It's been a while...

Hello stranger! After what feels like an age this is my first post on the blog in ages and I have to admit that I have missed my rambles (although I am sure that most of you haven't). It's been pretty strange having other folk write for me, good weird that is. My only fear is that by bringing in Steve, Boab and Mike to write for me just highlights what good writing should be like!

So although on the surface it might look like I haven't been up to much, but trust me I have been a busy boy as of late, there's always scheming going on in one way or another. Some of which I plan to share with you in this post, plus there are still other plans afoot that I am going to keep a lid in for now. Trust me though, it will be worth the wait.

First things first I'll start with the blog, my more frequent visitors might well have noticed a distinct lack of sessions being posted lately. The reason for this being that I got a polite email from someone at the BBC pointing out that the majority of their sessions are available on line and would I mind stopping recording them. I did cheekily ask if it was something that they could perhaps turn a blind eye too, but alas not. Fair play to them for being so nice about it all, I was pretty surprised that I hadn't been pulled up for it well before then. So from now I am afraid that there will be no more BBC sessions getting posted, I have been exploring other avenues to find sessions, so all is not lost, not yet at least.

You might also have noticed that I have revived my Fresh Meat Monday posts, what with Flutes and Siobhan Wilson, I think we are off to a bit of a flyer, plus the artists that I have lined up for the next few weeks are pretty damn brawsome too. It's nice to have the post back.

For those of you who are missing Friday Freebies, you should check out Aye Tunes who's now taken up the mantle of trawling the Internet for the weeks best free songs from that week. It has to be said that he's doing a mighty fine job of it too.

Also, form Saturday coming I'll be bringing back my weekly cover version posts, We've Got It Covered, which died away mainly due laziness on my part. That and it's pretty tricky writing something half readable whilst looking after a two year old (watching Peppa Pig marathons doesn't really help the old writers block!)

So that's us caught up a wee bit with what's going on with the blog, now for a wee bit of what else I have been up to and what I've got coming up in the next few months. When I posted a while back that I was taking a break from blogging to concentrate on running Olive Grove Records and manage Randolph's Leap, that's exactly what I have been up to. A couple of weeks back we released, Ghosts We Must Carry by the State Broadcasters which seems to have gone down pretty damn well. Having lived with the album for almost a year now, it's great to see that it going down so well with others. If you haven't heard the album then I'd urge you to check it out, not just because it's on my label, but mainly because it's a great fucking record.

If you come back here later in the week, I am going to be posting up a wee Track By Track that Graeme from the band has written for me, it's pretty damn ace. Although the album came out on the 17th of September, we've not actually had the the album launch yet, we've been building up to that in order to make it pretty special. On Sunday the 21st of October we're going to be taking over Wellington Church Hall (off University Avenue) in Glasgow for an evening of entertainment. We will of course have the State Broadcasters playing live with Edinburgh's finest, eagleowl supporting. Not only that but we're also going to have the premier of the bands video for their song Trespassers. It's only £4 to get in, plus it's BYOB, so it should be a pretty fun evening.

Another gig that I am going to be involved with is going to be in conjunction with my pals over at Fence Records. On Friday the 26th of February we're putting on a joint shindig at the Glad Cafe in the southside of Glasgow to celebrate the release of Randolph's Leap's new Hermit EP which comes out on Fence that same day. As I am sure you are aware my life has very much become entwined with the Leap and their adventures. So the fact that they've now signed up to Fence is a pretty big deal to me. Tickets for the gig are available in advance from the Fence Records website, we've got some pretty special guests lined up for the evening so it should be a cracking night.

Last, but most certainly not least, I have one last gig to tell you about. Myself, Jim from the Aye Tunes blog and Neil from newbie blog, Scottish Fiction, have teamed up to put a series of monthly gigs at the Flying Duck in Glasgow. Our first night is on Saturday the 27th of October and I reckon we've got a corking line up in store. We've got French Wives, Cancel the Astronauts and The Bad Books, all for the measly sum of £6. For fear of overloading you with information I will let you a bit more about the gig closer to the time. Just get it pencilled in your diaries for now!

And that as they say, is that. It's the blogs 4th birthday in less than two weeks time and I have something pretty damn special lined up, which I will of course tell you more about nearer to the time...

Peenko Records Present: Randolph's Leap - As Fast As A Man

Some of you might have noticed that I haven't been posting much on the sight lately, what with everything that's been going on over at Olive Grove Records and managerial duties of Randolph's Leap, I haven't had much time to dedicate to the blog. So it might look like I have been slacking, but trust me I haven't, trying to squeeze everything in alongside a day time job, being a dad and a husband, plus having some form of a life ain't easy. All of that being said I still love running this site, so it's been a great help to have Boab, Steve and Mike take some of the slack for me. Plus it's great to have actual proper writers on the site, hopefully you'll agree that they've been a pretty good addition and have freshened the place up a bit.

If you've been frequenting this site for a while now, then you might be aware that next month will be the blog's 4th birthday. I have always tried to celebrate the event by doing something a bit different each year, for the 1st birthday I gave away free badges, for the 2nd birthday I released the first ever release on Peenko Records with I Build Collapsible Mountains and last year I started my ill-fated podcast (I'm still toying with bringing it back at some point in the future - if I can find the time that is). So the the blogs 4th birthday celebrations I have a number of things coming up over the next month or so. To start it all off here's the first exciting bit of news, as you've already guessed from the post header I am putting out another release on Peenko Records. To date I've released the aforementioned IBCM EP, plus there was Randolph's Leap and the Curse of the Haunted Headphones which I released on cassette back at the start of the year. Now I am chuffed to be able to share with you all the next release which is a mini album from Randolph's Leap called 'As Fast As A Man'. Not one to linger in the past, Adam has controversially suggested that cassette tapes might be a dying format and has jumped ship to the weird and wonderful world of the compact disc.

I am not pretty chuffed to be able to share with you what is essentially a follow-up to The Curse of the Haunted Headphones.  Adam has upgraded from a tape recorder to a laptop and bought a new microphone.  If the Curse of the Haunted Headphones was an album of bedroom recordings, Randoph’s Leap: As Fast As A Man has entered the heady domain of living room recordings.  Retaining the same lo-fi charm / shambolic laziness of the Haunted Headphones, As Fast As A Man consists of 9 tracks, featuring acoustic guitar, occasional keyboard fuzz and sumptuous violin (thanks to Heather Thikey).  The limited edition album is available now on Bandcamp. Each one is unique, hand-made and decorated with a member of the animal kingdom (sadly the monkey cover has already been sold). As wee teaser we've made the song Goodbye available as a free download, it's one of my personal favourite tracks from the album - although Weatherman is the song that I have been obsessed with for the past few months.




As if all of that wasn't exciting enough, the band have also just been signed up to Fence Records, the home to King Creosote, Kid Canaveral and the Pictish Trail. I have been bursting to tell folk about this for months now, so it's great to that it's now been properly announced. On the 26th of October they will be releasing their new EP, Hermit as part of Fence's Buff Tracks EP series. The EP contains 3 new tracks, and a remix (courtesy of the massively talented, Jonnie Common). You can pre-order yourself a copy of the EP from the Fence website, although I would suggest you sign up to the whole of the Buff Tracks series as the Pictish Trail EP is properly ace.

 To celebrate the release of the Hermit EP, myself and Fence Records are putting on a launch show at the Glad Cafe in Shawlands on the Southside of Glasgow. Support on the evening comes from an array of folk from within the Fence Collective, so it has all the makings of being a pretty special evening. Tickets for the gig are available in advance here. The venue only holds 100 folk, so if you're planning on coming along you would be advised to get a ticket in advance as we're expecting it to be pretty damn busy.

I'll let you know more about what I've got coming up over the next few days, for now you should check out As Fast As A Man and marvel at the awesome poster above. Oh and if you live in London and you're free on Friday night, then should get yourself along to the London Palladium as Randolph's Leap are supporting the Pictish Trail at his big birthday bash. This is going to be the bands first ever show outside of Scotland, so we're all a bit excited about it. I'll be at it too, but don't let that put you off!

The Fence Collective - BBC Radio Scotland Session 2004

 

Track Listing

1. The Pictish Trail - I Don't Know Where To Begin

2. Pip Dylan - I Believe It's True

3. King Creosote - That Bus You Missed Snakes

Download

Introducing - The Shivers

It's been ages since I have posted anything on one of these wee introduction posts, mainly because I no longer have the time to check out new music, out-with Scotland (no bad thing in my eyes). I was introduced to The Shivers by Johnny 'Pictish Trail' back in September when I was helping to do Kid Canaveral's merch at King Tuts. The duo who are based in Queens, New York, had recently signed up to his label Fence Records and he was looking to book some shows for their UK tour and he wondered if I might be up for putting on their Glasgow show. He duly sent me over their new album. I thought it was great and the next thing I knew I was hunting round venues in Glasgow to put them on. So as I am sure that most of you who visit this site on a regular basis will already know, next Monday (the 7th of November), The Shivers will be hitting up Mono for their first ever appearance in sunny Glasgow. Ahead of the gig I caught up with Jo and Keith to tell you a bit more about themselves and to tell me a bit more about how a band from New York ended up on a Scottish label...


Would you care you to introduce yourself to the Peenko readers?

I am Jo Schornikow, keyboardist.

I am Keith Zarriello, guitarist, singer.



What three little words would best describe the sound of The Shivers?

Raw honest beautiful


Have you met your initial ambitions for the band? And what are your aspirations for the future?

Jo: the only ambition i have anymore is to make good music. so yes, because I believe in what we've done, and also no, because there's so much more to do.

Keith: My aspirations are finally to reach the point where we're no longer really called a band who is clearly influenced by certain artists of the past but we have our own sound that is completely unique and although it would of course draw from the past, it makes something wholly original and new. This is why the direction we are heading incorporates elements of hip hop, electronic and film music to go along with our clear influences of rock, soul and folk. I have a sound in my head that sounds both new and fresh and yet doesn't lose any of the soulfulness of all the music from the past that I love.



You’ve just released your new album, ‘More’ in the UK through those lovely folk at Fence, how did that come about then?

Jo: did you ever see the movie Sliding Doors with Gwyneth Paltrow?



You must spent a lot of time in the studio and on the road touring, which of the two do you prefer?

Jo: whichever one we are not presently doing.

Keith: I would have to say the studio just because I love the idea of creating documents to mark a period of time and last into the future and because I get incredibly nervous and sick whenever we play live. Although, when we do have one of those really good live shows absolutely nothing in the world can compare. When we have a triumph on the stage, which is not every time, it makes me realize why I do this. The part that gets to me with playing live is that if we do a bad show, I dwell and dwell and beat myself up about it. It makes me disgusted so it's a difficult thing.




I’m always on the hunt for something new that I have never heard before, are there any bands from your neck of the woods that you would suggest my readers check out?

Keith & Jo: RACES from LA, Cameron Hull from NYC, Ainslie Wills from Melbourne Australia. Trash Gut from Providence, RI. Viking Moses from USA.



How excited are you about your forthcoming UK tour? And more importantly how much are you looking forward to the Glasgow date (that I am putting on coincidently)?

Jo: I am especially looking forward to Glasgow because I want to hunt down Frances McKee (who lives there I believe) and do yoga with her. that would be a million dreams come true at once.

And also because I heard no one throws down harder than a Glaswegian at a folk love song show.

Keith: I am extremely excited to come to the UK. I've always thought if we had any chance to ever have a wider audience it'd be over there because you guys have different (and I think better) taste in music. Glasgow in particular excites me because growing up I listened to Arab Strap, Mogwai, Belle & Sebastian and other great Glasgow bands and that gave me a romanticized view of your city and its music scene. And we've never been there so we're psyched.


The Shivers - Irrational Love

'More', The Shivers’ sixth album is out now through Fence Records, you can catch the band live in Glasgow on the 7th of November at Mono with support from Randolph's Leap and Where We Lay Our Heads. Tickets are available through Tickets Scotland, they're £5 in advance and £6 on the door. As always it would be great to see some of your beautiful faces coming along for the evening.

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Back In The Game.... A News Roundup

I had fully intended to post up a news post ages ago, but alas things got a wee bit on top of me so this feel by the wayside. On Thursday coming it will be the blogs third birthday, bloody hell, time really does fly in. On the blogs birthday I celebrated by giving away free badges, then in year two I put out the one and only release on Peenko Records (I Build Collapsible Mountains debut album - funnily enough he releases his debut album this week). So what does year three bring then, well boy and girls it's that moment you've not been waiting for, this week we will hopefully be launching the first ever Peenko Podcast. Having hosted a few shows on Edinburgh student radio station, Fresh Air, I got the presenting/rambling pish, so I have managed to rope in my friend Charlie, aka King Post Kitsch, to record a show with me this week. Don't say I didn't warn you, anyway that's enough about me and my plans for world domination, on with the news...


It's been a while since I put on a gig on my own, so November felt like as good a time as any to test the wasters again. This time round I've roped in old favourites Randolph's Leap to support The Shivers a New York based duo who have recently just signed up to Fence. This is the first time that the two-piece will have played in Glasgow so I am pretty stoked to be able to be putting on their first show in my fair city. If you haven't heard of them before then I would thoroughly recommend that you check out their latest album, 'More' it's one the most addictive albums I have heard this year. Completing the bill I have Glasgow outfit Where We Lay Our Heads, a band that I have been a big fan of for ages now. I kept missing their live dates, so I thought that this was the best chance for me to see them live. I am still sorting out ticket details and the like, I'll tell you more a bit closer to the date.

The Shivers - Used To Be by peenko

Talking of other gigs that we have on, today sees the release of The Moth & The Mirror album on our wee label Olive Grove. To celebrate we've got two dates lined up in Glasgow and Edinburgh, the band will be hitting up Stereo this Wednesday (12th), before appearing at the Cabaret Voltaire in the capital this Sunday (16th). Open Swimmer support on both dates, with Rick Redbeard also doing the honours in Glasgow and Endor will be playing an acoustic set in Edinburgh. In addition to all of this the band are also going to be playing an acoustic set at 1pm in Fopp on Union Street in Glasgow on Sunday the 16th. I should hopefully have a lot more from the band on the blog later this week, I may go a little OTT - you have been warned. Oh and you should also check out their ever so pretty new homepage. For now though you can stream the album below, then go spend your pennies if you like it...

Peenko favourites the French Wives have spent the summer busily crafting their debut album with influential producer Tony Doogan. Their forthcoming long player is due out in the new year on the Electric Honey label, and ahead of it's release they're just about to put out new single, Numbers on October 24th. To celebrate the singles release they're having a launch night for it at Mono in Glasgow on Thursday the 20th of October, with support from Blochestra and Endor. Tickets for the gig can be pre-ordered via the bands new website now, plus you can stream the new single below.

French Wives - Numbers by peenko

What with the absence of the Music Like A Vitamin gigs this year, things with the Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film Festival have been pretty quiet on the music front without, but there's still quite a lot of interesting things going on. Two of the more interesting gigs that might be of interest are Rod Jones, James Yorkstone and Withered Hand mentored some young musicians, helping them with writing and recording, culminating in a live gig at Nobles Bar, Leith, on Thursday 20th Oct. Then on Monday the 24th of October, composer Malcolm Lindsay will perform songs that he wrote with some local kids, which will be performed by a classical string quartet for the first time at Platform, Glasgow, at 12.30pm. The project which was commissioned by Alun Woodward (Chemikal Underground/Delgados) which apparently saw the kids using special music software which helps people write music using colours/shapes rather than traditional notation - sounds complicated to me!

Anyway, that's enough of my ramblings for one post, I will leave you a couple of videos, the first is of James Mackenzie playing live at Cafferys in Inverness, then we have a new video from indie popsters, Be Like Pablo...

Kid Canaveral sign to Fence

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


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


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

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

Fence

Scrambled Eigg - The Away Game Diary by David from Kid Canaveral

Smashed Tits

Jealousy is a an awful trait, but I have to admit that I was incredibly envious of all of the lucky punters that attended the Fence Collectives' inaugural 'Away Game Festival' on Eigg. Having been to Home Game I had a rough idea of what I might have missed out on. In order to rub salts into the wound I decided to ask David from Kid Canaveral to write me a wee diary about his experiences on Eigg, or at least tell me the bits that he could remember/would actually share with me. So here it is, Mr MacGregor's hazy memories of a cracking weekend spent on an Island off the West coast of Scotland.... (I should point out that all of the terrible captions under the photo's are all my doing, yes, I know they're terrible)

After the 150 tickets sold out in six minutes, and the fact that an additional 90 musicians would accompany those lucky brief-holders, led some people to question if the 70-or-so inhabitants of the beautiful Isle of Eigg would know what hit them. I, on the other hand, having heard tales of these merry Islanders, thought that it may be the incomers attending the first Fence Records Away Game (a new and wild sister Festival to the annual and fantastic Homegame) who would be the ones left shell-shocked. I certainly know it took me, and others, almost a week to pull themselves together after returning to the mainland.

My morning started by returning to Strathclyde Students Union to pick up my car before the meter ran out. Glamorous stuff, I know. I left the other Canaverals blissfully unconscious and headed back to where we'd opened for Frightened Rabbit the previous night. Which was the (very good) reason we weren't on Eigg the previous day. That was quite an experience, but it was having an adverse effect on my early morning Yoker to Queen Street train ride. We progressed smoothly through breakfast and packing the cars. But, hang on, shouldn't Kate be back from picking up Johnny Flynn from the airport by now? Scott and Laura are already at ASDA (other supermarkets are available) waiting to buy drink? What time is the ferry? Right.

What should have followed was one of the most scenic drives you can do in Scotland, if not the UK. What actually followed was a convoy of three cars tearing up the West Coast trying desperately to make up time that had somehow disappeared, and not create an indelible black mark on the weekend by causing the deaths of (at least) eight people. The prospect of missing the last Shearwater ferry of the Friday was a thought too much to bear. Incredibly, and despite almost being crushed by a lorry over-laden with hay bales on Rannoch Mor, we arrived for our 6pm ferry at 5.54. Apparently this crossing was something that was widely discussed throughout the following couple of days, to the extent that some people would have you believe that it could make an appearance on the big screen as "The Third Crossing of The Shearwater". Yes, it was little choppy, and yes, there was some splashing but it wasn't that bad, was it? Obviously I say this having had the comfort of being in the cabin, due to the fact we were last in the queue and everyone else wanted an open air view. Ha. If you speak to Dan of Withered Hand fame, you'd get a different story. Somehow we managed to survive the 'perfect storm'...Scott and I by consuming most of a (modest) crate of Tennent’s and cheering at each plunge over a crest of a wave, Kate and Rose by staring at a fixed point in the distance. Each to their own. Scott and I had foolishly positioned ourselves immediately beside the boats only toilet. This would lead to a steady stream of folk who had been in the pub all afternoon crashing by us and the repeated visits of the unfortunate Sunday Times journalist who'd gone greener than a bi-lingual road sign. What a rubbish simile.

We arrived and were greeted with open arms by Johnny (Pictish Trail) and Kenny (King Creosote) before participating in the human chain of baggage handlers tossing amongst other things, some questionable luggage, from boat to tractor trailer. The full beauty of Eigg was not immediately apparent as the sun had been setting with haste as we made our way across The Minch. So, I should probably start talking about music, as that's what everyone was there for. The two venues for the weekend were the Town Hall and a specially erected Marquee immediately beside it. It was impressive stuff. I’ll admit that the two days of music are now one crazy blur of tunes, drink and pastry, so I’ve only really written about what I can recall. I make no guarantees about timings…or days. I thoroughly enjoyed watching the Oates Field. Especially ‘I won’t want you’. One of their new songs still has me blushing when I recall the lyrics. FOUND were even better than when we played with them in St Andrews recently. Their set was interrupted by a local gentleman who (after asking Ziggy if he could use his microphone) berated the crowd for not dancing more fervently to “this f***ing amazing band”. Everyone obeyed. Withered Hand delivered a great set during which a woman shouted “Men! You’re all the same!” at me whilst I was singing along to one of Dan’s more salacious lyrics. Dancing, falling over, repeatedly hugging an incredibly patient Bart from Eagleowl (whilst lamenting the worst (and most humiliating) gig we ever played as a three piece, that he and every other musician who was on the LIMBOLive Vol.1 CD witnessed at the launch) and all sorts followed and Friday became Saturday and I got a year older. That’s 27, if you’re counting, not “40!”, as someone shouted at me during our set.

Guinness for breakfast, nice...

Saturday

Saturday started with a stumble down from the farmhouse to the hostel for some breakfast. Well, in the back of a transit van. There, a game of hungover scrabble was punctuated by interruptions by one the most hilariously awful women ever to draw breath. Don't worry, she was an incomer. After some incredible patience and toast it was time to head back to the Town Hall and Marquee.

The Legendary Bearded Ladies of Eigg

Slow Club were the perfect tonic to a hangover, and provided inspiration to many by having consumed a fair few already on the Saturday morning/afternoon. With a crystal clear sound in the tent that most venues would be envious of they reminded me just why I have enjoyed their live show so much in the past. I would later really ingratiate myself with Charles (Watson, of the ‘Club) as while I was talking to him in the bit at the back of the Marquee stage with two guitars over one shoulder and a pint in my hand, one of said guitars would slip off my shoulder and land on my forearm causing an arc of Guinness from said pint to land in the lid of their Merchandise case. I wasn't even drunk. He was awfully nice about it...

It must be love...

So then we had our set. It was going to be great. The tent was filled all the way to the back and we were riding on the back of some great gigs and some very flattering press following the release of our debut LP ‘SHOUTING AT WILDLIFE’ (plug, plug, plug). Our first two songs went fine, perhaps a little baggier than usual, but that was just down to the excitement of the occasion? Things started to go wrong on our cover of Missionary (that we'd learned for our BBC session earlier in the week) and after this it became apparent something was up. 'Smash Hits' was plagued by drumming 'issues' and one of the strings on Kate’s guitar prominently used in the choral riff managed to slip a whole semi-tone out of tune, during. It turned out Scott was suffering from what appeared to be rather acute cramp in on of his arms and it looked like our set was over. We were all gutted and none more than Scott. His face was a mixture of pain and distress. Scott managed to continue through the remaining songs of our set and in the process gave himself a black eye and a bloody crotch (luckily [!?] the blood was from his hand) through overcompensating due to the cramp. He carried on where many others would have jacked it in, and considering the fact folk still seemed to be enjoying themselves I can't stress enough how grateful I am.

Apparently Barry Manillow made a surprise appearance on Eigg...

For 'You Only Went Out to Get Drunk Last Night', we were joined by an extended choir featuring four of the recorded members and additionally Johnny Lynch, Kenny Anderson, Princess Biscuit and some of the RaMilnes. After a false start it was great fun. We finished our set (which by the end of, Scott was an unhealthy green pallor from the pain) and limped offstage to far greater ovation than we thought we deserved. Upon talking to people (specifically other bands/performers first, to ask was that as crap as it felt) afterwards we were told a number of heartening things. For instance: 'it was shambolic, but entertaining" and "you were shite technically, but it was great fun". When talking to others who'd been in the crowd and weren't necessarily paying particular attention to the technical side of things, most seemed too inebriated to care and claim to have enjoyed it. And that's what matters, eh? And a fair amount of folk bought our album afterwards. Scott still couldn't make a fist on the Sunday, so we're hoping that it was just cramp and not something more serious and problematic for the future. Mercifully none of the reviews have mentioned us [apart from a favourable one in the Guardian, YAS!], as compared to the many other acts over the weekend, we were sorely below par. Good-natured heckling requesting the removal of my shirt and repeated renditions of the chorus of Stevie Wonder's 'Happy Birthday' punctuated the gaps between songs where I would normally ramble on. It was touching. Perhaps I will listen to "TAPS AFF!" at our next show.

King Creosote played a set that was just flipping marvelous. A greatest hits set of sorts and a version of “the Happy Song” that had me thrashing about like an idiot pumping my fist in the air as if I was mulleted, watching Bon Jovi and mentally insufficient. Brilliant. After this I learned that if you haven’t eaten for 10 or so hours that the best thing to do is get two of the Fisher and Donaldson (blatant plug for free fudge doughnuts?) Spinach and Ricotta Rolls that have just appeared from the oven down in Galmisdale and put them either side of a sausage roll, sandwich style, it’s probably one the best things ever. Not for regular consumption, though. I managed to squeeze in receiving some verbal abuse from Matthew of Song, By Toad infamy before watching British Sea Power do lots of climbing in the marquee making it a bit wobbly. Luckily everyone was too smashed to be worried of collapse. As the evening careered on, I indulged in some “Ill” ceilidh break-dancing with Sarah (Tanat-Jones of Come On Gang!) to Daimh before laterplaying guitar on one of the songs in their set (COG! not Daimh…). This was lots of fun, obviously, but it was born out of badness/mischief. Mikey (Morrison) was meant to join us for a song at our album launch, but we didn’t have time to practice. I was meant to join COG! for a song or two at their single launch last month, but we had a show in Glasgow on the same night. I asked jokingly when we first met on Eigg what song they wanted me to play on and Sarah convinced me to wind Mikey up about it until they played. Then it ended up actually happening. Sorry Mikey. The rest of their set was flippin’ brilliant and led to me thrashing about like a muppet, yet again. I would dearly have loved to have been able to stay conscious and upright for Gummi Bako and Massacre Cave at 6am, but we’d just had a mental busy week and, alas it was the cold, cold tent for me.

Sunday

When we were heading back down to the ferry port on the Sunday, our very polite-seeming, female driver came out with and absolutely cracker. When asked how we were feeling, we groggily responded unanimously with “Fine”, to which she responded “F.I.N.E, that's F***ing Incapable of Normal Expression, isn't it?”. Which I guess is kind of similar to what the weekend had been: Good humoured and full of pleasant surprises. The ferry home was notable for the presence of a whale alongside us. Malcolm Middleton took a moment out of feeling seasick to observe that it could be Johnny in wet suit trying to give us one last festival thrill, the wry bugger.

Thanks to Johnny, thanks to Sarah and thanks to Kenny. What an adventure.

I think someone wants to go home....

Weekly Round Up (03/10/10)

Monday - Skies Fell took on some Fresh Meat action
Tuesday - Sexual Objects Session for Vic, plus our good friends over at Gerry Loves told us a bit more themselves as my 8th DIY label
Wednesday - Zoobizaretta became the 35th entry into the coveted Scots Way-Hay club
Thursday - there was a wee announcement of a special gig in November (more of that below). There was also a wee interview with the lovely folk at Instinctive Racoon in my DIY series
Friday - there was some of the finest freebies in ages, including tunes from FOUND, French Wives and The Phantom Band. There were also sessions from Edwyn Collins and Citizens.
Saturday - my We've Got It Covered feature brought you Ballboy's unique take off Springsteen classic


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

In case you missed our big announcement earlier in the week, Ayetunes vs Peenko is back and what a line up we have in store for you this time. Joining us at the Classic Grand on Bonfire Night will be none other than the Seventeenth Century, Come On Gang! and I Build Collapsible Mountains. Tickets for the gig are on sale now for a very reasonable £6, you can get them through Ticket Scotland, Ticketweb and directly from my Big Cartel page, which has the added bonus of no booking fees and free postage.




As part of this years Oxjam Festival, I've managed to secure a pretty awesome lineup, gracing the stage in the name of charity will be none other than Super Adventure Club , Bronto Skylift , Carnivores and Campfires in Winter.All of this for a fiver, cannae complain. Since this is part of Oxjam all the proceeds from the gig will go directly to Oxfam. So come out, do your bit for charity and listen to a night of LOUD and AWESOME music. Tickets are £5 on the door, first come first served, so get down early!



Our good friends over at Elba Sessions celebrate their first birthday next Friday,the 8th of October. In true Elba style they've lined up an eclectic evening at their spiritual home, The Liquid Ship, featuring Cuddly Shark, Julia and The Doogans, Yusuf Azak, Jonathan Sebastian Knight (My Cousin I Bid You Farewell) and Paul McLinden (who was the first performer to grace the Elba stage). Elba blog-master Phil notes: 'Unfortunately we couldn’t ask everyone, there were quite simply too many people and we didn’t quite have it in us to organise a five day festival but we’re proud of the line up and hope that you will join us to celebrate a good year where we have met so many good people who have helped us out, whether it be a mention on their blog, sending us some music to listen to or even the odd follow friday on twitter!!' As it is a special occasion the night has moved from its usual Thursday night slot to Friday. The evening starts at 8.30pm sharp and it is free entry as always.


Tomorrow sees the relaunch of Too Many Fireworks, you might remember I featured them as part of my Scottish DIY Labels feature. The label returns with release of label owner, Neil Milton's 'Elements EP'. Recorded in Neil’s adopted home of Warsaw, the EP contains five short pieces of modern-classical music, each loosely inspired by one of the medieval elements. In August, the collection soundtracked the short film "We Sink Ships: Elements", by the now defunct art collaboration We Sink Ships, when shown at the Edinburgh Arts Festival. Check out the labels homepage for further details.


Former Fresh Meat starlets, Indian Red Lopez, continue their mini tour of Scotland this week. The Aberdeenshire 'guitars 'n' electronics outfit' are at The Greenside in Glenrothes tonight, followed by an appearance King Tuts on Tuesday (5th). In Glasgow the band will be supporting ever-rising Northamptonshire electro-popsters Fenech Soler. The band then had across to Holland for mini tour after that.

Indian Red Lopez - 'My Eyes'

Tonight in Glasgow, Perth based rock outfit The Barent's Sea finish off the last night of their tour with a gig at the Captains Rest. The band have garnered a lot of attention recently, and their high energy live set is apparently quite a sight to behold. Support comes from local acts The Darien Venture, Alburn, and Jack The Wolf. Find out more details here.


Those lovely Fence folk also used this week to officially announce the line up for this years Halloween Party. They are moving from their spiritual home of Anstruther and showing us Weegies what a party should really be like. Funnily enough it'll take place on Sunday the 31st of October at Stereo and The Old Hairdressers (directly across from Stereo) in Glasgow. Running from 2pm right through till 2am, check this for a line up; King Creosote, James Yorkston, Silver Columns, James Yuill, Lord Cut Glass, Alasdair Roberts , John MacLean (DJ) , Jo Mango, Vladimir Lad, Randolph’s Leap, John B McKenna, Jonnie Common, Gummi Bako, Pictish Trail, plus many more acts still to be announced. Tickets for the gig are £25 and you can buy them here, be quick though as if last years anything to go by this will set out very quickly.




To round things off this week here's a little taster from Shambles Miller's forthcoming EP, 'Shambles Sails the Clockwork Sea'. The EP isn't out until the 22nd of October when he'll also be having the launch night, in the Liquid Ship in Glasgow. It's free entry, so make sure you make it in your diaries kids!

Shambles Miller - Strike! by peenko

They Shoot Music In Scotland – The Fence Collective recordings

Track Listing
1. King Creosote - Leslie
2. James Yorkston & Friends - Spanish Ants
3. The Pictish Trail & Friends - Not To Be
4. King Creosote & Friends - Curtain Craft
5. James Yorkston & Friends -unknown
6. The Pictish Trail & Friends - Skerryvore (The Red Well Cover)


Download
Watch the videos over on Dear Scotland

Weekly Round Up (20/06/10)

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

You can buy tickets for the event here.


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


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

Friday Freebies

King Creosote
King Creosote's newest, as yet unreleased, album 'My Nth Bit Of Strange In Umpteen Years' was played seven times in its entirety at the Homegame Fence bash. Attendees were encouraged to record the gig and share it around. Here's what the good man had to say about it. "My next album isn't going to be recorded at all, it's only going to be a live experience. I'm going to do seven performances of the album at Homegame in a small room that only holds about 40 people, and what I've insisted on is that the audience records it for themselves on all sorts of cheap, portable equipment (dictaphones, old Mp3 players, mobile phones, etc.) and then passes it around. The idea being that if it's true that passing files around and file-sharing helps build a live audience then this will be the proof in the pudding. But those songs won't exist outside the live performance."
Some of the live recordings are already starting to surface online, here are some of the links that I have comes across so far. Link one here, Link 2 (split into two parts), Link 3 (again split into two parts)

we were promised jetpacks
If you sign up to the Jetpacks mailing list, then you will receive a free Mp3 of 'A Far Cry' taken from their forthcoming EP. Sign up here.

Ariel Pink
Los Angeles outfit Ariel Pink are giving away new song 'Round and Round' for free download, it's one of those sign up for their mailing list type scenarios. Register here.

Skies Fell
Glasgow's Skies Fell are giving away a free download of their debut single, 'Contest/Hurricane', you can download it from their Bandcamp now. Thanks go out to Jim G for this one.

Alessi's Ark
Alessi Laurent-Marke, more commonly known as Alessi's Ark, new EP Soul Proprietor is out next month. To promote it DrownedinSound are giving away a free download of the song 'The Robot'.

Fence Collective
Clash Magazine have posted a wee zip of Fence artists for free download, there are tracks from François & The Atlas Moutains, Rozi Plain, OLO Worms and FOUND. Click here to download it.

The Holy Roman Army
Irish duo, The Holy Roman Army have posted a free 5-track covers EP on their Bandcamp page for free download. It sees them taking on the Pixies’ ‘Wave of Mutilation‘, Rollerskate Skinny’s ‘Speed To My Side’, Bon Iver’s ‘Skinny Love’, Peter Broderick’s ‘Not At Home’ and Pavement’s ‘Here'.

Sara Lowes
If you listen to Marc Riley during the week on 6Music then you are more than likely to have come across the lovely Miss Sara Lowes. If you liked what you heard, then you might be interested to know that there a free download of her song 'Something I Don't Know' is up for grabs. It's one of those sign up the mailing list deals, sign your life away here.

Run/Lucky/Free
The Edinburgh indie-pop four piece are giving away a free download of their new song 'Unicorn' here. If you like what you hear then you might be interested to know that they are playing at Edinburgh's Haddowfest at the end of the month.

The Gothenburg Address
They featured in this weeks 'Scots Way-Hay' and here they are again, this time it's a bootleg entitled, 'Shimmer In The City', of them performing at Nice n Sleazys in Glasgow.

SXSW
One day I'll make it out to Austin, one day! Until that day I'll have to content myself with live recordings and free samplers. NPR have a tasty wee sampler up for download at the moment, featuring Spoon, Broken Bells, The Walkmen, Local Natives and Freelance Whales. Get yourself a copy here. (redeemable only on the U.S. iTunes Store)

theapplesofenergy
Ambient experimentalist, Stephen Gribbin 'Gribb' has put a few tracks up for free download on his Soundcloud page. Get downloading kids

High Places
Brooklyn duo Roy Barber and Mary Pearson, who make up High Places, have a free remix of 'Can't Feel Nothing' up for grabs up on DiS.

Frightened Rabbit
Any stragglers out there that haven't invested in 'The Winter of Mixed Drinks' might be pleased to learn that a free download of the single 'Swim Until You Can't See Land' is up for free download on KEXP's website.


Kowalskiy's Komplimentary Korner

Lonely Tourist
For all of you who are still mourning at the demise of Odeon Beatclub, you might be interested to know that their former lead singer Paul has a new outfit on the go, "Lonely Tourist".
If you send an email to lonelytouristmusic@yahoo.co.uk he'll mail you back 3 MP3s for nowt!
This freebie comes courtesy of the lovely Kowalskiy, which makes that the third week running that he's pulled a cracking freebie out the bag, hence he is now being given his own weekly slot in Friday Freebies. Keep up the good work mate!