The Ginger Quiff - Musings on music and mental health

House Guest Festival 2024 – review

April 9, 2024 By neilho27@sky.com

First things first, a huge congratulations must go to Scottish Music Collective and Crowded Flat for pulling off a superb inaugural House Guest event. Not only was the sold out day a huge success due to the phenomenal line up, bulging at the seams with a smorgasbord of new Scottish talent, the day ran like clockwork, the dream team in Sleazy’s (where, despite plans, I based myself all day) from bar staff to event management ensuring things ran like clockwork. I hope the success helps this event to go on to be a celebrated annual event much like its template events such as Tenement Trail. … Read the rest

The Countess of Fife – Interview with Fay Fife

November 13, 2024 By neilho27@sky.com

The Countess of Fife, the solo project from the iconic Fay Fife have recently launched a Kickstarter campaign for their second album, the follow up to their well-received and critically acclaimed debut the Star of the Sea. The current campaign, for the album A Woman of Certain Wisdom ends on November 22^nd, with plenty of tempting packages to attract the discerning music fan.

HELP FAY FIFE MAKE A NEW ALBUM : A WOMAN OF CERTAIN WISDOM by Fay Fife — Kickstarter

I met up with Fay recently in Coffee Saints in Edinburgh to catch up with her (and Harris – her beautiful Golden Retriever, who enjoyed his pup cup) on all things Countess of Fife and navigating the music industry in the 21st Century.… Read the rest

Corrupt Intentions – Time to Give Up – EP review

November 10, 2024 By neilho27@sky.com

Formerly part of the young punk quartet Minority Rule, whose flame burnt short but brightly leaving a lasting impression on many who saw them, Gregor Ritchie, together with Three n Eights bandmate Aaron Collins on bass along with drummer Liam Toner, is back with his new hardcore punk trio, Corrupt Intentions.

Ritchie, who is an instantly recognisable part of the West of Scotland music scene, especially at punk and psychobilly gigs with his impressive black and red Mohawk, has swapped the bass of Minority Rule for guitar and lead vocals with Corrupt Intentions, a band who owe more of a debt to the NYC hardcore scene and West Coast punk legends Rancid (and all their associated bands – Operation Ivy, Transplants, Old Firm Casuals and Lars Frederikson and the Bastards to name a few) than they do to the UK punk scene, with, of course, a smattering of psychobilly thrown in for good measure…

The six songs offered up on their first release are raw and ferocious, six straight down the barrel, no nonsense, no messing, visceral knockout punches. … Read the rest

Amyl & the Sniffers – Cartoon Darkness Live in Glasgow

November 8, 2024 By neilho27@sky.com

All photographs courtesy of Christopher Hogge

A month to the day that I get to go to New York for the first time and I awoke to the news the whole of the sane world was dreading, the USA have re-elected an incoherent rambling fool to be the head of the most powerful country in the world. As if the world isn’t fucked up enough, the UK is being run by a “sir” whose socialist ideals are as far away from Labour as I’ve ever seen, and that after we finally got rid of the moral bankruptcy and increasingly fascist ideals of Tories as well.… Read the rest

Shrunken Head Promotions present Thee Scarecrows aka in Glasgow

November 4, 2024 By neilho27@sky.com

It was a Saturday of highs and lows. The highs? Back to back plays of the stunning new album from The Cure, Songs From a Lost World, a record that is going to be top of so many end of year “Album of the Year” lists. The lows? My football team’s unbeaten run ended… well not so much ended as was ripped asunder with a humiliating annihilation at Hampden…

Nothing else for it, who cares about the football anyway? There is music to be enjoyed…

If you missed out because you didn’t heed the recommendations and low ticket warnings, more fool you as you missed a quite extraordinary experience.… Read the rest

Scottish Music Collective Halloween Bash with Sister Madds

November 1, 2024 By neilho27@sky.com

All Hallows Eve in Glasgow and the streets were filled with orange jumpsuited convicts, pirates and zombies… so no change there then from any other night… Who can really tell anyway? The post apocalyptic wasteland that is Sauchiehall Street these days looks like the Zombie apocalypse has already come to pass. Anyway, having fought my way through the hordes of the undead I made it to Scottish Music Collective’s sold out Halloween spooktacular in Nice n Sleazy, a fearsome four band bill headlined by the unstoppable force that is Sister Madds.

Before the headline act we were treated to a smorgasbord of diverse bands in the shape of Naked Actress, Vigilanti and Sean Choon & the Prawn Monsoon.… Read the rest

Carol Hodge - Photographer John Middleham

Carol Hodge – Selenite Songs Tour Preview Interview

October 27, 2024 By neilho27@sky.com

I recently interviewed The Courettes after their show in Glasgow, a duo often labelled as the hardest touring band on the circuit. Closer to home another artist who seems to be touring/playing live incessantly is friend (no relation…) to these pages, Carol Hodge, who must have mornings like “today its Yorkshire it must be Selenite Songs/Steve Ignorant/The Wildhearts/rare day off at home* (*delete as appropriate).

Within that busy touring schedule Carol managed to squeeze in some time for a chat about relentless touring, part two of the Selenite Songs tour with Julia Othmer, her new album EffortLess InSecurity and being an independent touring artist.

… Read the rest

Keeley – Beautiful Mysterious – Interview/Album Review

October 23, 2024 By neilho27@sky.com

All photographs courtesy of Chris Hogge (@chrishoggephotography) • Instagram photos and videos

There is no artist I’ve come across in recent years quite like Keeley, her dedication and persistence to her cause is both remarkable and unwavering. When I say her cause, I don’t just mean the creation of her perfect and complex dream-pop/shoegaze masterpieces, it must be said that Keeley is no ordinary recording artist. Her raison d’etre, and what makes her tick, is the pursuit of justice for German backpacker Inga Maria Hauser who was cruelly murdered on a backpacking trip as she made her way to Ireland from Scotland.… Read the rest

Bodega – Brand on the Run tour, Glasgow

October 22, 2024 By neilho27@sky.com

All photographs courtesy of Chris Hogge (@chrishoggephotography) • Instagram photos and videos

It feels that there has always been an affinity between Scotland, particularly Glasgow, and New York. It seems that the spirit of the cities live within each other. Perhaps it’s because we look alike, with Glasgow often substituting for the Big Apple in Hollywood blockbusters and then there is New York hosting a Tartan Week, perhaps it’s because both cities have a strong musical heritage spawning some of the worlds best bands and having some of the most iconic music venues, past and present. Or maybe it’s just because each cities people know how party and have a good time.… Read the rest

The Courettes – Live (& Interview) – Room 2, Glasgow – The Soul of The Courettes tour

October 15, 2024 By neilho27@sky.com

All photographs of The Courettes courtesy of Christopher Hogge Photography Chris Hogge (@chrishoggephotography) • Instagram photos and videos

The new album by The Courettes came out on my birthday, what a gift to receive. Fortunately I’d had access to the album in advance so by the time I received the vinyl, I was well versed in the songs contained within the grooves. After all these years, and there have been more than a few now, there is still nothing like playing a record for the first time, and a band like The Courettes really should be listened to on vinyl…

I had been looking forward in anticipation to a huge list of gigs in September, but unfortunately I never made the majority of them, and the one’s I did make it to, while the gigs were great, I wasn’t as locked in as I normally would be, my head and thoughts were often elsewhere and try as I might, I couldn’t lose myself in the music the way I usually do.… Read the rest

Stop Me If You Think That You’ve Heard This One Before…. Don’t Panic, Ask for Help

October 2, 2024 By neilho27@sky.com

It’s a well known fact, we all have mental health, just as we all have physical health. So it follows that we can all have periods of poor mental health in the same way as we can all experience poor physical health. Why is it then that when we start to feel ill or suffer from physical ailments naturally most of us will take affirmative action to prevent whatever is affecting us from getting worse. Maybe we go to the chemist and pick up some over the counter remedy, or seek advice from a pharmacist or doctor, and in more serious cases we are admitted to hospital’s to receive the correct care and attention.… Read the rest