Homelights Festival

Homelights is Adrian Crowley and Foggy Notions‘ new baby. Paired with the Fence Collective’s Homegame in Fife, Scotland and Adem’s Homefires in London, Crowley’s new venture will see all sorts of delights taking place in Whelan’s over the weekend. Taking over the bulk of the venue for 4 evenings and also Sunday afternoon, Homelights will bring a diverse collection of musicians and artists together for what will hopefully be a relaxed and enjoyable venture with all the collaborative glee of the Scottish equivalent. I could go through all the details but, in fairness, it’s all on their own site. Suffice to say, if you don’t have any other plans for these few days, a weekend pass would be a wise investment.

I’m only going to make it for the Sunday show, but – lucky me – it’s got an astounding line-up. Tickets for this one are a little higher at €25, but given that it starts at 3pm and is packed with top quality acts, I expect it will fill up without a grumble. The running order for the day is:

3.00pm: Doors
3.30-4.15: Nicked Drake
4.45-5.45: Adem’s Assembly
6.00-7.00: INTERVAL
7.30-8.30: Adrian Crowley & Geese
8.45-9.45: Andy Irvine
10.15-11.15: Vashti Bunyan
11.15-12.00: Guests DJs
12.00-1.00: Minotaur Shock

Plenty of good stuff there obviously, but the stand-outs are clearly Vashti Bunyan and Minotaur Shock. Vashti Bunyan has recently become a serious folk icon thanks to a resurgence in popularity due to the likes of Devendra Banhart, Animal Collective and Joanna Newsom citing her as an influence and collaborating with her in the past decade. Prior to that, Bunyan had been completely removed from the music industry, having dropped off the radar after an initially lukewarm reaction to her debut LP in 1970. She eventually released a follow-up album, Lookaftering, in 2005 through Fat Cat Records which included contributions from the aforementioned new kids on the block and fellow Homelights performer Adem. Despite living in Ireland for a long period while raising her children, I’m not sure if she’s played a gig here before, but either way, this will be something really special to observe.

In amongst these freak-folky hippies will be Bristol-based electronic-head and remixer extrordinaire Minotaur Shock, who will close out Sunday’s bash. His Amateur Dramatics album from last year was so full of ideas it should have been illegal. It was – and still is – surely the best way one could hope to spend £6.41. The original deal (which allows people to choose individual tracks -priced by the artist ranging from 33p to 75p – or download the whole album for £6.41) is still available, but you can now buy the album physically from Amazon too. Reading his formula for how he priced each of the tracks was hugely entertaining, but the album itself is still an absolute joy to listen to. Given his penchant for turning out quality remixes for the likes of Super Furry Animals, Stars and Holy Fuck, I’m expecting a blinding performance this weekend. Fingers crossed he doesn’t cancel like he had to when he was supposed to play the DEAF Festival last year!

MP3: Minotaur Shock – My Burr – [Buy]

MP3: Vashti Bunyan – Train Song – [Buy]

I’ll explain. Frequenting small music venues and undergoing the micro-gigging experience are infinitely more rewarding than seeing chart-topping bands in high capacity venues for the following reasons:

1. Crowd/band interaction is fundamental for small bands as they all need a distinguishing feature to earn them a reputation. If your band name is Pink Floyd or Kings of Leon, playing a tight set of perfectly honed album material that everyone recognizes won’t enlighten anyone’s lives; they might as well stay at home and listen to the goddamn album. Gig experiences are made more unique if you happen to be asked to play an instrument along with a band, if you bring along your own instruments, if you are asked to come up
   

   The Bobby McGees

   with a new song title, if they accept your inebriated bellows for song requests or just give you dance moves to groove away to. If the headline act walks off stage and sits at thenearest table you can have a chat to find out who their influences are, who they’re shagging and even where the best places to buy instruments are.

2. Random memorable moments are the crux of all good nights out, and there are very few bands that can pull off an electro theme tune of The Antique’s Roadshow for their opening number. If you notice a band’s bass guitarist voraciously rubbing his cock into the back of his guitar you can be reassured by the fact that other bands are willing to throw sweets and party poppers at their devoted audience instead. Lyrics can be fairly abstract and obscure, like the tales of love based around the uselessness of Jar Jar Binks, and my favourite lyrics of the past week have been “You gotta pull your dick out at the restaurant in front of their aunt, and jerk off with your balls smackin the windows of the Mitsubishi Galant!” (f.y.i. this wasn’t Coldplay). A woman resembling Edith Piaf slashed a knife through the air towards my face at the previous gig as part of a French mock-cabaret act, whilst a close acquaintance of mine was being ordered to turn the pages of a flick book with obscene words on it. This is not the kind of experience you forget in a hurry.
3. Tight budgets and creative minds make for an interesting array of instruments being ‘played’, some of which I have see recently include ukuleles, a melodica (mouth-organ keyboard), banjos, a handsaw, flutes, spoons, shoes, guitars made with planks of wood, a cello with no body, a ukulele made with an ice cream box, saxophones, a big ‘ole jar with a hole, reel to reel tape, cowbells, flutes, a hang (type of Swiss steel pans) and a lesser-known instrument that I like to call the guitar.
4. Cheapness is of vital importance to students, and £3 on the door or free entry beats a £50 ticket planned 5 months in advance every time. Not only is entry cheaper, but booze is cheaper and more varied too. Small venues often have a bar or two on site and serve a wide variety of liquid meals, putting many large venues to shame with their extortionate prices and lack of choice (Wembley Arena only sells two types of beer!!!!!)
5. The general atmosphere is often very cool in small venues, with comfy seats to lounge around in, places to dance and improvised stages.

I didn’t end up rambling last night and I’m not going to do it now, but the topic will most definitely be discussed at some point.

For now, I’m going to see Opeth tonight with a few friends, which should be amazing. The best gig I’ve been to was Opeth last time they were here, really brilliant. Amazing violence and beauty, probably some of the most evil music out there right next to the most calming, cool, chilled out bits. Anyway, my favourite album ever is Ghost Reveries by Opeth, so check it out.

So, yeah, I’ll no doubt have some ranting to do later tonight when I return home and am unable to sleep. Talk to you then,

Your beauty-pageant fistfight,

TDE

VV Brown looked like a superhero in a tutu, complete with feathery masquerade mask as she strode on stage to close out her first headline tour.  It was a look that only she could pull off and her surreal looks were matched only by her energy.

The set kicked off with powerfully with some rock-flavoured renditions – which, no matter how much passion they possessed they did not seem to work, it didn’t seem to fit and it was difficult to hear her voice.  Acoustic and reggae versions of Crying Blood served as nice re-inventions of one her more famous tracks and made the early section memorable.

It was however, mid-set when she did two covers, Somewhere Over The Rainbow and Viva La Vida that things started to turn around.  Although neither were particularly amazing, as she sung them a look grew on her face and a little sparkle came into her eyes as she slammed the Floor-Tom during Coldplay’s song.

Then, she disappeared.  About a minute later she returned with a parasol in hand and sung a rendition of I Love You that was to die for.  It was the first time her voice really cut through and served as a reminder of the raw talent she posses.

A theatrical performance of Back In Time and an energetic rendition of a new song, Caroline, took it to another level.

The one thing I love about VV Brown is her.  She seems like a lovely person, kind and humble, and I have no idea why the press and media keep on giving her such a hard time.  To be fair, I don’t think you’ll ever get VV Brown until you see her face-to-face (her music sounds a lot better live too).

Yes, last night’s show was a little hit and miss, however the hits were so darn good that it made you forget about the little misses.

Soulside Funk

Tim was suggesting getting a few of us together for a spot of Christmas busking this year, I’m definitely up for this and was wondering who else might be too?

I guess we’d have a couple of practices so that we know what we’re playing and how and then get out there and busk till we drop, bosh!

posters for the upcoming wind up radio sessions gig in january hosted by pop montreal.

after debating with myself how to tackle this poster i lay in bed, noticed some circles on my curtains and decided they were similar to those ishihara colour blindness tests, so i promptly set to work drawing dots in my least favourite programme, adobe illustrator. the process of cutting and pasting 5 different sizes over a thousand times was fun, then individually colouring them in 7 different shades added to the design excitement. 8 hours in i was just about done colouring dots. ideally i’d have liked to spend a lot longer on this exploring the colour test idea.

gig posters are a good place where i like try things out and express desires to see wacky colours, type that is intentionally difficult to read, illustrations and things you can’t necessarily do for paying jobs. the guys in the bands like seeing bright, insane colours i think too.

I started to read the The Oxford Style Manual on Sunday so I have no articles to share this week, but in case you’re interested; 11 12 means size 11 pt for a font and a space between the lines of 12pts. That comes from the days when they used to use lead to seperate the lines of text (so no reading between the lines there then, hohoho) in the printing process.

On another note, I went to see one time favourite band Rise Against play on Saturday. They’re touring with their new album which I’m not that keen on but thankfully they played some old stuff.

Once, in a state of crisis, I really wanted to get a Rise Against tattoo. It was going to solve everything. I wanted to have it written down my calf muscles so that when I wore shorts those that knew them would recognise me as true hardcore: ‘Rise’ down the left and ‘Against’ down the right. I wrote it down on a piece of paper and put it in my wallet to carry around, as you’re supposed to right. I even got it priced at about £30 per letter, so £300 to do it. Huh? No £330. There’s eleven letters in Rise Against. I had written ‘Aginst’. I like to think that if I was someone who always did what they set their mind to then the tattooist would’ve noticed that error, but you’ve seen some of the shit that people go in and ask for. I only noticed when I went off the idea – probably because it would’ve cost £300 -  and threw the piece of paper away.

So yeah what did everyone else read or get up to this weekend? We’d love to know.

Happy Sunday.

Finally winding down and settling in after the gig tonight at the Weigh Station Cafe in Towanda, PA. Overall I think it went pretty well but we’ve certainly played better shows. This one was interesting for a few reasons. Mel and I are always excited to play shows but tonight we had an extra edge beforehand because it was a new venue for us. We didn’t know what to expect.

We had very distracting sound issues for the first 20 minutes of the show. When you start off a gig like that it’s a lot like waking up to a chainsaw right outside your window…it just sets a bad tone for the rest of the day. It’s also really distracting to have feedback, pops and hisses when your trying to pour out your soul to a roomful of eager ears. I’ve been setting up sound for my own shows for many years now and usually I like to have at least 20 mins to half an hour to work out the bugs before show time. However, it doesn’t always happen like that and tonight we had to make a go of it with little more than 10 minutes to soundcheck. Acoustically speaking the room is strange- brick walls, wood walls, very tall ceilings and wide open spaces. The crowd was patient and for the most part, pretty attentive and open minded. It was also one of the largest coffee shop audiences I ever played to. Unfortunately we were only background music…something to tide them over till the show they actually bought tickets for…Leon Redbone.

I asked people to sign our email list to get updates on shows…but only one person signed it. However…the one person who signed up gave us a possible booking so I think that evens out.
The crowd was primarily middle age to somewhat elderly with a few exceptions. The exceptions were two friends from work who I admire and respect and I was glad to have them in the audience although I wasn’t at my normal comfort level. Normally I’m much more talkative and fun in between songs but this time I was nervous. I was also blown away by the suprise appearance of my beautiful girlfriend Dani, who drove 3 hours to suprise me and support. I think everyone enjoyed themselves if not at least tolerated it though. Once I got used to playing so quietly (they kept asking us to turn it down) I started to loosen up and have a good time.
I hope to book another show at the Weigh Station Cafe…

20/11/09, Veda Beaux Reves promoting her album Stars Edge

Some friends and I are going to see Gary Numan on the 27th of this month at the ABC.

I’m really looking forward to it and I’m hoping I get the same luck I’ve been getting at my previous gigs and getting to the front so I get great pictures and maybe some object! You might not (or think you don’t know) who Gary Numan is but I will sing this little bit to you and then it will all coming rushing back to you! Ready? *clears Throat*

“Here in my car, I feel safest of all, I can lock all my doors.”

There did you like that? yes you remember it all now don’t you! Anyway there are other really good songs other than Cars. I will update soon and hopefully give you lovely people some pleasure principle picatures!

Click here for review at state.ie

We had Phantom just over two weeks when we had learned from a friend about GIG, Greyhounds in Gettysburg.  This annual event held at the Outlets in Gettysburg sounded like fun.  Check out www.greyhoundsingettysburg.com for more information.  We went, not really knowing what to expect, but found out there are a lot of greyhound folks out there!   We shopped, we talked, we learned so much that day.  We finally met Peggy (PG group founder) and Phantom got to visit with his foster family.  Since this was a greyhound event, Phantom was spoiled so much that day.  He got new toys, a coat and treats!  We enjoyed our day and I think he did too becuase after we got home Phantom slept and slept and slept some more.

With a lot of arm-twisting, I headed down to the Village on Friday to see Max Greenwood. We first saw Max when he was piano player in Tom Baxter’s band a few years ago. This was before he decided to go solo and ended up in Ireland after falling in love. He released his solo album ‘In the Blood’ in 2008 and has been touring since. Two of his songs from this album ‘Frozen Still’ and ‘Faces in the Water’ were used in RTE’s drama Raw.

The tables were set with candles and it reminded me of a jazz club. We were early enough to get a table front and centre. The support was Darragh O’Neill, a guitarist and composer. I have to say his music wasn’t for me – reminding me of being stuck in an elevator in a very large building or like a mime artist only with a guitar (not sure why as he wasn’t actually miming, he did play but his facial expressions reminded me of a mime artist)! There was a very spanish feel to his guitar playing and I kept expecting the matador to step out behind him at any moment, maybe that was wishful thinking as it would have livened things up a bit. He is a truly talented guitar player and after attempting to learn I can appreciate others who actually can play. He is more suited to the National Concert Hall than a Friday evening support slot.

Max came on soon after and clearly enjoyed every moment of his “unofficial Christmas show”. His style reminds me of jazz of which I am not a fan. For me he has a couple of stand out songs like Angel, The Long Goodbye and his new one and is a showman on the keys but again his music just doesn’t do it for me. He also had special guests of Darragh O’Neill and Suzanne Savage play with him during his set on some of his songs. This was most powerful in the song about ‘Freeing the Bees’ or something like that when it was just Max on a ukulele and Suzanne complementing his vocals perfectly in the middle of the village. Max also did some covers of dead artists he admires like John Martyn and Robert Palmer. All in all not a bad night for a tenner.

For more information on Max, check out his website:
http://www.maxgreenwood.co.uk/

This is a very delayed blog! Went to see The Cinematic Orchestra at the Roundhouse on the 6th Nov 09 – and despite being misinformed that there’d be cushions on the floor, it was still an amazing experience. It was a bit more classy compared to most gigs I’ve been to. And the crowd were the older sort.
They explained that they’d be playing their album “Man With a Movie Camera” while accompanying a silent Russian silent film, also called “Man With a Movie Camera” (with no storyline).
It was a very trippy experience, and at the same time very moving. It was nearing the end of the gig and everybody was in high spirits listening to some of their older songs, once the film had ended. And it was as if God himself answered my prayers when I heard an introduction for Roots Manuva. He joined the Orchestra on stage, in a swanky white suit. It sent the audience into a euphoric state, I saw business men, bums, grandpas and teenagers… all chanting along with Manuva. Such an amazing gig. If you ever get the chance to see them, jump at it! I’ll leave you with some poor quality pictures I took, and a youtube clip I found of it!

The Introduction.

A blurry Roots Manuva performing with The Cinematic Orchestra.

I hope you enjoy!

Success! Today, the Music Editor of The Skinny emailed me, asking if I would like to start off with some gig preview write-ups for the magazine. They’re the bread-and-butter type of music articles. 100-150 word articles with a sprinkle of personal touch included.

Writing for a reason again other than for essays or assignments, as well as for fun is refreshing. I can feel creativity brewing within every pore. Here’s the gig previews I wrote:

Field Music

Sunderland-based Field Music brings their jangling guitars and gentle vibes back to Edinburgh after an eagerly anticipated wait. Touring after a hiatus since 2007, the trio has sprawled from a North-East music scene currently in resurgence, and destined to receive comparisons with fellow Mackems The Futureheads. This link is not only due to geographical similarities, but because their line-up has previously contained various members of The Futureheads and Maxïmo Park in its lifetime. What sets Field Music apart from their peers is the rounder and quirkier sound they posses, which uplifts the listener and has been in development since 2004.

Gary Numan

Electronic music pioneer Gary Numan returns to Edinburgh on the back of his massively influential album ‘The Pleasure Principle’ being re-released, which originally graced the shelves thirty years ago and debuted at number one. Numan promises to create a very memorable gig, with his fifteen-date 2008 spring tour in the UK selling out and given critical acclaim, and Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor citing him as “huge inspiration”. Expect a diverse mix of ages in the crowd, from the adolescent experiencing Numan for the first time to the near-OAP who remember him from the first time round.

Clutch

American metal group Clutch promise to produce an explosive night of overdriven guitar and dirty blues, along with funky undertones. With a massive cult following, the band are almost certain to be given a very good reception from Glaswegian fans. Clutch are set apart from other heavy rock bands as their members all bring something musically different to the table. This helps to create a fantastic fusion of different genres which makes it very easy for listeners to appreciate the musical ability that Clutch have, rather than simply containing a distorted guitar and obligatory double-bass pedal like similar bands.

Alice in Chains

Alice in Chains are set to perform with their new line-up that’s been in operation since 2005 to promote ‘Black Gives Way To Blue’, their first album in fourteen years, and was given 4/5 stars by The Skinny. Lyrically, the album recalls Alice’s former frontman Layne Stayle, who died of mandatory Rock and Roll drug overdose in 2002. Drummer Sean Kinney enthuses how the album also covers the band’s experiences since the last record in 1995: “[the album is] basically what’s happened in life, but a lot has happened since the last record. And it’s on this record”.

The Specials

A massive demand to see The Specials perform their Ska classics has resulted in the gig selling out. The band have always been a favourite to see in the flesh, with their live shows being powerfully assured and forever serving a smile to people’s faces. Formed over thirty years ago, the group are still going strong and were one of the most memorable on the bill at the latest Glastonbury festival, where they drummed up one of the biggest crowds of the weekend. Expect contagious head-bobbing and an infectiously cool vibe to the entire night.

The Graham Coxon Power Acoustic Ensemble

Graham Coxon of Blur fame shall be playing his latest album, ‘The Spinning Top’ in it’s entirety during his latest Edinburgh gig. The record is a musical narrative of the life of a man, from birth to death (always a cheery subject), and is a stark difference to Coxon’s previous work, with deeply layered acoustic guitars accompanied by his gentle voice. The Power Acoustic Ensemble shall be alongside the English cult favourite singer-songwriter Robyn Hitchcock for this gig, who nicely counters Coxon’s guitar during the show. Expect a fantastically laid-back gig that will be rather different to the explosive last ever two Blur gigs earlier this year.