You never write, you never call

Realised it had been ages since I have updated here, so here goes. I've had a relaxing January with not much on at all, which should all hopefully change with February. The following gigs are lined up:

• 30th January - Fanny By Gaslight, Kilmarnock, 4pm acoustic solo show
• 19th February - Nice'n'Sleazys, Glasgow, 7.30pm, £4, with Renegade Folk Punk Band
• 27th February - Libertines, Ayr, £3, cut down folk band show
• 19th March - Balcony Bar, Dundee, £3, with Renegade Folk Punk band 
• 21st March - 13th Note with Chris T-T, £6, solo show

Not to mention a UK tour with Adam Boucher in early March, a new split release with Don't Let Paris Fool You, and perhaps even more shows!

On that note, I am looking to do quite a number of solo acoustic shows, so if you want to put one on (perhaps a house gig), please get in touch. I live in Dundee now, so travelling to anywhere in Scotland is absolutely fine, at any point through the week!

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The decade in review

When I was 16 I picked up a guitar for the first time, as we move in to the early days of 2010, I'm now 26. That means ten years of pretending to play guitar, and bending the notion of what qualifies as a 'vocalist'. All that said, it has been a pretty fun ride.

It would be hard to pick the best gigs I've played over this time, although I'm sure Northwich and Barrow-in-Furness with DNR in 2002, Trans-Europe Cafe in 2008 with Robert Blake and 13th Note in 2009 with Mischief Brew would all feature. As would numerous times at Hornby, and both Lexapaloozas of course! Even harder would be to pick the worst gigs as up until around the time of the aforementioned Trans-Europe, they outnumbered the better ones! However, Fury Murries in early 2007 for a Greyhound Charity sticks out in my head!

Anyways, the final year of the decade was pretty good too. Perhaps a bit more muted than 2008, but still fun. I had a great wee tour with Roscoe Vacant in March, played a fun Oxjam Music Festival and also managed to play at Blackpool's Rebellion Festival. In fact, this year had a good number of fun festivals to play, including Full Throttle in Durham, and No Sweat in London.

My favourite thing to happen this year was definitely the formation of the Renegade Folk Punk band. Originally this was supposed to be a one off thing for the Mischief Brew show in June, but folk seemed to enjoy it and we stuck it out. Had a few line-up changes where we ballooned up to a total of 8 members before settling on the 7 member juggernaught. We recorded a wee CD and played some great shows, including perhaps the weirdest show I've ever done at Cafe Gandolfi's 30th Birthday celebrations. No footage has yet emerged of that!

So yeah, big thanks to Puggs, Sye, and my brother Dan for being part of the formation of the band, and to Jud Harron, Dan Irving, Dave Burns, Kenny Leckie, Rachael Leitch, and Woody for sticking with me! Hopefully in 2010 we'll record a new CD and play some gigs together.

I'm not entirely sure what the new year will hold though. On Saturday night I played a gig at The Captains Rest in Glasgow, supporting the Tragic City Theives. Originally booked as a DH&RFPB slot, some members couldn't make it so we played it in a cut-down line-up. As Kenny couldn't make it, I switched to electric guitar (for the first time since 2003) and it felt good. I think that there will be a few more shows like that very soon, perhaps even a CD. The other thing on the horizon is a busy March with a tour with Adam Boucher.

Hope you all had a great Hogmanay and all the best for the coming days, months, years, etc.


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Hits on the radio?

The recording of the Vale gig last weekend went quite well, I've been listening to the rough mix quite a lot and have sequenced it in to quite a nice sounding LP. Hopefully we'll have something before the end of the year for you to download.

Our next, and final gig of the year, is the 18th of December (Black Friday) at Slanj in Greenock. The last time I played Greenock was March of 2008, and so this gig holds quite a special place for us. It's also the first time I'll be playing with a band down there for around 6  or 7 years.

I've confirmed a few gigs and plans for early next year, and I'll announce them soonish, along with a proper end of year review in some form.


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Recognising Chester Bennington

I'm back home now after an amazing weekend of driving down then up the country playing gigs to people who were actually listening and enjoying the night, and then getting some cash for my efforts. In other words, a perfect weekend for an unsigned troubadour much like myself.

Major thanks to Alt Track in Bradford who stepped in at the last moment to get me on the bill for their show at Bar Zuu in Bradford. It was a really great night, with amazing bands playing. Captain Hotknives was playing, and after listening to his music for around 2 years, it was amazing to actually see him live. I still wouldn't let him marry our Denise though, what would the kids be like?

The third band of the night was a side-project, but it was utterly fantastic. They were called Foxes Faux, and contained a bazookie, 12 string guitar, an astonishing violinist, djembe, bassist and mandolin player. The songs were impressively written and the musicianship second to none. Finally, Alt-Track played to close the night with their punk rock electronica style of music. Really well done with great lyrics, including a show stopping accapella rap to end it.

The night ended with a wee drive from Bradford to Huddersfield where my good friend James 'Bar' Bowen gave me a bed for the night, and an awesome breakfast to get me going the next day for my drive to Cardiff.

I arrived at Cardiff around 6pm and found the flat I was playing at in the evening. It was a friend of mine named Chris's 21st Birthday, and he had invited me to play as part of a house gig alongside Ben Marwood. The night was horrendously fun, and perhaps one of the best house parties I've played. Daddy fought the law finally felt fun again.

Finally it was an 11 hour drive back to Dundee, but oh so fucking worth it.


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On the road again, paying my back taxes

If only I could pay my taxes with playing shows! Anyways, this weekend has a couple of gigs which will both be awesome:

• Friday 20th November - Bar Zuu, Bradford with Sounds of Swami and Alt-Track, 7.30pm, Free
• Saturday 21st November - Chip's Flat, Treforrest, with Ben Marwood

The next gig after these two is The Vale bar where we'll be recording our live EP thing. Full details over at the facebook page.

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To cap it all off

Small update to say I'll be playing a solo show at Capitol in Glasgow on Sunday night. Roscoe Vacant is also playing, which is always a pleasure!

Perhaps come along? It's only £3 entry and it's a birthday celebration for John from Firestorm who turns 21. I'll also be playing a new song.


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Onwards, punk rock soldiers.

I don't know if there needed to be an announcement or anything, but I felt like checking out the new backend of the blog again.

Yesterday I asked Woody to join the band permanently as the drummer. I've spoke in length with Puggs about it, and we both agreed that this was for the best. Puggs's only reservation was that this was getting all a bit to "Behind the music", with amicable splits etc followed by a "HE KICKED ME OUT THE FUCKING BAND" statement.

So yeah, now you know. Have a video of the band and Woody in action:



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