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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