Community Service #15 - Off The Beaten Tracks

I have had this post pencilled in for a while now, but as things quietened down over this summer it just kept getting pushed back. Their return to the Scottish music scene is a very welcome one, in case you aren't already aware of Off The Beaten Tracks, the basic premise is that they take artists to unusual places and film them playing stripped back versions of their songs. It's a simple concept, but it's really effective. I first came across the site after they posted the session with Scott from Frightened Rabbit. They were the first people to give 'Swim Until You Can't See Land' it's first airing to the general public. I ended up watching the session an unhealthy number of times, and so my love for Off The Beaten Tracks started.
I must admit that I was saddened that they disappeared, I had feared the worst. So their return is a more than welcome one for me. They've just posted up a cracking session with Broken Records, which you I urge you to check out, after you've finished reading this interview that is.....

In your own words describe what Off The Beaten Tracks does?

We stole an idea from The Takeaway Shows and applied it to local bands and touring bands passing through. We take a band out onto the street or into some odd location that wouldn't normally have a band playing, and we film it. Then we put that film on the internet.

For all the folk out there that don’t know what Off The Beaten Tracks is, why should they check it out?

I suppose it gives you a chance to see bands you might like doing something a bit different. Most of the bands we've had sound quite different when they're stripped back to just acoustic instruments. I like the fact that it shows off the songs that are often obscured by noise and/or lots of instruments.

What was it that inspired you to start Off The Beaten Tracks?

As I said, we stole the idea from The Takeaway Shows. Both Alex and I are web nerds, music nerds and perpetual dat idea people. We wanted to create something that satisfied all of that, and we wanted to continue promoting bands in some way. Plus meeting bands and taking them to odd places and filming them is just really fun.

You have been on a bit of hiatus this year, does your return herald a new chapter in the life of Off The Beaten Tracks? And where have you been?

Life forced us to take a break. Alex's wife had a baby last year, I got married this year, we had other projects and jobs to attend to, and basically we couldn't go on putting out as much footage as we did in 2009. We're not very good at saying no, so e ended up with too much to juggle and something had to give. Then at the same time we had some major technology failures, and it's taken us a while to recover all the footage. Always back things up (twice) kids!

I think the new chapter will be steadier, with less frequent episodes (in the last part of 2009 we were publishing about once a week). We've got a new website in the works that will make watching the episodes a better experience, and we're working on some ways to let people watch our videos in different ways and places. We're also cooking up some ideas for collaborations, and we're currently making a list of bands we want to film this year and next. It's going to be really good, I hope.

What would you say has been the best thing to happen since you started it?

We've had some great laughs and filmed some excellent performances and made a few friends along the way. We've done some daft things too. That's all we could really expect from it I suppose.

What band/artist have you most enjoyed filming the most?

There really isn't one session that stands out above all others. I've genuinely enjoyed all of them. Our first ever session, with Come On Gang, was fun in a baptism of fire kind of way. Hanging out with Scott from Frightened Rabbit was good as he's a lovely guy, and we got to hear "Swim Until You Can't See Land" before pretty much anyone else, and it got us on the front page of Pitchfork. The Honeytrap session was a good day out as they're hilariously odd, and I feel in a river, and then we all went to Matthew Toad's house for the band's Toad session which turned into a debaucherous party till the early hours. FOUND with Cybraphon was crazy and weird and great. The day we filmed Trespassers William and Glissando was great fun, as we had an amazing venue to film, and both bands were incredible at their gig that night, and the more debauchery… Watching Jeffrey Lewis just reeling off accapella songs. Watching Moustache of Insanity continue to sing their song as they feared for their lives at the hands of some cider wielding jakey. A rather drunken late night session with Woodenbox. Filming Meursault play "William Henry Miller Pt1" in front of the William Henry Miller mausoleum with a group of people providing handclaps. My list could go on and on. I've genuinely enjoyed every second of it.

You were out at this years SXSW Festival, how did that come about and who did you film while you were out there?

We've both been for the last 4 years in a row. If you like live music, beer and meat, there is no where better. It's intense but amazing. This year we knew we had to take out gear and try to film a few bands while we were there. We ended up filming Efterklang, Broken Records, Wave Pictures, Winter Gloves and Burnt Ones, a great band from Indianapolis. They're all up on the site now. It was a little stressful at times, in the heat and with epic hangovers, but it was really great fun and we're really excited with how the sessions came out.

For any bands/artists out there thinking that they’d like to do something with Off The Beaten Tracks, is it worthwhile them getting in touch or is it a case of you’ll find them?

By all means get in touch. We're always on the lookout for bands we've never heard that we might like, even if we don't end up filming them. Please be aware, though, that we have had hundreds of requests, and we can't possibly answer them all. We wish we could.

Lastly, what can we expect to see/hear from you in the near future?

We have a session from Three Blind Wolves that we filmed before our enforced hiatus (sorry guys) that's really good. that'll be coming out next. Then we have a list of bands we want to film, and we've been in contact with some to get he ball rolling. We're hoping to do another 3 or 4 sessions this year, and then start over fresh in January with the new site and a proper schedule. It's a nice idea which probably won't work, but we'll try.


Off The Beaten Tracks

Community Service #14 - Music Like A Vitamin (Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film Festival)

How time flies, it really doesn't feel as if it was three years ago since the first Music Like A Vitamin, and my how it's grown. The festival brings together a programme of events to highlight the often taboo subject of mental health issues in Scotland, and continues to tackle the subject head on . Bringing together what could be described as a who's who of Scottish indie music, the event initially kicked off with two gigs at the ABC in Glasgow in 2008. Since then, they have put on a series of gigs in both Glasgow and Edinburgh with great success. Now they have upped the game even more with the launch of the Fruit Tree Foundation, a new project led by musicians Rod Jones from Idlewild and Emma Pollock. The duo have roped in some of the most talented and exciting musicians in Scotland's indie and folk scene to write, record and produce a new album in collaboration with the Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film Festival. I managed to grab a few words from Emma Pollock about all the exciting things that they have planned with the record and for this years festival.



Would you care to introduce yourself?

Hello. I'm Emma Pollock.


How did you first get involved in Music Like A Vitamin/The Mental Health Foundation/Fruit Tree Foundation?

I was invited to help curate a show at the ABC a couple of years ago as part of the festival by Sushil Dade who was involved at the time. I suggested a few bands and it kind of went from there. I quite enjoyed it as I'd never done anything like it before.

Favourite Son


What kind of a role do you feel that music can play in helping to dissipate the stigma attached to depression?

Music, as well as every art form, is really about recognising what is unique about our individual characters, preferences and tastes. It reminds us of who we are as people and highlights that side of our lives that is less about functionality and more about self expression and how we relate to each other. This knowledge, however subtly acquired, is I think really crucial in finding a successful balance between all the different pressures we deal with in everyday life. It also allows us to experience other attitudes, to educate us in different ways of life and vastly different experiences to our own which is always a good thing as it gives our own lives some context.


Why did you choose to release an album of original material, rather than taking the easier path of cover versions?

It wouldn't have been quite as personal a contribution for all of the songwriters to cover other writers' songs I don't think. It's also always exciting to write new material, especially with people you've never written with before and even more so when those individuals come from different musical backgrounds and experiences. There was a certain charged atmosphere in the house when we were writing as everyone tried to make sure they produced something they were proud of.


What artists have you roped in to take part in the project?

A fantastic and fairly eclectic group of writers: Karine Polwart James Yorkston James Graham (Twilight Sad) Scott Hutchison (Frightened Rabbit) Jenny Reeve (Strike The Colours) Jill O'Sullivan (Sparrow & The Workshop) Alasdair Roberts

I Forgot The Fall

How did decide which artists to approach? Were they all quite receptive?

Yes they were all pretty receptive. I'm not sure any of us really knew quite what to expect but I think we all suspected it would be great fun and most importantly really worthwhile for the festival and raising further awareness of the Mental Health Foundation with the release of the album and the gigs.


The festival runs from the 1st to the 24th of October, are you able to share any further details of what gigs you have in store? Who you have lined up for the Picturehouse (1st) and ABC (2nd) gigs?

The final line up isn't completely confirmed yet but we will have pretty much everyone from the record playing each night. We also hope to be able to announce additional guests for both nights but as of yet these remain unconfirmed... We'll be playing most of the record for sure, and most importantly the record itself, entitled 'The Fruit Tree Foundation - First Edition' will be exclusively available at both shows.


Year on year, the Music Like a Vitamin project has continued to expand, do you feel that recording a record was quite a natural progression? Can we expect to see this kind of collaborative release becoming an annual thing?

At the moment we're so busy concentrating on this year's event that I can hardly see any further than the 2nd Oct! I do however hope that the Foundation itself and its general aims, of creating new music in support of the Mental Health Foundation, will be carried on in some shape or form during the festival for years to come.



Two of the songs from the Fruit Tree Foundation album are free to download now (they're the two songs streaming above), the download also includes an introductory piece by acclaimed author Rodge Glass. The album will be officially be released on the 1st of October, there will be two special celebratory gigs in Glasgow and Edinburgh to celebrate it's release. Artists who take part in the album will perform live over 2 nights (1st & 2nd October) at the Picture House in Edinburgh and the ABC in Glasgow.

Tickets for the Music Like A Vitamin gigs are on sale now
Fri 1st Oct, HMV Picture House Edinburgh
Sat 2nd Oct, O2 ABC Glasgow
Tickets are available at www.ticketweb.co.uk and www.ticket-scotland.com
The Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film Festival runs from the 1st to the 24th of October.

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Community Service #13 - The Year of Open Doors

Now for something a bit different to the 'norm', it's time to bring a little bit of culture to the blog, it's a first and probably the last time I'll feature any kind of literature on here. So why have I decided to run a feature on the The Year of Open Doors, initially it was because of the persuading powers of esteemed author Rodge Glass. Initially I was a but unsure as to why he was keen for me to do post about his latest project which brought together a collection of short stories from new Scottish writers. After meeting up with the man in person I was soon convinced, he's a very persuasive young man, so here we are. Yes it's a book and not some form of music, but there are plenty of musical links in here, there's also an audio book to go with it, featuring local luminaries including Aidan Moffat. I think it's about time that I pass you over to Rodge to give you a better incite as to what you can expect.....


Would you care to introduce yourself?

Sure. My name’s Rodge Glass – I’m mostly known as a writer, of novels, of a biography of Alasdair Gray, and of short stories. But I’m also the singer in Burnt Island. We put out a mini album, Music and Maths, on Chaffinch Records in March, and are hoping to make an album in the next year or so.

So what is The Year of Open Doors?

On one level it’s a collection of short stories by some of the best (mostly younger) writers in Scotland. It features a lot of the best performers of their work around at the moment – Aidan Moffat, Sophie Cooke, Tawona Sitholé, Alan Bissett – but also introduces brand new writers, some with very little experience but who show a lot of promise. It comes out of a tradition of performance, so it was really important for it to exist as an audiobook as well, and I’m really pleased it’s going to.

What was the inspiration behind starting the project?

I don’t know if you’ve heard about it, but apparently (ahem) there’s some kind of recession on at the moment – and everyone in the arts knows that in these grim old times, art is one of the first things to get cut, and harshly. Which makes it tough, even in a vibrant, creative place like Scotland, to get opportunities, to get that support that turns a promising young artist into an older, great one. This book comes out of an independent, cross-arts Scottish tradition which puts art before money and doesn’t wait for permission to attempt something interesting. It takes risks, and gets on with it. That’s a tradition I was inspired by, and want to be part of. Being part of Ballads of the Book, the Chemikal Underground/Roddy Woomble project a few years ago, was a really positive experience for me, and since then I’ve wanted to curate projects of my own with a similar kind of thinking.

This is a music blog, why do you think the book would be of interest to my readers?

Fair question! Well, I think that there’s a lot more crossover between art forms than a lot of people in the mainstream media realise. When I do readings of my works, there are a lot of the same folks that come to Burnt Island gigs, and I come across similar communities in both those worlds all the time. We don’t live in a vacuum where we ONLY like music or art or literature….most folks with questioning minds are drawn to the alternative in ALL these forms. Also, Scottish music has a hugely impressive history of lyricists who are really poets, storytellers who deal in music. Whether it’s James Yorkston or Rabbie Burns or Arab Strap or whoever in between, there’s a really interesting space in between music and literature that I’m interested in exploring. There’s a long tradition of this in countries all over the world. Take Leonard Cohen’s best work (he was a novelist and poet before recording his first album) or nowadays someone like Willy Vlautin (the Richmond Fontaine guy who’s published great books with Faber & Faber publishers in London) – there’s an interesting space there. It doesn’t need to be wanky or self-conscious, it is what it is. And there’s people in our book who are also musicians – most obviously there’s Aidan Moffat, who has done a spoken word album before and is moving more into the written word, but also Kevin MacNeil (his single ‘Local Man Ruins Everything’ was an NME single of the week) and Doug Johnstone, whose band Northern Alliance made three albums on Fence Records.

You seem to have brought in quite an array of people to take part in the project, ranging from household names to up and coming authors, was this a deliberate ploy on your part?

Absolutely. I’m not interested in this culture that puts certain people on a pedestal and treats them like royalty, and treats the young and inexperienced like crap. I didn’t like it when I was working in pubs and cafés and daydreaming of writing a novel, and I don’t like it now. A big part of the book is democratisation – saying, everyone, everywhere, here and now, is potentially as great as anyone else, anywhere else, since the beginning of time. That’s not arrogant, it’s hopeful. Hence all the scales on the book, and everyone’s name in the same size lettering. I see the more famous folks as a way to get listeners and readers interested in new people they haven’t heard of before. It’s basically like one of the old mix tapes or CDs you get with a magazine…

The book is being put out through Cargo Publishing, a relatively new book publisher, how did that come about? And why did you decide to go a less well know name?

I’ve been fortunate in the past, being able to publish with big independent publishers for my books. But particularly in these grim old times, it’s important to support the local, and particularly the youngest out there, who are daft enough to be ambitious, despite all the news and 24 hour media constantly telling folks what a waste of time young people are, and how there’s no hope for jobs anyway. Cargo is run by an ex-student of mine, Mark Buckland, who is 23, very smart, from Glasgow, and very determined. He has 9 interns all of similar age just starting out in publishing, who are keen to get experience, and are much more energising to work with that some of the older, more experienced, more cynical folks I’ve come across over the years. It’s pretty inspiring. And when I told Mark exactly what I wanted to do, he said YES. There’s not much more you can ask for.

You have hooked up with Chemikal Underground to release The Year of Open Doors as an audio book, who do you have lined up for that? And when might we see it?

For me, this is part of the connection with Ballads of the Book. Chemikal is a great Scottish independent, a label that has built itself up from nothing, as Cargo is doing, and is a great example to anyone in this country interested in art-before-cash, intelligent thinking. When I first moved to Glasgow in 1997 it was the label, the only label I was a fan of, and it’s still relevant today, if you look at folks like The Phantom Band, Adrian Crowley and Zoey Van Goey, as well as the many incarnations of the Chemikal originals. (My current favourite is The Unwinding Hours.) Ballads was a really good experience for Chemikal, I think, and they are interested in this space between the art forms, as we are – it’s an experiment, of course, but we wanted to see whether we could persuade people to take a chance on downloading a story for the price of a song. So we’ve got 15 of the Open Doors authors to perform their own work and are making these available exclusively on the Chemikal site. As Alan Bissett says, ‘If it’s dead in your mouth, it’s dead on the page’ – and I think that’s one of the things that marks out this generation of writers in Scotland. They’re bolder about performing their work, they’ve come up through live nights that also feature music like Discombobulate (The Arches) Goldenhour (Forest Café, Edinburgh), Words Per Minute (Creation Studios), and they’re not rocking back and forth in their garrets, waiting for cult status to come along. That makes the work more immediate, more direct, and often, more fun.

You have quite events lined up for this Edinburgh Festival, would you care to share what you have planned?

Well, we have three Open Doors events at the Festival, each featuring a different line-up of writers from the book, but I’m most excited about the final night of the festival, when we’re launching the audiobook in the Spiegeltent – we’ve got Adrian Crowley doing a special solo set, Burnt Island, Alan Bissett and Ryan Van Winkle and Doug Johnstone doing short readings from the book, and a very special guest we can’t possibly announce yet. But trust me, it’s a good un. Soon as we can release who it is, I do solemnly swear to let Peenko know first…how’s that? - Sounds like a good deal to me!

Lastly, what can we expect to see in the future? Do you have any other events planned? Are there any plans to do something like this again in the future?
There’s gonna be a whole tour through the summer and autumn, taking in Edinburgh, Dundee, festivals all over the place, Kirkintilloch (of course!) – and look out for the Platform event – that’s the fantastic new venue in Easterhouse that Alun Woodward is involved with these days. We’ll be doing something really special there on September 12th, and will be featuring some of the best of the new writers we have, Tawona Sitholé is amazing, Anneliese Mackintosh who is one of the best performers around, as well as Allan Wilson and the one and only Alan Bissett. Whether he’ll be pretending to be a tough woman from Falkirk is as-yet-unknown....



Thanks to Mark at Cargo Publishing I can share a couple of extracts from the audio book with you all. The first clip is from the legend that is Aidan Moffat, followed by extracts from Alan Bissett and hugely talented up and coming author Allan Wilson.

Aidan Moffat - The Donaldson Boy (extract)

Allan Bissett - Celebrity (extract)

Allan Wilson - The End (extract)

The Year of Open Doors is available to buy now over on Amazon and directly through Cargo Publishing. Cargo have also posted their latest podcast which is all about The Year of Open Doors, you can listen to it here.

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Community Service #12 - Pin Up Nights

I'm old, I don't go to nightclubs anymore. There I said it. Come eleven o'clock on a Friday I am usually in no state to be out on the tiles and the call of my bed or some form of really unhealthy deep fried food tells me it's time to call it a night. That being said, I did manage to stay out and make it to Pin Up Nights for the first time about three months ago. That might well have had something to do with the fact that they were daft enough to let me DJ at one of their nights. Having stumbled along after the first Peenko vs Ayetunes gig at the Captains Rest, I had possibly on of the best nights of my life. Not just because I got to inflict my tunes on others, but because I found myself in possibly the coolest indie disco I've ever been to. The vibe of the place struck me instantly, it was just nice and chilled, full of good folk and more importantly there were some top tunes being played (with the possible exception of my set). The question I found myself asking was "why wasn't there a club like this when I was a bit younger?". There probably was one, but it must have completely passed me by. I've never been any good with knowing where the good places to go where. Give me the safety of a sweaty gig any day of the week.
That I guess is where Pin Up Nights comes into it's own, as they also put on bands as well. They continue to pick up on quite an array of amazing up and coming acts, both locally and from these shores and sometimes even further afield.
They recently were the focus of a rather crude smear campaign from a not so nice band who's name isn't even worth mentioning. In response to this the online community got together and showed their support for what is an excellent night that does a lot of great things to support local bands. For that reason I thought it would be a good idea to get John D the founder of Pin Up Nights to do a bit of Community Service...

Would you care to introduce yourself and the rest of the Pin Up Nights team?

There’s myself, John D, who started the night way back in 2003, and I suppose I have formed a crack team of creative “Pin Ups Chaps” - Paul Smith, Iain OC. James “Butcher” Cassidy, Young Niall and Baillie. We all have varying levels of involvement depending on how busy we are with what I call “Terrifying Real Life” during any given month. For example, I did a fair amount of background work to set up the last two Pin Ups, but I had to miss both of the actual nights.


What was it that inspired you to start running your own club night?

I suppose it was the classic case of “I’m now in my early twenties, I’ve been going on nights out for years and nowhere in Glasgow is playing the mix of music I want to dance to”. My big brother Gerry has always had exceptional musical taste, and in the early noughties he was running successful soul events in Cardiff, promoting folk as renowned as Edwin Starr. I had been messing about in bands, the most "successful" of which was The Friday Night Motel (ha ha I am surprised the myspace still works!). I loved the National Pop League in Glasgow because the atmosphere was terrific, and although the playlist was very indie/C86-centric you still heard pretty unusual stuff like Wire, the Smiths, Pavement, Dinosaur Jr and Yo La Tengo. I would also go through to Edinburgh Art School ‘s Wee Red Bar on Saturday nights. The night was (and still is) called “The Egg”. The mix of music was fantastic. They played the Clash, Toots and the Maytals, New Order, the Specials, Pulp, Marvin Gaye, Kraftwerk, Roxy Music, Super Furry Animals, Northern Soul. So, come 2003 I decided I wanted to start a night in Glasgow that offered that sort of quality and variety. I also loved Vic and Bob’s “Big Night Out” and the idea of an “indie disco” with added hilarity. At Pin Ups the jokes were originally confined to articles in the fanzine which we give out to the first 100 through the door, but in recent years we’ve gradually become a bit bolder. There might be an odd “Guest DJ Jesus Christ” or “escaped gorilla” that slightly confuse folk, but by and large such fun has been very warmly received, so much so that folk have started to expect it every month. I call Pin Up Nights a mixture of “new music, chaos and hilarity”.

For you personally, what would you say has been the best thing to happen since you started the night?

Personally, Pin Ups has given me an outlet for whatever creativity I have. It has cemented some prized friendships, it has kept me interested in music, and in the words of fellow Pin Ups chap Paul Smith, “Pin Up Nights has kept us all young”!

Which band/night have you most enjoyed the most?

It really would be impossible to choose. We have met a load of famous musicians and have 101 daft anecdotes as a result. I caught Terry Hall trying to smoke a joint under the DJ decks. A slightly tipsy Florence (of Florence and the Machine) tried to snare a Pin Ups Chap for the evening by giving him her diary (the Chap in question was spoken for - he gallantly went home but returned the diary to her the next day). I got Gary Lightbody past the bouncers and into a sold-out Woodside Social Club (the night Editors DJ’d for us) by getting him to sing “that ‘Light Up’ song” to prove he was the guy who had just headlined Live 8. Justin Currie appeared as our "secret hunky treat" at the Ladies Night earlier this year. Rick Witter of Shed 7 joined the dancefloor during Disco Down. And so on. As far as nights go, our Circus themed one from last September was a bit special. I think people thought we were bluffing, but we had jugglers, magicians, coconut shys and clowns, and thankfully hundreds of people showed up to see it all come together. Bands-wise it was very pleasant to see Glasvegas break through a few years ago. Pin Ups was one of their first gigs. They were friendly and armed with very catchy songs, and I fought their corner on messageboards etc (this was before Scottish music blogs really existed) as they weren’t trendy or embraced by the Glasgow Art School fraternity. I’m actually a bit disappointed more bands we promoted haven’t gone on to bigger things. I was very into Findo Gask, for example. The Fridays have morphed into Astral Planes, which is great. The likes of the Plimptons and Popup won’t be defeated! And I currently have my fingers crossed for the likes of Nevada Base, Sonny Marvello and Mitchell Museum.


You have your very own indoor Festival planned for this months event, what can we expect to see/hear on the night? Am I cool to wear my wellies and my straw hat?

Definitely! I had my wellies on at our first Festival last year. You can expect to hear 4 of Scotland’s best new bands – Sonny Marvello, Micthell Museum, Futuristic Retro Champions, and Campfires in Winter and a smashing selection of DJs – Scott Paterson (Sons and Daughters), Remember Remember (signed to Mogwai’s Rock Action label), the very handsome Craig Brothers, man about town Craig McGee and of course the Pin Ups Chaps. You can expect to see straw, inflatables, glowsticks, cider stands, festival stalls curated by Glasgow collective Made in the Shade, The Mystical Peeling Field and the Legendary Wham Tent! The Festival is an entire Festival experience packed into 6 hours and a lot of good things are going to happen. If we told you about all of them now it would ruin the surprises.

You were recently the ‘victim’ of an online slur campaign on your good name (linkage), did this ever make you start to think about giving the night up at all?

It was disappointing, but giving up never crossed my mind. You can’t let bullies like Un Cadavre win! I offered to meet them, in person, to talk about their grievances. But they refused, boasting about their “online campaign” and saying they were going to publish an article criticising Pin Ups in some magazine or other. So I felt my only means of replying was to write openly about the whole situation. I have thought long and hard about how to make the payment system for bands at Pin Ups as fair as possible. We have used the same system now for 2 and a half years and every month I invite bands to propose a better alternative, and nobody can think of one. I think that proves beyond doubt that it’s as fair as possible. Therefore I believed that Un Cadavre’s online slur campaign was unjust and that we had nothing to hide. I wanted to set out our position, set out the correspondence between Pin Ups and the band, and let people make up their own mind.

Were you surprised by how much support you received from the online music community?

I was incredibly surprised and very grateful. There’s a lot of cool, clever and creative people out there supporting the music scene and it was wonderful to get so much support. I didn’t realise there were so many people who actually knew about Pin Ups or appreciated it in any way. It gave me a real wee boost.

For all the folk out there that haven’t been to Pin Up Nights before, why should they come along?

A common comment I hear from people who finally make the effort to come along to Pin Up Nights is “how did I not know about this sooner?” or “I feel like I’ve really missed out”. If you make it along you will hear a lot of good music – indie, punk, soul, electropop, allsorts really - and you will definitely have fun in the process. Our venue The Flying Duck is really unusual and worth seeing. I also think it’s fair to say that we are consistently ahead of the curve. I see our artwork and ideas ripped off all over the place – imitation. flattery, etc! Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs, who is currently getting a hefty push from Radio 1 and Annie Mac, played live for us last September. Wild Beasts, who were nominated for 2010's Mercury Music Prize earlier this week, played Pin Ups in February 2007 and in 2008 we booked MGMT for their first Scottish gig. Stretching back to 2004, we were interviewing and playing Arctic Monkeys, Editors and Kaiser Chiefs months before anybody else. I have video footage somewhere of loads of folk going mental on the dancefloor to “I predict a riot”. It would now probably make for excellent blackmail material!

Would you care to share any of the events that you have lined up for the rest of the year, or should we just learn to expect the unexpected?

Arr arr, if I told you I’d have to make you walk the plank, matey…pass the rum please!


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The Pin Up Nights Festival takes place on Friday(30th), once again they have a sterling line up in store for you all, with DJ-sets from Scott Paterson of Sons & Daughters, and Remember Remember (of Mogwai’s Rock Action label), The Fabulous Craig Brothers and the Pin Ups DJs. Plus live sets from Sonny Marvello, Mitchell Museum, Futuristic Retro Champions and Campfires in Winter. In addition to all of that (as if that wasn't enough for you all) they have The magnificent Wham Tent in which you can pay homage to all things Wham! (including wham bars). You can take time out to visit their mysterious, mystical and interactive Peeling Field which will have to be seen to be believed, browse a lovely selection of vintage stalls curated by Glasgow’s very own Made in The Shade. You can expect straw on the floor, folk with glowsticks, tacky inflatables and bunting (really? - there is no need for that kind of thing!). Tickets are only £5 or £4 if you buy them in advance (from their website or through Ticket Scotland). It promises to be a cracking evening, hopefully Mrs Peenko might let me out for the evening... actually who am I kidding I'm sure she'd be happy to get rid of me for the night.

Community Service #11 - We Sink Ships

I first met Heidi and Neil, aka 'We Sink Ships' at the start of this year at a gig they were putting on at the 13th Note to celebrate their launch night. Really nice folk they were too, I tend to think that anyone that puts up with my drunken ramblings must be nice. It turned out that it was Neil's last proper night in Glasgow as he was disappearing off to live in Poland. I'm always amazed by the lengths that some folk go to just to get away from me. Since they've been going for quite a while now and they have a big fancy event planned at the end of this month I thought it was time to drag Heidi in to do some 'Community Service'. Also, in case you were wondering, I have deliberately not said what We Sink Ships is/does, as I think that Heidi is able to put across more eloquently than I ever could....


In your own words describe what We Sink Ships is/does

We Sink Ships is Neil, who is a Scottish photographer and musician living in Poland, and Heidi. I’m a Finnish photographer who is living in Scotland. We Sink Ships organises online photo exhibitions which are sometimes accompanied by music. Some of the exhibitions feature work from several photographers, some are solo shows. All group exhibitions are focused around a theme. Some of the previous themes include books, music and travelling. We also present a weekly podcast on Radio Magnetic. We are known to put on few gigs too. We also do our own music/photography projects involving our own work, such as Elements which is 5 online exhibitions featuring photos, music and poetry.

What was it that motivated you to start We Sink Ships?

Neil and I met because we were Flickr contacts and pretty quickly discovered mutual love for certain style of photos and music. Working together came quite naturally as we both are inspired by other people. WSS was born in spring 2008 and has steadily been growing and developing ever since. I’m still not sure where it is going but that is part of the fun. The WSS Gallery started because I had and still have this dream of having my own gallery, a place to showcase other people’s work. Doing it all online seemed like a good way get a bit closer to that dream.

What would you say has been the best thing to happen since you started it?

So many great things have happened since spring 2008, but I have to say that meeting and talking with so many incredible people along the way has been the best thing. Talking to photographers taking part in exhibitions, interviewing people for podcasts, and meeting everyone who has come along to the gigs has been inspiring.

For you personally what artist/band has excited you most over the past 12 months?

This is a difficult one. If I had to choose just one, then I guess it has to be Conquering Animal Sound which is a duo from Edinburgh. I have to say that The National releasing High Violet was pretty exciting too.

For all the folk out there that haven’t heard an episode of We Sink Ships, why should they give you a listen?
We try to feature different things to cater for, maybe not everyone, but a wide variety of people. First Tuesday of the month is a feature on something Neil and I love and want other people to find out about. So far our features have included record labels, a gallery, a New York based artist, Executive Producer of Creative online community, a promoter... This feature is followed by music mix made by Neil. Second Tuesday is all about a guest we’ve invited to choose music. Guests have included bands, DJs, promoters, musicians, artists... Third Tuesday is dedicated to TOP5s and my favourite music at the moment. My music taste is quite varied so my mix can include just about anything. The fourth Tuesday is just Neil playing his musical finds and music from a label he is planning to launch later this year.

You have a gig organised at this years Edinburgh Art Festival, can you tell us all a bit more about what you have planned for the event?

The event is called ‘We Sink Ships: Elements’ and will include screening of a short film and live music from eagleowl and Conquering Animal Sound. Elements is a series of exhibitions that are on our website. Each exhibition is inspired by one of the classical elements (air, water, fire, earth and aether) and features photos by Neil and I, music written by Neil and poetry by Rhys Baker from Wild Dogs in Winter. All of this material has been put together with archive and his own footage by Sleepysoul, Scottish, London based filmmaker. The event is on Saturday 31st July and it is held at The Wee Red Bar at the grounds of Edinburgh College of Art at 74 Lauriston Place in Edinburgh. The doors are at 7pm and the gig will be finished by 10pm giving everyone plenty of time to get back home, or go out afterwards. Tickets are £5 and available from WSS Bandcamp. When you buy a ticket, you also get one of the Elements songs from the film. I’m really looking forward to the event. It is an honour to be part of such a big visual art festival.




“We Sink Ships: Elements” takes place at the Wee Red Bar on the 31st of July as part of Edinburgh Art Festival 2010. The night will feature a screening with accompanying music from eagleowl and Conquering Animal Sound. Tickets are on sale here for the very reasonable sum of five pounds.

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Community Service #10 - Born To Be Wide

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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



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

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