29/01/11

As dusk falls on the Merchant City before Roddy Woomble’s set in St Andrew’s square, it falls on this years Celtic Connections at the same time…

For the fourth year running an estimated gross return of £1million from over 100,000 tickets shows a welcome and vital consistency lacking in so many modern festivals. Helped by the wide range of music talent and expansive network of  international visitors, it has added to Glasgow’s profile as a major tourist destination…

Having released his debut solo album ‘My Secret is My Silence’ in 2006, Roddy Woomble has since been paving a new direction for himself among the folk circuit in Scotland. The change in sound has also been reflected in Idlewild’s most recent album ‘Post Electric Blues’ released last year. Tonight’s gig saw a stripped back performance of new and older solo songs in the mightily impressive St Andrew’s in the Square venue.

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Rena Niamh Smith

The rhetorical questions were certainly not lost this time – Subcity radio empire hosted another killer bash, this time at the basement bar in wee Renfield Lane’s Stereo. Despite the hit-or-miss nature of Stereo’s underground venue, the team pulled off an amazing night of good tunes and heady atmosphere. In a smaller venue than the recent pirate parties, the night had something of the feel familiar to the events held in the old Research Club on Glasgow Uni’s campus. The clientèle were the most nonchalantly cool kidz Subcity roots its support in, but they showed no aversion to throwing their hands up in the name of a good tune.

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As part of their ‘New Years Revolution’ taking place from the 3rd to 16th of January, King Tuts hosted four young upstart punk bands on the 11th, going by the names of The Gap Year Riot, Pareto, Light Guides and Young Aviators. Alex Embiricos checks out the hype…

First up were the fresh faced The Gap Year Riot, who, holding steady to their rioting gap year traditions, packed all six members on the small stage along with their deafening power chords and pounding drums. A nice uniform of checkered shirts and long fringes prevailed, whilst lead guitarist Johnny Sunshine ripped off a few short riffs and vocalist Fraser wailed away in a loud explosion of pop punk.

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Act: The Burns Unit with support from Broken Records

Venue: The Old Fruitmarket

Night: Celtic Connections, 16/01/10

A common theme that has emerged amongst recent folk/indie movements in Scotland is undoubtedly collaborations. It seems that certain artists can’t get enough of them. King Creosote recently played with Edinburgh’s Meursault and Emma Pollock hooked up with Rod Jones of Idlewild for The Fruit Tree Foundation. Whatever your opinion on ‘supergroups’, it does make a great spectacle to witness several talented musicians come together armed with a mix of influences, ideas and even genres. If something is not to your taste it doesn’t take long for something completely different to be thrown at you. Oh and this is applies to The Burns Unit as well, in case that wasn’t clear…

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Dave Hunter

Glasgow Uni’s very own Red Cross Society held an HIV/AIDS awareness gig at the Flying Duck on Thursday 25th November with all of the proceeds from the evening going to a specific British Red Cross HIV project based at Lesotho in Southern Africa.

Thankfully, it was clear from the outset that the evening was not your typical run of the mill fundraiser. For a start, we were greeted by a plethora of red outfits as part of the very apt dress code and a ‘Cake and Condom’ stall which,  for the record were not actually sold as one item. Everyone also got the chance to plant their autograph on a drawing of the red cross ribbon.

It became apparent that the bands were fantastically diverse as well. Opening the bill was ‘The Wyre’ with a few acoustic numbers including a cover of The Coral’s ‘Dreaming Of You’ and an appetite for some funk bass. It must be said that even with the staggering amount of gigs going on in Glasgow, it’s not often you get a chance to hear a bluegrass band which came as a welcome change with ‘The Dirty Beggars’. They thrilled us all by getting everyone on their feet with some upbeat tunes which sound like they are plucked fresh from the depths of Southern America. So just how do you follow a bluegrass band, well with a rock/metal band of course!’ Contact Lost’ do have some gifted guitarists and even feature a bassist blessed with an indestructable bass after taking it for a few laps around the venue. Following them proved to be an easy task for Jazz/swing band ‘Charlie and the bachelors’ who had some excellent covers of standards such as ‘Fever’ and ‘Feeling Good’.

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Ahead of their upcoming gig at The Arches on Saturday 4th Dec, Mary Machin caught up with Lisa Milberg, lead singer of Swedish band The Concretes…

How has the year treated you and has anything changed?

Lisa: It’s been overwhelming, nothing’s really changed, a lot of good and bad things have happened but it’s probably been different just because I was shocked by how much work that comes with releasing an album.

Did that shock alter your writing or recording techniques?

L: Not really, the shock came after all of that, there was a contrast in writing but that’s something that’s going to be different with every album.

How about the reception for the record, was it what you expected?

L: You can’t really ever expect something particular you can only ever hope for the best, but the reaction to WYWH was great and we were really happy with it. It was weird reading reviews though, because even though it’d be a great review, the writer wouldn’t have got what I wanted them to from the record, but it’s great that people like it

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Lauren Clark and Chris Lavery checked out America’s latest export Wavves at the Arches on 8/11/10

Support came in the form of two very different bands, ‘Paws’ and ‘Otherpeople’. The latter, a four piece indie-rock band with obvious musical potential and the former being what I’d imagine Wavves to sound like had they not discovered marijuana and learned to play their instruments.

While Nathan Williams and his band mates powered through their set, awkwardly chuckling away as they received what could only be described as a molesting from the inebriated crew of miscreants, you couldn’t help but admire the way the boys handled the situation. They were happy consenting to the rambunctious occurrence, so as not to generate any negative vibes, whilst maintaining an appropriate level of professionalism as they continued on.. The balance struck between professional musicians and lovable reprobates was clearly established in the three band members and really summed up their performance as a whole. I never expected the front man who infamously flipped out at Primavera 2009 due to a hearty breakfast of narcotics to appear so composed and on the ball as he did this evening. (more…)

Chris Lavery looks ahead to Wavves + Otherpeople + PAWS on 8/11/10 @ The Arches

The last time Wavves played in Glasgow was in March 2009, at Sleazy’s, a smaller venue and perhaps more suited to their insular, fuzzy sound than the vast, chamber-like Arches. Nevertheless, their Monday night slot at this trendy location is bound to be an exhilarating show. Nathan Williams is the man behind this critically acclaimed Californian project, renowned for his emotionally-charged outbursts of adolescent loneliness and blunt depictions of teenage drug use.

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Dave Hunter

Act: The Fruit Tree Foundation

Venue: ABC

Night: Music Like A Vitamin, 02/10/10

Now in its fourth year, the Music Like A Vitamin project has yet again proved to be an extremely worthwhile and rewarding project for everyone concerned. Tackling the often thorny issues of mental health head on has become somewhat of an annual event, allowing everyone to remember what this evening is in aid of.

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