Weekly Round Up (13/06/10)

Monday - Blue Sky Archives were the meat in this weeks Peenko sandwich
Tuesday - Teenage Fanclub's session for 6Music and Rachel Sermanni's session for Vic
Wednesday - the rather delicious eagleowl took the plunge into the great big Scots Way-Hay pool, plus Glasgow folksters Trembling Bells session for Marc Riley
Thursday - nowt happened as I was up in Inverness, I am planning to write a wee post about my adventures, that probably won't be until tomorrow as today I feel liked death warmed up.
Friday - there were some corking freebies, if you haven't done so already check out the fabulous Son(s)
Saturday -We had Jetpacks covering Bon Iver's 'Blindsided'.

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

Next Saturday (19th) Glasgow Podcart are helping to put on a wee shindig at Stereo in Glasgow. with Pooch and Tokyo Knife Attack. Tickets are only a fiver, with all proceeds going to the Beatson Oncology Unit. So it's cheap, it's got great bands and you'd b e doing something good for charity, no brainer really.



In case you weren't already aware, Peter Kelly, aka 'Beerjacket' makes his long awaited come back with his first in show in almost 7 months this coming Friday (18th) at Oran Mor in Glasgow. The gig is being put on as part of the West End Festival, with a new album in the offing before the end of the year, Mr Kelly has promised to give some of his new songs their first first airing at the Oran Mor show. A limited number of tickets are on sale here, be quick boys n girls, don't say I didn't warn you.

This Thursday (17th) at The Voodoo Rooms in Edinburgh, gig promoters The Llama Farm are putting on their second gig. It features El Mato a un Policia Motorizado, from Argentina, Debutant and Plastic Animals. It's only a fiver, and it all kicks off at 8pm, if you're in that neck of the woods and are looking for a night on the tiles, then look no further.

!!! (Chk Chk Chk) are in Glasgow on Thursday at the Arches to do a gig for Sailor Jerry's. It's being billed as a free gig, although you have to pay a £3.50 booking fee, not quite sure how that works, although you do get a free shot with that. You can get tickets here.

As I have been away all week I guess I will hae missed out a fair few things, sorry kids.
I'm going back to the comfort of my sofa for now........

Scots Way-Hay #18 - Tokyo Knife Attack

There are several bands that I will always associate with the Glasgow Podcart, not because they played them on their show. More so because of the manner in which they always managed to bastardise some bands names, step forward my personal favourite 'Pumped In Venice' (real name 'Trapped In Kansas'). Tokyo Knife Attack, or Craig Bell as he's known to real life people, also suffered at the hands of those pesky Podcart kids, in fact I think they almost started a campaign to have the name changed to Tokyo Knife Party. Mainly because they keep getting it muddled up. Anyway, the point of that ramble was that it was the Podcarters that first introduced me to his synthpop sounds at their Christmas party. My memories of that evening were of a synth version of Arcade Fire's 'Tunnels' and then of me staggering up to a very sober Mr Bell at the end of the gig to give him a Peenko badge (at this point I was using badges as a blogging business card). Cringe-fucking-tastic. Ever since that night last December I have been completely sold by his 80's synthpop tunes, his new single 'Cool Kids' is a an absolute corker, if you don't believe me then listen to the stream below. Right, enough of me and my witterings, it's time to pass you over to the coolest cat on the block....

Would you care to introduce yourself?
Hi, I'm Craig.

Where did the name Toyko Knife Attack come from?
It jumped out at me from a newspaper article.

How would you describe the music you make?
Synth-pop.

How did you start out making music?
I had a tape recorder for my spectrum 128K and quickly discovered that recording noises was way cooler than playing computer games. My first instrument was a wooden spoon or a knitting needle or something.

What process goes into the way you write songs?
I sing little melody's into the recorder on my phone and build ideas up from the every day stuff going on around me. I've got a pretty relaxed office job where I sit and think about lyrics. I try not to write anything down because if it's good enough I usually remember it, then I make a demo and listen to it on the commute to and from work for a month or so, taking mental notes on how the song should end up.

Your music sounds very 80’s, if you could do the soundtrack to a sequel to any Bratpack movie, what would it would be and why?
I saw The Breakfast Club on BBC2 the other week and to be honest I think it's maybe the kind of film you need to see when you're a kid. I was, however very impressed with the size of one of the guys nostrils so I think I'd make some really reverby nostril music in homage to those cavernous beasts.

Is there any truth in the rumours that you’re leaving us to go and live in the States?
That's true. I'm moving to Portland, Oregon a few days after the Popcart gig at Stereo (June 19th). It'll not only be the first gig with the band on stage, but also the last. It's been a crazy couple of weeks and I've had to knock back 3 festivals and there have been rumours of a label interested in my stuff, ha ha typical. I'll be keeping the music going though as Portland's got a great scene.

What can we expect to see/hear from you in 2010?
Why, you should expect to see transvestites and hear lots of new tunes of course.

Cool Kids by Tokyo Knife Attack


Tokyo Knife Attack make their final appearance alongside Pooch and Midnight Lion at Stereo as part of a Glasgow Popcart evening. Make sure you get yourself along to give Craig the send off he deserves. Oh and also to check out a beast of a line up. Tokyo Knife Attack's single 'Cool Kids' is available to buy now over on iTunes, you can stream it above.

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