favourites Bear Driver will be heading over too, I know they're not Scottish but I really think this band are pretty fucking awesome. In the build up to their big adventure the band are giving some freebies, this week they've made their track 'Enemy' available for free download.

Bloodhouse
There's a whole load of lo-fi scuzzy pop available to download for nowt courtesy of Bloodhouse, it'll leave your ears ringing for days, in a good way. Get it from their Bandcamp.

The Clyde
This freebie comes courtesy of my blogger mate Favourite Son who pointed out that The Clyde have a couple of free downloads on their Facebook. Nice work that man.

Sun Dogs
Traffic Cone Records newest signings have made their son 'Drip Effect' available on Soundcloud for a free download.

tUnE-yArDs
tUnE-yArDs are giving away free MP3 'Bizness', download the it here

John Vanderslice
The San Franciscan indie stalwart has a free download of his song 'Convict Lake' available here.

Strawberry Ocean Sea
The Scottish outfit who note their influences as being the Arcade Fire, Echo and the Bunnymen and early U2, have 3 tracks available for free download on their homepage.

The Belle Hops
Spme of you might remember that this indie pop outfit gave away a cracking we Christmas tune back last year, now they've just made their new EP available for free download.

Rodrigo y Gabriela
Give them your email address and they'll let you download their song 'Triveni' for free.

Peter Bjorn & John
RCRD LBL have a free download of 'Breaker Breaker' up for grabs here.

Barmellodie Tonight

Having stowed out Bar Bloc last month for the first ever Barmellodie gig, the awesome Al from Armellodie Records returns to the scene of the crime tonight to do it all again. This time round he's roped in two of my favourite bands on his label, The Scottish Enlightenment and 30lbs of bone, plus a wee band called Randolph's Leap who you might have heard of. It all kicks off about 10-ish, with Al and my partner in crime, Halina from Glasgow Podcart spinning tunes right through until the wee hours of the morning. Not only do you get a cracking line up of bands, but it's also free if you get there before midnight. All the important details and the like can be found here, sadly I won't be making it along as I am away to a wedding instead (baws).

The Scottish Enlightenment - Little Sleep

Thirty Pounds Of Bone - Crack Shandy in the Harbour

Randolph's Leap - As I Lie In The Mud

Jonny - Marc Riley Session (14/02/11)

Track Listing

1. Little Baby
2. You Was Me
3. Cave Dance
4. Michaelangelo

Download

French Wives - Fresh Air Session

Track Listing
1. Your Friends and Mine
2. Big Brave Boy
3. Covered in Grace
4. Deaf
5. Hyndland Weather Bear

Download
Found In Sound

Thanks to Brian for sharing this

Roddy Woomble - Shed Sessions

Track Listing

1. Work Like You Can
2. Roll Along
3. Gow's Apprentice Michael Marra

Download
Watch the videos here

A massive thank you goes out to Tom for ripping the audio, mind and say thanks everyone

Scots Way-Hay #47 - PAWS

I know that I am sucker for indie-folk bands, but I do still love my rock, in fact the scuzzier the better. One such band that have been exciting me a lot over the past six months are Glasgow three-piece PAWS. It was the fuzzed up pop joy of “Violent Vicky Violet” that first brought the band to my attention. Released as free download on Wise Blood Industries, the song set the bar of expectation pretty damn high. Thankfully they've lived up their high standards and have gone on to record sessions for both 6Music and Radio One. With a new EP due out next month it felt the the right time to rope them in for some Scots Way-Hay action, so without further ado, ladies and gents I give you the awesome PAWS...

Would you care to introduce yourself?

Bonjour! We are PAWS.
PAWS consists of a small red panda cub; a polar bear cub and a grizzly bear cub.

A.K.A

Phillip Taylor (Guitar + Vox), Matthew Scott (Bass + Vox) and Joshua Swinney (Drums)

How would you describe the music you make?

I guess it's kind of a blend between the audio dynamics of that of a kitten and a grizzly bear...or something like that haha.
Simple alternative pop songs in kittenBEARkitten structure.

How did you come together as a band?

Well myself (Phillip) and Josh met in high school in the Highlands in a place called Tain which is just north of Inverness. We never really spoke at school. But he did used to draw these things on his hand and show them to me in between classes if we passed in the hall. The one I remember was a crude drawing of a boy that was blatantly me that said "I'm socially inept" next to it haha. Then he disappeared to France when school got out. When he got back he turned on my doorstep and we hung out and sort of began to bond over music. Especially punk rock.

So we jammed in my tiny bedroom for a while in my Mum's house and then he moved to Glasgow. I was kind of back and forth visiting and I made a friend called Nick who I instantly felt I needed to make music with. He joined the mix with myself and Josh and we planned to go on a trip up north to somewhere secluded without distraction to write and record for a few days and see what we could do with it. We found this ridiculous log cabin near where Josh's parents live that has this skate ramp next to it. It was perfect. So at Christmas time like 3 years ago Nick and Josh drove up with this guy Matt that Nick knew who was game for playing bass. I had never met him and neither had Josh until they got in the car together. When we met, everything just made sense really. We shared an enthusiam for Sonic Youth and Sebadoh. After a while that band slowly burned out and Nick went on to focus on other things. Then there were three. Then there was PAWS. ha-ha

How did you start out making music?

In terms of all of us starting out making music together. In Bedrooms and log cabins I guess... ha-ha

What process goes into the way you write songs?

Well usually I'll bring a vague song structure to the practice space and then we'll just rip it apart and try and glue it back together with everybodys ideas thrown in. Matt does this thing that myself and Josh just refer to now as "The Thing". He'll just totally make a song come to life when he adds his bassline. It's always such a simple part that he'll add, but it always changes the directions and tone of the song. It's hillarious.

Who are your big musical influences?

It's hard to list people that have influenced you without people immediately trying to look for those influences in your music.

It's mostly the ethic of the artists we like that fuels us the most. To just like, make music and have a good time doing it.

But obviously there are going to be some things that seep through to music.

We like a varied pallet but some folk we like are: Sebadoh, Breeders, Big Black, Jim O Rourke, Built To Spill, Raincoats, Lilys, The Sonics,

Captain Beefheart, Pavement, Teenage Fanclub, Wilco, Shellac, Polvo,Harvey Danger, Television, Sonic Youth, The Fastbacks, Melvins, Coffin Break, Gray Matter, Vaselines...all that sort of shit ha-ha.

What kind of influence do you feel that where you come from has had on the music you create?

I think it just makes us super confident to just do it. Scotland is pretty boring. If we wern't doing this I can't really think what else we'd do? So I think it's been a big influence to have fun, hang out with friends and play music. Especially if you are from the north. There really is not that much to do if you're an angry teenager. Skate, listen to music, play music.....

Correct me if I’m wrong (I normally am), but your new EP is being mastered by Bob Weston of Shellac-fame, how did that all come about?

Correctamundo! It certainly is. I dunno really ha-ha. We just emailed him and he said yes. He has a mastering suite over in Chicago so

we are just gonna fire our mixes over to him and let him do his thing. That should be fun.

You give the impression that you’d be willing to play gigs anywhere folk would let you, what’s the more obscure place you’ve played? And is there anywhere that you wouldn’t be willing to try?

Totally! We love a challenge! We will litterally play anywhere if it is possible. Last week we played in our friend Seans Bathroom during the day and then our friends bedroom at night. That was a super fun day. See our myspace for a list of spaces that we would be more than happy to inhabit with our noise...

PAWS or Paws?

PAWS

What are your plans for the rest of the year and beyond? Do you have any new releases planned for any time soon?

Well we have just been focusing on getting this frickin' E.P out and trying to spread the PAWS gospel. We will be doing a couple of splits with some bands we are rather fond of as well. A couple more cassette tapes etc. For summer we are just going to try and absolute hammer it with everything we've got. It would be great to do some festivals and a bit of a bigger tour. We plan to start working on recording our debut L.P aswell by that point. We get fairly itchy with writing and recording as we feel we are constantly writing. Every rehearsal there's at least 2 new songs. Matt is our captain engineer. He has all the things we need to record ourselves and he's a dab hand behind pro tools. That's what we've done thus far and that's what we intended to keep doing.

So I guess we'll just be trying to keep up the rate of creativity that we've had the past year. I feel fairly confident that that's going to happen regardless to any concious thought or plan anyway!

PAWS - Salem

PAWS - Winners Don't Bleed

PAWS launch their new EP with a very special gig at the Captains Rest on the 4th of March, it's only a measly £3 to get in. Plus they've lined up an array of awesome guests to join them for the evening, including Male Pattern Band, Mondegreen and Lady North.

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RM Hubbert plays his first Glasgow show of 2011

For any of you that can remember as far back as my best albums of 2010, you might recall that I even surprised myself by choosing RM Hubberts 'First & Last' as one of my top choices. Post-rock flamenco is hardly the kind of music that you'd normally find me listening to, but listen I did, and after a few listens I was hooked. Since the release of his last album 'Hubby' has gone from strength to strength, having already featured as one of the Lists 11 for 2011, supported God Speed! You Black Emperor at the Barras, signing for Chemikal Underground and now he's off touring round Europe with Mogwai. It's safe to say that this past year must rate pretty highly, it's awesome to see someone who I have previously described as being the 'nicest man in rock', finally getting the karma he deserves. Having been holed up at Chem 19 recording his new album with an array of special guests from the Scottish music scene appearing alongside him on the record, as if that wasn't enough, he's also roped in his pal, Alex Kapranos of Franz Ferdinand fame, to produce it.
If you haven't already come across RM Hubbert then trust me you need to be checking his music out, and what finer way to check him out than by getting yourself down to the Arches on Saturday the 26th for his first live show in Glasgow this year. Special guest for the evening is none other than Finn le Marinel, who I have already tipped as one of my Ones to Watch in 2011. Not only that but he's also going to be joined on stage by some of the collaborators on his new album, including Emma Pollock, Aidan Moffat and possibly some of his former bandmates from El Hombre Trajaedo. It promises to be a very special evening, tickets are on sale now via Ticket Scotland. Hopefully I'll see you a few of your pretty little faces coming along for the evening.


RM Hubbert - For Maria

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Conquering Animal Sound - Vic Galloway Session (14/02/11)

Track Listing

1. Bear
2. Tracer
3. Dancing On My Own (Robyn cover)

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Dot J.R - Ally McCrae Session (14/02/11)

Track Listing

1. Blood
2. Moonlight (Running Around)
3. Revolution
4. Top Of The World

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Kid Canaveral: You Only Went Out To Get Drunk Last Night (Video)

I don't post videos on here very often, but the new Kid Canaveral video for 'You Only Went Out To Get Drunk Last Night' is too good not share.

It also gives me the opportunity to remind you all that tickets for their SXSW fundraiser in Glasgow are still available here.

Fresh Meat Monday - He Slept On 57

Would you care to introduce yourself?

Hello, my name is Stuart Nelson, I play guitar and sing in a band called He Slept On 57 with my good friend Kyle Campbell (drums) We are from the Highlands of Scotland and have just released our second EP 'A Glow From The Night Light'


How would you describe the music you make?

Some sort of Rock music, heavy guitars with catchy melody's. We just write music that we enjoy playing and hopefully other people will like it too.


How did you start out making music?

My uncle was a big Nirvana fan so I got into music that way. He used to give me Albums to listen to then I eventually took his guitar and started learning songs off the internet. Kyle and myself went through a major Blink 182 faze when we were in our early teens where we would sit and watch countless videos of them and other bands so I think we are on the same wave length when it comes to writing music.


What process goes into the way you write songs?

I normally mess about on my acoustic and a song will start with a guitar riff or a vocal melody and I just work on a song around that, other times we can just jam and come up with things on the spot that works.


What can people expect from your live shows?

Blood, sweat and tears...we are quite enthusiastic on stage and like to be loud, the best thing to do is to experience it yourself!


What are you all listening to at the moment?

Manchester Orchestra, La dispute, Idlewild, Pulled apart by horses, Biffy Clyro, Admiral Fallow...


What can we expect to see/hear from you in 2011?

A music video in the next month or so, couple of tours and hopefully a few festivals too. I'm sure we will have some new material as the year goes on as well. The more people that buy our music and come to our shows the more we can do so let's hope the new EP goes down well.

He Slept On 57 - Where the Air is Thin

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We've Got It Covered #38

I guess it's a combination of old age and the realisation the Radio One during the day is truly fucking awful, either way I am pretty clueless when it comes to mainstream pop these days. I barely know what a Justin Bieber is, Tinchy Schneider just sounds like he must be a Dutch footballer, basically I am clueless when it comes to pop music, something which I am quite thankful for. By now you might be wondering why I am telling you all of this, well it's because I am posting a cover version of a pop sing and I have never heard the original version. Okay, so it's probably just because I am old, even if I do like to think of myself of being down with the kids. This weeks cover comes from the awesome Happy Particles, a band who have been exciting me a lot lately. If this cover version is anything to go by, then their debut album should be a real treat for.

Happy Particles - Lovestoned (Justin Timberlake cover)

Come on Gang! - Strike A Match: Track By Track

Normally I would save my Track By Track features for the date that an album actually gets its official release, but in this case I am more than happy to make an exception. For those of you who might not already know, tomorrow night Come on Gang! will be celebrating the release of their amazing debut album 'Strike a Match', which is also going to be the bands farewell gig. As Vinnie Jones might say, "it's going to be emotional".
Back in November myself and Jim 'Ayetunes' were lucky enough to have booked them to play their penultimate gig at the last ever AvP gig. I think it's safe to say that they won over a fair few new fans that evening and with 'Strike A Match' I am pretty sure they would have made thousands more. I will try my best not to dwell on their imminent break up and focus more on what is essentially one the finest Scottish pop albums of the past decade.
In a field which is dominated by male singers, Sarah Tanat-Jones voice is a breath of fresh air, back that with some tight ass pop numbers from Rob and Mikey and you have quite a combination. From the off, 'Coffee Shop' takes you on a journey through life in the city, through to their cracking pop singles 'Fortune Favours The Brave' and 'Wheels', the album is a joy from start to end.
As I've said before I don't do reviews (unless the BBC ask nicely), so this is probably the closest thing you'll get to one from me on this blog. I guess it should go without saying, but in case you hadn't already guessed, this is an album that I really think deserves your attention. I wouldn't have ran this feature if I didn't. Here's Sarah and Mikey from the band to talk you through how it all came to be...


1. Coffee Shop.

Sarah: I think of this song rather as an old friend. It's been around almost since the beginning, it was the first one that really had pop legs, and it's fun to play, like all good friends. It was the first time I started to express real, emotional emotions in this band I'd found myself in after moving to Edinburgh. I think we honed the way we wrote pop songs over the years but this was an early indication of what we could produce when we worked together.

Mikey: Yeah this is the second song we wrote. I love it for lots of reasons but mainly because we never ever discussed what sort of band we’d be, or music we would write, or what we’d sound like; we just thought we’d see what happened. And this was the first indication that we could really write a good song which was greater than the sum of its parts. In hindsight, I’m amazed such an approach worked; it’s not something I’d recommend any new band trying. Urgent yet melancholy, upbeat but emotional. It first defined our sound, so it’s the opener.

Come on Gang! - Coffee Shop by peenko

2. Fortune Favours The Brave

Sarah: Fortune is one of the jewels in our crown I think, in terms of instant singalongability (and yes that is a real word). I remember the exact afternoon in happened. We were hungry and tired on a Saturday afternoon in a dingy Leith studio. The only shop nearby where we could buy a sandwich was closed. Our only option was to keep on practising. This song sort of appeared as if by magic. I didn't know what to sing in the chorus so I started off just saying 'doo doo doo' and that ended up staying. In the studio I wondered what it would be like to harmonise with myself three times (during the bridge: if you listen to the song you'll know the bit I mean). It sounded pretty ostentatious, but we liked it, so it stayed.

Mikey: We knew we’d written a good song when, in practise, all we wanted to do is play it over and over again. When Fortune came along we were like kids on Christmas morning. We always had an ethos of ‘our best song is the next one we write’, but with this we knew we’d stumbled across something that was perfect for us. Like all our best songs, every instrument is individually doing something interesting - I particularly like the thundering drums and driving bass. Paul, bless him, really struggled to record this, as the original demo we had recorded was really good anyway. In the end it’s the huge drums and cavernous vocal harmonies that really set the two versions apart. Perhaps our best work.



3. Red Thread

Sarah: I love playing Red Thread. It's dramatic and it's got loads of toms in it, it gives you a good workout! And a cowbell. As everyone knows, cowbells are the instrument of the gods. So stately, refined and complex a piece of percussion.

Mikey: We loved this song when we wrote it. Loved it. However after a few months we came to realise that we seemed to be the only ones, as most people just didn’t ‘get it’. In the studio Paul was one of those people. We persisted though and, thanks to some incredible drumming and a few extra guitar tweaks, it’s become a bit of a monster. Everything leading up the first chorus is quite tense, and then it just keeps exploding. We used to open sets with it, as it warmed us all up, tested the PA and the shouting soon got rid of any nerves. I’ll miss playing Red Thread.



4. Need To Run

Sarah: I took the cowbell notion and ran with it, branching out into new and terrifying areas of battery. We were going for all-out pop in a vaguely Motown school with this one.

Mikey: Fucking cowbell. Yeah this has a nice back-and-forth over the verses. I don’t remember how we came up with this, but it snuck in from somewhere. I remember Paul largely replaced my guitar bit with distorted vibes (that’s an instrument by the way) which Sarah played like a maniac.



5. Wheels

Sarah: An oldie, one that people often greeted with pleasure at gigs, which was nice. It expresses my love of driving, and Mikey's love of simple but effective riffs. When the time came to record it properly for the album, we put in a key change. It's like a gear change, but about 80% more awesome. If you don't know how to end a song, put in a key change. Just kidding. We did know how it was supposed to end. But we still put in a key change.

Mikey: Like Coffee Shop, to me Wheels is 100% ‘our sound’. I think it was maybe the third or fourth song we ever wrote, but it always got a great reaction. It’s gone through a few changes over the years, but it’s done a hell of a lot of good for the band and really helped kick-start things early for us. I remember meeting a guy in London who chatted away about how good this song ‘Wheels’ was. I felt like a total dick when I told him I was in the band.

Come on Gang! - Wheels by peenko

6. This Familiar Road

Sarah: I wanted to see what I could do with a snare shuffle. This song came out quickly, like a baby born in the car on the way to hospital. Unlike a baby, this was created in our wee attic room at the pear tree, surrounded by amps, cables and empty crisp packets. I love this song. It's simple and warm-hearted.

Mikey: Jaunty. It‘s always sounded familiar to me. Even though it’s by no means my favourite of ours, I always feel like this is someone else’s song when we play it. It’s simple but really quite different from our other stuff; Sarah’s influence is all over it and that’s what makes it a joy to play.



7. Fan the Flame

Sarah: A dash of drama, some shouting, guitary madness... I think of this as quite a masculine song, it's great getting to focus on the bass drum.

Mikey: Love the bass drum and the bass in this. We’d been listening to Rumours a lot at the time. And I’d been listening to old Yeah Yeah Yeah’s stuff. When worlds collide.

Come on Gang! - Fan The Flame by peenko

8. To the Morning

Sarah: Another track where I let loose on the toms, if you notice they pound through quite a hefty proportion of the song. I'm all for that. It kind of solidifies what the lyrics are about. The guitar is quite stompy too, in my mind it's a mix of glam rock and 50s rock and roll styles. It's a song full of frustration mixed with resolution - the lyrics, at any rate. Despite calling to mind shitty nights at Cab Vol in Edinburgh, it's still one of my favourite songs on the album.

Mikey: This will always make me smile. Sarah really fought to make this song as good as it is, and I’m so glad she did. Her vocals get fiercely pushed towards the end and, combined with the toms, it’s like she wants to fight you. Like a lot of our songs, the Motown influence is here again: upbeat music and contemplative lyrics. Listen out for a bag of Skittle too…



9. Santa Maria

Sarah: Trev wrote the lyrics to Santa Maria, back in the day. We amped this up in the studio when we were recording it with Paul. God, I loved recording this album. It was one of the most intense, tiring, exciting times of my life so far.

Mikey: Now it was my turn to push for a track. I’ve always loved this and, along with an early song of ours called Bang, I really like the guitar work on it. Luckily Paul saw the potential in it to so it made the cut. Undoubtedly not a classic song of ours, but certainly one of my favourites. The lyrics always remind me of a fairly uncertain time in the band’s history too, the end of one era and the start of a new adventure.

Come on Gang! - Santa Maria by peenko

10. Spinning Room

Sarah: A touch of disco for this one to encourage dancing activity. I don't think it's just a dumb dancey song though; it's got a bit more going on that just pure inebriation. I don't think we produced anything really dumb. I hope we didn't anyway.

Mikey: When I was a kid I used to prefer bands whose songs I could easily learn on the guitar, and this is one of those songs that’s so easy and simple and to the point that it could be anybody’s. I love the twisted piano notes in the middle. We’ve finished on this song hundreds of times and the response it’s got has always been fantastic - it seems to bring people out of their shell for a dance.



11. Start the Sound

Sarah: We chose to end the album with a quieter, more contemplative song. Played live, StS was always a dream, I would really enjoy it especially as I got to harmonise with the boys for pretty much the only time in our live set. It's more understated than our other tracks, hopefully it provides a wind-down after the emotional rollercoaster you've just been on with this insane, action-packed hand-grenade of a record.

Mikey: This finishes the album on a contemplative, reflective note, as if we’ve just had a big party, things got messy, and now it’s time to think through our actions. Again the lyrics are questioning and struggling to find answers, until the chorus comes along and resolves them, so it was just a case of being sympathetic to what went underneath the words. It’s changed a lot since the single version. The vocal harmonies are warm and rich and I think the theme’s pretty universal. I always wanted to make the album as timeless as possible, and this song probably achieves that accoldae more than any others. I’m so proud of this album.

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As I already mentioned, tomorrow night (Saturday 12th) we say bon voyage to those lovely Come on Gang! kids. The band are planning to go out with a massive party at Pilrig St Paul's Church in Edinburgh to celebrate the launch of their debut album. As part of the celebrations they have asked a whole load of their favourite bands to come along and join them for the evening, including Over the Wall, Cancel the Astronauts, a lovely songstress by the name of Hailey Beavis, plus some very special surprise guests. In addition to this, myself and Jim 'Ayetunes' will be battling it out with DJ sets in between the bands. There is no bar so you can bring along your own bottles for the evening, grab a copy of the album and come and give Come on Gang! the send off that they deserve.

If you are quick off the mark then you can still get tickets from Avalanche Records on The Grassmarket, or you might still be able to get one here, if all of that fails then you might still be able to get one on the door. Either way I look forward to seeing you there, Peenko x

Friday Freebies

Panda Su
It feels like ages since we've heard anything new from the awesome Panda Su, her last EP, ‘Sticks & Bricks’ was a particular favourite round these parts, and she is now set to release her follow-up EP 'I Begin' in late April. She kicks off a UK tour tonight in Edinburgh at Sneaky Pete's, so if you're in that neck of the woods then get yourself down, oh and make sure you get down early as I Build Collapsible Mountains is supporting. As a prelude to what you can expect from her new EP she's posted up 'Alphabet Song' from it for free download on Soundcloud.

The Kabeedies
This indie-pop outfit are arguably the finest thing to come out of Norwich since Alan Partridge, and now they've very kindly made their new single 'Santiago' available for free download. The band have just embarked on a UK tour, sadly there are no dates planned for north of the border, so you'll have to console yourself with this little pop gem.

Conquering Animal Sound/Debutant
To celebrate the fact that their first release featuring Conquering Animal Sound and Debutant has just broke even, they're giving away all of digital tracks for free. What a nice bunch they are, you can still get your mucky paws on the lovely 7"; vinyl version, although there aren't too many left. Which reminds me, I bought this ages ago and I still haven't bought a record player. Anyone got any suggestions of somewhere I could pick one up for not a lot of pennies?
The label is also putting on a night at the Captians Rest in Glasgow this Saturday to celebrate the release of their new split EP which features The Japanese War Effort, Fox Gut Daata, Miaoux Miaoux and Wounded Knee. If you're not going to Come On Gang!s final show then I would urge you to get along to this one.

Bobby Womb
Next month see Falkirk's finest (excluding Arab Strap), Y'All Is Fantasy Island call it a day with a wee gig in Edinburgh. I don't have the date or venue to hand, sorry, although I am sure Jim 'Ayetunes' will comment with it. Anyway, it's going to be a pretty sad loss as they've been one of the most creative outfits that this wee nation of ours has ever produced. On the plus side it looks as if they're all going to be keep going with music in one way or another. Adam Stafford's album which isn't due out until some time in the summer, is already one of my favourite albums of 2011. But before then you can treat your earbuds to Jon McCall aka Bobby Womb, who used to play clarinet and drums in Yifi, as he's just released a solo EP which you can download for free here.

Airlines
I know I write a music blog, but I honestly don't myself having as much time as I used to in order to listen to new music, that's why I really appreciate getting recommendations from my mates, as it makes my job a lot fucking easier. This is my roundabout way of passing the credit for this freebie on to my friend Ian who writes Have Fun At Dinner. It was him that passed this little nugget on to me last week, it's an awesome wee find and I am chuffed to bits that he passed it on. All you need to know for now is the band are called Airlines and you can download a free mini album here.

French Wives
All good things must come to an end, sadly this week it's the last in the series of the French Wives 'Homefires' posts, which means no more weekly freebies. Going out on a bit of a high with their former single, 'Halloween', the band are now gearing up for their forthcoming new EP, 'Feel Safe Small' and a 17 date tour across the UK. Tickets for their Scottish dates appear to be close to selling out, so make sure you get your tickets well in advance.

Kasule
Technically not a freebie as it's one of those pay what you want scenarios, however, it's too good not to include. I first heard of Kasule after Campfires in Winter were likened to them in a review back last summer, I know the it made Boab very happy but I was none the wiser. That was until they posted up their new album 'demonstration' on their Bandcamp, then I soon realised why he was so chuffed as it's quite simply stunning. My advice would be stream the songs first as you're going to feel pretty guilty after listening to it if you downloaded it for free. Whatever you do, just make sure you check this out.

Josh T Pearson
The former Lift To Experience frontman has just released his new album 'Last of the Country Gentlemen', and the Independent have a free download of track "Woman when I've raised hell" from it for free here.

Lad Lazurus
I came across this freebie via the awesome PAWS, who I will be featuring pretty damn soon. Otherwise I am pretty sure it would have totally passed me by, I can't tell you much about Laz Lazarus, I think they're from up north somewhere. All I do know for certain is that they have some awesome scuzzed pop rocksongs and that a whole load of their tunes are up for grabs for free on their Bandcamp.

The Ballad of Alice & Kitty
I honestly can't remember who tipped me off about this freebie, I must have bookmarked it earlier in the week, but my goldfish like memory fails me. If you're reading this and thinking that was me what tweeted about this, thank you as it's a great wee freebie that deserved to be shared. It's ramshackle country folk at it's very best and you can download it for nowt here.

Entire Cities
Canadian outfit Entire Cities have just released their new album 'I Hope You Never Come Home', of which they've made 'Gimme A Ride' and 'Oh Dear, Oh Dear, Oh Dear' available for free download on their Bandcamp, fans of the Old Steady take note this should be right up your street.

Evil Hand
Derek Bates, one half of Bottle of Evil, has lunched his own solo project Evil Hand, he's recorded a whole abums worth of material and he's very kindly posted it all up for free download on his Bandcamp.

Gigantic Music Sampler
There is a free compilation album on Amazong featuring tracks from The Walkmen, The Rumble Strips and Harlem Shakes, download it here.

Sea of Bees
Head on over to Soundcloud where you will find a free download of Conquering Animal Sound Remixing Wizbot.

J Mascis
Stereogum have a free download of new J Mascis tune 'Is It Done'

Akron/Family
KEXP have a free download of new song 'So It Goes'

Sound of Guns
Download their song 'Breakwater' for free here.