Idlewild - Live at Avalanche Records, Glasgow (06/10/09)

Track Listing
1. Little Discourage
2. City Hall
3. You Held The World In Your Arms
4. Younger Than America
5. When I Argue I See Shapes

Download

Thanks to Tom for sharing this with me/us x

The John Knox Sex Club - Raise Ravens: Track by track

Every so often I get something that pops into my inbox that pricks up my attention and almost demands my attention. So last week when I got sent a copy of the new The John Knox Sex Club album, 'Raise Ravens'. Their last album 'Blud Rins Cauld' was a bit of a revelation to me as it was so different to anything going on in the Scottish music scene at that time. Even now they stand alone as truly unique band that could only hail from our wee nation.
If you're looking for a comfortable sing along pop record, then this album is not for you. 'Raise Ravens' had the feeling of being the kind of intensive folk-rock record that Roddy Woomble still aspires to write. Shit, this is starting to sound like a review and as you should already know, I don't do reviews. I think it's one of the best things I have heard this year, but you don't need to take my word for it, just listen to the tunes below. Anyway, here's some of the band to tell you a bit more about their new album, get reading then check out the tunes...

We decided to go record some songs we had because we weren’t doing much over summer gig wise and thought we could make an EP out of it. Iain and Emer had become full time members of Knox after the first record, so we had changed pretty dramatically writing wise and wanted to record them while they were still pretty fresh and weren’t over played. The dates we had with Gall at the studio ended getting pushed back due to university and other commitments, so there was a fair gap in between which got filled with more ideas. Both Knox and Gall had thought about recording live, and it suited how thing were sounding. The set up at the studio is pretty amazing; Gall had recorded a couple of tracks on ‘Blud Rins Cauld’, which turned out great, so it was a relaxed environment and he was an obvious choice. Recording live and quickly was good for us; it kept the immediacy of the songs without adding loads of layers that probably would have over complicated them.

Kiss the Dirt

As with all the tracks on the record this was a live take with each of us playing in a separate room. The vocals were added later, in a quite ludicrous midnight to 5am recording session. Jill from Sparrow and the Workshop came in and did her part in one or two takes at about 3 in the morning; we were all pretty blown away by it. The genesis of the song was, unusually for us, an evening of writing and drinking wine at casa de Knox (where we make the boxes for the records). It started quite differently, with the riff that comes in about half way through and I had a slew of lyrics that didn’t make the final version. The big change in its construction came about thanks to the bass line Iain brings in just after the riff breaks down to bass, violin, drums and vocals. It’s my favourite bit of the song and from there on we knew where to take it. Chris said at the time he thought it was probably one of the best drum takes he had done in his life. The lyric I kiss the dirt beneath your feet comes from an Arabic saying usually made in deference to a superior. Around about the time of the Tunisian revolution and at the beginning of the Egyptian revolution I heard someone use in deference to all of those risking their lives by protesting in Cairo and Tunis. That is the way I use it here.


Above Us the Waves

This is a song we have been playing for a long time, there is an old live version of it kicking about on the interwebs somewhere. This is a newer arrangement. I really love Astral Weeks by Van Morrison and originally I referenced it on the end of the song but I dropped it cause it was a bit wank. The vocals were recorded while everyone was making dinfast( dinner breakfast) at 4 am and I really pushed it. I wasn’t so sure that the vocal was any good due to my sleep addled mind but Gal insisted that it was so it stayed. Dave Flood from where we lay our heads did some backing vocals after the fact.


Sweet sing the rails go leaving go leave

This began as an extended introduction to Katie Cruel. I was messing about in practice, not paying attention and Emer did this beautiful extended intro. When we came to record Katie Cruel we decided to try it again. The take you hear was recorded without the knowledge of those playing who thought they were doing a dry run. The name of the track came after and so any association with trains or leaving you have when listening to it is all in your mind.
The Neighbours originated from “the best day ever” that consisted of soup, kitchen table tennis, the pub, Chris’s birthday, dinner, wine and singing.

An apocryphal story to go with this song:

In Glen Curnie, where we grew up, we had a friend called Robert Bruce. Robert went out with a girl, who I won’t name in case she reads this, for about 2 years (he was 19 when they started going out). She was profoundly deaf in one ear and used to say she could hear the sea in it when things were really quiet. We all used to play pool at a dodgy amusement arcade called Hollywoods (it’s not there now. I think it’s a McDonald’s). Robert would come down when he wasn’t with this girl and tell us about her family. I’m not sure how much of it was true, she certainly lied about other things and he wasn’t the most honest person I have ever met. The stories were wild though and we were really bored. He told us that the father of the family had to remove all the doors in the house except the front door to stop the eldest son from kicking them in. No one knew about this of course because according to Robert, they kept it in the family.


Katie Cruel

This is a traditional song with some tweaks here and there. I tried to amalgamate two versions of the folk song and add my own words where appropriate. There is another version of this also kicking about where Chris plays a synth but I prefer this one. The subject matter is obvious but still bloody tragic.

The Thaw

A song about Italian Marxist Antonio Gramsci, BOOM, que people leaving the site in droves, stay it gets less academic. It’s also a song about snow and how lovely it is and weird it is and how spring is nice too. This is the only take of this song we did. We did it just after Kiss the Dirt so people were a bit fired up. My brother thought the middle section sounded like Flying Lotus but with a whiney Scottish guy on it instead of Gonja Sufi when we did it live recently. Most people would probably prefer Gonja Sufi. He’s got a really good song about sheep, seriously.

Raise Ravens' is available on CD and to download directly from the band via their Bandcamp page. The CDs are all handmade and if their first album is anything to by then they should have crafted something pretty fucking special. So that's great music in handmade covers, what's not to love!

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Fresh Meat Monday - Adam Holmes and The Embers

Would you care to introduce yourself?

Collectively we are Adam Holmes and The Embers. Individually we are 2011 Radio 2 Folk Award nominee Adam Holmes on guitar/vocals and songwriting, Shifty on guitar/backing vocals, Alex on bass and Jaff on drums/backing vocals.


How would you describe the music you make?

Contemporary semi-acoustic folk/pop with a hint of Scotland is as good a description as any of the music. Lyrics? They're all about girls.

How did you start out making music?

Adam's been hanging round Edinburgh folk pubs and clubs since he was about nine and saw some great singer/songwriters over the years at close quarters, so as soon as he got a guitar he started writing his own songs, and in fact his very first song I Can't Be Right is on our new EP. After his Radio 2 award nomination earlier this year he decided that he needed a band to give the songs more dimension and through various twists hooked up with three crusty older guys.

What process goes into the way you write songs?

Adam writes all the songs, mostly on the guitar, and the chords, melody and key lyric ideas usually all come at the same time. After that he brings them to the band with a rough idea of rhythm or style then everyone throws in their thoughts about an arrangement, comes up with their own parts, bashes it around a bit and that's it.

What can people expect from your live shows?

Adam's really snazzy stage jacket for one thing, but musically, a bunch of catchy, uptempo happy/sad songs about girls mixed in with a bunch of catchy, downtempo happy/sad songs about girls. Visually, at the moment it's the jacket and Jaff's Keith Moonisms and bandana unfortunately.......but we're working on it.

What are you all listening to at the moment?

John Martyn, Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Ryan Adams

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

We've got loads of good stuff going on just now with some really well connected folk (that includes you too Lloyd!) and it's just a case of keeping it all moving forward. Amazing Radio have picked up on Fire In The Sun (one of the songs from the EP) and we've getting regular plays and great support from their presenters, particularly Jim Gellatly and Charlie Ashcroft. Likewise Folk Radio UK have been great to us and we've just finished a live session for them which will be on their website in the next couple of weeks plus Janice Forsyth took a punt on us as a new, unsigned band and gave us a play aswell. Basically though it will be pushing the EP through gigs, publicity and PR for the next few months and then we're into the studio again to record another set of songs.

Home by Adam Holmes & The Embers

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Blah Blah Blah - News...

This week we welcomed back one of our favourite local bands, we're only afraid of NYC, if you missed this weeks Friday Freebies then make sure you download their new single 'Walls'. The band are playing at King Tuts tonight as part of this years RocknRoll Damnation 2011 along with Lightguides and Pareto.

The ferocious beings that are The John Knox Sex Club return with their second album, Raise Ravens, tomorrow (Monday 29th August). Following up last years excellent, 'Blud Rins Cauld', was never going to be an easy task, but I reckon their latest offering is a marked step forward for one of Scotland's most exciting bands. To celebrate the albums release The John Knox Sex Club are having a launch night in Stereo, tonight (28/8/11) followed by two dates in northern England: Thursday 1st September, Puzzle Inn, Sowerby Bridge, then on Friday 2nd September at Mad Ferret in Preston. The album is available on CD and to download directly from the band through their Bandcamp page. Check back in tomorrow when I'll have a special wee feature about the album.

Bloody hell, it's a busy old night in Glasgow tonight if The John Knox Sex Club or we're only afraid of NYC aren't your cup of tea, then perhaps Duckstock 2"Unplucked" at the Flying Duck might be for you. Our very own Randolph's Leap are on about half ten, alongside The Apples of Energy, Cheer, Conner mcCann, Dave Roy, The Dirt, Dr Mango and the Chickpeas, Grope Town (the quiet set), The Plimptons, The Paraffins and Leap Small Scale Collisions. It's only £3 to get in and it all kicks off at 2pm through until the wee hours of the morning.


I guess every band one day dreams of heading out to Austin to play at SXSW, but fuck me does it take a lot of hard work and is it really all worth it. Well you can find out more about what it takes to play at South By, as the Creative Scotland are hosting a SXSW & MIDEM Training Event at the ABC in Glasgow on Tuesday 30th August. The event will see a number of panellists offering up their tuppence about their experiences of SXSW, to be honest with you the best thing about these kind of events is that it gives you the opportunity to 'network' with folk that you wouldn't normally get access too. In addition to this they've roped in Kid Canaveral to talk about their experiences from last years festival. Seeing as they did all of it off their own back, they should be able to provide any of you unsigned artists with a much greater incite into the barriers that they faced and the benefits they got from going to SXSW. The event kicks off at 7:15, you can find further information on the evening on Creative Scotland's website.

Win Tickets for The Electric Frog, Glasgow - Featuring Mogwai, Errors, Wild Beasts...

Since the demise of Tryptich, Glasgow has been left somewhat devoid of in-the-city events, however, with the addition of The Electric Frog this looks set be rectified. The event which is being put on by a collaboration of promoters, which include Liquid Events, SWG3, Slam Events/Pressure and Synergy Concerts, sees a range of DJs and artists being brought together for quite an eclectic wee bill. The event which takes places on Saturday 11th and Sunday 12th, features a full day of programmed live performances on the Sunday with the Saturday having more of a DJ/Electronic aspect. The event which was originally scheduled for April of this year, but was pushed back now boasts a much stronger line of bands which includes Mogwai, Wild Beasts, The Fall and Errors amongst others.


To be in with a chance to win a pair of tickets for the event all you have to do is answer this very easy question:


What is the name of the lead singer of The Fall?


Send your answers to me at peenkoblog@gmail.com with 'The Electric Frog' in the subject line. The winner will be chosen completely at random, with the competition closing next Saturday (3rd Sept).


Tickets for the event are £50 for the weekend, or £27.50 for a day ticket and you can buy them from the following stores: Tickets Scotland, Ticket Web, Cafe Rio - Hyndland Street (with no booking fee), Ripping Records in Edinburgh and Grouchos in Dundee.

The Electric Frog
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Mogwai - Drunk & Crazy

Errors - Beards

Wild Beasts - Two Dancers (ii) (Jon Hopkins Remix)

The Fall - Bury Pts. 1 + 3

We've Got It Covered #64

On Tuesday coming it will my daughters first birthday, the time really has flown in, although that being said I do feel like I have aged about ten years. In the space of a year it's strange to think how much my life has changed, not only am I a dad, but I've also changed jobs and now I co-run a wee label. It makes me wonder what I used to do with all of that spare time I once had, I guess the answer to which that is, sleep. Not that I would want to change any of it, it's bloody knackering being a dad whilst also trying to run this site and the label. It's worth it though, watching my wee girl grow up has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. Couple that with the success that the label has had since it started back in November of last year, I am pretty sure that I count 2011 as being a pretty fucking awesome year.
So in a round about way that brings me to this weeks cover version which comes our very own The Moth & The Mirror, the latest addition to the Olive Grove family. On Friday coming we'll be be celebrating the release of their new single, 'Germany' with a launch night at the Captain's Rest in Glasgow. As always it would be great to see some of your pretty little faces coming along for the evening, although you might be best getting their nice and early as it looks set to be a pretty bust night (or so Facebook seems to tell me anyway). Aye, so this weeks cover version comes from the Moth & the Mirror and their take on MGMT's 'Kids', a pretty apt choice I think you'll agree...


The Moth and The Mirror - Kids (MGMT cover)

Friday Freebies

we're only afraid of NYC

In the wake of last weekends fourth AvP gig, it's great to be able to welcome back one of our former acts, Glasgow's finest we're only afraid of NYC. It's been far too long since we've heard anything from the three piece, so their return is a more than welcome one, you can download their new single, 'Walls' for now via their Bandcamp page. The band play King Tuts this coming Sunday (28th August) as part of the series of RocknRoll Damnation nights. They will also be releasing another free download single in a few weeks time which is equally as ace/ It's great to have you back boys, just don't leave it as long next time.

Mitchell Museum

From one former AvP band making a triumphant return, we have another band who are sadly going on a bit of a hiatus. As I am sure that most of you are already aware, Mitchell Museum have decided to take an extended leave. Personally I am gutted that they're as good as calling it a day, Mitchell Museum were also one of my favourite Scottish bands, they made some of the most ridiculously catchy pop tunes this country has ever produced, that and they're some of the nicest folk that you're ever likely to meet. As a parting note the band have made their last ever song, 'Bring out the claws, the claws are out', available to download for free. I guess all we can do now is keep wur fingers crossed that we one day herald the return of the mighty Mitchell Museum.

Foxface

Following my friend Jim 'Ayetunes' on twitter can be painstaking task at times, if he's not tweeting about his next sexual conquest (as it happens), he can mainly be found to be setting himself on fire. He does pull out the occasional gem from time to time, this week he pointed out that Foxface hadn't actually disappeared off the face of the earth as I once presumed. They have instead been busy recording a whole host of new material all of which you can now download for free on their SoundCloud page.

Azure Ray

What with me being so blinkered to any music that's not Scottish, I missed the fact that Azure Ray released a new album, Drawing Down the Moon, last year. Somehow I had it in my head that they'd split up. I guess that shows what I know these days, I'm just an old failed hipster, that's no longer down with the kids. If like me you missed their return you're in luck as you can download two free tracks from the album via the Saddle Creek website.

Randolph's Leap - Found In Sound Session for Fresh Air

Track Listing

1. Nonsense In My Soul

2. Deep Blue Sea

3. Counting Sheep

4. Cassie O'Tone

Download

Thanks a million to Brian for letting me repost this session which originally featured on

the blog for his excellent Found in Sound show

Reverieme - Ally McCrae Session (22/08/11)

Track Listing
1. Notions
2. Water In My Eyes
3. Weans
4. Lost At Sea

Download

Rachel Sermanni - BBC Radio Cornwall Session (19/08/11)

Track Listing
1. The Fog
2. Song To A Fox

Download

Fresh Meat Monday - Vladimir

photo by Daisy Dundee

Would you care to introduce yourself?

Hey, we are Vladimir Ross - Vocals, Peter - Guitar, Joshua - Bass and Sam - Drums we are from Dundee.

How would you describe the music you make?

It's a guitar that gives a wall of noise, thundering bass , chaotic Drums and some deep vocals and shouts

How did you start out making music?

Peter and I started out writing music as we were outsiders and a bit stranger than people our age at school which lead to us meeting Sam and Josh who pushed us to actually write some big songs.

What process goes into the way you write songs?

We normally find a bass riff then build it from there adding drums and some mental effects then add the vocals at the end.

What can people expect from your live shows?

Everything turned up and a lot of chaos.

What are you all listening to at the moment?

Ross is listening to a lot of Flats and ice age just now and Peter is just dominated by Sonic Youth/My Bloody Valentine. Josh is a big Queens of the Stone Age fan and Sam just listens to anything that's dark and creeps normal people out.

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

Our debut EP which is out on the 19th of August and we hope to gig the country non-stop to get our name plastered around everywhere.

Vladimir - I Fight Fire by VLADIMIR

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We've Got It Covered #63

In case you'd forgotten today is a pretty big day for me and this blog, yep it's Ayetunes vs Peenko 4 day. Yes, I know I have been banging about this for ages now, but the day has finally come and tonight at Stereo myself and Jim will be hosting the next our series of blogger battles. As I'm sure you're already aware PAWS have very sadly had to pull out for personal reasons, we're going to miss not having them there, but we reckon we've got such a strong line up that we'll be okay. So it's Mondegreen, Miaoux Miaoux and Adam Stafford, in my eyes that's a fucking belter of a line up, hopefully you'll agree. If not then I dare you to come down for the night, as I am pretty sure you'll soon change your mind.
If you missed it at the start of the week Adam's new album Build A Harbour Immediately, came out on Monday there. It's one of the finest album's I have heard all year, so to be able to put on his album launch feels like quite an honour for the pair of us. Doors tonight will be about 7pm with Mondegreen coming on shortly after, so if you could make sure you're down nice and early that'd be grand.
We're also going to be having a wee after party upstairs after the gig, so if you fancy kicking about for more drinks, hugs, shite chat and the opportunity to watch our attempts at DJing then you're more than welcome to kick about. Be warned though Adam has been threatening to spin rockabilly tunes.
Anyway this weeks cover comes from the great man, last year he released an album of covers called Music in The Mirabel, which featured covers of folk like the Twilight Sad and Sparks. He also did this wee version of Daniel Johnston's Blue Clouds, which I am quite partial too. Hope you like it and more importantly hopefully I'll see a few of your beautiful faces in Stereo tonight.

Adam Stafford and The Death Bridge Convention - Blue Clouds (Daniel Johnson cover)

Friday Freebies

The Son(s)
It's been a few months since I last mentioned anything about The Son(s), that's not to say that they've not been busy. They're currently working on a new EP which is due out later in the year (from the demo's that I've heard it sounds very promising). They've just released their new single 'Slow & Easy', which is made up of three songs, two of which are new and the other being Dogs, Boys & Men, which now has a cracking wee video to go with it. It's an animated wee number that's very Captain Pugwash-esq, I think it looks great, then again I am ever so slightly biased.

Kowalskiy
My blogger friend Kowalskiy has just release his 14th free EP, yet again he's got some great wee tunes up for grabs. This month there are free tunes from Black International, Negotiations, Aerials Up, Edinburgh School For The Deaf and The Ramisco Maki Maki Rocking Horse, now that's what I call a line up. You can find out more information and download links on his blog which you will find here.

freckle tan
If you were listening to Vic Galloway's Radio Scotland show on Monday you might have heard one of freckle tan's songs getting a wee bit of airplay. The side project of one of the Copy Haho boys is a bit different to the day job, as this is an electronic project. I still haven't fully made my mind up about Copy Haho, but I really like this free single that you can download for free from his Bandcamp page.

Sojourner
A few weeks back I sat in for a recording of the Glasgow Podcart in which Pensioner were the special guests, one of the tracks that they chose was by an Edinburgh band called Sojourner. Admittedly I'd never heard of them prior to that day, but I mist admit I was really impressed, so when I got home I got googling and found that they had a whole load of free stuff up for grabs on their Bandcamp. Fans of Wild Oldham and early Bon Iver, should lap this up.

As In Bear
For those of you who like your music a little bit louder, Ayrshire outfit As In Bear might be worth checking out. The band are starting to stir up a wee bit of a buzz, so if you fancy checking out what the fuss is all about you can download one of their songs for free on Soundcloud.

Euros Child
The Welsh singer-songwriter has made his new EP, Beef Bridge, available to download for free on his homepage.

White Heath
The Edinburgh based 6-piece have made two new tracks from their debut album 'Take No Thought For Tomorrow' free to download on Soundcloud.

Laurence and the SlabBoys
The former Fresh Meat starlets have been testing out their new drum machine and have made the song they crafted free to download on SoundCloud.

Okkervil River
Stereogum have another free MP3 from the 'I Am Very Far' LP, download new song "Your Past Life As A Blast" here.

Belladrum 2011 - Review

Until just recently I had decided that I was now too old to go to music festivals, the thought of waking up in a tent just really didn't appeal to me anymore. In short I was starting to think along the same lines as this grumpy old sod. However, when Randolph's Leap offered me one of their 'plus ones' for this years Wickerman Festival, I found myself changing my mind somewhat. I used to be the kind of person who looked to see who the headliners would be, this time round though I found myself looking at the smaller, emerging stages and getting excited. After deciding I'd go to my first Wickerman, I ended up getting the festival bug again. I had fully intended to write a review of my weekend at Wickerman, however, in the words of Vicki from Randolph's Leap, I was 'muntered' the whole weekend. So I decided against trying to recall my drunken antics and chose instead to write a more sensible review of my time at Belladrum.

Unlike the last time I visited Bella, 5 years ago, me and Nic managed to blag a bed at my folks, who also picked us up and took on baby sitting duties for the weekend. So there was no slumming it in tents or being woken up by drunken Highland neds. We did however, have the joys of dealing with a screaming baby at 7 in the morning, which trust me is not much fun. Anyway, that's enough of my self indulgent ramblings, on with my shambolic attempt at reviewing...

PAWS for thought...

We deliberately made sure we arrived on the site nice and early to catch two of the noisiest and most entertaining live bands in Scotland at the moment, PAWS and Bronto Skylift.
It was the aforementioned PAWS that kicked the day off with a blistering set in the goNorth Seedlings Stage. The local three piece blast their way through a rip roaring set, which concludes with lead singer Phil Taylor setting up his mike in the middle of the crowd, leaving us in a wall of feedback. We quickly make a sharp exit to head down to catch Bronto to see if they are up to the job of matching that performance...

Bronto Sklyfit, yer gran would love 'em

Having seen Bronto a fair few times in the past twelve months, they rarely fail to impress. I'll admit that I don't find myself listening to their album all that much, only if I have had a really shitty day at work. However, every time I see them they impress the fuck out of me, they may well only be a two piece, but boy do they make one hell of an enjoyable racket. The only problem sometimes is knowing who to watch. One minute I am being hypnotised by their drummer Iain's stick wielding wonders, then the next thing I know Niall is down in the crowd hurling his guitar back onto the stage. It's noisy, it's brutal and fuck me it's great to watch.

so that's what happened to Herbie

After Bronto finish we find ourselves at a bit a loose end for a few hours, so we go for a bit of a wander round the site and also to find out what joys the press area has in store for us. In the end it turned out that it really had two main functions, one it was a good place to meet up with folk we knew and even more importantly there was a portaloo that didn't have a queue. Which might not seem like much, but it was great for the odd piss-stop.

Similarly to Wickerman, Belladrum is very much a family friendly festival; T in the Park this is not. At what other festivals would you find a Beetle covered in moss, or pianos scattered amongst the woods, that and the food is great. Over the weekend we gorged ourselves on things like Crepes, Chicken Risotto and even some Cullen Skink, that being said we still succumbed to the ways of the burger.

How Now Highland Cow

We also managed to hook up with my Highland partner in crime, Jamie from NetSounds, who was over manning the goNorth RockHopper mobile recording studio. The goNorth area proves to be the ideal place for us to chill out over the weekend, as it has seats and nice folk to hang out with. Theyalso had a whole host of live bands playing sessions for them and I guess you all know how much I love my sessions.

Later in the afternoon we headed down to see The Xcerts, in the past I have always thought that they might have been the kind of band I would love if I was 18. Being 33, they just make me feel very fucking old, however, the kids seem to go bat shit crazy for them. At the end my wife asks where abouts in Ireland they're from and why were they trying to sound American. Our friend Weaver soon informs us that they're actually from Aberdeen, fucking kids these days...

Talking of stuff that makes me feel old, we head up to catch some of Lightguides, a band that we had on the bill at our 'bloggers night' gig at goNorth. Again, I remain unconvinced by their pop-punk tunes, but I think it would be safe to say that The Pop Cop would have fucking loved it.

Where's Wally?

It's safe to say that my love of the Phantom Band isn't much of a secret, their last two albums have been my albums of 2009 & 2010, plus I have seen them too many times to recall. However, I did feel that there performance was a little bit flat, although I did speak to several other folk who thought they were amazing, each to their own I guess.

Louis Abbot and his Grizzly Adams-esq beard

Admiral Fallow on the other hand were on top form, they genuinely seemed pretty shocked at the number of folk that had turned up to see them, as they recalled that they'd played to virtually nobody the year before. Over the years I have seen a fair number of 'my wee bands', moving onto much bigger things, after the reaction that they got at Bella it looks like Admiral Fallow might the next Scottish band to join the ranks of bands such as Snow Patrol and Frightened Rabbit.

Highland folk going bat shit crazy for Admiral Fallow

After Admiral Fallow we found ourselves with a few hours to spare as there wasn't much else that we wanted to see. We ended up blagging our way into the backstage area, where we got to witness how the other half live, basically there was no queue at the bar and they have nice toilets. We also got to stand and watch as Texas warmed up to go on stage, turns out that Sharleen Spiteri does look like an SS Officer in real life... who knew. On our way back out we bumped into Niall from Bronto and Phil from PAWS, who had just been kicked out of the catering tent for starting a food fight, which seemed to involve flowers. That's modern rock 'n roll for you then!

wherever god shines his light...

To finish our Friday night off we made our way back up to the goNorth Seedlings stage for Kid Canaveral's headline set. As they open with 'Her Hair Hangs Down, drummer Scott joins the band at the front of the stage on guitar, and the tent is surprisingly pretty quiet. However, by the end of the song I was pleasantly surprised to find that the place was pretty damn packed, and 'no' it wasn't raining either. What follows is 30 minutes of pure unadulterated pop pleasure, as the band race through the highlights of their album 'Shouting At Wildlife', including my favourite song of last year 'And Another Thing!!' and their cracking wee cover of King Creosote's 'Missionary'. I might well have been knackered from being on my feet all day, but I still managed to pull off some rather dodgy dance moves, much to the embarrassment of Mrs Peenko.

For me personally, Kid Canaveral were the perfect way to end a really fun day. The Saturday at Bella now had a lot to live up to...

Jarv our beautiful butterfly

After a night in bed and a shower in the morning, we arrive rather early on site feeling suitably refreshed. We had deliberately made sure that we had gotten there pretty promptly as those crazy Detour kids had planned one of their now legendary 'Wee Jaunts'. Sadly we arrive to find out that they've had to cancel as Rachel Sermanni had gone home, Tommy Reilly didn't have a guitar and a whole load of other bands had plain old disappeared. We were however treated to an impromptu version of 'Without The Help of Sparks' from Jarv from Endor, which was rather ace.

The Folk Venga Boys

I always forget just how much I like Woodenbox, but it's always nice to be reminded. Their album 'Home & the Wildhunt' is cracking wee record, but in a live context the songs take on much more life, any fears of today finding us falling prey to a day one hangover are soon shook off by a barn storming set. Not only do all of the band look like they're having the time of their lives, but they're also tight as fuck with great tunes, so it's no real surprise that they get the crowd going wth their country-tinged pop.

Boycotts made me feel old, very fucking old..

Later in the afternoon we found ourselves back at the Seedlings Stage to catch the female fronted four piece, Boycotts. Having bought their debut EP a while back, I am still pretty undecided about whether I like Boycotts, I can see that there's potential there, but they're not quite there yet. That being said, their closing song Press Play is a cracking wee pop song. I'll defo be keeping my eyes and ears peeled for future releases.

We Were Promised Jetpacks felt like an odd choice as a main stage band, there was definitely a hardcore element of fans there to see them, however, the rest of the crow didn't seem too fussed about them. In true Jetpack fashion they don't appear to give two shits as they treat us to a number of songs from their forthcoming second album. Unfortunately, just as the band start to hit their stride we have to leave as we wanted to catch Endor at the Seedlings Stage. I will however, make sure that I catch them when they play Glasgow towards the end of the year (details of this gig should be announced very shortly).

Endor can't afford drums

I hate admitting that other folk are right, but fuck it, I have to hold my hands up to The Pop Cop, Endor are fucking great. There I have said it. At Wickerman two weeks prior they were one of the finest live bands I saw all weekend and at Belladrum it was more of the same and then some. Their self titled album was one of the most under-rated albums of 2010, however, with performances like this they're not going to stay a secret for much longer.

Love this band...

Love 'em!

Child's Play...

Hoe Doon

Later on in the afternoon we catch Woodenbox playing an uplugged set outside the goNorth RockHopper and fuck me it's good. Once again I found myself dancing, badly.
If my shitty memory serves me right, I do remember myself and Jamie from NetSounds having a male bonding moment about how much we love their album. Thankfully nobody overhears quite how gushing we get, perhaps I shouldn't have mentioned that part...

Man Love

When it comes to great indie pop bands, Scotland really does have more than it's fair share. Aerials Up are another band who fall into this category. They've got great tunes and they certainly got the Seedlings Stage shaking their hips with their energetic pop tunes. With songs like 'Stay Awake' and 'All Your Mothers Daughters', they're undoubtedly going to establish themselves as ones to watch in the Scottish music scene.

Owner of a lonely heart

So as the day starts to draw to an end we catch bits of Be Like Pablo, who remind me a lot of Weezer. Then we made our way down to see Deacon Blue, who I must admit I was quite looking forward to, as they were on of the first bands I listened to when I was just a nipper. I don't know if it was my dislike of big crowds or just general boredom, however, I soon find myself abandoning my wife in favour of another former hero, Roddy Woomble performing in his folk singer guise. As good as he was, I wasn't overly wowed as I have seen him far too many times over the years, so his performance almost felt formulaic.
As the heavens opened and a months worth of rain descends upon the Belladrum site I regret my decision at leaving Deacon Blue, as I meet with a very soaked Mrs Peenko who was raving about how great Ricky Ross & Co. had been.
With the majority of campers returning to find their tents flooded, I was extremely grateful for a lift back home to my folks.

All in all, Belladrum was great weekend, great music, great food, some quality banter and one of the most ned-free festivals Scotland has to offer, just don't fucking camp at it.

A Massive Thank You Goes Out To Mrs Peenko For Taking All Of The Pictures For Me And For Babysitting Me For The Weekend xxx

Adam Stafford - Vic Galloway Session (15/08/11)

Track Listing
1. Step Up Raise Hands
2. Shot Down You Summer Wannabes
3. Invisible Sun (Police cover)

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Adam Stafford - Build a Harbour Immediately: Track by track

Way back in January I sent Adam Stafford, he of "ya'll is fantasy island" fame, an email asking if he'd be up for doing an interview at some point in the future. What was to follow completely caught me off guard. Yes, he was for doing it, but more excitingly than that, he offered to send me a copy of his new album i.e. the then un-named 'Build a Harbour Immediately'. Outside of a handful of folk close to him I was privileged enough to be one of the first people to get to hear it. For several months it's been the soundtrack to my day, I know it's a bit of a cliché but every time I listen to this album I discover something new about it. It's an album that's very hard to pigeon hole, which is half of its charm. At certain points it is an unashamed pop record, but the further down the rabbit hole you go the weirder the trip gets. The key to it all is that it's all so coherently held together. In lesser hands this could be a higgledy piggledy mess, however Adam Stafford has crafted any album of pure joy that is going to take a lot beating for my album of the year. So without further ado here's Adam to talk us through how 'Build a Harbour Immediately' came to be...


1. Fire & Theft

It was a demo that had been floating about since 2006 and it was just the six chords repeated on a loop with the descending lead guitar lines – basically written on the spot in five minutes. I'd forgotten about it totally until I went through some tapes and it came up again. I think it was Paul Savage (producer/engineer) that suggested the “La-la-la”'s at the end. I remember playing a rough mix to my girlfriend and her disliking it a lot because she thought it sounded too saccharine and I panicked a bit because I thought I'd made a huge mistake. But then other people started saying that they really loved it, so now I've just stopped trying to second-guess what audiences are going to like! Paul said that radio-pluggers would never touch it because it wasn't poppy enough and that pop had been hi-jacked by wankers anyway. I agreed and that put me more at ease...

Fire & Theft by Adam Stafford

2. Police No Speech

The imagery in the first verse is a kind of homage to Edward Gorey's illustrations in that he imagined a disparate group of people that are thrust into these strange unexplained scenarios which they are baffled by. The lyric “Laughter will/and laughter can/bring the house down/but your insurance will just/burn it all down” is one of my favourites for some reason, I don't know why, probably because even when you think you have everything covered things can still come crashing down around you. I love Emily Scott's vocals in the choruses, they are like a velvet drape, and Kim Moore's (Zoey Van Goey) string arrangements just cut right through you.



3. A Temple of the Holy Ghost

The title is a straight rip-off of Flannery O’Connor, again, it's the title of one of her short stories. I'm a great lover of American Spiritual and Gospel, so the song is an attempt at that. It's strange as an atheist to write a Gospel song, but it's really a “what if?”, what if I was to suddenly find faith and what kind of jubilation would that bring...? It's not difficult to hear that there's a fairly religious and spiritual tone to the record as a whole.

A Temple of The Holy Ghost by Adam Stafford

4. Cathedrals

I want to retire Cathedrals from the live set altogether, it's too difficult to play! The chords are obscure and require me to stretch my fingers to their maximum length, there is a tempo change in the chorus and too many really high falsetto notes to reach. It's a pretty fragile song to perform and it took forever just to track the acoustic bed in the studio without me making a mistake and having to start the whole thing over. Thematically, it's about dealing with the changes as you get older, about the delicate nature of being in a long-term relationship, thinking about marriage, children and moving to a city. It really is as personal as it gets. That huge string sound is Kim playing her viola electrically through a distortion and delay pedal, she is just an amazing arranger. We kept thinking Boy Child by Scott Walker.



5. Shot-down You Summer Wannabes

It was an honest attempt at writing a soul-pop song in the vein of Motown or Gospel Doo-Wop. The “Wow-wacka” vocal riff was actually me trying to imitate a guitar going through a Wah-wah pedal. I've had a few people try and sing it back to me, but they never get the pitch-change right! Even I don't, sometimes. The technical process was singing the riff to a click and tone track, then multi-tracking all of the other parts individually on top. The lead vocal was sung into the exact same microphone used to record Michael Jackson's Thriller – STONE COLD FACT!

Shot-down You Summer Wannabes by Adam Stafford

6. Step Up, Raise Hands

It was demoed to sound like a Cowboy Junkies-esque slow and sleazy blues-down, a' la Sweet Jane, but ended up being Prince! It was the song which caused the biggest mixing headache but I'm quite proud of its absurd popiness, it has a stupidly catchy chorus hook! If Prince ever wants a new hit, I'm his man.

Step Up, Raise Hands by Adam Stafford

7. Build a Harbour Immediately

I need to doff my cap to Jon McCall (ex-Y'all is Fantasy Island) for giving me the eponymous title. We were returning from a camping trip very drunk. In the back of the car he noticed they'd began construction work on a harbour on the banks of the River Carron in Falkirk and he flew off into a hilarious rant about how the council was spending money on superfluous projects. He began adopting a booming Daniel Day-Lewis voice, imitating a foreman saying, “I want a harbour! Build me a harbour immediately!”. It always stuck in my head. Another funny McCall rant was when he stood drunk in front of an art gallery window shouting at paintings of sunsets. He screamed furiously, “Is that all you've got for me?! Fucking sunsets!”.



8. Frederick Wiseman

It was written for a film project that was abandoned. The song is named in honour of the famous Documentarian whose greatest achievement is Near Death, a seven hour portrait of doctors and patients on a Terminal Illness Ward. Anyone who presents such a stark and unpretentious document on the fragility of life touches something most artists don't manage to reach in a lifetime.



9. A Vast Crystal Skull

Paul Savage really rescued this track, which was essentially a fragmented idea when I demoed it. He chopped sections of Louise Ward's improvised vocal track and pasted them in, he made the guitars like harps and the noise you hear that sounds like a zooming spaceship is him piling reverb on top of reverb. He really was the sonic architect for the whole album and we talked in length about the production techniques of Dave Fridmann and Scott Walker. When you make an album you make it three times: the demo; the recording; the mixing. The whole sequencing was planned before the recording so that it would sound like a trip. If the propulsive guitar noise at the end of Fire & Theft is the house taking off for heaven, then Crystal Skull is us deep in its acid mines.


Build a Harbour Immediately is available to order now on snazzy yellow cassette through Insularis Records (which includes a download code too). Adam celebrates the release of his new album this coming Saturday at Stereo as part of Ayetunes vs Peenko 4. Support on the evening comes from PAWS, Miaoux Miaoux and Mondegreen.

Aside from his appearance at this Saturdays 'AvP4', Adam has the following live dates lined up:

Sun 21st Aug: Supporting The Twilight Sad (acoustic set) & RM Hubbert at The Electric Circus in Edinburgh
Fri 26th Aug: He'll be performing in The Hei Ensemble (Hey Enemy – Predestination Records), at Nice`n’Sleazy, Glasgow.
Sun 28th Aug: A live rendering of Stafford’s short film The Shutdown, spoken-word/music performance by Alan Bissett and Adam, Live Film Leith, Drill Hall Leith – Edinburgh.

The album is available to buy now on cassette through Insualris Records, alternatively you can download the album directly from the WiseBlood Industries Bandcamp page for just £6, it could quite possibly be the best £6 you've ever spent.

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Fresh Meat Monday - Stephen Flavahan

Would you care to introduce yourself?

I’m Stephen Flavahan. My voice is more of an Oboe than a Clarinet and I am a gigging musician.


How would you describe the music you make?

Songs about girls, mostly 3-4mins long. Direct pop-music, in the ‘rarely-fashionable but sometimes startling’ vein. Not too many fuzzy noises because I don’t know how to do them.


How did you start out making music?

I got put through piano lessons when I was younger (I still play like a keyboard player) but fell out of love with the whole thing because I wasn’t learning much that I enjoyed and I wasn’t listening to music too much at that stage.

Then when I was about 12 I began consuming a lot more music – Travis, Starsailor, Ben Folds Five, Dr Dre, The Avalanches, Coldplay, Belle & Sebastian – and it suddenly clicked for me; I wanted to be able to tap into this new exciting thing and be able to play what I was listening to for myself. Writing my own songs kind of went naturally from there and I took some guitar lessons about the same time (I still play like a keyboard player).

I fell into a couple of bands in Dundee including a decent wee outfit with Kieran Webster and Pete Reilly before they started in The View. We were called Kashmir before we decided people would assume we had some weird hang-up about luxury wool.


What process goes into the way you write songs?

I used to start off with a few chords I’d stumbled on playing a guitar or piano. I’d loop those until I came up with a melody line in my head and I’d find a lyric to fit and keep moulding the thing from there.

More recently, as I’ve gotten better as a singer, I’ve started writing songs pretty much in full from a melody or lyric that pops into my head. Then it’s a case of getting to the nearest instrument and finding out how to support that vocal in an interesting way.

The Johnny Cash line “Write ten songs a day, then throw away nine of them.” has had a big influence on me too, I’m not nearly that prolific but I’ve given up trying to write ‘The Perfect Song’. That takes a real burden off and lets you be more daring with your writing, if an idea doesn’t work out...write another one. Having that confidence and continuing to write and hone your skills makes it much more likely that that Perfect Song is going to crop up for you.


What can people expect from your live shows?

Whether it’s a solo show or I’m playing with my band (Guitar/Piano, Bass, Drums, Trumpet & occasional guests) you’re going to get everything I’ve got for the duration of the set. My mum came to my EP-release show and handed me a clutch of tissues after the second song, horrified that I was sweating so much. The fact that I can be comfortably described as a ‘singer-songwriter’ doesn’t mean I can skimp on the live performance; you’ve got to leave it all on the stage.


What are you listening to at the moment?

Happy Vandals – In The Sun (A Perth band with a Bahamian drummer: indie surf-pop with a Calypso rhythm. Magic)

Poor Things – Innocence/18 (A top live act and really top guys, not afraid of a big riff or sing-along chorus and the sounds they make with their guitars is something special)

Johnny Reb – The Portugal Years (The best bits of The Smiths and Oasis with some really insistent songs. I just hope they’re coming back to Scotland after going to England for the summer)

Also in my car just now: Beach House, Villagers, The View and Two Door Cinema Club


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

More gigs across Scotland with this EP and hopefully if sales keep ticking away, a second 7-track EP before the end of the year. If I’m playing near you, do come along and say hello. I’ve also started a night in Dundee at my brother-in-law’s barbershop, ‘Benjamin Barker’ on Perth Road. We’ve had five nights so far and had Frightened Rabbit and The View playing along with some great unsigned acts. There’ll be another couple of those to come.


Stephen Flavahan - The Walls

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Stephen’s ‘Memories + Tragedies’ EP is out now on bandcamp, iTunes, Spotify and several Scottish record shops.

Sunday Round Up...

Holy fuck a McMoly, time certainly does fly in doesn't! Was it really way back in May that we announced that myself and Ayetunes were going to putting on another one of our 'leg-end-ary' gigs together. I guess that time has a certain way of creeping up on you, as in less than a week away we'll be taking over Stereo for our fourth 'vs' gig and desperately pretending that we're proper promoters and that we know what we're doing (usually the bands see us right!).
In case you'd forgotten the line up it looks something like this Mondegreen, Miaoux Miaoux, PAWS and Adam Stafford - whose been daft enough to let us use this as his album launch.
If you haven't heard any of the bands before, then trust me they're all fucking great, but then again I would think that as we chose them.
I will warn you in advance there will be more shameless plugging of the gig throughout this week, so don't start moaning if I start to repeat myself, I'm just a little bit excited that's all.
If you get the chance make sure you tune into Vic Galloway's Radio Scotland show tomorrow night as Adam Stafford is in doing a wee session, which I am really looking forward to.
If you fancy booking your tickets in advance then you can buy them online here or you could always head down to Ticket Scotland as I think they had a handful left. Either way it'd be great to see some of you coming along for what should be a great night of music, plus there may also be sweets and hugs, but don't let that put you off.

Another gig that I am involved with is the launch of The Moth & The Mirror's first single on Olive Grove Records, 'Germany'. The gig is on Friday the 2nd of September, so get it noted in your diary/smart phone. It's only £5 plus there will be three cracking support bands, Amber Wilson, Blood Blood and I Build Collapsible Mountains. The Moth & The Mirror's song 'Lights in the sky' is still available to download for free on their Bandcamp page.

On Friday coming, Song By Toad is putting on the second of his 'Toad at the Circus' gigs at the funnily enough the Electric Circus in Edinburgh. This week he has our very own Randolph's Leap, Amber Wilson and Matthew Healy (from Awe), it's only £5 to get in and it all kicks off at half seven. Without wanting to sound like I am bowing smoke up their arse, Randolph's Leap now have the added bonus of having a brass section which makes them even more enjoyable to watch, yeah I know what you're thinking 'is that really possible?', but trust me it's fucking awesome, or at least it was at Wickerman. Plus Amber and Matthew are both fucking great, if we weren't doing AvP the next day I would have gone for this for certain (I'm using my one weekly pass for out gig). Aye so go, it will be dead good...

If you can't make it to our AvP gig next Saturday (20th) and you reside in Edinburgh, then you might want to get yourself along to Pilrig Church, where Oxjam are putting on one of their takeover gigs featuring The Last Battle, Sebastian Dangerfield and Letters. Tickets for the gig are available from online here or you could get your backside down to Avalanche and get them for just £5, otherwise it's £7 on the door, plus it's BYOB, nice. Further information can be found on Facebook.

45/R are putting a cracking wee gig on Sunday the 28th of August at the Captain's Rest in Glasgow, featuring Dundee legends Avast! (feat. members of Stapleton) who have reformed and are playing Glasgow for the first time in many many years. Support on the evening comes from the excellent Happy Particles and GRNR (Gav from Findo Gask's solo project). Tickets for the gig can be bought in advance via the following link.

On the Friday the 26th, Pin Up Nights have James and Doc from the Twilight Sad joining them on the decks at the Flying Duck. Plus there will also be live sets from electronic act Machines in Heaven, "purveyor of beats" Oh You Dancer and the pleasingly Sonic Youth-sound-a-likes Ev.


One of my favourite local bands, French Wives have been busy in the studio recording their debut album, which is due out on Electric Honey Records next year. They've just completed tracking the album, so to celebrate they're putting on an intimate wee gig in Glasgow at the 13th Note on the 4th of September. Support on the evening comes from Shields from Newcastle and Perthshire outift, Poor Things. Tickets are for the gig are only £5 on the door, you might want to make sure you get down nice and early to this one as it should be pretty rammed.

After giving away new song 'Act On Impulse', We Were Promised Jetpacks have provided us with another wee taster of what to expect from their forthcoming album, by posting up their new single 'Medicine' to stream on Souncloud. The band are also going to be playing live on Ally McCrae's BBC Introducing show on Radio 1 live from The Bongo Club in Edinburgh on September 4th. Joining them on the evening will be Profisee, Bwani Junction and Hostage, there were some free tickets for the gig up for grabs here, but I am guessing that by the time that this goes up they'll be well gone.


Right we'll wrap this wee ramble up and leave you with this odd as fuck video from Lady North, who's split single with PAWS came out on Monday there through Gerry Loves Records

Lady North - "It's All About Gettin' That Claude Monet" from Gerry Loves on Vimeo.