Frightened Rabbit - Live in San Francisco

Just because there's an embed code available and because I've not got anything else ready to post today beow you can watch a full live Frightened Rabbit gig. Enjoy.

Review: Carnivores/Pacific Theatre - Split Single

I don't know, you spend half your time complaining there's nothing decent in Paisley then two bands come at you at once. Carnivores and Pacific Theatre have both been around for a while now, steadily making names for themselves from regular gigging, now they have teamed up to release a split single together. Both bands hail from Paisley, and both have three members, but there the similarities end.

Carnivores contribute Five Go Mad On Mescaline, a vicious warning about abusing ketamine. It is a ferocious little number, all snarls and shouts, distorted guitars and pounding guitars, that rattles along at a fair old pace, like a three and a half minute adrenaline rush. Lurking amongst the noise is an excellent song too, with hooks and melodies forcing themselves to the forefront, demanding attention and worming their way into your head. If the title's nod to The Comic Strip didn't give it away already then the lyrics confirm that Carnivores have no shortage of wit about them either. Five Go Mad on Mescaline isn't terribly subtle, but it is fun and thrilling, and a far better use of your money than dodgy horse tranquilizers.

Pacific Theatre's half of the split single, Was There Distance? is much more restrained in comparison, providing a nice bit of variety. Pacific Theatre aim more for the anthemic, and Was There Distance? certainly comes close, while happily avoiding clichés or sounding too much like the band's influnces. Certain other bands ploughing the same furrows would kill for a song as catchy as Was There Distance? and certainly for its harmony laden sing along chorus. Lovely stuff.

Carnivores: MySpace
Pacific Theatre: MySpace

Five Go Mad On Mescaline/Was There Distance is released on September 20th on CD and download. There is a launch gig on Speterber 23rd at Bloc, with special guests Penguins Kill Polar Bears. Entry is free, so get down early!

The Year of Open Doors

The Year of Open Doors is a collection of short stories, edited by Rodge Glass and published by Cargo Publishing. If the name of the book sounds familiar that might be down to regular mentions of launch events in the weekly gig guide, usually followed by a promise of me doing a full post on it later.

I have a strange definition of later.

I've finally finished reading the book, but rather than carry on promising that post and failing to get it done, this will be a bit of a bare bones run down of The Year of Open Doors.

If it seems a bit odd that I'm posting about a book on what is generally a music blog, then firstly shut up, I can post what I like and a bit of culture won't hurt you. Secondly, there's a fair bit of crossover involved between the book and the music World.
Editor Rodge Glass is also the frontman in Burnt Island - who we really like around here - and other contributors include Doug Johnstone, a member of Fence Collective band Northern Alliance, Kevin MacNeil, who has recorded music with Willie Campbell of Astrid and The Reindeer Section as well as delivering the opening monologue on the open track of the debut album by There Will Be Fireworks. Then there's Aidan Moffat, who is, well, Aidan Moffat.

There's a couple of other familiar names to Aye Tunes readers on the list of contributors too, in the shape of Kirsten Innes and Anneliese Mackintosh, the minds behind Words Per Minute.

Anyway, back to the book itself. The Year of Open Doors collects new short stories from some of the best writer in Scotland, though not necessarily Scottish. Some of those writers are familiar, some are brand new, but refreshingly everyone gets the same treatment, there's no star billing or any of that nonsense going on. The mixture of races, nationality and gender of the contributors is nice to see too. More importantly than all of that, The Year of Open Doors is a cracking read too. Cargo are a fairly new publisher who have aimed high with this collection, to me at least they've hit the target too. Reward their enthusiasm and ambition by picking up the book!

There's one more musical crossover too, as Cargo Publishing have teamed up with Chemikal Underground to release an audiobook version, you can buy that here.

The audiobook is available now and there's a launch night for it on Monday, also the closing night of Unbound at the Edinburgh Book Festival. Performing on the night are Burnt Island, Adrian Crowley and a currently Top Secret musical mystery guess (it isn't Cher, or Rod Stewart, but beyond that I have no idea) as well as readings from a few of the authors of The Year of Open Doors. That all takes place Highland Park Spiegletent on August 30th, from 7 - 11pm, pick up tickets here.

Links: Cargo Publishing - Rodge Glass - Chemikal Underground

The Year of Open Doors is available from bookshops, funnily enough. It is also available online direct from Cargo, or from Amazon in hardback, or for the Kindle.

Retreat!

This weekend in Edinburgh there's a very swanky wee two day event on, which I highly advise checking out if you can.

Tickets for Saturday are sold out already, day tickets for Sunday are almost gone and there aren't an awful lot of weekend tickets left either, so pick yours up in advance. You can get them here: Weekend - Saturday SOLD OUT - Sunday

Below is pretty much all the info you'll need, but if you want any more you can find Retreat! on MySpace and Facebook too.

As a bonus there's a sampler album featuring pretty much all of the bands playing available to download for FREE here.

Pilrig St Paul’s Church, Edinburgh

August 28-29 2010, 2.30pm-11pm.

GBP 7 (day); GBP 12 (weekend pass).

Venerable DIY gig-putteronners Tracer Trails and The Gentle Invasion are thrilled to announce the third edition of Retreat!, a micro-festival celebrating Edinburgh’s contribution to the international pop underground.

Following on from previous years which have seen the festival occupy spaces in St John’s Church and the Bristo Hall, this year’s Retreat! will be a two-day event taking place in Pilrig St Paul’s Church Hall, on the boundary between Edinburgh and the City of Leith.

Retreat! was founded in 2008 to create space for Edinburgh acts amid the bustle of the festivals, and has evolved into a riotous A.G.M. for the capital’s independent pop scene.

In its inaugural year Retreat! encompassed nine events over three weeks; in 2009 it took the form of a giant celebratory all-dayer as part of the Forest Fringe. Retreat! 2010 is different again, a lost weekend when Edinburgh’s first XVI will perform in a deranged gala-day environment in which anything might happen and some things probably will.

Hosted by the incomparable Owen Curtis Williams (The Pineapple Chunks / drummer-about-town), and with stage design by Tessa Lynch, the only common thread in this vibrant melange is the organisers’ overwhelming respect for each act’s inimitable contribution to the international pop underground.

Retreat! stands for: -

• cheap cheap tickets

• all-ages admission

• the most extravagant staging and costumery no money can buy

• film screenings, record stalls, book stalls, and food!

This year Retreat! is supported by the Scottish Arts Council Young Scot Action Fund.

Line Up:

Saturday 28th August
2.30pm-11pm

eagleowl
7VWWVW
Wounded Knee
Skeleton Bob
FOUND
Jesus h. Foxx
Withered Hand
Enfant Bastard

Sunday 29th August
2.30pm-11pm

Benni Hemm Hemm
Conquering Animal Sound
The Wee Rogue
The Douglas Firs
Milk
Meursault
The Leg

This Week's Gigs: 23rd - 29th August

Sunday afternoon, time for me to lose several hours of my day to scouring social networks to find out what gigs are on this week as usual.

It's a bit of a lopsided week this week, every bugger in Glasgow seems to have decided to put a gig on on Friday.

To make life a bit simpler for me there's a new email address you can send gig details to if you want them included in the weekly guide, I'll stick the details in at the end.

Tuesday:

Foxgang Presents: Festival Special. Bristo Hall, above The Forest Cafe, Edinburgh. Free.
Foxgang take matters in to their own hands by putting on a special little gig. As well as Foxgang themselves playing live are French Wives, Washington Irving, White Heath, Fiction Faction and Sebastian Dangerfield. All for free. Even better, there's a compilation album featuring a track from each band available, courtesy of the Kowalskiy blog, here.

Wednesday:

A Band Called Quinn, May68, Epic26. King Tut's.
I'm sure there's more numbers in that line up than is really needed. A Band Called Quinn are really, really good though.

Thursday:

Sonny Marvello, Ace City Racers. Captain's Rest.
The Lava Experiments, Shutter. The 13th Note

The Red Show. Pivo Pivo.

Friday:

Ah Friday, you swine. This is an insane amount of gigs to have on in the one night.

No Dancing: Adam Stafford, RM Hubbert, Deathpodal, PAWS. Stereo.
This one looks excellent, so much so I gave it a preview of its very own previously. You can find that here, it has songs to listen to and stuff.

Pin Up Nights - Helicon, How Garbo Died & More TBA. The Flying Duck.
In addition to the two bands announced there'll be others, and all the usual Pin Ups DJs and hijinx. There's a free download of Helicon's 2009 EP Take The Ride available here at the moment too.

We Are Jawbone, The Underdog Theory. Classic Grand

Mix Up Mayhem 3: Pooch, Nevada Base, Any Color Black. Creation Studios. £5 (BYOB)

If I can somehow split myself in half I'll be along to this as well as No Dancing, as it too should be excellent. Three cracking bands, who will play their own songs, a cover of each other's songs and another cover too. If the last one is anything to go buy Creation Studios also gets to around the same heat as the Sun. You need to bring your own booze, but you might get free sweets.

Sons & Daughters, She'S HiT. Captain's Rest.

It has been quite a while since I've seen Sons & Daughters, but I'm already committed to being elsewhere, so it'll need to be even longer before I see them. S&D's Scott Patterson will be pulling double duty on the night, as he is also in She'S HiT, who have a new single out at the start of October. More on that single a bit later.

Call Me Ishmael, Sondura, Hercules Mandarin, The Scruffs. King Tut's.

Saturday:

Retreat! Pilrig St Paul's Church Hall, Leith Walk.Pilrig Street, Edinburgh.
Taking place over Saturday & Sunday, I'll be going in to a wee bit more detail on this during the week. You can find out pretty much everything you need to know on the website, and pick up a free sampler of some of the bands playing here.

Kitty The Lion, Tango in the Attic, more TBA. Stereo. £5

Sunday:

Mogwai, Moon Unit. Stereo. £10.

Pretty much announced just as I'm writing the gig guide, tickets are available here and from Monorail from Monday. Don't expect any to be available on the door. Proceeds from the gig go to Lanarkshire Cancer Trust, and to aid flood victims in Pakistan.

Fiona Soe Pang, Hidden Orchestra. Roxy Art House, Edinburgh.

Live music, film and probably some other stuff too. More details on this flyer.

Her Name Is Calla, Analogue of the Sun, Laura Carswell. Captain's Rest.

Gig Submissions:

As mentioned at the start, there's now a dedicated email to send gig details to. The gig guide takes a surprisingly long time to put together every week and involves me trawling through venue websites, band websites, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter etc. To try and make my life a wee bit easier, if you have something you want included send an email to gigs@ayetunes.org.uk including at least the date, the venue and the bands playing (along with a link to their website, MySpace or whatever). If you can tell me how much it'll cost to get in that's good too.

Round Up Reviews #4

The point of Round Up Reviews is to cover stuff I don't have a chance to give a bigger write up to - or have enough to say about - but still want to give a mention to. Singles, the odd demo track and the like all get lumped into one post rather than slip through the cracks.
It has been a little over a month since the last one of these, and I've picked up a ton of stuff to get through in that time. History suggests I'll call lots of things "gorgeous", I should really get hold of a thesaurus.

Dems - Lioness
This was meant to be in the last batch of reviews, but I forgot, as I'm an eejit. Dems previously got a nod in Round Up Reviews #2, where I loved his previous release Jarndyce Vs Jarndyce. Since then he's moved back to London from Edinburgh, but so long as quality works keeps coming out Dems are always welcome on Aye Tunes. Make no mistake, this is quality work. Inspired in part by Big Cat Week on the BBC, this is just gorgeous. Lush production that manages to have all sorts of interesting things going on without being overwhelming or busy and downright beautiful vocals. Lioness is one of those songs that perks me up instantly if I'm a wee bit miserable. I've played this song to death over the past month and a bit and I'm nowhere near tired of it yet, nor will I be any time soon.
Lioness is available as a free download from Bandcamp.

Trapped Mice - Secret Letters
Once again something I've been meaning to mention for ages. I'm really not the best at staying on top of things, but I digress. Trapped Mice are fairly new Edinburgh band - they just played their first gig a little over a week ago - who make lo-fi folk tinged music. They happen to make it very well too. There's a few songs available, of which Secret Letters is my pick of the bunch, but the rest are well worth investigating too. Secret Letters starts off fairly gently before building to a glorious crescendo by the end. Pretty much a lovely wee song, check it out.
Secret Letters is available as a free download here.

Beldina O - By Candlelight II
Beldina O is another artist that's popped up in these before, with her song Chariots featured last time. Since then a few songs have made their way on to Beldina's Bandcamp page, including this one, which I didn't have last time round. By Candlelight is another cracking wee song. Sparse and stripped back the song is carried by a fairly simple bit of organ and a luscious vocal. Distinctive and enchanting, this is really lovely.
By Candlelight II - and a few other songs - can be downloaded free from Bandcamp.

Aaron Wright - Go On Yerself

A cheery wee upbeat folky pop song, I'd be lying if I thought this was particularly fresh or innovative, but it is fun, and Aaron's charisma gives things a bit of kick. Perfectly pleasant throughout, with a whole lot of charm. Also - a bit of a brass breakdown in the middle, and handclaps, two things that'll almost always get me to enjoy a song. Fun stuff, and it made me smile.
Help yourself to a free download of Go On Yerself here.

Boygirlanimalcolour - Batman Forever

Boygirlanimalcolour released an EP - Let's Get Forgotten - ages ago and I don't think I ever got round to mentioning it like I meant to, so I'm picking a song at random to write about before I forget again. Batman Forever is a bit like the film, it is loud, messy at times and pretty chaotic. Unlike the film there's a balance with (slightly) more restrained moments to save things from being a complete assault on the senses, and the end result ends up being a highly effective little sugar rush of punky powerpop, before everything breaks down into cowbell driven insanity at the end. Brilliant, unlike the film.

Let's Get Forgotten is available to download free here.

Lovers Turn To Monsters - Batman Forever
Kyle Wood from BGAC also has his own long running - and terrifyingly prolific - solo thing going on under the name of Lovers Turn To Monsters which I don't mention nearly enough. Recently Kyle wrote and recorded and EP - The Pain and the Ghosts - in the space of three hours. For good measure he threw in a cover of Batman Forever so for a laugh let's compare his solo acoustic version to BGAC's. The song works pretty well stripped down to it's bear bones actually. The sense of fun of the song is replaced my a more delicate and mournful feeling, but is just as enjoyable in its completely different form.
The Pain and the Ghosts is available to download free here. While you are there get loads more Lovers Turn To Monsters stuff, it is very good.

Come on Gang! - Fortune Favours The Brave

Come on Gang! make music that is impossible to stay still through. Upcoming single Fortune Favours The Brave doesn't disappoint on that score. Fast, frantic and catchy as f*ck, Fortune favours The Brave is everything pop music should be. The song grabs you from the off and doesn't let go for three minutes forty five seconds, which if you don't smile and at least bob your head about a bit during then you probably have no soul and don't find pleasure in anything. Just be careful, last time I saw Come on Gang! live I witness a man dance so hard he ripped his own trousers. If that isn't a recommendation I don't know what is.
Fortune Favours The Brave is released on September 10th, with a launch gig at The Caves is Edinburgh on the same night.

Don't be surprised to see Round Up Reviews #5 by the end of the week, there's still a pile of stuff I've not touched that I need to come back to, not to mention umpteen things awaiting full reviews. If you have something you'd like included don't hesitate to get in touch.

This Week's Gigs: 16th - 23rd August

It is Sunday afternoon, so it is time once again to have a look around and see what is on this week.

All Week:

Haarfest.
Taking place all week in Anstruther is Fence's latest festival type thing, Haarfest.

From Monday to Thursday there's live music from 8pm in the Hew Scott Hall, then on Friday and Saturday the action switches to Cellardyke Town Hall.

Monday:
The Social Services, Open Swimmer, Bear Bones. Sneaky Pete's, Edinburgh

Tuesday:
Withered Hand, The Last Battle. Electric Circus, Edinburgh. £6.

Thursday:
The Social Services, Open Swimmer, Bear Bones. Nice 'n' Sleazy.

The Scottish Enlightenment, Martin John Henry, Debutant, Dan Lyth. Henry's Cellar Bar, Edinburgh.

Penguins Kill Polar Bears, Make Sparks. Captain's Rest. £4

Run/Lucky/Free, Philadelphia Grand Jury, Majestic Dandelion. King Tut's. £7.

Friday:

The Hugh Reed Explosion, The Girobabies. The Pandora, Victoria Road. Free.

Juan Pablo, Kerrie Lynch, Julia and the Doogans, So Many Animal Calls. 13th Note. £5.
Quite an eclectic line up, with a good selection of bands we like round here. Should be fun.

How To Swim, Sunset Song, Andrea Marini. Captain's Rest.

Black International & others. Henry's Cellar Bar, Edinburgh. £5.

Saturday:

Sonic Soak: Govanhill Baths.
Not often you get a gig in a swimming pool. This two day event (it continues on Sunday) rectifies that by having gigs in a swimming pool. Visit Facebook for the full line up and ticket details.

The Ghosties. O2 Academy

Sunday:

Rock 'n' Roll Damnation: Pareto, .scores, 3 Times Over. King Tut's. £5 (Buy from Pareto for £3)

Unbound: The Year of Open Doors. Highland Park SpiegelTent, Edinburgh.
Our pals from the literary World have another wee event to celebrate the release of The Year Of Open Doors. To find out more about the book, and to buy a copy, visit Cargo Publishing.

Lions No Longer Chasing Tigers

Just a week after announcing a couple of gigs Lions.Chase.Tigers have announced that these gigs will, sadly, be their last.

They write:

It is with great sadness and some relief that we must announce our upcoming shows in Glasgow and Aberdeen as our last.
After much discussion we feel this is as good a time as ever to draw a line under Lions.Chase.Tigers.
We’d like to thank everyone for their continuous support and guidance throughout our 3 years as a band; it has always been greatly appreciated.
Our great friends have already said it better than we ever could, so we’ll leave you with this:
‘This is our last dance, this is goodnight and goodbye’.
Bless.
Dave, Fraser, Iain, Seoridh

Tickets for tomorrow's Glasgow gig are available here. Next week the final Lions.Chase.Tigers gig will take place in The Tunnels in Aberdeen, on Saturday.

We were always very fond of Lions.Chase.Tigers here at Aye Tunes, they were one of the first bands I caught regularly when I started getting back out to gigs more regularly last year and always gave their all on stage whenever I saw them. I'm sad to see them go, and wish them the best of luck in whatever the members do next.

Download: Lions.Chase.Tigers - That Kid Can Sleep (Live at The Mill 23.07.09)

Lions.Chase.Tigers Website

Too Many Fireworks Podcast & Relaunch

You may know already, but Neil & Heidi of We Sink Ships have gone their separate ways on to new projects of their own, at least for now.

The first of Neil's new projects, the 2mfcast launched last week. The Too Many Fireworks podcast promises to be a semi-regular stab at creating a decent music show playing the best in modern classical, ambient, electronic and post-rock music. It will features occasional guest podcasts, interviews, DJ sets and other chat as well as the odd surprise thrown in.

The first episode is online now a features a brief history of the record label from which the podcast takes its name, with music from Troika, Titus Gein, Findo Gask, Euan McMeeken, Macrocosmica and more.

You can find the first episode here, or subscribe on iTunes.

The label is getting close to relaunching too, with the full back catalogue being made available along with some new releases. I'll tell you more about that when everything is ready though.
In the meantime head over to the Too Many Fireworks Website and sign up to receive a free 8 track sampler.

This Week's Gigs: 9th - 15th August

Sunday afternoon, must be time for me to trawl my email, Facebook and Twitter for gigs happening this week then. If I've missed anything it is your own fault for not telling me.

Before we get in to the regular gig guide here's a special mention for The Social Services and Open Swimmer. They are off on tour this week and a bit of next, so rather than plug them in to all the relevant days here's all the dates for this week.
12 August - The Studio at The Corran Halls, Oban
13 August - Old Bridge Inn, Aviemore
14 August - The Tunnels, Aberdeen
15 August - Drouthy Neebors, Dundee with Esperi
Edinburgh and Glasgow follow next week, so I'll mention those ones next Sunday.

On to the rest, and as it is a busy week there's less chatter from me about what's on. I'm sure you'll survive without it.

Tuesday:

Bear Bones. Captain's Rest. £4. [UPDATE: This gig is cancelled]
No idea who else is playing on the night, but the wee bit of Bear Bones I've heard is good.
Fiona Soe Pang: No Man's Land. FOREST FRINGE: Movey House film/performance party, 3 Bristo Pllace, 11.30pm. Free
Part live performance, part film screening, all awesome? The Magic 8-Ball suggests so.

Wednesday:

The Low Miffs, PAWS. Captain's Rest. £4
Little Yellow Ukuleles, Your Neighbour The Liar, Kerrie Lynch, Juan Pablo. Maggie's Chamber, Edinburgh. Free.
Edinburgers take note, this ought to be good.

Thursday:

Kong, Bronto Skylift. Captain's Rest. £8 (Buy from Bronto)
Ten Tracks Presents: The John Knox Sex Club, Wounded Knee, Dead Saints' Bones. Stereo. £1
£1 eh? That's hard to argue with, especially given the quality of the line up.

The Lava Experiments, Andrew Bowers. Maggie Mays.
Fear The Fives. Bloc. Free.
First gig in a wee while from Fear The Fives, who I still need to get along to see at some point.

Friday:

We're Only Afraid of NYC, Mondegreen. King Tut's. £5 (Buy for £4 and get an exclusive song)
AvPII co-stars warm up for their appearance at the Reading/Leeds festival with a gig at Tut's. I hardly ever mention Mondegreen round here when I really should, they are fab. You should go to this one.

Saturday:

Shambles Miller, Type 23, Communicator, Two in Two. Box. Free.

The Red Show & others. The Admiral.
Not a clue who the others are, details are elusive.

Lions.Chase.Tigers, I See Shapes, 3 Times Over. O2 ABC2. £5 (Buy Tickets)

The Phaetons, Kochka, Diamond Sea. Nice N Sleazy.

Sunday:

Panda Su, Julia and the Doogans, Blue Sky Archives. Captain's Rest. £5
Oh, lovely. The west end is annoyingly difficult to get to Paisley from on a Sunday though...

Dave Hughes. Tonic, Dundee. Free.
Zetas Empire, The Ghosties. Box. Free.

Trapped Mice, Holden, Neo Violet, Calum Carlyle. The Banshee Labyrinth, Edinburgh. Free.

Gig Preview: No Dancing

Coming up in a couple of weeks is a gig night that has a line up bursting with Aye Tunes favourites, plus a cracking wee poster. This combination means it gets a plug in advance, rather than just in the weekly gig guide.

The gig takes place on Friday 27th August in Stereo, and on the bill are Paws, Deathpodal, RM Hubbert and Adam Stafford. You can read a bit about and have a listen to them all below.

RM Hubbert
Website - Bandcamp

If you'd told me this time last year that one of my favourite albums of 2010 would be something roughly akin to post-rock flamenco I'd have nodded, smiled and backed away slowly, assuming you were insane or on fantastic drugs. I'd have been wrong though, RM Hubbert's First & Last is one that has left a real impression on me this year, as you can see from my review of the album.
Hubbert's live show is a sparse, beautifully melodic soundscape that has the ability to reduce entire venues to silent awe. If you aren't silent there's a good chance you'll get a slap too.

Deathpodal
MySpace - Bandcamp

Illness made me miss the last outing for Deathpodal live in Glasgow, something I'm still a bit grumpy about. Exu__Wow, the debut EP released earlier this year gathered a fair selection of praise from all quarters, including me, and deservedly so. On record Deathpodal make an exhilarating multi-layered mix of musical styles; everything from lo-fi punk to intricate post-rock, with noise and grunge sensibilities. I look forward to seeing how the full band do live.

Adam Stafford

Adam Stafford is label boss, film maker, and musician both as frontman of Y'all Is Fantasy Island and solo. Recent single Shot Down You Summer Wannabes is my favourite thing Adam has done, and as it is a free download you could do much worse than check it out. Be sure to check out his recent album of covers Music in the Mirabel, also available for free. Much of Adam's recent output has been created using nothing more than his voice and a couple of loop pedals, making for a remarkable and unique sound, not to mention a riveting performance.

PAWS
MySpace - Tumblr

PAWS, at least according to their MySpace, consists of a small red panda cub; a polar bear cub and a grizzly bear cub. Relative newcomers, PAWS have already secured a few high profile supports with the likes of Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti and Dum Dum Girls, and will be heading off on tour with No Age in October, as well as enjoying national airplay and a 6Music Session.
Debut single Violent Vicky Violet - another free download - is a catchy as Hell blast of lo-fi rock with hooks most pop bands would kill for. Also: handclaps. I'm a sucker for handclaps.

No Dancing takes place in Stereo on August 27th, entry is £5.

Introducing: The Vitamin Sees

The Vitamin Sees are from Leicester, but they pass the Scottish test enough for me. Singer Stuart Gray is also in Fence Collective band Viva Stereo, while drummer Mick Harrison was a member of Prolapse alongside "Scottish" Mick Derrick. Besides, quoting influences like Suicide, 13th Floor Elevators and Spacemen 3 makes them ok in my book. Plus, I used to really like Prolapse.

A while back I asked them some questions, they answered, and it has taken me ages to get round to posting. Here's the results.

Who are The Vitamin Sees?

The Vitamin Sees are Mick Harrison, Rob Norbury, Sam Walker and Stuart Gray. We are a 4 piece Leicester band who play psychedelic, shoegaze, kraut rock, noise.

You've all been in bands before, or are still in others, what led to forming a new band?

Stuart:
After moving to Leicester in 2006 I was still pretty active with my 'other' band Viva Stereo, we released our third album in 2009. So up until then I was writing and recording, so I wasn’t really looking for a new band in my new hometown…but at the same time I was making mental notes and really just getting to know people who might be able to help in future. On top of that I had a firm idea of what I wanted the band to sound like and the sort of ethos I wanted, that I wasn’t sure a lot of people would go for. I wouldn’t say I’ve ‘been there and done that’ in the music business but I’ve had my own ups and downs after being in Viva Stereo for ten years. To be honest, the thought of starting from scratch and going through all the crap you have to go through as a new band filled me with fear. I just really wanted people who would be up for getting together, playing some music we enjoyed and maybe playing the odd gig here and there. I didn’t want to have to worry about the usual stuff like making sure we practice every week or playing loads of gigs so our name gets known, or making sure we were playing the type of music was ‘cool’ so would get us noticed. I got talking to Rob at a party in July 2009. I’d known him for a few years through a local band he’d been in, The Dirty Backbeats. The Backbeats had disbanded about 6 months previous and I wasn’t sure if Rob had been doing any musical stuff. It’s safe to say we were both quite wasted and we started talking about doing some music together and I had this idea of trying to start a two piece band in a similar vein to Suicide, just with a drum machine, some heavy guitars and a synth. Really primal and basic. We thought about forming a band, doing a couple of gigs and then splitting up. I’d just been made redundant and Rob was also on the dole so we got together a few weeks later at my house one afternoon and tried out some ideas. It was pretty simple stuff. I had a drum loop programme on the pc which I played through my speakers. Rob played along on guitar and I played some synth. It all sounded pretty good…and it was fun, but maybe not something that would transfer to a live environment and I guess it was pretty self-indulgent.

A couple of weeks later I went see a friend’s band called Ambrose Tompkins in Leicester. They announced that night it was their last gig. I knew their bass player Sam to speak to and fuelled by alcohol I cornered him after the gig and asked if he wanted to join the band. At the same time I was texting Rob to tell him my plans so it was pretty much an on the spot decision! Sam was up for it and we were now a three piece.

The next day I sent Sam an email outlining what we planned to do as a band. He replied, mentioning he knew someone who might be up for drumming with us. I had decided that the drum loop approach might not be as easy as first thought and as Viva Stereo use loops and drum machines I wanted to distance myself from them. So I figured it might be a better idea to get a live drummer. Sam mentioned a guy called Mick Harrison whom Sam had spent a bit of time with at a recent local music festival. Mick had played bass with Prolapse who I had been a fan of so I was instantly interested in finding out if he’d be up for it. However despite his past, I think my main thing was to find out if Mick was a decent bloke. I arranged to meet him one afternoon for a pint. I met him in a local boozer and we got on straight away so the band was born.

Do you find it helpful that, without wanting to sound unkind, some of you have already been around the block a bit with bands?

Stuart: In helps in so much that theres certain aspects we don't really want to go through again. Mainly getting to the point where its boring or precious or even other people getting involved to try and take us somewhere we don't want to go. Mick especially had some amazing times in Prolapse but by the sound of things they nearly ended up killing each other in the end. Viva Stereo are still going but we really just exist as a recording band. I think The Vitamin Sees is a bit of a release for us all...our current favourite song is a 10 minute kraut rock jam that we are building up the courage to play live..I watch old footage of Can and it looks ace..but I'm just not sure how well that sort of thing would go down at the local venue! So we take things at our own pace and do what we want really.Theres that old shite expression about 'doing what we do and if anyone else likes it its a bonus' but it really does resonate with us!

How would you describe the music you make, and how are The Vitamin Sees different from the previous bands you have all been part of?

We all listen to different stuff but all have common bands we like and probably influence us. We’re all fans of pretty dark guitar music, bit of kraut-rock, psychedelia, drones, shoegaze, that sort of thing. I guess that’s where we are coming from musically.
Its inevitable to be compared to our respective pasts, but well, for a start, Mick is on drums in The Vitamin Sees and not bass like he was in Prolapse so it’s a new environment for him. Obviously with me being Scottish I guess some people might be really lazy and compare us to Prolapse in that respect even though we sound nothing like them. I guess we both have abit of a Kraut rock influence but they were alot more punkier than us with it.
 I sing with Viva Stereo as well so it’s going to sound similar in places, but I think the music is different enough to tell each band apart. Although in saying that Viva Stereo are starting to sound more like a live band again these days after a few years where it was quite electroinic sounding! I can't speak for Mick with Prolapse but obviously they were a band he did full time and they were pretty much touring a lot with a record deal and the pressures that brings etc We differ from Viva Stereo mainly because we all live in the same city!

You only played your first gig in April, how did it go, and and there more planned?

Our first gig went really well..typical first gig really, all your mates turn up, you are pumped with nervous energy and it seems to go ok because you have no reference point. There were a few mistakes but it was a good night. We played our second gig in June and it wasn't really the best. One of the hottest days of the year added with a free local festival on nearby that we'd all been drinking at before we'd even soundchecked. I think it was a good thing because our debut gig had been pretty good but some of the songs probably were rushed through for it. We had decided when we started that we'd only gig when we were ready. But after a couple of months we needed direction and booked a gig for something to aim for. We didn't have a full set so I guess we just rushed some songs through to fill up time. Maybe the excitment of actually playing a gig took over us. Anyway by the second gig, which was, like I said a bit rough, we realised some of the songs weren't that great so they were axed. We decided not to book any gigs for a while until we sorted our set out..which we've been doing at the moment. We are booked to play in August at a festival in Leicester than I'm putting on with some friends called Lose Your Cool  so looking forward to that. (That festival takes place in Leicester from August 27th till the 29th, visit Lose Your Cool for details)

What can we expect to see/hear from you in 2010? Any chance we'll see the band up in Scotland any time?

We're hoping to get back into the studio later in the year and record some more stuff. The tunes on our myspace are really just rough demo's too so we'd like to get them properly mixed and make them sound a bit fuller. Plus a couple of other tunes we really want to record. I definitely want to get upto to Scotland for some gigs as I've still got a lot of mates up there ad its always a good laugh, so any promoters out there give us a shout!

Download: The Vitamin Sees - Shot Down (Demo)

The Vitamin Sees: MySpace - Facebook

Born To Be Wide at The Edinburgh Festival

Forgot to mention this one in the gig guide at the weekend, so here's a little reminder of it now.
I've still not managed to get to one of Born To Be Wide's things, but I've heard nothing but good things about them.

Born To Be Wide’s special Edinburgh Festival party, Thurs 5th August, 8pm at Electric Circus

The latest Born To Be Wide event takes place this Thursday at The Electric Circus, with a Festival theme. Bands who will be appearing at the various musical events throughout the Edinburgh Festival - namely Fueldiva, Steve Heron, Carrie Mac, Haftor Medboe, Hidden Orchestra, Holden, Meursault, Emily Scott, Stanley Odd and Enfant Bastard - will be playing short ten minute taster sets, joined by DJs selecting their four favourite songs by Edinburgh bands.

For more details visit MySpace, or Facebook. Tell the team your favourite four songs by Edinburgh artists on Facebook and you'll even get free entry on Thursday!

Purchase advance tickets.

This Week's Gigs 2nd - 8th August

Hello everyone, did you miss me while I was on holiday? Did you even notice I was gone?
Well I'm back now, so it should be business as usual again this week. If anyone pops up with a comment that it is hard to tell business as usual from a holiday I'll be most upset with you.

Now, time for our regular gig guide. For some reason there's a weird split this week, the first half of the week is all Glasgow, but by the end of the week the interesting stuff is all in Edinburgh.

Monday:

Spangled Cabaret, featuring Bert Finkle & Markee De Saw, Hal Duncan, Jane Faye, Aidan McEoin, Scunner, Glasgow Glam Bangers, Creative Martyrs and more. The Rio Cafe, Partick. Free.

Tuesday:

Calvin Johnson, Muscles of Joy. Hyndland Community Hall. £6 (Tickets)
The Ghosties. MacSorley's. Free.

Wednesday:

RM Hubbert, Finn Le Marinel. MacSorley's.

Grand Archives, The Barents Sea. King Tut's

Thursday:

Futuristic Retro Champions, Hidden Masters, Martin Creed, Kings of Macumba, Eugene Kelly. Mono. (Tickets)
Launch gig for the new FRC single May The Forth/Settle Down. They've assembled quite the line up for the launch, haven't they?

Sugar Crisis, Park Circus, DeLarge. Classic Grand.

Dananananaykroyd, RM Hubbert. Nice N Sleazy.
You might want to get down early for this, I imagine it'll be a busy one.

Elba Sessions Presents... Lovers Turn To Monsters, Stephen Cotter, Jennifer Andrew. The Liquid Ship. Free.

Friday:

Haftor Medbøe Group. Voodoo Rooms, Edinburgh.
If I could afford it I'd be very tempted to do the wee road trip for this. Joining the group will be Anneke Kampman and Eva Malling.

Saturday:

Trapped Mice, The Dark Jokes, Little Egypt. Henry's Cellar Bar, Edinburgh.

Sunday:

Machar Granite. Wee Red Bar, Edinburgh.

Indian Summer Returns?

Back in September of 2006 and July of 2007 Victoria Park in Glasgow was the host of the Indian Summer music festival.
Attracting names like The Fall, Hot Chip and Yeah Yeah Yeahs the first year was, and still is, highly regarded by those in attendance, and was succesful enough to return for a second year. 2007 saw the festival repositioned to July in the calender, Scottish Septembers aren't ideal for an outdoor event after all, and had The Flaming Lips, Wilco and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah on the bill. Anecdotal tales say that the second year didn't do so well in terms of ticket sales, possibly due to the first Connect Festival taking place that year, on the first weekend of September that Indian Summer had previously been on.

And that was that. The festival didn't return in 2008, or 2009.

Will it be back in 2010?
Short answer - no idea.
Slightly longer answer based on guesswork, and what passes for investigative journalism from me - it might be.

Two bands currently have Indian Summer Festival - Glasgow, September 4th listed on their upcoming gigs section of MySpace. Swedish band Dag for Dag have it down as their only upcoming UK date, while Zola Jesus are listed as playing Indian Summer before a trip to Edinburgh the next day, then returning to Glasgow on the 6th. Neither band have a link to buy tickets.

The Forte Music Distribution Facebook page lists upcoming tour dates for The Fresh & Onlys, including Indian Summer on September 4th.

Two hours of searching every phrase I can think of hasn't thrown up any more bands with it listed as an upcoming gig.

Update: The Pop Cop pointed me here, which lists The Ruby Suns as playing too. No mention of it on their MySpace though.

The Indian Summer MySpace hasn't been updated since 2007. In fact, it advises signing up to the mailing list on http://www.indiansummerglasgow.com to be the first to learn about Indian Summer 2008. The domain name is still valid and registered, it just doesn't go anywhere.

Tickets Scotland and TicketWeb both draw a blank on tickets, and Gigs in Scotland is no help either.

Since it is now August and there's no sign of any promotion for an event a month away, and there seems to only be three bands that think they are playing, I'll put it down to a wire being crossed somewhere rather than the return of the festival. Of course I could wake up to a full page advert in the Sunday Mail in the morning...
If however anyone knows anything different, give me a shout eh?

The Pin Ups Festival

So, scheduling posts for my "week off" didn't work out quite as well as planned, so this is a slightly later than planned plug. At least I managed to remember before it has happened though.

Tomorrow night, Friday the 30th, sees the return of the Pin Ups Festival, and evening of fun, frolics, live bands and good music.

Playing live on the night are a host of ace bands.
There's Campfires In Winter, fresh of a tour of flats this week for the launch of their new EP, who are of course no strangers to the festival experience, having the Campfires In Winter Festival from earlier this year under their belts already. Oh, wait, that was Aye Tunes Vs Peenko I. Thanks Huw Stephens...

Futuristic Retro Champions play too, before launching a new single of their own next week. You can find out more about that and get tickets for the launch gig on Bandcamp.

Sonny Marvello can also be found on the P-Break stage. Hey, why not snag a free track from them while you can?

Mitchell Museum round out the bill of live music. They too played Aye Tunes Vs Peenko back in April, but since then have clocked up plenty of miles playing some real festivals, such as T in the Park and Latitude. You may have noticed, but I rather like Mitchell Museum.

You can read a Q&A with all four bands here.

On the DJ front joining the regular PinUps DJs are guests Scott Paterson, Remember Remember, The Fabulous Craig Brothers and Craig McGee.

In addition to all that, don't forget that Pin Ups is all about the FUN too. be sure to check out the Wham! tent, for all your Wham needs, the mysterious Peeling Field and more. Just don't expect any Un Cadaver sightings.

Advance tickets are £4 from Tickets Scotland or the Pin Ups Website, or you can pay £5 on the door, with the action kicking off around 9pm.

Sing-A-Long With SHMB

The first day of my "holiday" and I'm already having to come back for a post, oh well...

Anyway, for those of you heading down to The 13th Note on Thursday to see The Second Hand Marching Band, RM Hubbert and Sarah Banjo, here is something of interest. Or, if you were thinking of going, here's something that might swing it.

All three of the performers will be coming together to record a special song on the night, and they want your help.
What you have to do is a) write a verse for a song, bring it along and sing it OR b) learn the chorus and sing that OR c) bring an instrument and play in the chorus.

In return for your efforts you'll get a special limited edition CD in the post a few days later with a recording of the song, and your name in the inlay.

All the details, including chords for the songs, can be found here.

Downtime

It'll barely make a difference, considering that some weeks aren't exactly overflowing with posts, but I'm making my excuses in advance for once.

I'm getting close to the point where things are starting to pile up and threaten to drive me a bit nuts again, so I'm having a blog holiday. If all goes to plan I'll have gotten enough done before now that there might be a couple of scheduled posts appearing, but don't count on it. If anything time sensitive pops up then I'll deal with that too. Taking a week without having to think about blogging should let me get caught up on a few things, but even if not it'll preserve my sanity a bit.

I'm not going anywhere (unfortunately, I'd love to go somewhere, but I'm skint), so you'll still find me on Twitter, plus I'll be in King Tut's on both Monday and Thursday, plus there's a good chance I'll be around Waterstones on Tuesday for the launch of The Year Of Open Doors, so I'm pretty easy to track down.

Now you see why I want a holiday!

This Week's Gigs 26th July - 1st August

Another week, another bajillion good gigs. Also a couple of events which aren't really gigs, but will still be good.

Monday:

Admiral Fallow, Three Blind Wolves, Olympic Swimmers, The Social Services. King Tut's.
Summer Nights ends on Friday, but until then Tuts are still determined to have a fair chuck of my money. Admiral Fallow's debut album is already a strong contender for best of the year, and The Social Services tick many of my boxes. Olympic Swimmers are none too shabby either. Good deal all round then. If you hurry cheap tickets are available from The Social Services.

Tuesday:

Dum Dum Girls, Jesus H. Foxx and My Tiny Robots. Cabaret Voltaire, Edinburgh.
I tend to leave Edinburgh off the gig guide a bit, mainly because I don't know as much about what is on over there, but this is one of a couple this week worth a look.

The Year of Open Doors book launch. Waterstones, Sauchiehall Street. 6.30pm.
Much more was meant to have been written round here about The Year of Open Doors by now, but since I've failed miserably at getting that done the least I can do is plug the launch of the book. On the evening there will be performances by Aidan Moffat, Jason Donald and Kirsten Innes. There's an audiobook coming out on Chemikal Underground too! More on this, er, eventually.

Tango In The Attic, Bwani Junction, Be Like Pablo, Night Noise Team. King Tut's.
Another tasty looking Summer Nights gig. My liver and bank balance say I'm not allowed to go.

Thursday:
Toro Y Moi, Point To C, theapplesofenergy. Captain's Rest.

Second Hand Marching Band, RM Hubbert, Sarah Banjo. The 13th Note.
Pals of the blog Hubby and SHMB are both always well worth seeing, and if nothing else it'll be fun watching all of the Second Hand Marching Band squished on to the wee stage at The Note.

French Wives, Washington Irving, The Seventeenth Century, Rachel Sermanni. King Tut's.

Tuts make one more assault on my organs with a line up that is hard to turn down.

Friday:

Trapped In Kansas, Yahweh. Nice N Sleazy.
Launch gig for the latest Gerry Loves Records split single, featuring two bands we really like round here.

Pinups Nights Festival. The Flying Duck.
It is the last Friday of the month, so it is PinUps time. As usual there's an excellent selection of bands playing, followed by indie disco fun till the wee hours. Playing live are Sonny Marvello, Futuristic Retro Champions, and Aye Tunes Vs Peenko alumni Campfires In Winter and Mitchell Museum.

Pacific Theatre, Carnivores, Dilectrics, White Leaf. SOHO, Paisley.

No one ever does gigs in Paisley, mainly because there's pretty much nowhere to do one, so when someone makes the effort, they get a plug here. Pacific Theatre and Carnivores are decent bands too.

Saturday:

We Sink Ships Present: Elements. Wee Red Bar, Edinburgh.

Our favourite art/photography/podcast people We Sink Ships have a special event in Edinburgh on Friday. Featuring a screening of the short film Elements, along with live sets from eagleowland Conquering Animal Sound, tickets are available here and include a free download.

Miss The Occupier, Performance, Paws. King Tuts.
Summer Nights might finish on Friday, but there's still plenty happening at King Tuts.

Endor, Randolph's Leap, Cherri Phosphate. Nice n Sleazy.
I keep missing Endor, so I'll see if I can still walk by Saturday and try and get along to this one. If you don't know how much I like Randolph's Leap by now you clearly haven't been paying attention.

Rock The Boat. Loch Lomond.

Taking place from 12pm till 2am on the Maid of the Loch on the shores of Loch Lomond, this all day event (and again on Sunday) features live bands, DJs and a host of other entertainment. For full details visit the Facebook page.

Sunday:

People in Planes, The Undivided, The Darien Venture. Classic Grand.

WPM 4. Creation Studios, 3.30pm.
Much like the last Friday of the month means PinUps, the first Sunday means Words Per Minute. Words Per Minute this month has a Year Of Open Doors theme, with all the performers, including regular hosts Kirsten and Anneliese, contributing to the book. Expect the usual high quality, and get down early to grab a seat.

Album Review: Mammoeth - Nascent

Mammoeth, once known as Team Turnip, is mostly multi-instrumentalist Russell Kostulin. Given that I can barely get a "ting" out of a triangle I'm always filled with a mixture of awe and disgust at people like Russell who can seemingly turn their hand to anything, but I'll try to keep my bitterness in check.

I'd mentioned Nascent a wee while ago when I talked about opening track Lapdog in a Round Up Review and promised a full review nearer time of release. Since the album comes out on Monday and there's a couple of launch gigs at the weekend it is time I got round to keeping that promise.

On the surface Nascent is an album of mostly upbeat summery pop music, with a few more gentle songs mixed in, and if listened to just on that basis it would do its job very well indeed. There's a bright and breezy feel to much of the album, at times echoing Super Furry Animals at their poppiest and upbeat. There's even handclaps and whistling!

Pay a bit more attention to the lyrics on the album and it becomes clear that the sweet melodies and jaunty tunes are masking a darker side. Tales of war, car crashes and stalkers unfold, frequently over songs that should be far too happy sounding for the less than cheery subject matter. There's a certain playfulness and wit to the lyrics that means that even thought the music and subject matter at had should be at odds both mesh together very nicely.

Disengage your brain and Nascent is a lovely little summer pop album, pay a bit more attention and you'll find that, as fun as summer pop is, there's a lot more going on. Either way it is a debut album well worth a listen.

Mammoeth: Website

Nascent is released on July 26th and can be ordered on Bandcamp.
There's two album launch gigs this weekend, First on Saturday at The Wee Red Bar in Edinburgh, then on Sunday at The Classic Grand in Glasgow. Support on both nights comes from Randolph's Leap, with Georgina Seddon and Sunset Song also on the bill for Sunday.