We've Got It Covered #99

As seems to be the way of things nowadays, I once again find myself speedily trying to draft up this weeks cover version post. More often than not, I find that during the week that I know exactly what it is that I want to talk about. However, no matter how much I pre-plan what I am going to say, when it comes to actually writing a post it's a totally different ball game. It's pretty tricky trying to cobble something together with the distractions that a one and a half year old brings. Not that I complaining, more a case of making excuses for the rambling nature of these posts. In my head I had planned to talk a wee bit about yesterdays sad loss of Adam Yaunch, although I could never claim to have been the biggest Beastie Boys fan. However, I did catch them a couple of times and they were always good fun. But as news of his passing started to filter out last night I couldn't help but feel quite sad about it all. I know it's a bit of a cliche to say, but it really is sad that we have to wait until someone is gone before we can celebrate what they've brought to the world. I guess I just find it depressing that we'll soon see loads of folk heading and buying Beastie Boys albums, I realise that folk are looking for ways to show their grief, but is buying a CD really the way to do it. For a man who was so supportive of the Free Tibet movement, it'd be nice to think that there were a few folk out that might opt to make a donation to something that I am sure Adam would have been happier to see folk go out and make a donation to them instead.

Anyway, that's enough of my ramblings, on with this weeks cover version which comes from Rod Jones & The Birthday Suit. The Idlewild songwriter and guitarist, is playing a solo acoustic show at bar bloc on Tuesday coming (8th May), alongside This Silent Forest and Ryan McDowell as part of a free show for the latest Slow Club night. To get you in the mood here's a cover that he did a while back of Snap's 'Rhythm is a Dancer', that was recorded for a Vic Galloway session...

Rod Jones &  The Birthday Suit-Rhythm is a Dancer (Snap cover)

The Birthday Suit - Live in Dundee (25/11/11)

Track Listing

1. Sing It Alone
2. Do You Ever?
3. Hope Me Home
4. Wonderfull
5. They Say I Love You
6. Sell It All
7. On My Own
8. Sing Your Praises
9. Don't Look Down
10. A Pirate Song
11. Over The Hill (John Martyn cover)
12. A Nation
13. The Eleventh Hour
14. Past Passes By
15. Rhythm Is A Dancer (Snap! cover)

Download

Thanks to Tom for sharing the link

Scots Way-Hay #77 - The Birthday Suit

They say you should never meet your heroes, thankfully for Idlewild's Rod Jones, he was spared the joy of having to speak to me in person. What with the band that he made his name with, going on an indefinite hiatus (damn you At The Drive In for ever coining that phrase), Rod has been keeping himself busy a new project by the name of The Birthday Suit. What with his partner in crime Roddy Woomble having morphed into a folk singer, Rod has gone in the opposite direction and gone back to his rock roots. The one thing that strikes me about The Birthday Suit is that they sound more of a unit than a group of musicians indulging one mans self indulgent project - that's meant to be a compliment. Anyway, that's enough of my ramblings here's Rod to tell you a bit more about his new band...


Hello, would you care to intoduce yourself to the Peenko readers?

Hello there. I'm Rod Jones of The Birthday Suit.


How did you all get to know each other, and come to be in a band together?

Most of us have been friends for a while and have worked together on various projects so when I was looking to put together the band it was an easy decision to involve them.


What would you say are the biggest musical infleunces on the band?

Songwriting wise anything from Sonic Youth to Bruce Springsteen to Crosby Stills and Nash. Although we don't sound like alot of the influences I think we take elements from everything we listen to, sometimes without knowing it.


In comparison to your earlier solo material which was a lot more mellow, The Birthday Suit is much more rock orientated, was this something you consciously set out to do with this band?

To an extent yes. I had started to write another record and it was sounding like a natural progression of the first but I just felt I needed a change. I missed playing rock music and wanted to see if I could make a record in that genre, outside of Idlewild.


Having been part of the music industry for over 16 years, does it feel harder to motivate yourself to be creative and challenge yourself or is this something that has never really left you?

Not at all. I make music because I enjoy it and playing with different people and writing new songs is motivation enough. I can't wait to get out and play this record live.


With your parnter in crime Roddy (Woomble) pursuing a much more folk orientated sound, are you enjoying being able to get back to playing heavier tunes?

I am. Although I do enjoy playing acoustic and trying different styles, I had missed the energy and frenetic nature of playing rock music. There is also something exciting about the uncertainty of a new band.


In recent years you've been involved in a number of projects, including the Scottish Mental Health Foundation's “Music Like A Vitamin” and more recently with The Fruit Tree Foundation. How did you end up getting involved with these projects? And how important to you is it to be able to do things like this?

I was approached by the Foundation a few years ago to help curate some shows to raise awareness and I jumped at the chance. It's something that is close to my heart and that I have really enjoyed being part of. The Fruit Tree was born due to a feeling I had that we were raising alot of awareness, but only around the festival dates. I really wanted to do something that had more longevity and would be around after the festival. Making records is what I know best and so it seemed the obvious choice. We now are "branching out" a little and have started a mentor program, putting together established musicians with new unsigned acts to give them a head start in the industry. I'm fortunate that I am afforded the time to do these projects which are in many ways the most fulfilling things I do.


What are your plans for the rest of the year and beyond? Have you started thinking about working on any new material yet?

For the next few months we will be playing live and trying to build our fan base but I have started writing a second record and plan to record around Easter time. I feel we are just starting out and have a good way to go as a band yet and I'm really looking forward to seeing where it goes.

The Birthday Suit - Do You Ever?

The Birthday Suit's debut album, 'The Eleventh Hour' is available to buy now for £7.99 directly from the band on their official website. The band play live at Beat Generator in Dundee on the 25thg of this month, followed by appearances at the Tollbooth in Stirling on the 26th and the 9th of December at the Greenside Hotel in Glenrothes. Then in the New Year they're hitting up King Tuts in Glasgow on Sun day the 19th of February. For further dates keep checking the bands website.

The Birthday Suit
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Rod Jones

Friday Freebies

The Moth and The Mirror
In case you missed our wee announcement at the start of the week, our label Olive Grove Records have added another band to the family. They're called The Moth & The Mirror and they're fucking great, we wouldn't have worked with them if they weren't. To celebrate the joining Team Olive Grove they're giving away a free download of their track 'Lights in the Sky' via their Bandcamp, I hope you'll agree it's great wee tune.

Martin John Henry
In a few months time the former De Rosa frontman is set to release his debut album, something I have been pretty excited about for a while now. In fact I bumped into Martin backstage at the Wickerman Festival were he was down helping his former band mate Chris, run the Solus Tent. I spent the majority of the weekend pestering Martin to play me some songs, then at the last minute he had to step in to play some songs as Rachel Sermanni was running late. I of course missed this performance as I was busy fannying about elsewhere, I then spent the remainder of the weekend moaning at Martin, for which I should really apologise. I am just a bit of an over excited kid some times, thankfully though he's going to be playing some shows soon and hopefully we'll get him in to record a Peenko Session at some point. Anyway, enough of my inane ramblings, on with the freebie, you can download his new 'First Light' which is taken from his forthcoming album "The Other Half of Eveything", for free on his Bandcamp page. It's a great fucking song, if this is the standard of the album then boy are we in for a treat.

Adam Stafford (remixed by Miaoux Miaoux)
I haven't done any shameless plugging for the forthcoming Ayetunes vs Peenko gig (two weeks tomorrow), so it's pretty fucking ace when two of the artists playing decide to work together. I have been banging on for ages how fucking great Adam's forthcoming album, Build a Harbour Immediately, is. That's because it is fucking great, trust me kids would I lie to you (I probably would, but not in this instance). Anyway in anticipation of the albums release Miaoux Miaoux
has done a wee remix of Adam Stafford's Shot-down You Summer Wannabes , which you can find on the b-side of his new single Fire & Theft, which you can download for free from Wise Blood Industries.

Seafieldroad
I really meant to mention this in my last freebies, but due to an overload of links I stupidly over looked it. As you might already know, I really liked the Edinburgh outfit, Seafieldroad's first album, There Are No Maps For This Part Of The City. With their sophomore album due out in November, they really could come up with the last great album of 2011, if their new single 'Cramond Island Causeway' is anything to go by, then we should be in for a treat. The single is available to download for free on their Bandcamp page, plus it also includes a cover of Walking on a Dream by Empire of the Sun which you might remember I posted a few weeks back.

Rod Jones
Seeing as Idlewild are taking a bit of a hiatus, the two Rod's are both off following their own solo projects, Roddy is off doing his folky stuff and Rod Jones is continuing to rock out with his backing band 'the Birthday Suit'. If you head over to The Skinny magazine's website you will find their first single free to download, ain't that nice of them.

T Break
I didn't just forget to post about Seafieldroad last week, I also completely forgot to mention that there are a whole load of free downloads up for grabs from the bands that played on this years T Break stage at T in the Park. You can stream the full sets and download one live track from each of the bands that played, including songs from Aerials Up, Cancel the Astronauts, Lady North and PAWS. Get downloading here.

Shambles Miller
My favourite Scottish troubadour, Shambles Miller has been busy writing great wee pop tunes again, this time round he's written a song about how the the end of the world, might be a good excuse to tell a girl you like how you feel. Appropriately enough the song's called Rapture and you can nab it for free on his Soundcloud.

Scottish Fiction
It honestly feels as if at the the moment a new Scottish music blog crops up every week, most of them soon lose interest when nobody pays attention to them (much is the way of the blogger). One of the more interesting sites to have started up is by a guy who goes under the guise of Scottish Fiction (an Idlewild pun I presume), he also runs a weekly radio show, so he does seem to know his stuff. Anyway, following in the footsteps of wur pal Kowalskiy, he too has taken up the challenge of posting a free monthly EP. To start him off he's roped in Michael Cassidy, Campfires in Winter, Night Noise Team and Adam Holmes And The Embers. You can download the EP for free here.

Good Weather For An Airstrike
Scottish experimental/post-classical outfit, Good Weather For An Airstrike, released their new album 'A Summer' just last month. As a wee taster of what to expect you can download their track The Beginning Of The Rest Of Our Lives (Revisited) for free on their Bandcamp.

Negotiations. & LA MORENA
I have joked in the past about Matthew from Loch Awe pretty much being featured every week in Friday Freebies, I actually was only jesting, however, he seems to have taken me up on this challenge as once again he's been off recording yet another new project. His latest outfit go under the name of Negotiations and you can download their free EP here.

Scrap Brain
Edinburgh glitzs-grungers, Scrap Brain have not only made a cracking wee video for their song Take It, they're also very kindly giving away the song for free on their Bandcamp page.

Radio Trees
I actually meant to include this last week, but there was a bit of an overload of free tunes to catch up with so I managed to over look it. Zoey Van Goey frontman and sometime accordion player for Aidan Moffat, The Trembling Bells and Lord Cutglass, Michael John McCarthy has posted up a free download of his one-man project Radio Trees.

Rod Jones and the Birthday Suit - Vic Galloway Session (17/05/10)

Track Listing

1. Sing It Alone
2. Rhythm is a Dancer (Snap cover)
3. Sing Your Praises

Download