April, 2023 - The Ginger Quiff

Singles Round Up 2023 – Part 4 – April

April 29, 2023 By neilho27@sky.com

Four months into 2023 and the new music keeps coming thick and fast, so much to listen to, so much to love. As usual, there is the evil Spotify playlist at the end, try then buy….

Lambrini Girls – Lads, Lads, Lads

Ahead of the release of their EP, You’re Welcome, comes single number three from feisty punks Lambrini Girls, this time tackling the subject of lad culture and toxic masculinity with great gusto, venting their spleen with impassioned fury. Be sure to catch them when they play The Hug and Pint in June, and if you’re going south for Iggy’s Dog Day Afternoon, get their early to see them.… Read the rest

Blue Aeroplanes – Culture Gun – album review

April 22, 2023 By neilho27@sky.com

My tiny mind is blown. I thought Last Night From Glasgow had reached their zenith early this year with Hifi Sean and David McAlmont. Then along came Culture Gun. I must have listened to Side A at least half a dozen times before I even managed to flip over to Side 2, the four songs on the first side offering so much, it was hard for me to take it all in on the first listen. Raw energy. Commentary on the state of society. Impassioned vocals. Tunes which veer from boisterous and rambunctious to beatific and thought-provoking. Lets face it, Gerard Langley and Co.… Read the rest

Mark Shaw: Then Jerico – Live in Room 2

April 18, 2023 By neilho27@sky.com

16th April 2023 in Glasgow’s Room 2 stripped years off me, maybe not physically, but certainly mentally. First (pardon the pun), I’d seen Then Jerico way back in November & December 1987 in the QMU and Edinburgh Playhouse respectively on the Winter Safari tour at the ripe old age of 18, fast forward to ‘89 and this time it was the Playhouse and the famous Barrowland for the Big Area tour. I may have aged 33 years in the interim but in Room 2 on Sunday night, as stage time approached, I felt the same youthful exuberance I’d felt all those years ago, a giddy sense of anticipation potentially unbecoming of a man of my advancing years.… Read the rest

Drunk Gods – The Immortality Project – album review

April 17, 2023 By neilho27@sky.com

I honestly thought after hearing nothing from Drunk Gods since their single Found the Lord & Lost My Soul/Pet Hate, back in 2018, that Ewan was on an indefinite hiatus, maybe he had found “the lord” and lost the music mojo? Thankfully this is not the case, with Ewan taking to social media at the turn of the year announcing the imminent return of Drunk Gods, this return now cemented with the release of The Immortality Project, the follow up to 2015’s self titled debut, and album title perhaps a wry observation and a hint that you can’t keep a good man down.… Read the rest

His Lordship/Bruno & The Outrageous Methods of Presentation – Live in Stereo

April 11, 2023 By neilho27@sky.com

The month of April, and a week of annual leave, got off to a remarkable start gigs wise. What with a double header from The Fabulous Courettes on the Monday, including the most unusual venue for a gig I’ve ever been to, in the chapel in Barlinnie Prison, and the second with Three n Eights in tow, closely followed by the return of His Lordship to Glasgow after a triumphant slaying of the McChuills crowd last year. Two of the best live bands on the go just now, back to back, what more could a body ask for?

I’ll tell you what more a body could ask for.… Read the rest

Singles Round Up – Part 3 – March 2023

April 10, 2023 By neilho27@sky.com

Another month and another immense list of songs for your aural pleasure. Don’t let anyone ever tell you there is no good new music about these days…

As usual, there is an evil Spotify playlist for you to sample the songs before you go to the artists own sites to buy their music if you like it….

The Black Delta Movement – Zip Tie & Photograph

Zip Tie from garage rockers The Black Delta Movement is initially an understated slow burner, a low and slow sinister rumble that builds in speed and increases in intensity as the song reaches its powerfully climactic zenith.… Read the rest

The Day The Courettes visited Barlinnie Prison – Gig Review

April 5, 2023 By neilho27@sky.com

After what has been a full on few months at work, I awoke to a bright & crisp sunny April Monday morning, hailing the start of a week’s annual leave. And what better way to spend my first day of doing as little as possible, than in the company of “the hardest working band in showbusiness”, the dynamic husband/wife duo, The Courettes.

You Know That’s a Prison Don’t You?

This was set to be a day, and a gig experience, to remember. One like I’d never seen never before, or likely to again. The first of a double header of gigs in Glasgow for Flavia and Martin on this most glorious of Monday’s saw them following in the footsteps of a select few performers over the years, including the infamous San Quentin gig from the Man in Black himself, Johnny Cash, by playing a gig exclusively for the inmates of a prison.… Read the rest