33.28 - Going Solo

Near the start of this self indulgent ramblefest that has been 33 I wrote about the Aye Tunes Vs Pennko gigs. Returning to that self indulgent theme, today I'm going to write a wee bit about the gigs I've put on by myself, which have imaginatively been titled Aye Tunes Presents. I'd have shortened that to ATP, but I'm pretty sure there'd be objections to that.

#1 - 21st January 2011, Stereo
Goodness, that feels so long again. I suppose it is quite a while ago, nearly a year and a half in fact. I'm good at sums, me. For my first solo attempt I decided to pick some of my favourite animal named bands to play. Packets of Animal biscuits were given away on the door to anyone who wanted them, along with some home made compilation CDs I put together. Take up on the biscuits was surprisingly low, and I ended up eating many bags of them over the following weeks. We even raised a few quid for charity with an impromptu door collection.
Boygirlanimalcolour - Batman Forever
Trapped Mice - Waving and Pointing
Kochka - Boooones
Trapped Mice have some gigs coming up, and a really good debut album in the can, awaiting release. Kochka made one of my favourite albums of last year, and continue to scare me a bit with their new video.

#2 - The Aye Tunes Birthday Bash, 17th June 2011, The Flying Duck
A great idea in my head, a terrible idea in practice, particularly as the gig ended up being put together at quite short notice. Don't put on a gig for your birthday kids, it's stressful and expensive, at least it is if you are me. The bands were loads of fun though, and some people bought me beer, so it wasn't all bad.
The Big Nowhere - I'm In Love With a Girl
Verse Metrics - Modern Sleep
Black International - Destruct_o_
The hangover I had from this was hilarious, but I learned not to do any more birthday gigs. I didn't learn not to do short notice gigs though, as we'll see soon.

#3 - The Springwell EP Launch, 1st July 2011, Stereo
I'd sounded out The Last Battle a bit before this about doing a gig, but couldn't quite get anything worked out. When it came time to launch their latest EP I jumped at the chance to have them on, and managed to lure Loch Awe with them, giving them their first gig in Glasgow and me my first chance to see them. The always entertaining Second Hand Marching Band rounded out the line up, making sure that at least there were plenty of people there by virtue of their vast number of band members alone.
Loch Awe - I Will Drift Into 10,000 Streams (Demo)
Second Hand Marching Band - Love Is a Fragile Thing (Sleazy Version)
The Last Battle - Viv Nicholson (Acoustic)
Loch Awe have a few gigs coming up. They play Stereo in Glasgow this Saturday as part of the Chem19 showcase night, then next Saturday they play with The Bad Books, The Spook School and The New Fabian Society at Edinburgh's Wee Red Bar for some blogger's gig. Can't recall who, I'm a bit Indifferent.
The Second Hand Marching Band claim they'll be releasing three new albums towards the end of the year, a sad one, a pop one, and an Icelandic one.
The Last Battle released a new single just this week. Hope Is Gold is available from Bandcamp, and there's a launch gig on June 22nd at Pilrig St Pauls Church in Leith.

#4 - 28th September 2011, The Captains Rest
Arrange and promote a gig in roughly two weeks? Only a fool would agree to such a thing. This fool. So it was that the following line-up was rather hastily assembled, with no real concession for genre and styles. Given how quickly I put it together and with the bare minimum of promotion I was able to give it in that time, I'm happier with the way this turned out now than I was when I looked in my wallet at the end of the night. First Glasgow gig for The Spook School too. I've got a habit of putting on Edinburgh bands I want to see in Glasgow rather than, probably more sensibly, just going to Edinburgh to see them.
Kevin P. Gilday - Dear Green Place
Shambles Miller - Rapture
The Spook School - History
The Sea Kings - The Nitrate In My Blood
Shambles Miller has a new single, Confessions, out soon. I'll try and get back to that in time, but in case I forget to mention it later, there's a launch gig for the single at Vespbar in Glasgow on July 6th.
The Spook School play this Sunday at The Captains as part of the first Scottish Fiction gig, and in Edinburgh next at the Tidal Wave of Indifference gig mentioned above.
The Sea Kings play King Tuts in July as part of Summer Nights.

#5 - 3rd May 2011, Stairway
I had no real intention of putting on another gig any time soon until Exit_International got in touch with me. The chance to put on a band I really like, and to do something a bit different by putting on a band from outside the central Scotland bubble was too tempting to resist. What followed were many headaches, a catalogue of errors, from venue problems to a collosal screw up with posters, which all added up to making this a bit of a stressful affair, and the end product wasn't as good as it should have been. I'm still a bit disappointed about the way this one came out and wish it could have been better, but it's a bit late to dwell on that now. The bands were ace though.
Supermarionation - Choosing My Religion
Wrongnote - Heart of a Rat
Exit_International - Glory Horn
The Supermarionation song above is hot off the press, having just been released for free download at lunchtime today. Refreshingly Supermarionation released it without seven announcements of announcements of announcements in the run up, just slapped it on Bandcamp and told us it was there. Download the single & b-side for free here.
Exit_International will be spending my birthday in Japan, on a mini tour with Ginger Wildheart. No, no, of course I'm not jealous.

I had rather hoped to close this post with details of the next Aye Tunes gig, because I never learn my lesson and manage to stop putting them on, but the details aren't quite sorted yet, so I'll need to tell you later. It's a wee bit of a fight getting it organised at the moment, but it's a fight I'll win soon.

Another Aye Tunes Gig: Exit_International, Wrongnote & Supermarionation

Been a while since I put on a gig, having all but decided to hang up my occasionally used promoter hat at the end of last year. When the chance came up to put together this one though, I couldn't resist.

And so Aye Tunes Presents is back, a wee bit different this time. We've spread our wings a bit and are bringing a band all the way from Wales for this one, along with one from Glasgow, and one from the scariest place of all, Edinburgh.

Exit_International first came on to my radar when they supported Ginger of The Wildhearts in Glasgow at the tail end of last year. That gig took place on the same night as the now infamous "Hurricane Bawbag", and it is fair to say the wind wasn't the only thing blowing people away. The Cardiff three piece shun six strings, instead coming armed with a pair of bass guitars, to thrilling results. Loud, frantic, sleazy and sexy, with more hooks than a tackle box, Exit_International call to mind hints of Girls Against Boys, Pulled Apart By Horses, Pixies and Motorhead, while always being their own distinct kind of rock beast.
Tours with Ginger Wildheart, Hawk Eyes, Monster Magnet, Blitz Kids, and dates with Kids In Glasshouses, Pulled Apart By Horses, Gay For Johnny Depp and The Bronx, and debut album Black Junk saw Exit_International pick up plaudits in the British rock press, with Rock Sound, Tis is Fake DIY and Kerrang! all praising the band.
A 7” single of Chainsaw Song/Glory Horn – both re-recorded with the latter track featuring vocals and guitar by Ginger - is set for release in May, with the band off on tour to promote the single. I'm delighted to be bringing them to Glasgow for the sole Scottish date of their tour, and hope you'll join me in giving them a warm welcome. Possibly a sweat drenched welcome too, but certainly a warm one.



Wrongnote have been tickling my ears for a while now. Debut album Rech Out, Disconnect took a couple of listens for me to really get into it, but once it took hold, it wouldn't let go without a fight. Jagged and off kilter, Wrongnote are probably lazily best described as falling somewhere into post-punk, but there's a lot more to them than that with elements of progressive, punk, post punk, power-pop, jazz, metal and everything in between mixed in. There's something slightly, and endearingly, demented about the Glasgow four piece. Recent single Heart of a Rat is available to download for a price of your choosing from Bandcamp, and sounds ace to me. Also, at the risk of me getting a beating for mention it, Wrongnote must be one of very few Scottish bands to have a member receive the compliment of "I don't mean to be crass, but I'd bang him like a drum" on the IMDB message boards. There's many more threads about the looks of said band member, I'll say no more about that.



Supermarionation are a band I've tried to lure to Glasgow for one of my gigs a few times, but have always been dashed by schedules. Happily this time around the stars aligned, and Supermarionation will be bringing their own brand of punky, poppy rock to the night. No lusty fans on IMDB, but the band do claim to be made up of mad scientists and warlords, so maybe the creepy female fanbase is in a different location.



The gig takes place on Thursday May 3rd at Stairway in Glasgow. If you've not been there before it's on Union Street, right next to Central Station.
Advance tickets are available from Brown Paper Tickets here.
If you are into that kind of thing you can claim you'll come on Facebook here, but I'd much rather you actually came along than just clicked that button.