Feature - The Ginger Quiff

Run Into the Night ft Martin Metcalfe Mon Cheri

Martin Metcalfe and Co…

August 23, 2019 By neilho27@sky.com

There has been a flurry of activity from Martin Metcalfe and associated acts this week.

The Filthy Tongues

First up, the Filthy Tongues dropped a clip of a new song at the start of the week. Mummy Can’t Drive sounds very Bowie-esque to me. Featuring Marie Claire Lee who has been ably filling Shirley Manson’s shoes on recent Goodbye Mr MacKenzie dates, is this a little taster of what is to come from the third album in the trilogy? I hope so…

Goodbye Mr MacKenzie

Talking of Goodbye Mr MacKenzie, Good Deeds and Dirty Rags finally has an official release date and a flourish of promotional activity announced that this week.… Read the rest

The Kaplans – Sesiones De Primavera – EP review

August 21, 2019 By neilho27@sky.com

Hot on the heels of reviewing their album, Urban Elephants, for Razur Cuts (street literature magazine) the latest EP from The Kaplans dropped through my letterbox recently.

A very welcome addition to my CD collection it is too. As a recent convert to the music of the band, I find myself lapping up every new tune I hear from them. The three tracks on this EP provide me with much more to love about this band.

Yes Means No

The first track is introduced with a sample from (what I assume to be) an intro on a Mexican radio station to the playing of one of their songs – I base this purely on the words Mexico and Glasgow in the sample.… Read the rest

Spotlight on: Run Into The Night

July 31, 2019 By neilho27@sky.com

Run Into The Night are a hard-gigging post punk rock ‘n’ roll two-piece who have been busy recently gigging with the likes of Goodbye Mr MacKenzie and playing Doune the Rabbit Hole. They have also been recording with the MacKenzies frontman, Martin Metcalfe with a video due to drop later in the month for their latest single Mon Cheri. I have seen the band live on several occasions and have witnessed them get better and better each time.

With the new single due out soon, I took the opportunity to find out a bit more about what makes the band, and its two members Christina and Ellie tick…

Who are Run Into the Night?

… Read the rest

16 Years Scottish Club Gigs in Scorland 1974-1990

Spotlight on – 16 Years: Gigs in Scotland 1974 – 1990

July 29, 2019 By neilho27@sky.com

Do you love live music?

Are you (or were you), like me, a regular gig-goer, and some of your best live experiences were in the small venues where you can see the whites of the eyes of the bands?

Did you attend club-sized gigs in the late seventies or eighties early on in a bands career?

Do you just like music and are interested in seeing pictures and other memorabilia from club gigs around Scotland?

If you answer yes to any of these questions, then there is a book for you in the off-ing. Read on to find out more, but consider as you read, the success of this venture is down to you… and you…and you…Don’t just read this, think “that sounds great”, then continue surfing the net or scrolling through facebook.… Read the rest

Spotlight on Last Night From Glasgow

July 23, 2019 By neilho27@sky.com

Independent labels in Scotland

Independent record labels & Scotland. There is a phenomenal history that could take several articles before you would begin to do them justice. Between them they have spawned some era-defining artists and albums. Obviously not an exhaustive list, but with a very brief flicking of the mental rolodex, you can’t avoid thinking of Postcard, then over the years, labels like Fast Product, Chemikal Underground, Creeping Bent and Rock Action all unleashing a variety of notable albums.

There are too many to mention without completely changing the focus of this blog, but there currently numerous Scottish based independent labels flying the flag for the music scene and giving many bands a platform to release their music.… Read the rest

An Eclectic Cornucopia of Charismatic Congenial Creations to Charm and Captivate

July 10, 2019 By neilho27@sky.com

There are several tracks/singles and EPs that I have been sitting on for a while or I’ve just received that been enjoying recently

Katherine Aly

Starting with the sublime Katherine Aly. The Skin I’m Made Of is an achingly beautiful piano driven ballad. Aly has a beautifully distinctive voice, crisp and clear with no warbling affectations and the song reaches the parts other vocalists can’t reach. Some may have been lucky enough to catch her recently as I believe she supported Goodbye Mr MacKenzie in Dundee. I hope to hear a lot more from her in future.

The Martial Arts

Next up is stalwart of the Scottish indie scene, Paul Kelly, returning with The Martial Arts.… Read the rest

Goodbye Mr MacKenzie – Good Deeds & Dirty Rags – a celebration

May 16, 2019 By neilho27@sky.com

A Celebration. The 1980s was a fruitful time for Scottish bands. The tail end of the 1970s into the early 1980s saw the rise of innumerable post-punk bands like Josef K, Scars, The Associates, Fire Engines and Orange Juice created a scene spawning cult independent record labels Postcard Records. At the other end of the scale, worldwide mega-stardom was achieved by the likes of Simple Minds. There was certainly plenty to celebrate in the Scottish music scene.

Criminally Under-rated Classic

For me, one of the key releases and a memorable highlight happened in 1989. Following a string of underground quintessential singles.… Read the rest

Mental Health Awareness Week 2019

May 13, 2019 By neilho27@sky.com

This week (Monday 13^th to Sunday 19^th May) marks this year’s Mental Health Awareness week.

I am conscious that I haven’t specifically written about mental health, either my own or in general for some time, other than referencing it in the music I write about. It makes sense then that I throw down a few thoughts to play a small part in raising awareness of this important week.

I do believe we have come a long way as a society in being able to confront social issues often thought of in the past as taboo subjects, including Mental Health, but we still have a long way to go.… Read the rest

DELINQUENTS – Sober on Sunday EP – review

April 20, 2019 By neilho27@sky.com

Dundee’s DELINQUENTS released one of my favourite albums of 2017 in the eminently listenable About Last Night, a raucous selection of punk rock tunes.

This four track E.P. is a step progression from their debut, if anything the four tracks here are a cut above, strong musically and lyrically and a sign of greater things to come. This is the sound of David Hennessey and the band making headway, and signalling their future intent. If About Last Night was Saturday, today it is Sunday, and we know what that means…

The band announce their arrival with full throttle pedal to the metal punk riffing and an ode to drinking too much.… Read the rest

L-Space – Music for Megastructures – Album review

April 18, 2019 By neilho27@sky.com

Scottish 4-piece L-Space present their glorious opus, Music for Megastructures. An outstanding body of work and departure from their debut album Kipple Arcadia. This release is a most welcome addition to the magnificent and varied output from the burgeoning roster of label Last Night from Glasgow. One remarkable fact about this instrumental album is that it is recorded entirely on synthesisers (save a few bass parts here and there). The resultant futuristic haunting atmospheric sounds had me hooked from the off.

With four sides/themes to the album, it plays out like a metaphoric journey through life. Arriving at this space-age mega-civilisation with part one, Transport, the music conjures images of firing rocket boosters and of air rushing past, of ships horns and space age trains over rails.… Read the rest