Latest Entries »

Bandcrush: Honeyblood

Filed under: Interviews — Leave a comment
May 18, 2013

Record Store Day 2013 was as worthwhile an endeavour as ever. Beers and records were consumed in voluminous quantities and there was more live music than you could shake a stick at. Frankly, the best thing we say all day was crammed into Stockbridge’s tiny Last Word pub, where the nearby Vox Box had collaborated with Gerry Loves Records to put on a host of bands including the rather excellent Honeyblood.

We hadn’t seen them before but were utterly blown away – the two girl, guitar ‘n drums duo came on like a female PAWS with a ragged set of riff-laden pop. On record they’re just as powerful and make more noise than they have any right to.

Needless to say we were instantly hooked and wondering what they’re contact details were, for this very piece. We reckon big things are afoot for these two gals and are delighted to nail our colours to the Honeyblood mast.

Let’s meet singer/guitarist Stina, shall we?

So who the hell are you?

Stina and Shona. Two girls from Scotland who play some songs.

Describe your sound in ten words or less!

Garage crunch pop to ride your trike to.

honeyblood

How did you guys start making music together?

I’d written a few songs that I wanted to play live. I had the idea of Honeyblood as being an all-girl venture. I met Shona and that was it, she got the direction I wanted to take the music. We did have a look around for a bass player for a little while… the position is still open if we find the right girl!

Go on… tell us about the band name then?

It’s a mixture of things… literally.

Did you have fun on Record Store Day?

We had the best time ever on RSD! Andy and Paddy at Gerry Loves are such gems (Really? – Ed). Also, we were so happy to support Darren and Vox Box. It felt like everyone was getting into the spirit of the day and really enjoying themselves.

What inspires the songs you write!

Most of our songs start off as in-jokes between Shona and I. Our song ‘Super Rat’ definitely did. It’s not to be taken as seriously as you might think. Guess the songs are mostly about ourselves and our friends. ‘Killer Bangs’ is named after some cool girls we met in London with amazing fringes. We love good bangs.

Tell us about your upcoming releases! Are you thinking about a full length record?

We will one day. At the moment we are hitting the studio for a couple of shorter releases.

We hope there are more shows in the diary?

We’ve been confirmed for Brighton’s The Great Escape and also some London shows which we are looking forward to. Hopefully, some more shows before then in Glasgow and Edinburgh too.

Tags:
Comment

Ghosts

Filed under: Albums, Interviews — Leave a comment
May 14, 2013

Album of the Week: Collar Up – Ghosts

collar up cover

The name ‘Collar Up’ suggests a strutting confidence, peacocking to the max, like Eric Cantona having just lashed one in from 30 yards. In other words oozing self-belief.

Well there’s no doubt that Ghosts is full of confidence, but there’s a bruised vulnerability all over the album. Anyone who calls a song ‘I Wanted to Hurt You’ has to be feeling wounded, no matter how vengeful their mood.

The piano lends itself rather well to such sensibilities, and appropriately Stephen McLaren’s fingers touch as delicately on the ivories as his rich vocal tones deserve. Juddering drumming is a near constant though, pulling the songs away from balladeering, and keeping things rapid fire throughout, helped by a fairly lean run time for most songs.

Little flourishes here and there – like the synths on Tonight and cute glockenspiel on Short Term Memory – also help keep things fresh, to the point where you could comfortably add the word ‘dream’ in front of the word ‘pop’ to pretty much capture the band’s sound. The heavy echo effects on McLaren’s tones undoubtedly help.

With the drums stripped away and replaced by haunting harmonies on Every Man for Themselves, Collar Up could find themselves at home soundtracking a pivotal movie sequence or equally plotting a horrific surprise for a nemesis on the bitter A Jam Jar Full of Wasps (a song that’s a little Arcade Fire-y we have to say).

The very fact that they’ve managed to keep Ghosts consistently interesting and varied throughout is a key strength of Collar Up. Confident, but not overly self-assured, strutting, but not swaggering, this is an impressive piece of work and well worth a look.

We spoke to Stephen McLaren a short time ago.

How does Ghosts differ from your previous record?

The songs have more direction and hang together better as a set. Also, I’ve had much more control over the final sound of the record this time, so what you hear is, actually, what was in my head when we were putting it together, which means that I am completely happy with it. There are no regrets, which is important.

collar up

What inspired the songs on the album?

It’s a hard question. Some folks have said that they have a great sense, when listening to “Ghosts”, of longing for something more. Others have said that they can sense anger, loss, and euphoria. I’d agree with all of that. The songs on “Ghosts” are, lyrically, very real and ‘to the point’, yet the sound is deliberately ethereal and dreamy: pain tinged with hope; anger wrapped in optimism.

And how was the recording process?

Because the album is largely self-produced, it took a lot longer, but I really felt like I had to be in control of the final sound. It was, as a consequence, very difficult, long, and the hardest we’ve ever worked as a band, but all very satisfying now that it is done and we’re happy with it. The boys at Permwhale Recordings were supportive and patient, sometimes more patient than what would normally be deemed reasonable, but we could never have finished the album without them and we’re grateful for that.

What’s coming up on the live front?

We’ve got two gigs coming up to celebrate the launch of, “Ghosts”: Saturday 4th May – playing Flowers in the Dustbin’s night, “Seditionaries”  at the 13th Note, Glasgow; and Saturday 18th May, playing “Limbo” at the Voodoo Rooms, Edinburgh. Catch us then, CD copies of the album will be on sale at both nights!

Tags:
Comment

Bandcrush: The Milliband

Filed under: Interviews — Leave a comment
May 11, 2013

Politics, eh?

There’ll be none of that round here. Instead we’re happy to chuckle contentedly on the puntastic name of Glasgow’s ‘The Milliband’. Neither Ed nor David, nor even Steve (think about it), this new troupe is so far specialising in noisy Fall-meets-Rapture abrasive toe tappers.

Of the songs recorded so far, Grind is an angry reflection on modern life (“HAVE I SIGNED UP TO THE RIGHT POWER TARRIFF???”) while first single proper jERRY lEE lEWIS (yes, really) is a seething pounder that even has a few gratuitous sweeps of the piano to make the balls-spouting, cousin-worrying rock ‘n roller proud.

The band haven’t put an awful of lot of music out there just yet, but we’re pretty excited by how it sounds so far. We caught up with production whizz Stephen Gallagher to find out more.

So who the hell are you?

We’re the Milliband, a brand new band from the nouveau epicentre of culture that is apparently the southside of Glasgow and I pretend to be in charge! There’s also  Chris Ritchie, a trained sound engineer – and part time bear – who earned his stripes in various studios down in London is on vocals and lead guitar; Douglas Will a familiar face on the acoustic circuit on rhythm guitar and vocals, when not too blindingly drunk to play; Craig Crombie fresh from his travels round the world slotted in nicely on drums, and promises that one day he’ll learn how to play them. Dougie Walker sings and plays a bit in between acting. We’ve seen him acting the fool plenty of times, but we’re not actually sure how good his acting is.

We have guest vocalists coming in and out as well including our friend; the delightful Miss Vicky Kytzia appearing on the latest single.

Describe your sound in ten words or less!

An opulent omnishambles calmed in a see-saw of inspiration.

How did you guys come together to make music?

We have made music together since we’ve known each other. We all have chequered band histories as long as your arm. Making music for us is a great excuse to consume alcohol and hide from our girlfriends for a while. Although we all got dumped once because apparently recording and getting drunk and not calling or speaking to them for three days solid is apparently not acceptable.

Any influences?

We are really into bands like Justice, Metronomy, Death in Vegas and Underworld. We love mixing up Dance music with more melodic hooks and crazed lyrics.

The Milliband don't have any photos yet. For this we are very, very sorry.

The Milliband don’t have any photos yet. For this we are very, very sorry.

What inspired your band name? Surely not politicians??

The band name started as a joke. We thought it might be funny to be called ‘The Ed Miliband’ and we could record all our vocals with nose-pegs on. The morning after we quickly realised that this was a shit idea, plus if Ed Miliband gets the bullet, our name would be as relevant as Sonny & Cher. But then we thought change the Mili to Milli and we have something different altogether. ‘The Milliband’ is a name that gives us scope to be creative and says something about our music which has techno elements and aims to sound futuristic – that’s the party line anyway…

Ed, David or Steve then?

We create music that escapes the realities of life. Being affiliated to any political party would be bad news for them and us.

Tell us a little bit about what inspired your songs?

The first single jERRY lEE lEWIS is inspired by, shockingly, Jerry Lee Lewis. He was a controversial character and that interests us a lot. We are inspired by the macabre, the twisted and the unusual. We like the darker side of things so you probably won’t hear any sensitive, poetic Scottish ballads from us any time soon. You will hear music that is designed to challenge and provoke your very mind.

So there’s an official ‘release’ planned?

The official release date for the single is 27th May and it will be available as download from iTunes, Spotify etc. We also have a run of CDs going into various record stores and available to order from our label site.

Any shows in the pipeline?

We are holding back on playing live until later in the Summer. We have over an album’s worth of material already, and are no strangers to playing live. We’re hungry to write more before we knock a set together, You can catch us playing DJ sets and at acoustic nights around Glasgow in the meantime. Keep checking the Facebook and Twitter feeds for news on our planned tour of UK.

You heard the man – jERRY lEE lEWIS is out on May 27. Go get.

Tags:
Comment

Inform – Educate – Entertain

Filed under: Albums, Interviews — Leave a comment
May 7, 2013

Album of the Week: Public Service Broadcasting – Inform – Educate – Entertain

iee

There’s no doubting that Public Service Broadcasting are one of the odder musical entities doing the rounds just now. Live drumming, archive samples and banjos? Really???

Last year’s The War Room EP held together rather well and live the band (a two piece) are surprisingly beefy. Spitfire – the only song from the EP to feature on this full length debut – was the best indicator of how it could go, a full throttle, guitar-y blast that threatens bomb you out of existence.

First up though is the title track-shaped opener, a huge wall of synths and drums, with a stark reminder that samples from information films are the band’s meat and drink, in lieu of vocals. Well, it worked for The Avalanches and Boards of Canada, right?

But they can mix up the sampling too. Signal 30 documents road hogs and four-wheeled nut jobs as slashing riffs cut up the fist-shaking disembodied voices into a roaring punk rock track.

Song themes are easy to spot just from the titles alone. Night Mail loops words about postal deliveries, ROYGBIV is all colours and Everest is about a certain lofty peak. Perhaps there are deeper themes afoot, but it’s something that’s hard to convey when you’ve got decades old voices articulating your music.

For what it’s worth, ROYGBIV is an r ‘n b hip shaker with added banjo and Everest is exactly as epic as you’d expect. It remains to be seen how long the band will manage to maintain their very clear approach to sonic invention, but Inform – Educate – Entertain is a supremely confident debut that even manages to do exactly what it says on the cover.

Multi-instrumentalist and corduroy fiend J. Willgoose, Esq. was recently again assaulted by our blunt interviewing technique.

Hello again! How have you spent the six months since we last spoke?

We’ve been touring quite extensively, and had the small matter of putting the album together too! I’m typing this from a Transit van on the move in Germany, so that should give you an idea of how busy things have been for us lately, which is great.

PSB by Alex Toumazis

Tell us about how the album came together!

Very slowly and painfully! Actually it wasn’t too bad in the end, but the drum editing did get a bit tiresome – blast that Wrigglesworth and his timing, eh! Overall it was a lot of work but I’m happy with what we came out with. I think it sounds like an album rather than a collection of individual songs, and I hope people enjoy it – we’re really just looking forward to it coming out and seeing what people make of it (other than ash-trays or mousemats, of course).

The name Inform Educate Entertain sounds like a bit of a manifesto – discuss?

It was indeed Lord Reith’s vision for public service broadcasting in the UK, so it seemed most apt for us to use it as our mission statement too. The emphasis is very definitely on the entertaining, though!

Signal 30 seems to be all over 6 Music. Strange? Exciting?

A bit of both! It’s always odd hearing people you’ve listened to for several years, like Gideon Coe or Steve Lamacq, talking about a record you’ve made. Very odd, in fact. But also very exciting, and I hope the reason they keep playing it is because they keep getting a good reaction to it – we’ve had great feedback from the 6 Music audience and can only say thanks a million!

Tags:
Comment

Bandcrush: Hookers for Jesus

Filed under: Interviews — Leave a comment
May 4, 2013

A swift google of ‘hookers for Jesus’ tells you that – oh yes – there is indeed a religious group of ladies out there that place their faith in the Son of God.

Honestly, we would have thought that prostitution rather jarred with the teachings of JC, but if that’s how people find some redemption then fair enough. Needless to say this group of bampo… sorry, ladies are from the States, whereas the band Hookers for Jesus – who provoked the search in the first place are from Dundee.

And they’re worth a few hallelujahs too. Stripped back guitar music with an unsettling air (see the confused, bad trip illustration that is Cabaret Song), they’re launching their debut EP at Sneaky Pete’s on May 11 with Tidal Wave favourites Edinburgh School for the Deaf in tow, alongside promising local noiseheads Wozniak playing their first ever gig.

Bring your earplugs for this one we’d reckon. Ahead of the gig, Hooker in chief Andy Wood answered some questions!

So who the hell are you?

In the most basic terms we are Andy Wood and Graeme Rose, a Dundee based duo. In terms of mythology we come from Jupiter to spread love and disharmony among earth people.

Describe your sound in ten words or less!

Awkward, pretty, ugly, cinematic, light, dark, humorous, tricky, music, words.

Hookers for Jesus by Mike Melville

How did you guys start making music together?

We played for a number of years as The Candy Store Prophets, a five piece band, who released one single ‘Songs For Angels’, gigged lots and fell apart for all the usual reasons that bands fell apart i.e. an impressive inability to hold on to drummers and general battle weariness. We continued to write and record songs occasionally over the years and played a one-off gig, all without any serious thought to reforming. We had fun and decided to let it drag us along and see where it went. It’s an adventure with Megabus and Scotrail taking the place of the Mystery Machine.

Hookers for Jesus? Tell us more!

We were young, naïve and needed the money. Would you like to ghost write our autobiography one day?

We assume you’re not welcome at Auntie Jean’s church any more?

That would wholly depend on the views of Auntie Jean’s church. If they are mean-spirited and bigoted, we wouldn’t want to be made welcome anyway. However, we did play in a real, live church earlier this year (All Souls in Invergowrie on the outskirts of Dundee) and we were made to feel very welcome. We probably swore a bit less than usual but it was quite an experience.

WWJD? (Who would Jesus do?)

That’s an interesting question. I genuinely believe that if Jesus returned in a modern day reincarnation he would be on the side of the losers and the downtrodden. Therefore, after a short period of being feted by the media, politicians and celebrities he would be run out of town by an ugly crowd resembling the villagers in a Hammer House version of Frankenstein. Or be brought down by a media fabricated sex scandal. So he would probably be wise not to ‘do’ anyone in order to avoid a ‘Son of God did it six times in a night while his disciples slept next door’ type headlines. I am available for media advice for a small fee in the wake of Max Clifford’s current difficulties.

What inspired the songs on Hymns for Beautiful Losers?

We honestly don’t know. We mess around with things and something comes up and we mess around with it some more. ‘Cabaret Song’ is a series of things that happened to my younger self but over a wider time frame. ‘Drifting Into Unthank’ was loosely based on Alasdair Gray’s wonderful Lanark. Lyrically, I’m influenced by every day things but in a way that isn’t always literal or straightforward. Musically, there are a lot of different things that we are both influenced by but somehow it works well together.

What’s lined up for the launch night?

I should really say come along and see for yourselves folks but that isn’t much of an answer. There will be songs, sung and spoken, possibly poetry, we will have our friend William Allen playing bass. There may be a film background made especially for the occasion. There will be laughter, tears and possibly blood. There will also be our excellent friends Edinburgh School for the Deaf and Wozniak who are absolutely brilliant as people and musicians and each of them are worth the admission fee alone. We will also try and sell people copies of our EP. Well, we’ll most likely stand shyly in a corner with them looking nervous.

Are there any other live plans?

We are supporting Happy Martyr at my own night, The Cool Cat Club, in Dundee on May 25th. We would love to play more so if anyone would like us to come and play for them just ask.

Tags: , ,
Comment

Further Reading: Book Group

Filed under: Interviews — Leave a comment
May 2, 2013

Well, we finally got there.

On the go for nearly two years, nearly a year since their first recording (albeit a bootleg) was released on these very pages, and months since the band very kindly recorded two session tracks for a Tidal Wave of Freshair (available to buy in aid of a good cause here), The Bad Books are on the verge of releasing some actual tunes.

Sorry, did we say The Bad Books? Well, much has happened since the band headlined Tidal Wave 3 in June (can you spot a theme? We rather like these guys!), including a name change to Book Group.

Book_Group_press_shot_3 (2)

Same personnel though (that would be Graeme Anderson on vocals/synths/guitars, Scott Finnegan on bass and vocals, Andrew Brodie on drums and Michael Morrison on guitars) and the same, crisp rock sound too. And wonderfully, debut EP Homeward Sound does them justice. Four tracks, available on 10″ vinyl and download from May 18, coincidentally the same day the band play their rather splendid sounding launch night in Edinburgh.

Marvellously, Graeme and Michael took us through the EP and dealt with some more of our annoying questions!

Track 1: Year of The Cat

Tidal Wave says: A blistering statement of intent. The paciest thing here, it plonks its balls on the table about ten seconds in and doesn’t put them away until the song fades. The production brings out every guitar stroke and Graeme’s vocals are superbly mixed. We can see why they’ve invested so much time in the song.

Michael Morrison: We had tried to start recording a couple of times before making Homeward Sound but they were both scrapped for, well, not being good enough. When we did eventually get in a decent studio with a great producer, this was the first track we did – and it couldn’t have turned out any better really. It’s probably our only consistently balls-out rock song (hey, didn’t we just say that?! – Ed), and a very good welcome to the EP.

Graeme Anderson: This was written shortly after my move to the Borders. Find that whole fitting in somewhere new a bit awkward if people aren’t welcoming. Not wanting to dish the dirt on my home, but folk had more interest in Leigh (Graeme’s long-suffering wife) knowing that she was a local rather than a lad from Scumdee. The song’s basically about that. Mike and the guys gave it more of a growl which is just what I needed. I like growling! A perfect start to the record.

Track 2: BOP

Tidal Wave says: A bit slower, but no less snarly. A live staple, we have no idea why it’s fully capitalised either.

MM: Slow-building, a bit moody and menacing towards the end. BOP is pretty typical of how our songs are written. Graeme brings in a really nice, upbeat idea on an acoustic and we all dark it out. It’s probably the closest to a pop song of the four, but with the Motown trick of upbeat music and downbeat lyrics.

GA: A comfort song. Kinda about enjoying time with friends or that someone special. . . also has a touch of cannibalism about it too. Like to think it has a sweet melody. Love the guitars in this one and Andrew’s drums kick it off with a nice bang.

Track 3: Seedlings

Tidal Wave says: A million miles away from its acoustic version, this could lift the roof off any venue, such is its huge chorus and driving rhythm. Proper rock music, this.

MM: I love the driving drums through the verses on this, and Scott’s backing vocals too. I remember recording it and thinking there was a risk it could go too ‘stadium rock’, so we made the guitars warbled and feedbacking in the verse, then pushed in the chorus. It actually sounds the best on vinyl too for some reason.

GA: I agree with Michael here. Scott really kicks the ass out of this tune. Cracking vocals and his bass drives it along at a great pace. Song-wise it’s a straightforward hate song. We’ve all been there.

Track 4: Summer of Lunches

Tidal Wave says: Our favourite? That might be because we’re already very familiar with the other three songs, or at least their bootlegged or acoustic versions, but don’t underestimate the power of this one. It takes a while to build, and as the band outline below, it ends on a huge sound outro with duelling guitars, hooky backing vocals and thundering drums. Like the other three songs. it’s AWESOME.

MM: The first song we wrote? We often open the set with this but the big stuttering outro made it an obvious choice as a closer. It goes full circle with Year of The Cat. I think it hopefully hints at what’s to come next too.

GA: A celebration of good times with a predictable life ending. Musically it’s one that we love playing and was our first tune to get together. it kind of made us think – ‘that’s not bad’ and pushed us on to bigger sounds. The chaotic ending rings true for our approach to band life, kind of a roll our sleeves up and get on with it approach.

Cheers! So we know its been ages, but what prompted the name change?

MM: A number of reasons really, primarily that there’s another (wonderful) band called Bad Books – check them out. We always knew this but only ever intended to play one gig, but then it kind of snowballed into more. Personally though, I think a name like Bad Books comes with its expectations; which I see as a bit of a hinderance. Plus we’re all members of the same book group, so it made sense.

GA: I honestly didn’t know there was a band called Bad Books till after a couple of gigs. Gutted we had to change at the time, but Book Group feels right now.

What about the tracks that didn’t make it – still got plans for them?

MM: Oh aye! Always writing and a plan is afoot for the next thing – saying no more for now.

GA: We have loads of stuff that we want to record and some plans are already in the pipeline. Genuinely excited about what is coming up. Really proud of the EP but know that we have more surprises and hooks on the way.

What’s lined up for the EP launch then?

MM: It should be a great night and even if I wasn’t playing at it I’d be bloody excited to be there – the other three bands alone make an amazing line up. Plastic Animals are the best kind of fuzzy, dream-pop, Campfires in Winter are a very welcome west coast addition (and making their Edinburgh debut on the night) and then we are bed-shittingly grateful that Rory Sutherland and Martin Donnelly have agreed to perform their new collaboration. Plus we only have the bloody Live From The Latin Quarter blokes DJing. Fucking hell. We’ll have to bring our A-game, that’s for sure…

GA: Are you coming Stu?

Ummmmm…… anyway, it’s nearly summer (allegedly!) Will we see you at festivals?

MM: Already played the best festival last month (Gnomegame) so any others are a bonus. Off to goNorth in June and maybe another, we’ll see.

GA: Gnomegame was amazing and was great to be involved with a fence event. Looking forward to goNorth and also bought my ticket for Latitude – you promised me a dance during Grizzly Bear!

Ah crap, so we did.

Spending a weekend hiding from their bearded frontman aside, exciting times are afoot in the Book Group camp. You’ll be able to buy Homeward Sound from their Bandcamp page and you can get a ticket to the launch gig here. Not one to be missed. Unless you already had a ticket to an inconveniently-timed gig by American alt rock legend.

Tags: , ,
Comment

This Silent Year

Filed under: Albums, Interviews — Leave a comment
April 30, 2013

Album of the Week: eagleowl – This Silent Year

tsy

This Silent Year is Scottish music’s Chinese Democracy. We’re just putting that out there. Edinburgh six piece eagleowl’s work rate makes Axl Rose look productive in comparison, and this album is the band’s first in their eight year history.

But that doesn’t really matter. Well, it would if it was a dead duck, but This Silent Year positively soars.

Eight tracks long (one for each year they’ve kept us waiting?), it continues the band’s tradition of making achingly beautiful, crawling mini-epics. They’ve also come a long way from early “hey! They sound like Low don’t they!” comments and have stamped their legacy all over Edinburgh’s music world, even before this album dropped.

This Silent Year starts as it means to go on with Forgetting – delicate guitar and Bartholomew Owl’s nonchalant vocals before some mournful strings and, eventually, thoughtful drumming kick in. Eagleowl Vs Woodpigeon (surely only one winner there?!) follows a more conventional song structure, but still takes its time, like the band in a nutshell.

Bart’s unhurried tones are supplemented by those of Clarissa Cheong and Lancastrian songsmith Rob St John – a fully paid up member of the band – on Not Over which threatens to warp into something sinister and ugly before it segues effortlessly into Summerschool.

But my word, we don’t half get to see the ugly side of eagleowl soon enough. Passing swiftly over It’s So Funny – a cute little song, but one that will confuse the hell out of you if you’re familiar with Cliff Richard’s back catalogue – we find ourselves with Too Late In The Day. The ominous, hissing build-up screams “this is different!!!” from the outset, the guitars, strings and vocals seem more nervous, more tentative, but it’s not until its blistering transformation around halfway through its 12 minute runtime that it truly flexes its talons with some truly ferocious guitars and drums that would scatter even the most stobborn flock of birds.

To highlight only the big rock number would do This Silent Year and eagleowl a massive disservice, however. The album may have been a long time coming, but it’s well work the wait. We just hope it doesn’t take another eight years to follow it up. The anticipation might just kill us.

We spoke to frontman and pseudonym enthusiast Bartholomew Owl about the making of This Silent Year.

How come it took so long for your debut to come together?

I’m not really sure – I guess life got in the way a little bit, as we all have day jobs. We also tend to over think things a lot. It was all recorded relatively quickly, but then we spent a long time mixing.

eagleowl by Neil Cammock

eagleowl by Neil Cammock

Can we read anything deep into the title?

You can read whatever you want into it! To me, the album is about relationships and the title is about a year in a life. It’s not taken from a song or lyric, but there’s as theme of absence that runs through the a whole record that I wanted to reflect in the title.

Are you hoping to take it out on the road?

We’ve got the launch shows in May – and I would really like to do more shows later in the year. I think it’ll be short, tactical excursions rather than a full on tour though.

Were any owls harmed in the making of this record?

I think we damaged our sanity a little. Too much tinkering and playing BBC sound effects 7″s at Tommy’s (Perman – ex-FOUND bassist) house. But I’m immensely proud of what we’ve created. And I think too much sanity is probably bad for you.

eagleowl will launch This Silent Year with gigs in Edinburgh (May 10) and Glasgow (May 12). Find out more here. The album is released on May 13 through Fence Records

Tags: ,
Comment

Bandcrush: Queen of France

Filed under: Interviews — Leave a comment
April 27, 2013

Let’s be honest, the only famed person of note that you think when you hear ‘Queen of France’ is Marie Antoinette, and given that her tale ended with her head in a basket, it’s a significant risk for this Minneapolis quartet.

Thankfully, as Iver Hillman’s wry lyrics on last year’s debut mini album Thank You I’ll Have Several of Those show, they’re not a band that takes themselves too seriously and even have their own suggestion for who the Queen of France is (see below).

Queen of France by Ben Prenevost

The music’s well worth investigating too. Thank You… is six tracks of punchy, poppy loveliness. The guitars veer between raucous and measured, with influences including 60s pop, new wave, and dare we say, those other prodigal sons of the Twin Cities, the Hold Steady.

Thank You… is currently available as a Name Your Price on Bandcamp, so there’s no excuse for not taking a look. And if you do download for free, just make sure you pass on the word, yes.

Iver may be THOUSANDS of miles away, but we STILL grabbed a word, through the magic of email. Hooray!

So who the hell are you?

We are Queen Of France. A power pop quartet from The Twin Cities, featuring Iver Hillman on guitar/singing and songwriting, Mark Madison-Kennedy on guitar, Marshall Baltzell on drums and Nik Prenevost on bass.

Describe your sound in ten words or less!

Merging melodic sensibilities of 60′s pop with post punk directness.

How did you guys come together to make music?

A long-running filtering process. We gradually came together through random acquaintances and some serious strokes of good fortune. I found Marshall on the local musicians ad listing, and then found Mark who frequented the coffee shop where my girlfriend worked, who started to realize that he might be a good fit after his commentary on the music played in that there coffee shop. Nik was a refugee from a previous music project with Mark, after the original bassist went overboard in a bizarre Latin jazz boating accident. We practice in the basement of Marshall’s house.

Would you say you had any influences?

Zombies, Kinks, Blur, Weezer, The Who, Joy Division, Buzzcocks, Todd Rundgren, The Strokes and any decent local microbrew.

What inspired your band name?

I took it from the title of a song I wrote in a previous band, originally inspired by this video.

Do you in fact have a favourite Queen of France?

Jean-Paul Gaultier.

And have you ever been to France???

Mark has. But then as he’s British it was a hop, skip and a ferry ride on regular occasions to come back with a van load of cheap wine. I was in Strasbourg for around six hours once. Nik was marooned at the Château de Versailles. True story.Marshall saw France from the cliffs of Dover and farted in its general direction.

Tell us a bit about the EP.

It’s merely a brief best-of collection of the first nine songs we learned and then recorded in the basement of the wonderful Eccles family between the time of the aforementioned Latin jazz melee and the acquisition of Nik.

Can we expect more material soon?

Yay, verily. We have plans to hopefully record a full-length LP in a few months at The Old Blackberry Way in Minneapolis. But we still have a few songs to hammer out yet.

Any plans to hit the UK?

Mark might have to visit his mum in the not too distant future and he’d love to take the chaps with him! The UK would be a great place for us to tour.

Tags:
Comment

I Cannot Sing You Here But For Songs Of Where

Filed under: Albums, Interviews — 1 Comment
April 24, 2013

Album of the Week: Thirty Pounds of Bone – I Cannot Sing You Here But For Songs Of Where

30lbbone

Thirty Pounds of Bone (a.k.a Germany-based native Scot Johny Lamb) released the heartbreaking Method in 2010, an alcohol-fuelled trip through troubled times that couldn’t fail to move even the most casual listener.

The rather more verbosely-titled I Cannot Sing You Here But For Songs Of Where covers similar territory. From the sound of lapping water and rhythmic handclaps, and the first breath of Lamb’s overtly Scots tones, this parks intself in the same spot as Method.

While not as traditional as Alasdair Roberts, Lamb’s sound is squarely based in old fashioned folk and sea shanties. Opener Veesik for the Broch sounds EXACTLY like you think it will. You’ll picture yourself looking out over a bleak, forlorn bay, with maybe only a fishing boat in the distant and a few mean-spirited sea birds for company.

This isn’t just one-man-and-his-guitar stuff though. An impressive guest list includes Hefner’s Darren Hayman plus Armellodie alumni Le Reno Amps and Jen Macro of Something Beginning With L. And sure enough, in amongst the banjo on The Truth of the Matter are subtle tape hiss sounds suggesting that this ain’t just an ordinary lament; and sure enough it bursts into life with a huge chorus and massive guitars. It’s bloody brilliant.

Meursault have managed to successfully combine traditional instruments with a massive stack of effects pedals and some of their older work is a useful reference point for I Cannot Sing You Here. So too is the minimalist wind arrangements of the seminal Creosote and Hopkins Diamond Mine collaboration. Helen’s House might be about the best example of where this works – contemporary yet olde worlde all at the same time.

Lamb spends most of his time in Germany, which is a shame for Scottish live audiences. This kind of stuff would be lapped up by his home crowds. Maybe we need to work on getting him back more often. Or maybe not. Crying through a rendition of Mother This Land Won’t Hold Me might be a bit embarrassing.

How do you feel your sound has moved on since ‘Method’?

I’m not sure really, I think these two records are close relations. This new one is trying to close the suitcase of trouble that ‘Method’ opened. That being said, ‘Method’ was made very quickly, and this new one was made very slowly. I became obsessed by the idea that production and recording were part of the composition. Everything carries meaning in that way, and I had the space to be thorough with that. ‘Method’ was made in a room, but with the new album, if a song was about a place, I went there and recorded it, and played there. If an instrument needed to sound broken, I broke it. There is nothing on this record that is an accident. It’s still shoddy and stuff, I don’t edit things, ever. Everything is a complete take, but if it’s a bit wrong, I spent three years getting the right kind of wrong. But once a record is made, it belongs to others, and that labour doesn’t matter anymore. People either like it or not. I don’t think either, that spending a long time on something necessarily makes it better than something done really fast, it’s just these songs had to be that way. Hopefully its an improvement on ‘Method’ though, I’d hate to think I was getting worse….

Thirty Pounds of Bone by Stephen Burch 2

How did you end up working with the guests on the album?

Easy, they are all friends and I asked them. They do the things that I’m not able to. Jen has about the cleanest voice ever, it’s quite something and her singing just sits exactly where it’s needed. Gris and Stacey play the fiddles because I can’t, likewise with Laurence and Seamus, who I have done other projects with. I play a lot with Laurence and Seamus and I made a piece for the international Samuel Beckett festival last summer. I can’t get my head around diatonic instruments, and I had written some parts that I couldn’t play, so the Irish box and the more difficult harmonica stuff was those two gentlemen. Chris, Mary and Darren all helped me with the research for this record and it seemed appropriate to have them on it, I contributed a track for a project of Darren’s, and I play in Chris’s band too. But it’s tough doing stuff on your own and playing with others is a nice treat. Oh, and Le Reno Amps are on it too, because they would have complained endlessly if I hadn’t let them (just kidding, they’re two of my favourite musicians). They are all people that I really admire. I’m delighted they agreed to contribute.

Tell us about the songs on the record!

Jesus. Really? That would take a really long time to do properly. They are all about place. Past place, the place of heritage, present place and the in between. I suppose they’re trying to make sense of our relationship to where we’ve been, where we’re from, and where we are. How a place forms the construction of identity, and how we perform that stuff. Folk music seems obsessed with authenticity, whatever that means, but for many of us, in order to say something truthful, the place to start is by acknowledging inauthenticity. Itinerancy does that. You can’t claim a place in the way you could if you’d always been there. You have to work with what’s left. The travel, the leaving and the loss. It matters, you know?

Can we expect to see any shows coming up?

I’m on tour right now. I’ve done some gigs in Germany, now I’m in Switzerland, heading to Zurich when I’ve finished typing this, then on to France. I’ve got a couple of shows with the Diamond Family Archive in Bristol and Exeter in May, and I’ve just started booking a few festivals. I’m open to offers. Always.

I Cannot Sing You Here But For Songs Of Where is out on May 6 through Armellodie.

Tags: , , , ,
Comment

Bandcrush: Magic Eye

Filed under: Interviews — Leave a comment
April 13, 2013

Well, Record Store Day is on its way round again. We celebrated last year by putting on our lovely pals Star Wheel Press at Electric Circus in collaboration with Avalanche Records. No such shenanigans this year, but at least now there’s a working record player at Tidal Wave Towers, we can, y’know, buy records and stuff.

Top of the list is a rather snazzy 12″ being popped out by Edinburgh institution Song, by Toad Records, featuring Plastic Animals, Le Thug and Zed Penguin, all of whom we’re confirmed fans of. The fourth band playing on this pretty, pretty, shiny red disc is Edinburgh’s Magic Eye, who we were utterly oblivious to until their name appeared on the press bumf for all this.

We can add the four piece to the list of bands we’re into though. Their dreamy, shimmery guitar pop with breathless female vocals is right up our street. Wildly different to the other bands on the 12″, they’re still an exciting prospect. Think a wee bit of Deerhunter melded with Stereolab and you’ll get close.

We grabbed a word with the band’s Alex Johnston, but first let’s tell you about the massive Song, by Toad stunt that’s afoot to time with the 12″ coming out. The vinyl has eight tracks, two from each act, but in an intriguing move, there’ll be a further eight tracks (again, two from each) released as download codes attached to very limited editions of Barney’s Beer (an Edinburgh microbrewery). Sold as a four pack, each beer has its unique characteristics which are being spuriously linked to the bands. Beer Vs Records, if you will.

This is an absolute masterstroke. It may well be a subtle attempt to rings the tills a little harder, but it’s one that we’re happy to fall for. The beer sounds delicious and the songs are as good as what’s on the 12″.

Anyway, to Magic Eye…

So who the hell are you?

Magic Eye recording their songs at Toad Hall

Magic Eye recording their songs at Toad Hall

Magic Eye – Alex, Bek, Roma and Francis!

Describe your sound in ten words or less

Our friend called it ‘aquarium rock’ before but I think that sounds kind of silly now.

How did you guys start making music together?

Me and Roma had known each other for ages and tried to make music, then Bek moved in to Roma’s so she joined and I just kept bumping in to Francis on the street and he ended up joining too!

What do you make of the three bands you’re playing with on the split 12″ then?

I like them!

Just as well. Does Record Store Day have a particular resonance for Magic Eye?

No, I don’t really buy physical music as I don’t really like having stuff, prefer to live more minimally, just got a bed, some clothes, a laptop and some recording stuff.

Ummm. We’re pretty sure that’s a little off message but who are we to judge? What’s next for the band once the Record Store Day fun is out of the way?

We have a full album recorded in a super fancy studio but it came out sounding not how we wanted it to, which was so sad and disheartening but we are re-recording that which shouldn’t take too long and hope to have it released near the end of the year! Think we just had good news about it too which we are excited about!!

Intriguing! Okay, back to the theme…… beer or records?

I prefer beers and mp3s over records I guess, but that’s because of the reason from before. Plus I don’t have a record player, but I really like the sort of specialness of vinyl, I got really overwhelmed when I first held the 12”, the first vinyl I’ve ever been on, a really lovely feeling. I really can’t tell what would win but maybe beers will?

We kind of have a hunch beers will too, just for the sheer novelty value of getting music with booze. But we’re hedging our bets. The 12” is on its way and we’ll be booting down the door of the beer stockists on April 20 before checking out some the sensational in-store line-up down at Vox Box. The four bands named above are playing together at Edinburgh’s Summerhall at night too, which should be ace.

We haven’t managed to research what else is happening on the day but this year Avalanche are hosting Admiral Fallow, which isn’t to be sniffed at either!

Not on the 12″ (or the beer), here’s some Magic Eye for yer ears.

Tags: , , ,
Comment
Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 57 other followers