Category: Drunk Gods

Warmduscher & San Jose – live in the Classic Grand

May 19, 2026 By neilho27@sky.com

This was a bit of a last minute one, I’d seen the Warmduscher gig advertised but it was only in the last week or so that I noticed San Jose were to be the support, that sealed the deal for me.

Anytime I’ve seen San Jose before, the gig descends into near riot with stage invasions, beer flying, raucous pits, athletic moves and incursions into the crowd from their rambunctious frontman Calum as well as disrobing by the band, well particularly guitarist Cean. Despite the early set time and the fact it was a Tuesday night, pretty much everything was there apart from the stage invasion for the finale, a boisterous and life affirming multi faceted anthem through one of my favourite singles of last year, Dirty Linen.… Read the rest

Buzz Cutz – March Albums Pt 1- Elgin & the Marbles, Louise McCorkindale & Vitaliy Tkachuk, The Foot and Leg Clinic, The Rotations

May 14, 2026 By neilho27@sky.com

Elgin & the Marbles – The Sun Never Sets

2026 has been a magnificent year for lyrical storytelling so far, even just in the last month or so there have been new albums from Sloan Brothers and Heavenly that have had me both charmed and captivated by the microcosms of life encapsulated in their songs. Now I can add to that list The Sun Never Sets from Elgin and the Marbles, who have completely and utterly captivated me with this delightfully enchanting album. The songs have a beguiling elegant grace and beauty within which they deliver lyrical tales laced with provocative and politically charged messages delivered in a deftly astute manner.… Read the rest

Singles Round Up 2026 – March

May 12, 2026 By neilho27@sky.com

The singles round up for March has more than it’s fair share of excellent singles from emerging Scottish talent from alt-rock right through to Gaelic rap (yes, you read it right), with debut singles from the likes of Honey, Close Control, Sports Frock and Quality Control and cracking singles from Tanzana, bottle rockets, Martha May and the Mondays, Stratus, Verse Metrics, Bandit Country, Dubinski, Doss, Subterranean, Brontes, Grow Up, Pearling. Arran Hopkins, Conscious Pilot, Limonead, Gichard, Mantel, Big Crunch, and braes, with some more established Scottish acts like Middle Class Guilt, Carla J Easton, The Countess of Fife, The Girobabies and Broken Chanter joining the party.… Read the rest

Buzz Cutz – February Albums – Sloan Brothers, Molly Vulpyne Band, The Screamin’ Kick, Heavenly

May 10, 2026 By neilho27@sky.com

Despite the best of intentions, 2026 hasn’t panned out the way I’d have wished and so, once again, the Ginger Quiff has taken a back seat. Here are some shorter than normal reviews of some of my favourite albums released in February

Sloan Brothers – Love and Other Diagnoses

I fell in love with the music of Sloan Brothers at the time of their 2022 System Update album, reviewed here, an album which came at me from leftfield and hit me for six. Sometimes you review a band or album and then maybe never listen to it again. System Update isn’t one of those albums, it is one which I revisit time and again, and I’m stoked that Love and Other Diagnoses has come along and does nothing to dampen my ardour for their music, if anything it re-ignites the flame and gives me another set of, sometimes heart-aching, charmingly honest songs to swoon over.… Read the rest

Middle Class Guilt – Their King of Comedy – album launch gig – Nice ‘n’ Sleazy

May 9, 2026 By neilho27@sky.com

There is a strange dichotomy that exists when I’m dealing with my mental health that means when I get overwhelmed with anxiety and depression, the first things that fall off the radar are the things that bring me joy, keep me grounded and give me a focus. I end up fixating all my energy on negativity, overthinking and becoming selfishly insular and uncommunicative, and I start to spiral and break before I realise what is going on. I’ve really struggled to keep on top of things for probably the last 2 years now, but with some support from therapy which, along the way, opened up some raw wounds but also allowed me to have some closure, I really believe that I’m starting to feel as if for the first time in a long time, I finally recognise who I am and can take back control again.… Read the rest

Keeley – Girl on the Edge of the World – Album Review

February 17, 2026 By neilho27@sky.com

Keeley is a one in a million. An artist the likes of whom you could search the rest of your life for and never find anyone quite like her. She, and her band, is a once in a lifetime find, an artist with such integrity and dedication to her cause, she never strays from her path and is she is laser-focussed on her task at hand. A task in hand that is two-fold.

First and foremost Keeley is a music lover, and a musician’s musician, she has a passion for music that is second to none, with an encyclopaedic knowledge about the music and bands she loves.… Read the rest

Singles Round Up 2026 – February – Part 1

February 15, 2026 By neilho27@sky.com

When you take your eye off the ball for a second… I’ve been guilty of ignoring my inbox and my blog of late, I turn away for a couple of weeks and there is a plethora of fantastic new singles from a gamut of bands and styles… This is just the first part of February’s round up, beyond this initial collection, there is another burgeoning list of new singles for February and it is the usual smörgåsbord of sounds from across the globe, with a heavy dose of homegrown talent. Within that homegrown talent in Part 1 there is bona fide music legend Fay Fife in her Countess of Fife guise, and new singles from the likes of Broken Chanter through to newer kids in the block who are making quite an impression on the local scene in the guise of bands like heavyskint and Dallas Love Field.… Read the rest

Singles Round Up 2026 – January – Part 4

January 29, 2026 By neilho27@sky.com

The final part of this month’s singles round up runs to 21 songs, bringing the total to 57 brilliant new songs for the first month of the year, 23 of these from Scottish bands/artists, a cracking start to the year I’m sure you’ll agree. Part 4 of the singles for January includes new singles from 3 bands that feature on the forthcoming New Sound of Scotland CD namely Cowboy Hunters, Vanderlye and The Froobz, and with Oedipus and the Mama’s Boys being on Part 3 of the round up, it’s already stacking up to be a great year for new music from the bands on the CD, the next couple of months are shaping up well with singles on the way from pedalo, Martha May and the Mondays and Sister Madds to name but 3…

As soon as I get the CDs delivered, I’ll post details on how to get your hands on one… it’ll be a case of when they’re gone, they’re gone…

First up on this part it’s the somewhat eery and menacing Dr Love from Would Be Goods, be well warned by the spookily haunting melody and don’t let the name fool you, this Dr Love is not there to heal you or mend your broken heart, rather he will pull the rug from under you and rip your heart to shreds.… Read the rest

Awful Eyes, Oedipus and the Mamas Boys, Citizen Head & Vacant Pavements – live in King Tuts

January 16, 2026 By neilho27@sky.com

All Photos courtesy of Dale Harvey

What should have been my third gig of 2026 turned out to be my first one, and it was a belter with four very different bands all ploughing their own furrow in their chosen genre, or indeed just by ploughing their own furrow full stop and in doing so defying pigeonholing…

The first band on the bill were a case in point, when I previously saw Vacant Pavements supporting Tanzana in McChuills I was late to the venue and only caught the last song of their set, which was more than enough to whet the appetite for more, I’m disappointed in myself that it’s taken until now to fix that.… Read the rest

The Twinsets – Peel Sessions 82-83 – Album review

January 13, 2026 By neilho27@sky.com

Precious Recordings of London have excelled themselves once again with the latest of their album length session releases, this time celebrating Edinburgh sisters Gaye and Rachel Bell, aka The Twinsets, in compiling all three of their Peel Sessions. This release may also attract a whole new set of fans following their inclusion in the excellent Since Yesterday documentary.

Forty odd years on from the airing of the three sessions this feels like the debut album the band never got the chance to release having only ever released one single, Heartbeat, on cassette which also included their cover of The Shangri-Las Sophisticated Boom Boom, the Peel Versions of which both appear here.… Read the rest