Just a little folksinger from Glasgow. (2011 in Pictures)

I can't really be arsed writing screeds and screeds about how 2011 panned out. Instead, by the wonders of my previous gig list and Facebook pictures, this will be like a slide show. 2011 was a very good year for the band and I, and for once there are some photos from the interesting parts.

2011 started with my most northerly gig ever, up in Thurso with Carnivores and No Exit Wound. Many thanks to Kenny from Carnivores for asking me to come along for that ride. There was an awesome wall to be seen and night out to be had.

Things really got started in February though, with an 8 date tour with Adam Boucher and Adam Bennett. You can watch the documentary we filmed of it here, and read an indepth interview I did with Last Years Girl on the run up to it here. 

Writing our setlist in Greenock

On stage at The Horatia in Holloway when I could have been playing in Brighton.

The tour finale for me was at Lexapalooza at the Old Queens Head alongside some pretty awesome acts. My favourite part was having Chris T-T on stage with us to play The Ghost of Tom Joad. We also managed to score an ace review of our set.

Lexapalooza with Frank Turner

Lexapalooza with Chris T-T

This year I went out on tour more often than previous years. Shortly after the Boucher-Bennett tour, I did three dates with Beans on Toast, followed by two dates with Jim Lockey & The Solumn Sun.

Photographic proof I played this show even though other folk may have forgotten.

Final date of the Jim Lockey & Solumn Sun tour at PJ Molloys. I didn't get to play, but since this isn't an end of year Top 10 of disorganised, useless, crap promoters, I won't get in to that.

Before we knew it we were in to May, and the band played an ace support slot with Miles Hunt and Erica Knockalls at the Classic Grand in Glasgow. Woody got to meet his hero and we all had a great night out.

On stage at Classic Grand supporting Miles Hunt

June started with a couple dates with Anna Madeleine. Tour dates I mean. The first also had The Indelicates on the bill, who were promoting their David Koresh Superstar album. Perhaps one of my favourite gigs of the year, you can read a brilliant review of it here.

In to July and the band and I played our biggest show ever, in front of 600 people at The Tall Ships Festival in Greenock. This was a home show for our drummer Woody, and I got really bad sun burn. Proper good fun though.

Greenock tall ships, July 2011

Holy shit.

And, in a strange turn of events that we hope to be repeated, we ended up driving through the night to Cheltenham to play the absolutely fantastic 2000 Trees Festival. 

Myself and our wonderful driver, guitar-tech, roadie, all round good bloke Gareth and a sign. We may have had a couple to drink by and during then.

Greenhouse Stage, 2000 Trees festival

Late night set after Scroobius Pip had finished playing. My drummer was floating around the field somewhere high on life, and my bassist was comatose in a tent by this point.

The week after 2000 Trees, I released my first album through the Corporate Records label. Despite The Blackout was its name, and some people seemed to like it.

 In the first week it sold more copies than most of my others in the same time frame. Later on in the year it was given a proper release through iTunes, Spotify and Amazon, and received what might be the best album review in the history of album reviews (for albums that I released). My brother also wrote a thing about it, which is also perhaps the closest anyones got to writing my manifesto.

I then headed out for two weeks with Mr Ciaran Lenehan from Ireland. We played all around Great Britain, from Edinburgh to London via Cardiff and Tipton (and other places). Ended with a show at The Flowerpot where someone asked my bassist, during my set, "is he someone famous", and when the reply of "No" came, she walked off. Camden, innit.

Our Town (by Iris Dement, later Kate Rusby), in Beeston at The Greyhound.

Nice wee house show in Birmingham, I love this photo.

After getting home from that tour, the band and I played Roscoe Vacant's record release show in Glasgow at Nice'n'Sleazys. This would be the last time that Judith Harron would play with the band, and to give her a send off, we plugged in and played an electric punk rock set.

Thanks Jud.

The face I normally pull during gigs.

I didn't really do a release show for my own album, so instead, I booked to play MacSorleys in Glasgow as a wee solo show. The solo nature of the show came about since Woody had taken on a job with Uriah Heep as drum tech, but as fate would have it, he had a day off from travelling around Siberia and Veneuzula and came along anyways.

Without a doubt my favourite solo gig in Glasgow for a long, long time.

Then, in October, we played our biggest Glasgow support slot ever. We supporting The Fucking Wonder Stuff at Apollo 23. Unfortunately, Woody was away in Russia, so I drafted my brother in on Mandolin to make up for it. This was a magical show, we had a backstage room to ourselves with two showers, beer, wine, sandwiches and a bowl of fruit. 

Dan writing a setlist back stage

Tuning up and asking myself how the hell we ended up being able to do this.

With Woody being away, we didn't do much as a band for the next few months. I played a couple shows here and there, including a couple shows with Franz Nicolay and Chris T-T. There should be a documentary film coming soon about the Glasgow show (hosted by Last Years Girl) we did, but until then, I've only got a couple photographs. 

Last year's Girl singing with Last Year's Band.

Dancing Two-step from Dundee's Book Yer Ane Fest.

We finished the year with a full band show at MacSorleys which was a fitting end to a great year. Hopefully 2012 will be even better, but it has got a lot of work to do.

Have a great Hogmanay, and I really hope I'll see some of you next year. Perhaps February when I'm out on UK tour with Emma Hallows?

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The Surrogates

It's quite hard to describe how good the last weekend was, good gigs, good people, good drinks, good goods. All good. It was ace hanging out with Chris T-T and Franz Nicolay for the time: a lot of the time when you play gigs with people travelling, the down time is limited, but when you have a weekend you start to get to know each other. Many thanks to Lisa Marie Ferla and the Make that a take boys for having me at their events, truly made me happy.

We can now announce that we'll be closing out the year with a Renegade Folk Punk Christmas Concert at MacSorleys on Sunday 18th of December. Woody is back from his stint with Uriah Heap, so we're going to rock it. Support comes from the excellent Algernon Doll (who was brilliant at Book yer ane fest) and The Giddy Things.

Here's a video of an old song, filmed at Book yer ane fest. There will be footage from the Speakeasy on Friday, alongside a documentary/interview, but that's still having its finishing touches added.

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The time has come to Galvanise (the troops)

This is going to be a bit lengthy, so pull up a chair.

I don't know about you, but I plan on having a fantastic weekend. On Friday I'm playing at the inaugural Last Year's Girl Friday Night Speakeasy alongside Chris T-T and Franz Nicolay. I could push you to buy tickets, but you know, with the very sparse amount that are left it would be cruel to turn people away at the doors. Although, it would mostly be their own fault for not buying in advance. Their call I guess.

Then on Sunday I am playing in Dundee at the Book Yer Ane Fest extravaganza. This is a yearly punk rock festival that the boys at Make-it-a-take records have been running to raise funds for the Safe-Tay Charity. It kicks off on Friday and runs through till late on Sunday night. Full details can be found here.

I'm really hoping that there are no clashes at Book Yer Ane Fest since all the stops have been pulled out to bring an amazing bill. I mean, seriously, ONSIND, Algernon Doll, Esperi and 15 Minutes (also Chris T-T and Franz Nicolay) are all playing on the Sunday. Saturday has Bangers, Leatherface, The Living Daylights and Beauty School Dropout. I've no idea why I am writing this in reverse order, but if you are in Dundee on the Friday, you'll find Joey Terrifying opening proceedings, with Mikey Erg and The Arteries also making an appearance. Well worth what ever it costs I'd say.

In other news, Despite the Blackout received perhaps the best review I've ever received over at the influential blog The 405. You can read it here.

And to drop the dead donkey, I'll be touring in February with Emma Hallows. Check out her current EP Anchors Up here and get excited as I am. Dates are coming in Fast, so I'll hopefully announce them all before the end of the year.

And finally, Woody is back from his international stint with Uriah Heap in a couple weeks. We'll have some Renegade Folk Punk Band news regarding this to announce on Monday.


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Re-Release Me!

Back in July I released my first album through a label. It was called Despite the Blackout and people seemed to like it. Today the album was given a re-release through the more established stores such as iTunes, Amazon, and eMusic. It'll be on Spotify in a couple of weeks once they get their arses in gear.

If you haven't got your copy, you can get it through these links (I've never used iTunes, but can recommend Amazon highly):
iTunes : http://bit.ly/v0GPjX (£4.74)
Amazon : http://amzn.to/vnFJOl  (£4.14)
eMusic : http://bit.ly/uRclZX (£2.52)
Corporate Records site: http://corpor.at/A211 (pay what you want from £3)

The gig I'm doing in Glasgow with Chris T-T and Franz Nicolay (of The Hold Steady fame) is almost sold out. A couple of days ago there were less than 10 advance tickets left, so I'm sure that stockpile is diminishing. Head over to BrownPaperTickets to get yours now. 

http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/205970

And, Book Yer Ane Fest (the Sunday after that gig) is also selling fast, so if you are Dundee orientated, head over to make-that-a-take's online shop to grab your tickets. The line-up is astounding.
http://makethatatake.bigcartel.com/ 

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A spark to set the world on fire

You would have thought that playing one of our biggest gigs ever would have produced a blog post, but for some reason I completely forgot to update here!

So, anyway, last Thursday we supported the truly wonderful and amazing band The Wonder Stuff. Our line-up was slightly different (Woody was stuck in Vladivostok with Uriah Heap, and my brother Dan stepped in on mandolin) and the song choices might have been a little off, but I think we pulled it off.

RFPB live at Apollo 23, October 2011

Last night I went to Cowdenbeath to play a benefit gig. It was pretty good fun, if a little different to other gigs I do these days. I love playing completely new towns as it is dead easy to get stuck in playing towns and cities on the main transport links. Took me almost two hours to get to Cowdenbeath, including two trains. Sometimes you forget that the UK still has local rail circles. Damn you Dr Beechings, Damn you.

During my rehearsal/preparation for last nights gig (and slightly incensed by Billy Bragg's current 'political songwriting doesn't exist these days' article), I re-discovered a song that I had written around 10 years ago. Not quite sure of how I used to play it, I blasted out a version, recorded it (with a couple overdubs of harmonica and backing vocals), and uploaded it to sound cloud.



Really hope you find time to listen to it. Even though I wrote it ages ago, it kind of describes my feelings on this whole Occupy protest thing. After The Wonder Stuff gig, my brother and I camped with the Glasgow Occupiers to try and find out more about it, but to be honest, my jury is still out.

My  next gig is 2nd of December with Chris T-T and Franz Nicolay. Half the tickets are already sold, so you'd better hurry. Also, a couple days later is Book yer Ane Fest in Dundee, which I hear is also selling fast. This is my 200th gig. Wow.


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Tattooed lines beneath our skin

Tomorrow (Wednesday) is my biggest gig in Dundee to date, at The Doghouse supporting The Travelling Band. Somewhat nervous about it, but also quiet excited at the prospect. First time I've played on a raised stage in the city since I played at The Cotton Club with my old band back in 2003. That was with Turtlehead, Bovine and possibly PMX (or another Dundee/perth band that were close to them).

Anyways, I have some tickets left for this gig going cheap if you want some.

In other news, I did a wee interview with The Music Ink about music and tattoos and stuff. You can read it here. And, over at the Make That A Take records' bandcamp page there's an awesome compilation of bands that are playing Book yer Ane Fest in December. Check it out, I for one really recommend the Algernon Doll track, but with the selection on offer (Franz Nicolay, Arteries, UNIFORMS, and others), your £1 is well spent (and given to the Safe-Tay Charity) so you can't lose.




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No Surrender my Bobby Jean

You know when your friend says "Do you want the good news or the bad news first?" and you pick the bad news first so that the good news lessens the hit of the bad news? Well, that's what I'm going to do here.

So, as of yesterday, Jud Harron is no longer with the Renegade Folk Punk Band. We wish her all the best with her studies and impending solo stardom. On a side note, Jud was the first person to offer to collaborate with me on my music and has been part of this since our first gig at Slanj in February of 2008. Since then she's featured on many recordings (my favourite being Paradise from Connections) and came with me around the UK a couple times. I'm going to miss her as part of this.

Wednesbury, February 2010

For upcoming gigs and any recordings, we will have our sometime singer Rach coming to the front for duties. Rach isn't a stranger to the band, having played many a festival (Rebellion 2009, Full Throttle 2010) and gig with us. In fact, for fact fans, the first gig under the Renegade Folk Punk Band was myself, Dan and Rach playing. That was at Bloc+ in Glasgow in early 2009.

Today I'm finally allowed to mention that I'm playing in Glasgow on the 2nd of December with Chris T-T and Franz Nicolay! Many, uber thanks to Lisa-Marie at Last Year's Girl for putting this together. I'm utterly 'stoked'. You all know how much I adore and worship Chris T-T, but to be on a bill with him AND Franz Nicolay of Against Me!, Hold Steady and Mischief Brew-colab fame is mind blowing!

Our upcoming gig calendar looks thus (full details for tickets on gigs page):

• 19th October - Doghouse, Dundee supporting The Travelling Band
• 27th October - Apollo 23, Glasgow, Supporting The Wonder Stuff
• 5th November - Wee Jimmies, Cowdenbeath, fundraiser for Gemma Reilly
• 2nd December - The Old Hairdressers, Glasgow, supporting Franz Nicolay and Chris T-T (Limited Tickets)
• 4th December - Dexters, Dundee, BOOK YER ANE FEST MY 200th GIG! (Feat. Nicolay, T-T, ONSIND and more!)

We'll be debuting our new RFPB line-up in some fashion at The Wonder Stuff show. Except for an absent Woody who will be on tour with Uriah Heap. Although, you can be assured though that his place on the RFPB drum stool is secure.

The shape of renegade folk punk to come, 

Full Throttle Festival, July 2010

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Lackadaisical Walrus

It seems like I'm posting on here in fewer and far between measures. Somewhere in between a crisis of confidence, lack of interest from the inside and outside, and general interruptions from the real-life-adult-world, something got lost along the way.

This month, September, has been the first month since sometime in 2008 that I've not played a single gig (or indeed written or recorded a song). I've got a few things ticking over that I can't announce just yet, but hopefully October will be the month for that.

So, October, what do you have for us that I can talk about? Well, it kicks off with a couple gigs with Canada's Rob Moir. He plays folk-indie pop stuff (a bit like Ciaran Lenehan's stuff, but Canadian). He used to play in a band called Dead Letter Dept who were pretty good.

• 1st October - Thomsons Bar, Dundee, free entry 8pm
• 2nd October - MacSorleys, Glasgow, free entry 8pm

Then I have a wee break until the 27th of October when it's finally time for The Wonder Stuff gig at Apollo 23 in Glasgow. Really excited and scared at this in equal measure. That's a good sign, right?

There is one bit of awesome news that I can announce for the tail end of the year, and that's that I am playing the absolutely amazing Book Yer Ane Fest 5 in Dundee in December. Other acts include Chris T-T, Franz Nicolay (The Hold Steady, Against Me!, World Inferno/Friendship Society), ONSIND, and many many more. Check out the facebook event for full details. Or, indeed, this poster for the full line-up.

And finally, I wrote a wee top five of Independent Scottish acts for The Ruckus since we spoke last. Check it out here.

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The big Two Zero Zero?

Apologies for the radio silence here, I've been trying to sort out things in my life that aren't musical. Not too much avail, but hopefully in the next couple of days something will happen.

Anyways, seems like there's big changes happening around RFPB Towers. We played at the end of August in Nice'n'Sleazys for Roscoe Vacant's album launch (cheers for putting us on), and it has kind of struck me that that gig would be the last of the 'original' line-up for a wee while. Jud has buggered off to college in Carlisle and Woody has taken on a job as drum tech for Uriah Heep. He's currently on the bus to Manchester to go fly out and meet the band. Kenny's obviously busy with the meteoric rise of Carnivores, which leaves Dan and I twiddling thumbs.

So, the next few gigs I've got listed are going to be solo efforts for me. It's still up in the air what's happening with the Wonder Stuff gig line-up wise, but I've a feeling things will come together in some fashion.

While looking at the gig listings, I noticed that I'm around 10 gigs away from hitting my 200th gig. I was thinking it would be pretty cool to get this landmark out of the way before the end of the year. So, what I'm asking is for some kind of 'crowd-sourcing' of gigs between now and end of December. They don't need to be big or 'proper', just a place to play a wee set for some people. House shows, pub gigs, backgardens, car-parks, that kind of thing. Anywhere around the country is fine by me, so please email me and we'll see what we can set up. Oh, charity gigs are also good.

I've a couple more gigs that are lined-up to be announced on the page, including an end of November spectacular that's currently sitting in my head as a cross between KISS and Phil Ochs.

"Will we ever see the likes of you again" (Taken by Ross Morris)

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Shut the door and cover me

Almost back in to the swing of being back home and at work. Played a nice wee show last night at Tonic in Dundee. Just a last minute set to help out Sarah who runs it, mainly covers with a couple of new songs from the album. Got a free dinner out of it, so can't complain.

I've added a couple new sections to the website since we spoke last. I guess they are related to each other. Firstly, you can now stream the new album from the music page before deciding to buy it (hint hint hint hint etc). Then you can head over to the brand new 'chords' page to learn how to play the songs. And finally, you can send me an MP3 of you covering one of my songs and I'll add it to the, aptly named, covers page.

There's already a few covers that I've found and uploaded, including Ross from Bandito Fleeto who gets the prize for being the first to cover a Despite the Blackout track. Cheques in the post.

Again, I have undying gratitude to everyone who's picked up a copy of the album. It has been selling pretty well through the Corporate Records site which is a good thing. If you know how the music industry works, not much money is made through selling DIY independent music, however, CDs that do manage to be sold make a good impression to the label for the artist. The label is, being a capitlist institution, more inclined to nurture those who sell well, if you get what I'm trying to say.

Basically, everyone on an independent label has a coat on a shoogly peg, and if the CDs don't sell, the coat falls on the floor.

My coat thanks you.


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Emotional battlefield

While watching people's homes and livelihoods being destroyed in London, I can't help but hope that everyone I know (or met) down there is keeping safe.

The tour is over now and I'm back home in Dundee licking my wounds but also smiling at the good times we had. Cheers to Ciaran Lenehan for coming out on the road with me. Of course, much gratitude and thanks are sent out to everyone who put on a show for us. Manchester, Beeston and London in particular are high-points for me. Many thanks as well to everyone who showed face at various dates around the country. Travelling hundreds of miles by buses, trains and cars is somewhat easier when you see familiar faces at the other end.

The album is still available to buy from the Corporate Records website (currently sitting at number two in their charts). People who have got their copy seem to be enjoying it and so I'd love it if more people could hear it.

Next gig: 25th of August, Roscoe Vacant Album launch at Nice'n'Sleazys in Glasgow. We'll be a three-piece electric punk rock band for it.

Right, I'm away to work out what I've learnt or got from all this.


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Despite the Blackout out!

Just a very quick post to say that the album is now released and you can get your copy from the Coporate Records website. I'm dead excited that it's finally out (and I can stop fiddling with the mix etc). And plus, Woody did the artwork which is ace.

It's a sliding payscale, so you have a bit of control over what you pay for it. It's six tracks, and I hope you find some enjoyment in it!


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I say Spandau, you say...

Right, my head is almost back together after a wonderful weekend at 2000Trees festival. Rather than giving you my own recap, I'll instead give you a link to my wife's blog. It's a nice photo-diary of the trip. Absolute major kudos to Gareth for stepping in as driver (and harmonica tech) for the show.

On to more pressing business. It would appear that the UK tour starts tomorrow in Edinburgh. All the gigs are listed on the gigs page (with facebook events, maps, tickets), so check that out if you fancy coming to see me and Ciaran Lenehan play some songs. From memory, we are hitting Edinburgh, Full Throttle Festival (nr Newcastle), Manchester, Bristol, Tipton, Brighton, Cardiff, Great Barr (nr. Birmingham), Nottingham and Camden.

And finally, the album is finished. I'm dead pleased with it and really can't wait for you to hear it. You may have noticed that there are more menu items up there on that menu bar. Under the 'lyrics' section you can find all the lyrics that are on the new album, along with a couple tracks you can listen to. Once the album is out on the label website (on Monday!), I'll place a player to the full thing there too.

Thus it'll become the Despite the Blackout page.

Right, I'm away to pack. And obviously, the answer is that you say Ballet.

Late night busking at 2000Trees (taken by Lisa)

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Too many wonderful trees

Seems like an age since I last posted here, but it has only really been 10 days or so. Since then though, two major things have been put in front of the band and I.

First up, on Friday we are ecstatic to announce that we are playing the wonderful 2000 Trees Festival.Just look at the line-up and you'll see why we are over the moon. We'll be on the Greenhouse Stage at 13.20 on the Friday.

Secondly, in a strange turn of events last night, we can announce that we are supporting the awesome band The Wonder Stuff at their Glasgow show in October. This takes place on the 27th of October at the newly opened Apollo 23 (on the site of the original Apollo venue). Full details and ticket links on the gigs page.

Looking back now, this weekend was a hell of a lot of fun. Started on Friday evening at the Captains Rest with Billy Liar and Louise Distras for a night of acoustic punk rock. A nice wee audience made up of friends and punk rockers all having fun, that's what it's all about.

The next day was off the scale though. I mean, just look at this photo:

The renegade folk punk band at the Tall Ships Festival, taken by This Girl is

That's us playing in front of around 500 people in the Sugar Sheds down in Greenock for the Tall Ships Festival. I had some amount of panic when Dan and I went to meet Woody in the venue before our set. How would such a large audience, made up of people who had never heard us, feel about hearing 30 minutes of renegade folk punk. Especially since we were missing Jud who usually brings the more mainstream pleasing sound to the band.

In the end, it went very well. Dancing, singing along, smiles, and some well deserved beer in the summer sun. We even played a brand new song called Mirrors, which you can hear here.

This feels good.

The renegade folk punk band at the Tall Ships Festival, taken by Alan Hughes

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On the tracks

I've been spending much of my spare time over the weekend sequencing the new mini-album (and tweaking mixes, receiving guest slot's parts and general tidying up). I'm dead excited about letting people hear it in full. It's dead hard not to just upload it now and say GO GO GO!

Anyways, on Friday while the nation was gripped on Bono and Co's leather trousers, I uploaded a track from the album called "When You're Old" to the Facebook page. It's the album closer, but unfortunately, if you weren't one of the many who had a wee listen, it's now gone.

In it's place I have uploaded the album opener entitled Mirrors, and you can hear it again at the Facebook page. I think that if I was in a position to release a single from the album, this would be it as it sets the theme and style of it all. Let me know what you think of it, either comments here or on Facebook.



Finally, the tracklisting for the full album, entitled "Despite the Blackout" is thus:

1. Mirrors
2. Discovery Itch
3. The Bells
4. How to craft a life
5. Despite the Blackout
6. When you're old

Out July 25th through Corporate Records (digital) and on CD during the tour.


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Revisionist History

I had a wee bit of a change of heart over the weekend. The masters came back for the Seven Songs project, and while an improvement over the source tape, weren't what I was really looking for.

So, instead, I've been busy in the evenings recording a brand new EP of songs for the release on 25th of July through Corporate Records. It'll have 5 songs on it, including one re-recording from the Seven Songs EP, and a whole bunch of guest vocal slots at the end.

I think it'll be called Despite the Blackout, and I'll post the tracklisting on Monday once I know for sure.

Trust me, this is much better!


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Angel of the castle, the castle on the hill

Someone once said that if you have to spend the week at work, you might as well have as much fun as possible at the weekends and suffer for it on Monday morning. With this in mind, I can say that this weekend was exactly what I needed. On Friday I took the train from Dundee to Glasgow to meet up with Anna Madeleine at the 13th Note to begin our little Scottish Weekender.

Friday nights gig was with the utterly gloriously amazingly brilliant Indelicates. As pointed out by a few folk, many had chosen to spend the hottest day of the year in an almost full basement venue. Sweat was running down the walls, in the good way.

We had local spokenword act lirazelf compering the night, which is always a pleasure to watch. After introductions, Anna played first and was mesmerising. It was great to finally hear these songs live after listening to her EP on Spotify numerous times over the past year.

Then the band and I got up and did our usual thing. Except, due to a wee PA fault at the start of the set, we opened with a completely unplugged cover of ONSIND's Gardez La France. That was the first weird thing, the second was the call for an 'encore'. Or 'Wan More Song' as was the case on Friday. It felt pretty good, yeah it was pretty alright.

It was then time to watch The Indelicates in all their glory, and I don't think I've had as big a grin over my face for a long time as I did when they were on stage. The night ended at Maggie Mays for a few drinks before a riverside walk to find a taxi.

The next day Anna and I took the train down to Ayr to play at the lovely Bar Libertine. Kudos to the opening acts in the form of Christie Connor-Vernal and Ross Gilchrist, and the small amount of people who came along. Anna played a more expansive set, complete with blow-job jokes, and I did what will probably form the tour set for August. It was a fun night.

Major thanks to Roscoe Vacant for helping Anna and I get back to Paisley, and introducing us to the sexiest sat-nav known to man.

That's about it for the moment. Only gig on the gig listing is down in Greenock for the Tall Ships in July. I'll be announcing all my tour dates next week hopefully, and perhaps I'll be playing near you so we can say hi and have a beer together.

God knows I need it.


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What does it all mean?

I'm currently waiting on the arrival of Chris T-T for soup and bread before heading out to play a gig together in Dundee. The soup smells ace (spicy carrot fact fans). Gig will then kick off around 8pm, and is Free entry at Thomsons Bar.

Last night I finally recorded the third episode of "Something Old, Something New". Mr Roscoe Vacant asked if I could do "The sinner and the saints" for it, and so I obliged. There's also a wee snippet of an Evan Greer song, which will all make sense when you hear the EP. The new track is called Despite the Blackout. It's about why I do this, or rather, why I hate answering that question since it removes the point in doing this. Yeah.



The band and I are playing our next Glasgow gig on Friday at the 13th Note. It's with the superb Indelicates, and the equally magnificent Anna Madeleine. Both from down south, and all three of us don't sound the same so there's something for everyone. What I will say though is that tickets are selling fast, so head here to get yours.

And finally, tour dates are almost complete. Expect an announcement thing somewhere on the more famous parts of the internet soon. Currently sitting at around 2000 miles in a round trip. Ace.


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A classic night out

Another tour diary-esque entry for the blog (are people ok with this?)

Really happy with how Thursday turned out for the band. We were supporting Miles Hunt and Erica Knockalls of The Wonder Stuff in Glasgow. A slightly cut-down band from us due to our most famous rock-star member, Kenny Leckie of Carnivores, playing with his band in Paisley instead. It's not often we get our own dressing room, let alone a dressing room with a case of beer, and even let alone a dressing room that's bigger than the venue itself (and the headline act's room!).

Anyways, we loaded in, sound-checked and went for dinner together. This is the part of being in a band I like, being in it as a group/mob/team and going through what is going to happen. We rehearsed a while before show time (including a ditched Springsteen cover and new arrangement of The Sinner and Saints, with some transitions between some songs).

Watched as the room filled up nicely, it wasn't uber-busy, but enough people to give that lovely applaud sound that bands love to hear.

Decided to play a different set to the one we've been doing recently. Added a couple old songs in the form of Paradise (This City) and My Mothers House, and the relatively new (but perhaps never played?) High Fidelity. People seemed to like the set and we all had fun playing it.

After the gig, we hung out with Miles and Erica, drank a lot, were convinced to go with them the next day to act as support again (but due to a few things in the cruel light of morning, this couldn't happen), and then danced the night away. Brilliant times.

Hopefully the next couple of gigs will continue in this vein, they are:

• Sunday 29th May, 2011 Thomsons Bar Dundee
• Info: Free, With Chris T-T, Map,
• Friday 3rd June, 2011 13th Note Glasgow
• Info: £6, With The Indelicates, Anna Madeline, Map, Tickets, Facebook
• Saturday 4th June, 2011 Libertine Ayr
• Info: £3, With Anna Madeline, Map,

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Baskets and Bibles

It occurred to me that I hadn't written a few words about the weekend before last. I played two dates with Jim Lockey and the Solemn Sun, then had a night out in Dunfermline where I didn't play, and then played a fun gig in Glasgow.

The Lockey tour dates got off to a quiet start in Ayr, save for Ross's mate and four random guys showing up. IT's a nice wee venue, Bar Libertine, but something needs to happen to make people in Ayr a) aware of it, b) come out to it on a Friday night. They missed a trick on Friday as the Solemn Sun boys played brilliantly.

Then it was a short 3 hour drive to Aberdeen the next day for Tunnels. I really like playing at Tunnels (this would be my third time), but I don't think we could have picked a worse day to play in Aberdeen. Not only were we competing with Twin Atlantic at The Lemon Tree, but also the Torcher Parade on the main street. Bums. Still, we had about 4 times as many folk as in Ayr through the door, didn't lose money on the hall higher and the Lockey boys got a small amount for their petrol. I also sold more CD's that night than any Scottish gig recently. Win.

The night in Aberdeen drew to a close with a trip to Moorings bar for drinks with some of the guys who came along, followed by a Gay Club called Cheers where the night took a sharp left turn in to the WTF category. Finished up by waking in Katie's flat wondering where one of our party was, and should we leave him in Aberdeen as we make our way to Dunfermline. He showed up an hour later and we were on our way.

Dunfermline was a charity all dayer ran by a singer in local pub-rock band, horrifically named, Honk. We showed up around 6pm and were shown times of 8pm for Lockey and Band, and 8.45-9 for myself. As the evening went on it was apparent that this paper wasn't scripture, and finally Lockey and his band got to play (after the guitarist from Big Country who played with his new band, and they were dire), but still no sign of my set. In the end I didn't get to play, which pissed me off no-end, but had an ok night with new friend Gwen who was celebrating her **th birthday. Hospitality was top, so it wasn't all a bust.

Back at work on Monday, and then down to Glasgow on the Tuesday for a Charity Gig for Tsunami Appeal. All the other bands playing were very technical, and with loop machines/synths providing sounds. While playing it felt abit like we were on the SS Lead Balloon, afterwards I had a couple folk coming up to say they enjoyed it, which made me smile and almost £200 was raised for the charity. Esperi was fucking amazing, so if nothing else I'm sorry that more of my friends missed him. Jaw dropping, seriously.

Damnit, this turned out to be a bit long. So suffice to say, our next gigs are:

• Thursday 19th May, 2011 Classic Grand Glasgow **CHEAP TICKETS**
• Info: £8, With Miles Hunt & Erica Nockalls, Map, Tickets, Facebook
• Sunday 29th May, 2011 Thomsons Bar Dundee
• Info: Free, With Chris T-T, Map,
• Friday 3rd June, 2011 13th Note Glasgow ** SELLING FAST!**
• Info: £6, With The Indelicates, Anna Madeline, Map, Tickets, Facebook

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Solemnly spluttering away

I'm heading out on a wee Three Date Mini-Tour of Scotland this weekend with Jim Lockey and the Solemn Sun, followed by a Tuesday gig (full Renegade Folk Punk Band) at our old haunt, the 13th Note. The dates are:

• Friday 29th April - Bar Libertine, Ayr, also with Roscoe Vacant,  Map, Facebook
• Saturday 30th April - Tunnels, Aberdeen, 7pm,   Map, Tickets, Facebook
• Sunday 1st May - PJ Molloys, Dunfermline, 1pm all dayer, Map, Facebook
• Tuesday 3rd May - 13th Note, Glasgow, with Mitchell Museum, Lady North and Esperi, Map, Facebook

And of course, full detail's of all my upcoming gigs with map, ticket, and Facebook links are on the gigs page.

Yesterday I recorded a quick second part to the Something Old, Something New series. The two songs this time is the MEGA SUPER INTERNATIONAL HIT "Daddy fought the law" and a brand new one called "She dreams of Toronto". Hope you enjoy.




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Explaning Something Old, Something New

I'm currently on a train towards a bed and breakfast in Inverkeithing, before getting a plane to Zurich, where a train will take me to Konstanz in Germany for the week. So, while this silver bullet of british railway pioneering crawls through every backwater town on the east coast of Scotland, I thought I'd write a wee blog post.

On Tuesday I released a wee EP entitled "Something Old, Something New". It's the first of a regular series of EPs where I'll sit down and record two songs (one old, and one new), with a bit of explanation about where the songs came from. It's all recorded in one sitting through the same tape deck I used for Seven Songs (which, if you have that EP, will give you an idea of the sound quality)

The first one contains the song Outnumbered (from the Sinners and Saints EP), and a brand new one called "How to craft a life".

I've decided that these will be brought out every 2nd Friday. This means you have until this Friday to listen to the first one, before losing it forever! I've already chosen the two songs for the next one, and can tell you now that it's going to be much better (I've more to say about the older song, and the newer ones a bit more 'finished' than How to craft a life).

So, if you haven't already, here's Something Old, Something New part one for your listening pleasure.





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Hunting Sparticus

I thought that last Monday's uber blog post would suffice for the moment, but alas, here I am again. I have two great gigs to announce for May.

First up is a support slot to the wonderful Miles Hunt and Erica Nockalls. This will be the 19th of May at the Classic Grand in Glasgow. Miles is best known as the front man of The Wonderstuff (last seen in Glasgow supporting the Levellers last month). Their 90's classic Size of a Cow is one of my favourite songs, so I'm dead excited about playing this gig. It's going to be a full Renegade Folk Punk Band gig aswell. I'll have cheap tickets to sell, so please email me.

Technically I've played with him before since he went on after me on the Unison stage at Guilfest at 2007. This will be 1000 times better because that was 2007 and this is now.

And secondly, I've got and booked a wee show for myself and Chris T-T in Dundee on the 29th of May at Thomsons Bar. Chris is out promoting a single called Words Fail Me, taken from his last album 'Love is not Rescue'. He's a good friend of mine, so I'm looking forwards to this low-key boozer gig. Free entry as well.

Full details on tickets, locations, dates, restrictions etc are all on the gigs page.

PS, something special coming to the Facebook page tomorrow.


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All we have are memories, we can't remember

I am utterly exhausted. This weekend has been worth it though, it was a pleasure to watch Beans on Toast play every night and also get to play my songs in front of people. If I were to choose a favourite gig, Glasgow would get the prize. Thanks to Tragical History Tour, Daniel Versus the World and Shambles Miller for providing extra support during the weekend.

Last night was a whole pile of fun with the band being on top-form. I know that we pulled it off since after getting off stage we were offered a support slot at a gig for Japan Tsunami Appeal with Mitchell Museum. This will be Tuesday 3rd of May at the 13th Note, and is a fiver entry.

The weekend before hand, I'm heading out around Scotland with the truly awesome Jim Lockey and the Solemn Sun. They are just fresh from a tour supporting some guy called Frank Turner and we'll be hitting Ayr, Aberdeen and Dunfermline. Full details (maps, supports etc) are on the gigs page.

Moving on to June, I can now announce that I'm going to be once again supporting The Indelicates on Friday the 3rd of June. We'll also be joined with the lovely Anna Madeleine on the night (and I'll be playing with her the next night in Ayr). Again, full details are on the gigs page. This is pretty weird for me as the tickets are selling ferociously fast, so if you plan on coming along please buy in advance.

Finally, the band and I are heading down to Greenock to play at the Tall Ships Festival. We'll be appearing on Saturday the 9th of July. I'm still waiting to hear where the stage will be located, but from what we hear it'll be an outdoor stage on the Harbour side. I'm dead excited about this!.


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St Admiral of Fallow

I've got a wee last minute gig on Saturday in Aberdeen. It's at MUSA, so if you fancy some lovely food and some Brewdog Beer, feel free to pop along. It's free entry, and a much more acousticy folky gig from me.I was hoping to play another gig up that end of the country, but so far it seems like as promising as a last minute gig in  Hereford. If anyone's got any contacts/leads let me know, it would help with the travel.


Then, two weeks later it's the illustrious Beans on Toast tour. I'm dead excited for this and have been planning my set for ages. I need to start playing a couple of the new songs since we're about to go in to a studio to do the new album and so it would be a good idea to know them inside out.
Beans on Toast tour dates:

• Friday 1st April – Tunnels 2, Aberdeen, £4
• Saturday 2nd April – Thomsons Bar, Dundee (just behind The HighSchool of Dundee, near Abertay Union), Free entry
• Sunday 3rd April - 13th Note, Glasgow, £5

As I mentioned, we're starting to record the album at the end of May, and so we're trying to get as much interest drummed up as possible in the run up to release. If you like what we (as in me + Renegade Folk Punk Band) do, please consider 'sharing' us with your friends. It would mean the world to me, and help me feel like less of a Elephant in the Room (tm). If we hit 200 'likes' on Facebook, we'll show you what the album (and by default the title) cover looks like. 


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In the light of petrol stations and cheap corner shops

Where to start with describing how awesome the last week and a half has been? From the quiet start in Aberdeen, to an utterly awesome Glasgow gig, and ending playing a show at The Old Queen's Head in Islington with Frank Turner, Beans on Toast, Mark McCabe, and many, many more at Lexapalooza, it's been a hell of a ride.

This is even without mentioning playing a gig with one of my favourite bands ever, ONSIND, in Lancaster, and hearing Boucher and Bennett play every night. We had a good batting average of 7 out of 8 gigs being good, and the other being a bit meh. Although, that said, the people who came to see us said they had a ball at that one too.

There are many people to thank for helping us out on the road. If you put us on, put us up, came out to see us, bought CD's and merch, or just helped us organise it, consider us very grateful. I'd personally like to thank my band for making the trip all the way to London with me for the Lexapalooza gig. From looking at the pictures, and hopefully the videos when they appear, I'd say we finally looked like a real band.

Some photographs taken by Adam Boucher:

Some photographs from Lexpalooza by Alison Garrett.

It's all quiet now till the Beans on Toast Scottish dates I'm doing, details on the gigs page now!


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Six hundred miles from home.

It was all going so well, the route was planned, gigs were booked, Facebook events were created. And then a gig got pulled. The Brighton gig to be exact, and so I'm on here putting a call out for anyone south of Birmingham who might be able to help us with a gig. We're needing something for the 11th of February, it's Friday night (so, just to clarify, not a Monday!)

Day's off are expensive, especially when you're 600 miles from home and on a completely grass-root tour with no major record label backing. Hell, even with major-record label backing, day's off can be expensive. I would assume.

We're not looking for anything massive, could be a living room show with some of your mates round, or a gig down your local pub. Just anything that can give us a wee bit of petrol money (it's last minute, so we'll take what we can get) and a bed/floor for the night. Leave a comment here, or email me if you can help.

In other news, I've released a free to download single over at Bandcamp. It's called The Replacement, and has a B-side called Midnight Walks. Have a wee listen, and perhaps download it to your portable music playing device.





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Road Ode.

Last night I uploaded a demo of the track The Replacement. Doesn't feature quite the full Renegade Folk Punk Band (only me, Dan and Woody), but it sounds much like what we sound like live when playing that song. You can listen to it at the facebook page. I quite like how it came out. Hopefully the album will be much the same.

As promised, here is where the tour is going to be taking us. Feel free to mark your attendance at the Facebook event page.

• Friday 4th February - MUSA, Aberdeen, Free Entry, 8pm
• Saturday 5th February - Bar Libertine, Ayr, £3, 8pm
• Sunday 6th February -Dakota Rock Bar, Greenock, Free Entry
• Tuesday 8th FEbruary - 13th Note, Glasgow, 8pm, £3
• Wednesday 9th February - Yorkshire House, Lancaster
• Thursday 10th February - The Swan Bar, Kiddiminster, Free Entry
• Friday 11th February - Still looking for a Dann Saff gig (Brighton? Southampton?)
• Saturday 12th February - Lexapalooza Lite @ The Old Queens Head, London

A few notes on what's happening where. The Aberdeen show will be me solo, doing two sets of 45 Minutes, much like the last time at MUSA. Watered down with Brewdog Ale, which is always a winner with me! All other dates except London will be with Adam Boucher and Adam Bennett. And, then the 13th Note show and Lexapalooza Lite will be full band shows from me, but with a slightly longer set at Glasgow.

And, the week before I head out on this tour, I'll be going up to mother-fucking-Thurso to open for Carnivores. That is Saturday 29th January at The Newmarket Bar. It's the most Northern gig I've ever done.


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