Catch the sun, get it, try it, love it!

All to often these days, good musicians whom are well rehearsed and genuinely talented are marginalized by the majority, which seems to be a generation that is not yet diss-affected by the trials and tribulations that go hand in hand with the search for the super-stardom that will most likely evade them forever….The Other Side are not one of these bands. Having met the guys, you just get the impression that these guys would cancel the holiday they’d already bought and paid for, just to get the buzz of playing a gig, you just feel the love when you hear them live.

I ain’t gonna dwell too much on the band, as you can check out the the Q&A we did with the guys earlier in the year by clicking HERE as it has the full lowdown, only to say that I’ve caught them live since then and they totally blew me away.

Anyway, “Catch the Sun” is not groundbreaking by any means, but it’s very well put together in a style that many will recognize as a hundred influences from perhaps Frank Zappa, Frank Marino, Rory Gallagher and some of the heavier guitar based Progressive Rock bands too. I mean, to have put this together at home is quite a feat to be honest, cos’ it sounds really thick, like a wall of guitars in every song, from the the late 70′s rock into/outro style of “paranoid” where the wailing Zappa-esque guitar solo intro comes screaming over the big hooks in the first 30 seconds, to dominate your lasting impression of this album, right along to the dirty, sleazy tempo of stand out blues track “Drop in” which I’m sure deserves a place in the sex-face pulling world of the air guitar championships.

There is a heavy, heavy reliance on the lead guitar on this album. It’s a relentless riff-fest with the milky sounds of Toms playing punctuating just about every second of the 50 minute album. The guitar can take over at times, making the distinction between tracks quite difficult over the first few plays, but after a few spins, you can easily identify the character of the individual tracks, this is no big deal, but it took a little longer than some new albums I’ve listened to lately. I couldn’t help thinking that if it was missing just a few fills and flurries here and there it wouldn’t have mattered and perhaps broken some songs up into more identifiable pieces.

Photo: Stuart Westwood.

On recording the album, well, here’s what Kirby had to say about it:

“We actually recorded the album there on an old 8 track, using all kinds of tricks to get the final mixes right. We don’t use click tracks as we want to get as much of a live feel as possible (or Budgie just hates them). Most of the recordings were done in 2 or 3 takes for each instrument. Track 11 Drop In was all done in one take. It was actually me and Budgie just messing around and I recorded the Drums. I then put the Guitars and Bass on in the house and added some Keyboard swells”

I mean, how much more old school do you want and quite an astounding production value from such a traditional approach to making your first album. I wish my own band found it that easy!

I’d love to say that everyone will like The Other Side, but they won’t, not because this is any way a bad album, but because not everyone appreciates how hard it is to make music (especially people who think they do) and folk can too readily dismiss music they don’t like (i mean I’m not a big Coldplay fan, but I’m not gonna stand here and diss their hard work) and their sound is a well trodden formula to everyone that’s ever owned a vinyl rock record first time round.

So to these vinyl buying rock fans who perhaps bought Zappa, Hendrix, Zepp, Purple, Mahogany Rush, Robin Trower, Floyd, Sabbath, Motorhead, Skynyrd or even early Kiss or Aerosmith with the wage from their first job, do yourself a favour and give this album a spin. Think Zappa’s “I’m the slime” or Sabbaths “Sabra Cadabra” or even a variation of the Trower classics “Day of the eagle” of Bridge of sighs” if you like that stuff, you’re gonna love THIS stuff!

I’m one of the guys in the last paragraph and I hear a lot of my early music listening days in all of the tracks on Catch the sun, I found it heavily nostalgic. I’ve been to see the band and I’ll be going again, as their live antics are NOT to be missed. Good F*cking effort!

www.reverbnation.com/coybs

www.myspace.com/kirby1962

Email: kirby1962@hotmail.com

Well……….

First up (and in no order of anything other than what is on my mind!) I first and foremost have to thank everyone that came to the gig on Wednesday night. The atmosphere was amazing, the crowd buoyant and I’m pretty sure that no-one who loves independent original rock music could have possibly left with anything other than TOTAL satisfaction for the sum of six of yer “golden” nuggets!

We're with McReedy

Now I’m just back from a last minute trip down south over 24 hours and at Wetherby services, £6 would have bought me 1 can of Red Bull and a Ginsters Scotch Egg bar. Now I know what you’re thinking, Ginsters Scotch Egg bars are pretty tasty and a can of Red Bull can hit the spot from time to time, but NOTHING hits the spot like a good old fashioned live, original warts and all Rock N Roll show; So on behalf of all 3 bands (I know they feel the same) thanks so much for coming.

I’ll be pretty blunt and just say that I’m sure that was one of the best nights we’ve ever played at in Glasgow, also, I’m pretty sure that the way to organize gigs is by yourself and with other like minded bands, as with their help promoting and building up the general hype around the night, you can’t fail to do it to a good standard. So I’d like to take this opportunity to thanks the guys from Strangetouch and The Coffins. It was a an absolute pleasure to play beside you guys and have you involved! Amazing, tight, high energy performances made sure that we had tough acts to follow!

Our set list:

* Bad day at Black Rock
* Distances
* Crazy mary
* Smoke & mirrors
* Never the same way twice
* Bassetlaw blues
* One god further
* Find the time
* Stranded
* The Ballad of Winnie Lynn

We enjoyed the night immensely! We got a chance to air a few new tunes and play some old ones by request (which is always flattering) One song just rolled into another over the whole set and the watching crowd gave us a great reception for our efforts, as they did for the two bands previous, it was hot, loud and just a little bit crazy….so basically a whole gig baked to perfection!

Please share our band page around within your friends, we appreciate your support! Wed night aint’ the best night for a rock concert and we know that you don’t have to come, so again a big thanks! We also know that not all of you can come, but we value your support none the less! If you were at the gig and have an opinion or would just like to leave feedback on the band, please leave a comment, we value them all!

Till next time….. AL. Bob, Davey & Raymond.

(We’re with McReedy)

A wee while ago I got an email from reverbnation pushing a beta version of an iphone app exclusively for “selected” bands and artists. As far as I know, this is now available to everyone as a option on artist only accounts at the cost of $100 which depending on how you’re fixed, seems like a decent enough price. Now most bands will have a facebook page anyway and its important to stress that this is free and of course its the very definition of “pushing” your alerts and news toward anyone that’s subscribed or “liked” you, though depending on how many “friends” your captive facebook audience has your news could get unnoticed and buried in the mountain of updates from others, making it largely ineffectual?

So whats the solution, if there is in fact a problem? is it an app?

Home screen

In my experience every band has at least 3 or 4 outlets online? Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, Soundcloud, Reverbnation etc are all very good, contain music and blog options and usually you can sync them to update from one place anyway, saving time and multiple log-ins too. So again why would you bother with an app, what with all this free digital marketing and networking? especially when you can update it all from your mobile phone/device too.

I guess the main reason would be that it’s simply another arm of the above but should you convince people to check the app now and again, there could of course be the chance of creating a kind of intimacy with your fans that you just cant get in say a facebook feed with everyone elses crap above and below your “latest news”  The big thing going for the usual suspects above is the two way nature of the experience, with fans being able to comment, add files and photo’s and basically interact on a few levels in a quick and easy manner.

With this app, you cant do that, its purely an information engine allowing you to update your status through your reverbnation account. Despite this being the case, the updates are instantaneous, appearing on your app straight away and the same goes for any photo’s, songs, gigs and biography changes. If your fans really want to know whats happening at your end, a quick tap on this app will most likely tell them all they need to know. There is a certain amount of interactivity, with fans able to visit a section listing all the social networks you are a member of and the option to visit or share them with a touch, also there is an option within the app to sign up for your RN street team and mailing list. Oh, and by the way, there are also a few colour combination options when you first build the app too, white and black is the one displayed here (cool, moody and all Rock n’ Roll!)

As mentioned above, the content is pulled directly from your reverbnation account. Now those of you that have an RN account will know that its a pretty comprehensive package and there are some great extra features (if you want to pay for them) one of them being digital distribution, so you can list your tracks on itunes, last FM, Zune, Spotify and a whole lot more. If you want to give your fans the gift of streaming your music, then this app does the business for sure. Any time you add a track, the app automatically updates your new tune and adds it to the embedded playlist, allowing your faithful followers to enjoy your music through their iphone without web access or having to browse for it.

Get fans to your gigs!

The app also shows your upcoming and past gigs too and is advanced enough to use the GPS in your phone (location services on in the settings) to show you on a map and offer directions to the venue, a nice little touch that is interactive and encourages fans to dig a little deeper through the app. After they find what they are looking for, they can automatically add the gig to the phones calendar to make sure they don’t forget! The gig section also has a share link and a ticket link to make everything as easy as possible for your fans to attend and lets face it, all bands want that.

Also supported are your RN gallery pictures and again when you update the gallery on your account, they show on your app too, where fans can have a peek into your awesome rock n roll lifestyle or just laugh at the sex faces you make whilst on stage.

To dwell on the dynamic content for a while, obviously there is no crazy ass high bit rates going on with the audio, but I can’t really fault it to be honest as there’s no noticeable break up or lack of quality in the playback. The app is fast to react to your commands, with forward and reverse scrubbing and a play pause button and the option to play tunes in the background whilst browsing through the app, with an option to buy them just a click away (assuming you have digital distribution)

I don’t really know too much about the nuts and bolts of all this stuff, only to say that there’s no way of knowing how many downloads you’ve had or how often the app is being used, I guess that you just have to make your content as interesting and dynamic as you can to get people coming back on a regular basis.

I guess that this is nothing but a short technical review of the capabilities within the app itself and doesnt really answer the original question, but for the band featured in this one, it was simply a cool thing to have and gives a fan all the info they need without having to visit all of the above social media sites.

Give the band app a try by downloading it from the itunes store HERE

For more details visit the Reverbnation band app page HERE

You can see some screen shots of the app below:

Rarely in this day and age could a band get away with a lyric like this, but I remember hearing this band in Glasgow (my own band was on the same bill) and remember being thoroughly entertained. There guys are great fun to listen too, making a bit of a witches brew from punk, rock/metal and rockabilly sounds that results in some really cool thick sounding guitar driven tracks that inspire you to listen again and again. But then I already love this band, so I’m bias!

We hurled our ten questions at Rob from the band and this is what came back!

Who the hell are you, where did you come from?

Hello! We’re a Glasgow-based band who play high-energy dirty punk rock & roll with occasional lapses into sickeningly sweet melodicism & brutal riffage.

I used to play guitar in a band that did basically the same thing but less well called Chevy & the Chasers and when we broke up I decided to ask Eddy to sing for my new project because I’d been a huge fan of his
previous band, Glasgow punk institution The Alpacinos. I worked with Prof six years ago and we’ve been good friends ever since. I’ve always known he’s a tremendous bass player, so I decided to overlook his
myriad personality issues & recruit him too. We found Craig in a skip surrounded by cymbals and a hi-hat stand.

Eddy in full swing!

Who do you look up to and who are your influences?

To be honest, as a band we are all into wildly different stuff. Some of us like punk, some of us would rather listen to black metal or drum & bass, and I’m usually found listening to soul music. It makes absolutely no sense for us all to be in a band together. The stuff that we actually play together is punky sleazy rock stuff, influenced by the MC5, the New York Dolls, Ramones, Motorhead, Wildhearts and Queen, but even then we can’t help but throw in some mad metal riffage or a chorus that Girls Aloud would balk at for being too sugary. Or both.

What really unites us is a love for music in all its forms and a passion for putting on exciting shows for an audience. Even if people don’t like the music we make, they can’t argue that Eddy is an exciting, dynamic frontman and that we’re all seriously putting our backs into it up there. We hate bands who look like they don’t want to be there and/or act like they resent the audience. The T-Bolts are about everyone having fun, whether you’re onstage or off. Except for Prof, who is completely against anyone enjoying themselves. He is the anti-life equation personified.

As far who we “look up to”, not musicians, that’s for sure. Musicians are the scum of the earth. I should know, I am one. Honourable exception: Springsteen.

Tell us about your best gig so far and why?

We recently played The Admiral with The Real McKenzies. It wasn’t our best gig in a musical sense, I had some sound problems with my guitar, but the crowd were large and very appreciative and we ended up running out of CDs to sell. We sold a bunch of t-shirts that night so someone somewhere is walking around advertising our crap. I love gigs like that where you look out into the audience and people are smiling,
dancing and headbanging.

Tell us about the gig that you would sooner forget so far and why?

We ‘played’ a gig in *cough* a Glasgow venue recently with The Smoking Hearts (from London, check them out, they’re great) where there was a huge miscommunication between the bands and the venue about equipment. After sitting around for hours and hours we didn’t get to play a note and had to tell the 25 people who bothered to come see us that they’dwasted their time.  As someone who has put on a bunch of gigs myself and knows it’s actually a piece of piss to organise a bunch of bands playing in a pub, I get really annoyed by daft stuff like that. No ill will towards anyone involved, it was just a frustrating waste of time
for us and our ‘fans’.

What is the best venue to play in Scotland in your opinion?

We haven’t done it as the T-Bolts yet but I’ve played the Cathouse a few times with other bands and the onstage sound is incredible after years of playing tiny venues with no stage and a PA that can’t even compete with the drumkit. Onstage at the Catty you might actually feel like a real band for a minute. And then you look out and see the crowd visibly wince at how loud everything is. Amazing feeling. Everyone tells me how great King Tuts is to play but I’ve never done a show there, despite seeing a million gigs there in my life. I think everyone else in the band has played there!

What is your bands best track/song so far and why do you think so?

Our ode to the best action film of all time, ‘John McClane’ is by farour most popular song because it’s funny and it’s ridiculously catchy, but if we polled the band I’m pretty sure our ode to cokefiend pals ‘Nosebleeds’ would win. It’s got everything I love about this band – a big dirty pseudo-rockabilly riff, Eddy spitting venom down the mic, Craig and Prof giving it some funk and a huge chorus that gets stuck in your head. The version on our MySpace etc is from just after we formed and it’s a bit too fast and punky but the way we play it live now with a couple of years playing experience makes me grin from ear-to-ear at most gigs. Come see us sometime and come down have a dance during ‘Nosebleeds’ and you might grin like that too! Cocaine optional.

What do you think is the single hardest thing facing unsigned bands right now?

Eddy and the guys in full swing!

Lack of money and the difficulties of getting people to listen to a band that aren’t already established. Nowadays people can’t be arsed seeking out new music… Well, not in person anyway, they just want to download it and listen to it at home. Although to be fair, maybe they’re just burned out by years of going to gigs and hearing borderline unlistenable local bands.

If venues could do 3 things to make it better for unsigned bands, what would they be & why?

Proper amps/drum kits, decent PAs and more free beer.

If you could play in support of any band or artist, who would it be and why?

When I asked our singer this question he replied ‘The Donnas’. I can’t argue with that! I’d like for us to play with any good rock & roll band that are passing through town. Bands like The Supersuckers or The
Wildhearts or whatever. I think most of the bands we would like to support have split up now or will split up soon. This genre is a dying art. A lot of people see good-time rock & roll as passé. We need to up our level of pretentiousness if we want to appeal to those people.

Where do you realistically see yourselves a year from now?

Hopefully playing outside of Glasgow more. We’d like to spread the word down south and up north a bit more. We’d love to do some radio sessions with Vic Galloway or someone like that. In the next few months time we should have our album finished at last and I just hope we can get lots of people to listen to it as we’ve put our hearts and souls into it. Except Prof, he doesn’t have a heart or a soul. He put his hatred of mankind into it, I guess.

Is there anyone you would like to acknowledge as supporting you band so far?

Massive props to the guys at the 13th Note. That place is an institution and the bedrock of everything that’s happening in live music in this town.

Bonus question: (optional) what do you honestly think of the X-Factor and similar shows and what it says about the music industry?

To me, things like that just don’t matter either way. It’s so far removed from the way I listen to and experience music that it might as well not exist in my world. Getting angry at bad pop music is like getting mad at people who buy ‘The Da Vinci Code’ instead of an Elmore Leonard or Cormac McCarthy novel, or people who watch ‘Midsomer Murders’ instead of ‘The Wire’ or ‘Mad Men’. Who cares? There’s plenty of great music and art out there for you regardless of how many folk buy the new X Factor single.

If the mainstream was all that was available then I could understand the anger, but you’re the one choosing to participate or not participate in the spectacle. Ignore it, concentrate on the things you love, support the bands who make you happy, read the books that expand your horizons, watch the films that make you think, and stop wasting your energy on those who have the gall not to feel exactly the way you do.

It's all about the drums!

Having said all that, I really want to see Eddy audition for ‘The X Factor’ with ‘Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting’ by Elton John.

Where are your next few gigs?

26th March at the 13th Note as part of a punk all-dayer with Buzzbomb,
The Jackhammers and loads of others. We’re on about half 7 then I need
to boost off to see Cee-Lo. Priorities.

24th April at Sleazys with Bloodlunch, Southpaw and one TBC. If anyone
rockin’ fancies playing this give us a shout, everyone we’ve asked has
been busy!

Contact details: Rob Duncan: aboynamedposh@gmail.com

T-Bolts facebook HERE
T-Bolts myspace HERE
T-Bolts Reverbnation HERE

Filthy?

It’s amazing what you find and what is introduced to you when you take an interest. Filthy Little Secret are a 4 piece band from Glasgow who’s MySpace profile describes them as Rock/Blues/Southern rock, I suspect this was picked from the list of standard descriptions in a bit of a hurry, as I’m tasting a few more flavours here. From Iggy Pop to the clash, D-Generation, New York Dolls and a few stops in between. Kyle from the band dropped us a line with our 10 Question Q&A, so do yourself a favour and check them out!

Give us the lowdown then. Who the hell are FLS?

Filthy Little Secret are a 4 piece garage rock band from Glasgow.  We’re made up of 4 members, Haj (Vox/guitar), Del (Lead guitar), Kyle (Drums) and Symey (bass).  We got together around late 2005 whilst working together is a call centre.  Haj and Del had been talking about getting a band together for a while, which was frequently over heard by Kyle who lied about his ability to play the drums to get in on the act.  We have since had a few bass player changes until Symey came along.  He was a regular face at most parties and gigs, and for the 2/3 years we knew him, we didn’t have a clue he could play bass.  When we were in need of the slot filled he offered up his skills and the rest is history.

Previously we had been playing pretty much any venue that will take us in Glasgow, occasionally taking little road trips to neighbouring cities, or a bit further south.  In recent times we have been far more picky about the venue and bands we’re playing with.

We have also started up a non-profit record label/promotion company with our friends The Retrofrets, called Rumble Records.  It’s basically a way for both bands to pull resources and help each other out, with any money we make being put back into the label to fund recordings, CD duplication, venue hire, or anything else you can’t normally afford without saving up for a few months first.

Who do you look up to and who are your influences?

Influences come from a wide variety of bands and genres to be honest, and I think that is evident in the performance we give.  It’s really easy to pick out the New York punk influence, the blues influence, even some rockabilly amongst a lot of other things.  I would say that as a band however, we would probably most look up to bands like The Cramps, The Ramones, MC5… bands who started small, worked hard and really carved themselves into the local music scene before taking the world by storm.

Tell us about your best gig so far and why?

We played a gig in a bar called “The Big Red” in London a few years ago.  It was the first time we had hit the road as a band and offstage, the whole weekend was proper unsupervised carnage.  The gig it’s self also went really well, and the crowd were really receptive which fuelled the good vibes as well.  For the first time we were playing to a room full of total strangers who seemed to dig what we were doing, and were pretty vocal about it after the set.  It’s a good feeling to know that people are actively complementing your music, knowing that it’s not just because they need to see you when you get back to work on Monday morning.

Little?

Tell us about the gig that you would sooner forget so far and why?

We played a gig with Ginger from the Wildhearts a few years ago in The Classic grand.  He was doing a solo tour and we were to be the second band on stage.  The band opening the gig was made up entirely of members from Ginger’s solo band, but on different instruments.  Around half an hour before kick off, and after hours of them refusing to socialise with us at all backstage, they had decided that they wanted us to open the gig so they could play back to back.  This meant that, the time we had told most people we would be on stage, had now changed by the best part of an hour.
The majority of people who were coming to see us then missed the set, and we played to a mostly empty room.  One of the people promoting the night had also got confused with the time causing us to cut our set short by 20 minutes.

The remainder of the evening involved one of the members of the other band filling the back stage shower with puke, us crashing the other bands party which seemed to have literally no alcohol at it, watching the other band try to wire into our mates, then eventually leaving and passing out in a luggage trolley at the hotel because a taxi took 2 hours to show up.

What is the best venue to play in Scotland in your opinion?

King Tut’s were really good to us when we played there.  The staff were awesomely helpful, we got an excellent cut of the ticket sales, a massive fridge full of beer, and the actual venue it’s self (as I’m sure everyone knows) is tremendous.

What is your bands best track/song so far and why do you think so?

“My Kinda Girl” seems to be a fan favourite at the moment, and it’s certainly mine as well.  It’s a really ballsy, fast paced and in your face rock song.  It’s a lot of fun to play and apparently a lot of fun to dance to, or so I’ve been told.

Secret?

What do you think is the single hardest thing facing unsigned bands right now?

Dealing with “promoters”.  We have been having increasingly less to do with them of late.  Getting random gig offers from people you have never heard of, who want you to supply the full back line, never respond to emails, change the offers they made you at the last minute, putting you on bills with bands that sound nothing like you, not promoting the gigs, blah, blah, blah, blah…. Everyone knows how it is.

Band in Glasgow just now (of which there are a helluva lot) face a massive problem with pop-up promoters taking advantage of them, expecting them to do literally ALL of the work involved in organising and promoting the gig, and giving them nothing back for it.  They also mash indie bands next to metal bands or rock bands, acoustic acts… whoever they can get to fill the bill.  Then wonder why the place seems to empty when the indie band have finished and the metal band takes to the stage.  They then turn around when you go to collect your earnings saying “here’s £6.00 for ticket sales.  It was a 50/50 split for every ticket sold after the first 30, and you sold 32”.

Don’t get me wrong, there are a couple of good guys out there, however they seem to be few and far between, and greatly overshadowed by the scumbag promoters.

If venues could do 3 things to make it better for unsigned bands, what would they be & why?

1: Promote the gigs they have put on.  Although a lot of this responsibility lays with the band or the promoter, putting up some posters, regularly updating their social networking site etc would go a long way to help.  The 13th Note prints of a couple of billboard sized posters every month with their up and coming gigs, as well as a booklet they put out in the bar.  And this is from a venue that is free to hire.

2: Have a good backline.  A good, basic backline can be a solid investment for a lot of venues, especially if you charge to use the place.  A couple of amps, decent PA system, and a basic 5 piece kit is all that’s needed.  Most struggling musicians don’t have the means to transport all this gear to a venue and then get it home after midnight when the show is finished.

3: Show a little bit of appreciation.  If it’s a free gig, give the guys a couple of beers, or if it’s been busy and the tills are stacked, bung them a £20 for their effort.  It’s a really small gesture that has gives a good impression.  Our friends The Acid Fascists are from Edinburgh and play through here a lot.  We played a gig with them a while back, it was put on by a student as part of his course so was free entry.  He chucked each bands £20, and for the AF that was the difference between breaking even, or playing for a loss.

If you could play in support of any band or artist, who would it be and why?

Supporting Motorhead would be amazing to get some road experience with.  I think you could learn more about life on the road from those guys in the space of 1 gig, than you could with many others in a whole tour.

Presumably live at Pivo Pivo?

Where do you realistically see yourselves a year from now?

On the road promoting our album.  We have an EP due out very soon.  We’re planning to use sales of that, and money raised through gigging etc to get the rest of the album finished, duplicated and taken to the country.  Would be good to do a tour of all the major cities across the UK, and get the name out there a little bit more.

Is there anyone you would like to acknowledge as supporting you band so far?

Of late, Mainy (ElDiablo from the itsaxxxxthing blog) has been a massive help.  The guy has a wealth of knowledge about both the Scottish music scene as well as music in general and knows just about everyone worth knowing around these parts.  He’s taken a liking to the show we put on, and has been truly excellent in helping promote the band, and put us in touch with some people we would never have met otherwise.

Also, Ian who used to run Podboy in Glasgow.  He helped us out massively when we first started, got us our first bunch of gigs and gave us a little bit of direction. Without him there at the beginning, who knows where we’d be now.

what do you honestly think of the X-Factor and similar shows and what it says about the music industry?

Shows like the X-Factor have their place I suppose.  Some people with some real talent have been brought to light through them, and that may never have happened otherwise.  The bigger picture though, is that it shows very clearly that someone can be successful, just because one man in the position of power wants them to be.

The pop/RnB scene is all about money, and finding new ways to generate more of it for the people at the top.  Those with the talent get forgotten about in a few years, with only a few exceptions.  Shows like the X-Factor serve the industry as just another way to generate fast revenue.

Where are your next few gigs?

8th April with Bunny and the Misshapes – The Common Rooms – Byres Road (Glasgow)

22nd April with the Ghosts of Progress – Captains Rest

7th May with the Retrofrets – Cake – Rose Street, Inverness

Check out the links below and lend your support to Filthy little secret!

FLS website HERE

FLS MySpace HERE

FLS Flickr HERE

FLS Facebook HERE

FLS Last HERE

Featuring bandradar favorites, The Kitsch, Strangetouch and The other side!

You can halp the OMC get an idea afattendance by visiting the facebook event page HERE. More to follow…….

While we’re spinning up the tunes and grappling with the album, here’s a taster of what the guys are all about through a few words with vocalist and guitarist Thomas Kirby.

So tell us a bit about you guys?

The other side!

We’re Thomas Kirby Vocals/Lead Guitar, Mike Sneddon Guitar, Derek Patterson Bass, Eddie Crowe Drums and madness! We all use our nick names (Kirby, Sned, Pepe and Budgie) I sometimes can’t even remember Budgies real name, he’s been Budgie for so long. Not because we’re pretentious but it’s what we actually call each other and always have! The band got together in February 2009. Within 3 months we had written and recorded 8 songs, launched ourselves on Myspace and did our first gig at The Ark in Edinburgh. We have gigged every month since, 65 gigs so far and counting. Some good (Hustlers Dundee for example) what a review we got for one of our gigs there. (some not so good) Henry’s Cellar Bar, what a shit hole, never again unless they pay us a huge amount of money!

The 4 of us have all known each other since childhood and have played together in various other bands throughout the years, but never all in the same band. We actually all got together to form a covers band, thankfully we gave up on that idea and decided to give it one last go at doing original songs. We are in the fortunate position of having a free rehearsal space in the local Miners Welfare. They allow us to store all our gear and we can basically go in anytime the place is open and the hall is not being used.

Who do you draw your influences from?

Between us our influences are wide ranging, from The Pistols, The Clash and The Damned era punk bands, through Crass and the Anarcho punk bands (me and Pepe only on the Crass thing). Then we have Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zepplin, Country Joe and the Fish, The Who, (me and Budgie) Rage Against the Machine, Queens of the Stone Age, Foo Fighters and most Blues artists you can think of (all of us). Budgie loves Prog Rock, shame really. There are hundreds more of course but those are the main influences.

We are in the fortunate position of having a free rehearsal space in the local Miners Welfare. They allow us to store all our gear and we can basically go in anytime the place is open and the hall is not being used.

Tell us something different about you?

We actually recorded the album there on an old 8 track, using all kinds of tricks to get the final mixes right. We don’t use click tracks as we want to get as much of a live feel as possible (or Budgie just hates them). Most of the recordings were done in 2 or 3 takes for each instrument. Track 11 Drop In was all done in one take. It was actually me and Budgie just messing around and I recorded the Drums. I then put the Guitars and Bass on in the house and added some Keyboard swells. This was done just to give the others a demo with a view to re-arranging the tune and recording it with a vocal track.  When we listened to it we just decided to leave it as is. It is the only song that we have never performed live.

The whole DIY thing means a huge amount to us even down to printing the CD’s ourselves. The covers of every one has been printed then hand cut and folded by me. The printing on the CD itself is being done by a friend of ours. The only way to get a CD at the moment is to contact the band and we will post them out. The download is available HERE and soon to be on itunes, Amazon MP3 etc. I have also recorded some songs for Strangetouch and they are more than happy with the results and can offer this service to any one else who wants it.

The other side!

So whats coming up?

We are currently building a PA of our own and have already put on 4 self financed gigs, with bands from Edinburgh, Glasgow and Dundee. We also hope to promote further gigs in Fife. We are doing a live show at The Wellesley Inn Methil on the Friday 25th March with Fireside Aliens from Edinburgh and Strangetouch from Glasgow. If this gig is a success we are hoping to make it a regular fixture, showcasing original bands from all over Scotland. There will be a straight split of any takings between all the bands on the bill. We will handle promotion etc, at our end. Any money we make from gigs or album sales, which is not a lot at the moment, is put back into gear for the PA or Recording. We are currently working on the next album, which will be called “Don’t Piss Down my Back and Tell me It’s Raining” Or maybe we will do an EP as we have 5 songs already.

Watch this space for a full review of The other side’s album “Catch the sun” meanwhile, check out the tunes below!

www.reverbnation.com/coybs

www.myspace.com/kirby1962

Email: kirby1962@hotmail.com

Fraser, Mike, Neil & Scott

Feeding Egon formed when flat mates, Scott, Fraser and Mike starting jamming in their kitchen (Much to the neighbors annoyance). The addition of Neil on drums saw the turning of rough ideas into fully fledged songs. After making their live debut in March 2010, Feeding Egon have gone on to play charity gigs and fringe shows as well as headlining slots in Dundee and Edinburgh.
The band members themselves each bring an individual style to the table due to their range of backgrounds and influences. The band is given itʼs unique sound through the jazz funk routes of Scott, the metal and blues down strokes of Mike, the ceilidh rock beats of Neil and the grunge riffery of Fraser.

Feeding Egon have just finished recording their self produced debut album which is to be released soon. So it’s a perfect time for a quick bandradar standard 10 with Feeding Egon’s Guitarist Mike Smith. We are currently buzzing at bandradar towers, waiting for an imminent copy of their debut album. Part 2 of  our feature on the band will be a no holds barred review of the aforementioned collection of tunes!

So………..10 questions for Feeding Egon’s Mike Smith:

Who do you look up to and who are your influences? As a guitarist, my main influences are Eric Clapton, Zakk Wylde, Warren Haynes and, increasingly, Keziah Jones, not only for their playing but their song writing.  We all bring in different influences, and that ultimately helps the songs to each have an individual character and feel.  Our sound was once described as jazz sensibilities meets hard rock attitude, and I think that’s probably the fairest description I’ve seen of us.

Tell us about your best gig so far and why? Our best gig was in November 2010 at Pivo Pivo.  We’d booked the venue and were looking for bands to play with, and I’d been given a CD a few years back of a band from Italy called Cyclephante.  They hadn’t done anything in a few years, but I sent them a message on myspace anyway and didn’t really think any more about it.  About a month later, we got a reply saying that they’d love to come and play and they could make the date.  So it was us, Cyclephante and Nespresco and it was amazing.  The standard of music was the best I’ve seen at a gig, and we played a blinder.  Pivo said it was one of their busiest gigs, so for it to come off was really satisfying.  Hoping the album launch goes a similar way.

Tell us about the gig that you would sooner forget so far and why? I don’t like the idea of forgetting a gig, everything is an experience you can learn from, and nothing terrible has happened to us so I guess we’re lucky like that.  Having said that, we’ve turned up at a venue before to be told that the gig is cancelled, and when we played in Edinburgh the first time the venue hadn’t booked any support so we played to a room of 10 people, and the second time we thought we had a good crowd until the room emptied leaving just the other bands.  Turns out it was a group of Spanish tourists grabbing their free end-of-tour pints.  The electrics were shoddy as hell to, so the PA kept cutting out, so we’d have to break the song down into a jam for 30 seconds while the sound guy fixed the fuses.  Not had any great experiences of Edinburgh yet.

What is the best venue to play in Scotland in your opinion? We don’t have any huge experience all over Scotland, but in Glasgow Pivo Pivo is a great place to play, and the Duke’s Corner in Dundee is great fun too.  Scott and I are both 6’4 so anywhere that doesn’t have a low ceiling gets a big thumbs up.

What is your bands best track/song so far and why do you think so? Difficult one, really.  We like to think all the songs are different and all at a high standard.  I think Boogle Conniption is the one most of the fans love.  As a guitarist, the song that is most fun to play is 4-2-2 because it’s a good solid riff, and I grew up playing Metallica and Black Sabbath so I like that style.  Stuck In Here has a sound which makes you smile and The First Waltz has that heavy ending.  I’ll leave it there before I list every song.

What do you think is the single hardest thing facing unsigned bands right now? I think it’s a lot easier now to be an unsigned act, you don’t need a record deal to make an impact due to the internet, and you can get good quality recordings quite cheap, so anyone can put out an album or an EP and sort out a tour if they want to put that effort in.  That’s also part of the problem though, there’s so much stuff out there it’s harder to get noticed.  I still think that if you’ve got the talent and the work ethic, you’ll get there.

If venues could do 3 things to make it better for unsigned bands, what would they be & why? I think the three things they can do are to play original bands and cover bands on the same terms, if one gets paid to play, the other does too, simple as that.  Also, if there’s going to be a competition, make it about the talent rather than the amount of money a band can make you, or be honest and say the winner will be the band with the most fans because we want to make money.  Those two are just my opinion, not everyone is going to agree with me, but I think one that will get folk agreeing is that venues should stick to their own timetable.  If we need to be there at half 5 for a sound check, so should the sound guy.  If there are 5 bands playing, I don’t expect to see 7 just because they know the owner/sound guy/barman.  That little bit more respect would be good to see.

If you could play in support of any band or artist, who would it be and why? For me, I’d love to support Gov’t Mule, just to know that I would be standing on the same stage as Warren Haynes.  Red Hot Chilli Peppers would be good to support, we’ve been told our sound is a cross of theirs and someone else’s (but they don’t know who) so I think we could have fun and make a fair few fans too with that one.

Where do you realistically see yourselves a year from now? One year from now we could be anywhere.  We’re coming up to the end of our uni courses and could end up anywhere, but hopefully we’ll still be going strong.  We’d have had our album out for nearly a year so it will be interesting to see the reaction, if there is any, to that, and try getting some videos made and exposure.  Cyclephante owe us a gig, so I’d like to have played in Milan and maybe a festival appearance too.  The rate we’re writing songs at the moment, we could well have a second album on it’s way.

Is there anyone you would like to acknowledge as supporting you band so far? I’d like to thank everyone who has been to see us play, to the bands we’ve played with who haven’t left straight after their set and a massive thank you to our neighbors for not calling environmental services.

Check out the preview of “between you and the view”

Feeding Egon “Between You And The View” Preview by FeedingEgon

So there you have it, a quick insight into the mind of Mike! Keep checking back for the bandradar review of their debut album.

Feeding egon on facebook HERE

Feeding Egon on My_space HERE

Feeding Egon on Twitter HERE

At the time, I kind of assumed it was some singer, songwriter or the female lead in some over the top, look at me 3 piece…..I doubt I could have been further off the mark!

Annie Stevenson album cover

Since that night, events have conspired to prevent me from watching them live, despite a few attempts, family, finance, weather work and my own bands commitments have stopped me catching a gig so far, so imagine my joy when a shiny “not for resale” copy of their new album dropped onto the doormat at bandradar towers.

It’s always exciting getting free stuff that has “not for resale” written on it, it means you’ve got your hands on something that not many other folk have and being trusted to give it your best efforts on behalf of the folk that made it, so here goes!

I’ve had this CD on for a good few days now and before I even get into my musical preference or opinion, I have to say that even if this was the worst type of music I could imagine (and it’s far from that) that the playing and musicianship on this album is some of the most measured I’ve ever heard. I mean, these guys don’t miss a beat on the whole record! Being a musician myself, I’m always scrutinizing my own bands work and picking holes in it, and It’s not often you hear any band say that they’re 100% happy with the results of their efforts, but from a purely technical point of view these guys can have few complaints. Metronomic drums and bass accompanied by sharp rhythms are the order of the day here!

I stuck this on in the car on the way to work, but never got the benefit of it until I listened to it more intimately through the iPod and the home system, perhaps because the style of the band is pretty consistent, I think one could be forgiven for allowing the tracks to kind of merge into one another if you don’t give it your full attention over the first few listens to pick the individual hooks out of the songs. That said, there are some pretty unique tracks on board and more than a few hit me as stand out tracks.

Track listing

I wont bore you with a track by track analysis as this is a blog, not a full on review site, but I have to say, as with a lot of young Scots bands now, it seems they definitely pull from the experiences of living where and when they do and allow for the irony and comedy of the experience without letting it shine through too much, but there’s definately some in-jokes and life experience hidden in tracks like Boydie and Country Killer, the latter having a bit of a “Hole in my shoe” vibe about the opening barres, then developing into a uplifting and shiny ballad that promises to be even more uplifting at every turn. But the hook never comes to take this tune to the next level. That said, I kind of like the melancholy feel it has, and being a fairly short track none of the above really matters that much. Whereas Boydie is a full on pop/indie tune for those who like to Jig at gigs and sing along. This tune is about as simple as it gets, but its a cracker if you’re inclined to lose your mind at gigs! This song is also featured on the Glasgow Unsigned charity CD in aid of Yorkhill sick kids hospital.

I get a really heavy “Shed Seven” vibe off a fair bit this album, which is no bad thing. Tunes like Freedom Town with its punchy little brass fills and Bowie era Earl Slick style guitar licks offers something different from the record that I didn’t really see coming and “Original widescreen versions of ourselves” I could see as the soundtrack and closing credit tune for the “Guy finally gets the girl” scene in a Glasgow version of some crappy Jennifer Aniston style Rom Com. I don’t mean that in a derogatory sense either, as the melody really does have that uplifting “everything worked out in the end” feeling to it. Personally, this is one of the stand out tracks for me.

Now despite the fact that I REALLY like this band, I can’t help thinking that I shouldn’t pass opinion on this record until I’ve finished my quest to see them live? and I’ll tell you for why. On this record is a shitload of really involved vocal and instrumental commitment and a pile of very well written original material, but if I’m honest, I think there is a bit too much “Lo-Fi” on the final mix. It is a VERY good mix that lets you here all the facets that contribute to the compositions but when I hear the vocals on “TV took my soul” and guitar work on “get off the Street” and “I’m the one you hold” I can’t help thinking it could be a bit “thicker” but I think that’s more to do with me, as it all seems to fit very nicely as a package and one song follows the last one quite seamlessly. But when played live, I’m betting these same songs take on a whole new meaning.

Mon' then.........

So there you have it! In my opinion, this is a great album and should it be waved under your nose at a gig or online, and you have the money in the PayPal account or the cash in your pocket, you could do a LOT worse than to add this to your collection. It covers a fairly broad range of tastes from a slight Arctic Monkey stance, through a Beatles-esque Bowie tip (wtf) with a quick stop at the best of the less popular (but better) indie band offerings of the late 90′s whilst keeping a constant vain of originality that never really leaves the album. I turned it of feeling I had heard enough to make it a very enjoyable experience, but not gagging for more, although when it comes, I’ll be first in line with my bowl.

“Please Annie, can I have some more”

Annie Stevenson facebook: HERE

Annie Stevenson Reverbnation: HERE

Annie Stevenson My_Space: HERE

A few of you guys in music land may have already heard of Stuart Westwood. With over 10 years of experience behind the lens with work featured on everything from billboards, brochures and magazines, he is now a firmly placed favorite amongst bands and artists in Scotland with a portfolio of both unsigned local acts and world touring super groups.

Stuart has generously offered his services to the OMC for our launch gig on May 2nd, so you will be able to talk to the man himself about your bands tog’ needs. Stuart is not just a live shot guy, he has also taken portraits and band shots for many of Scotland’s popular bands and artists. So if you want to make your demo CD, My space or website look pro, there is no doubt who the bandradar think you should call.

There is a small gallery of some of Stuarts work below.

For more, go to Stuarts Flickr site, facebook page or official website.