Dead Hope - The Ginger Quiff

Singles of the Year 2023

December 28, 2023 By neilho27@sky.com

I have no idea how John Peel narrowed songs down to a Festive 50 every year, he must have received 1000 times the number of songs I receive on a yearly basis. Maybe if I did a Singles of the Year 2023 blog again tomorrow or the next day, things would change slightly as I think of another song that needs to be included, as in the singles round-ups (links to all the round ups of the year at the foot of the blog) I must have listed between 400 and 500 songs this year, another bumper year for new music.… Read the rest

The Scars, Boots For Dancing, Scorpio Leisure, Port Sulphur – Live – La Belle Angele

December 16, 2023 By neilho27@sky.com

(all black and white pictures courtesy of David Kidd)

After what was a stressful day, at the end of an exceedingly trying week, Friday was to bring relief with a Christmas Cracker in the shape of Frets Xmas gig, featuring four courses of prime cuts.

While across the cities in the East and West, carnage was ensuing with Xmas shoppers and once a year drinkers, La Belle Angele was the place to be, it was like Christmas come early, the icing on the cake, or more fittingly, the Angel at the top of the tree.

The starter set the night up perfectly, with Port Sulphur (including half of Quad 90), looking ultra cool in dark glasses.… Read the rest

Junk Pups, Water Machine, Brenda, Dancer… live and awesome

December 10, 2023 By neilho27@sky.com

Dancer, Brenda & Water Machine photos all courtesy of @Blackmagicplastic

Despite the gig year hurtling apace towards its inevitable conclusion, December still holds some diamond nuggets in its dying embers, with some of Scotland’s brightest hopes and searing hot burning talents still to perform while continuing to gather plaudits, and gearing up for more to come in 2024 with some festive frolics.

Last week I attended my first ever Queer Theory night in Nice n Sleazy, and what a welcoming night and magnificent celebration of the queer scene in Glasgow it was. Kudos to the organisers for pulling together such a slick night, a combination of comedy, poetry, drag acts, cabaret, performance art, and of course, my initial reason for buying a ticket, Junk Pups.… Read the rest

Water Machine – live in the Hug and Pint

November 9, 2023 By neilho27@sky.com

After a brief break from gigging in their home city, touring south of the border and recording their hotly anticipated debut album, Water Machine returned to gigging at the Great Western at the weekend, so this gig supporting Snooper was their second Glasgow date in three days.

After a stressful day, a gig is always the perfect antidote. That is unless you come up against transport issues and your stress is multiplied… Unfit, out of shape and bedraggled, I walked into the venue just as the band were assembling to start their set. A joyful sight, especially as I had almost ditched any attempt at making it there on time.… Read the rest

Diablofurs – Welcome to the City of Fun – album review

October 27, 2023 By neilho27@sky.com

You know that well known phrase, “Go Big or Go Home?” Diablofurs have done just that with their follow up to the magnificent Neon Satellites, forget Madness and their piddly wee House of Fun, and join me in entering the vibrant and colourful City of Fun. If you know Diablofurs, it will come as no surprise that Welcome to the City of Fun is crammed to bursting full of glorious and hugely anthemic electro-synth punk-pop crowd slayers.

The melee of sound that is the hubbub of fairground noise introduces the albums title track, with a warning immediately following with the opening lyric “welcome to the city of fun, but don’t get blown away,” before the Gang of Furs proceed to do just that… Rob, Suze, Becks, Danii and Kay combining to create an injection of adrenaline, their unbounded vitality helping express their message straight to the core of your being, “welcome to the city of a thousand dreams, you can be most anything you want” and creating an hypnotic burst of neon energy.… Read the rest

The Kidney Flowers – Burn Your Furniture – album launch gig review

September 24, 2023 By neilho27@sky.com

After the gig to celebrate the release of the or new record, I think we can safely say The Kidney Flowers new album is well and truly launched, along with a large percentage of the gathering in The Old Hairdressers who spent the night crowd surfing and gleefully body slamming into anyone who cared to reciprocate.

This was a breathless night in many ways, the breakneck speed of 99% of the songs, with nary a chance to register what was happening between songs, and quick handovers between bands leaving no time to take a breath, but also the stifling heat in the venue, probably in no small part the temperature raised by the heaving mass of bodies, adding to the intoxicating and suffocatingly intense atmosphere. … Read the rest

Water Machine – Raw Liquid Power – EP review

September 17, 2023 By neilho27@sky.com

Water Machine are working their way into your psyche slowly but surely. So far they have completed various small steps on their journey to world domination, gigging their little hearts out and in doing so building a roots up solid base of fans in their home city of Glasgow. Then releasing the now sold out (too slow losers) S/T Demo Tape, featuring live favourites Water Machine, I Quit, Flowers and the song which drew me in to the music of the band in the first place, Hot Real Estate, to great acclaim, and following this up with the superb vinyl EP, Raw Liquid Power (more of which shortly).… Read the rest

Scorpio Leisure – Give Us Some Space – single review

September 16, 2023 By neilho27@sky.com

Ramrock Records have given us a well-deserved re-release of the previously independent offering, the divinely hypnotic Give Us Some Space single from the supreme talents of what can only be described as post-punk supergroup in the form of the wonderful Scorpio Leisure. Taking their name from the now defunct and infamous Edinburgh “attraction”, the band’s live nucleus of drummer Russell Burn (The Fire Engines/Win), bassist extraordinaire Colin J Whitson (Gin Goblins/Boots for Dancing/Voicex), guitarists Mungo Carswell (The Solid Bond) and Ricky Maymi (Brain Jonestown Massacre) with the delectable Hettie Noir on simmering sultry vocals is bolstered on the single by further post-punk luminaries in the form of Malcolm Ross (Josef K/Orange Juice) and Gareth Sager (The Pop Group/Rip, Rig & Panic).… Read the rest

Escape-ism and Scorpio Leisure – live in Sneaky Petes

August 27, 2023 By neilho27@sky.com

I have my cousin to thank for my trip through from Perth to Edinburgh for this gig, having introduced me to Ian Svenonius via the Nation From Ulysses album Plays Pretty for Baby , what now seems like aeons ago. To be fair, that’s only part of the reason for my trip to Festival City. I could have seen Escape-ism in my home city, however, the Sneaky Petes gig did have the added attraction of the mesmerising Scorpio Leisure as the opening act…for our audio pleasure.

Scorpio Leisure

If you’re still not au fait with the incredible Scorpio Leisure, my question for you is, what the fuck are you waiting for?… Read the rest

Dark Places – a mini festival from The Filthy Tongues

August 13, 2023 By neilho27@sky.com

The inaugural, I say that in hope rather than having any specific knowledge of this being an annual occurrence, Dark Places festival was to my ears, a roaring success, a glorious celebration of music across a variety of genres, and from new bands to the more established (I was going to say young and old, but let’s say young at heart…)

Martha May and the Mondays

The job of opening the festival was handed to Martha May and the Mondays, a new band for me, part of the virtue of a festival like this, the opportunity to discover music new to you..… Read the rest