Live in Edinburgh This Week – 19th October 2008
Christ almighty, it’s fucking busy this week. So I guess I’ll start by listing the three famousy gigs which I will not be attending, just to get them out of the way nice and early. Firstly, I will not be going to see Martha Wainright at the Picturehouse on Wednesday because, frankly, I find her rather annoying, despite expecting to like her music. I expected to like it, I just didn’t. I also won’t be going to see Mogwai at the Corn Exchange on Tuesday because despite their legendary status, I think they’re shit. Thirdly, I won’t be going to see Noah & the Whale play The Liquid Rooms on Sunday either, because I can’t be arsed. That’s three hours of my life I’d never be able to get back.
Interestingly, Razorlight have just announced a brand new ‘intimate’ tour of the UK. Quite in whose deranged fantasy places like the Edinburgh Corn Exchange qualify as being intimate is beyond me – the place is like a run-down fucking aircraft hanger. Idiots.
So, yes, the gigs I will be attending this week. Well, not all of them, but the ones I would actually recommend, and might attend if I had infinite amounts of time and money.
Tuesday 21st October 2008: Action Group, Come On Gang & HOMEwork at the Ark.
A good value lineup at the shittest venue in the city. I haven’t seen Come On Gang for a while actually, and it’s about time I went along again, assuming my recently returned lady friend will permit it of course.
Action Group – Crime & Punishment
Thursday 23rd October 2008: Popup & Isosceles play Limbo at the Voodoo Rooms.
Pure indiepop this week at Limbo. I don’t need to tell you much more about Isosceles’ spiky, enjoyable, synthy indie, and Popup are currently promoting their debut album, so this should be a most entertaining evening.
Isosceles – This Is Where It Ends
Friday 24th October 2008: Los Campesinos & Copy Haho play a Tennent’s Mutual gig at Cabaret Voltaire.
Los Campesinos are my friend Matt’s favourite band. Personally I quite like what I hear, but I know little enough about them to still be in the curiosity stage. What I have heard of them I’ve rather enjoyed though, so this would appear to be a good chance to find out a bit more.
Los Campesinos! – Death to Los Campesinos!
Saturday 25th October 2008: The Week That Was & Eagleowl at Henry’s Cellar Bar.
Field Music’s Pete Brewis has another project, and it is The Week That Was. That’s pretty interesting to begin with, but supporting them will be local favourites Eagleowl, despite Findo Gask being on the listing. So this could be rather good value for your six quid.
The Week That Was – Scratch the Surface
Saturday 25th October 2008: Seasick Steve at the Queen’s Hall.
Quite why everyone has suddenly decided that some old blues musician is the trendiest thing since sliced bread is sort of beyond me, I have to confess. I like his brand of blues, don’t get me wrong, but quite why him rather than anyone else seems baffling. Mind you, he does look like the reason the word ‘grizzled’ was invented, so maybe that has something to do with it.
Seasick Steve – St. Louis Slim
Saturday 25th October: The Hurricanes at Cabaret Voltaire.
I don’t know much about the Hurricanes at all, because they only have one song on their MySpace player, along with a remix of said song. It’s a good song though, so I am curious to find out more.
The Hurricanes – Down Below
Wednesday at Sneaky Pete’s is a spitfires night, with James Yuill – who I believe has just signed to moshi moshi – Withered Hand and the Red Well.
Also, despite what the list website says, Findo Gask are only playing the Glasgow show with the Week That Was. Unfeasible as it sounds, eagleowl are filling in at the Edinburgh show.
Not many sentences would begin with Interestingly, Razorlight have…
Let’s try and think of some more.
Interestingly, Razorlight have been seen in Marks & Spencer buying some comfy loose-fitting slacks.
Interestingly, Razorlight have decided to shelve their forthcoming LP in favour of a selection of pan-pipe renditions of hits from their Up All Night album.
This is really quite difficult.
Interestingly, Razorlight frontman, Johnny Borrell, has been decapitated by a freak accident involving a bowler hat.
Interestingly, Razorlight have never once stayed “up all night”.
Drummer Andy come closest, when he managed to stay awake until 4.37am whilst attending a friend’s birthday party in 2005.
Interestingly, Razorlight have admitted that they don’t buy any new CDs, and instead simply borrow them from their local council library. However the only CD available in their local library for the whole of 2002 and 2003 was The Strokes’ Is This It.
As much as I like some of the Strokes’ stuff, I always thought that album merited a question mark in the title.
Interestingly, Razorlight have decided to change career direction and become a cabaret drag act, althought the differences have yet to be explained.
I don’t know whether the question mark is actually not there in a grammatical sense, or whether it was just omitted from the album artwork for aesthetic reasons.
It’s a bit like the story about Duran Duran during one of their comebacks, who suddenly seemed to have rebranded themselves as duranduran, losng the capitals and the space between the words.
The media leapt to embrace this, and everywhere you looked there was duranduran written down; spaceless and lower case.
I remember seeing them being interviewed on telly at the time. The interviewer asked them why they had decided to change the name of the band, and Nick Rhodes replied “Well, we didn’t really. We just liked some album artwork with it written like that.”
Mogwai are not shit. James are shit. Laid by James is especially shit. So there.
Plus, The Fuck Buttons anr Errors are supporting and though I am yet to hear the latter, the former are excellent.
James remain shit.
Guess which facial expression I’m making at you right now.
haha. it was a mature argument on saturday night and remains so today eh?
And here was me thinking I was alone in thinking Mogwai are shit. They’re also over-rated.
oh jc you’re honorable not to engage in the childs play re: James as well, I must say it wasn’t my face that was expressing my thoughts to that comment though, Dylan :-p
and I am unmoved by Mogwai as of yet
Nice blues track there Matthew, I know I shouldn’t be but I’m always a little surprised that folks everywhere like our blues music xoxox
it’s not childs play regarding james. it’s my honest opinion. utter shit. i don’t mind people not liking mogwai. that’s cool. but the argument on saturday about James being shit bordered on ridiculous and I remain unconvinced that they have ever been good. my brother had james ‘laid’ and it just hurt my ears constantly when i was young. I love mogwai, they paint pictures with sound. you should read Iain Rankin’s press release on their latest album. but you know, each to their own. i don’t make faces at anyone for not liking mogwai. no need.
Interestingly, Razorlight’s Johnny Borrell, when asked a couple of years ago what seriously obscure album he would most like to introduce his friends to, chose ‘Songs from a Room’. This fact always make me laugh.
Do you have any more live sessions coming up.. I remember some mention of Sparrow and the workshop.. i saw them at ABC and loved the gig-… wots the hold up?
Don’t forget Woodenbox With a Fistful of Fivers who are are also at Limbo on Thursday supporting the Popup vs Isosceles duel… They’re also great!
James are not shite…..fact
Mogwai are also not shite….fact
Interestingly Razorlight’s first album is quite well liked by Tom
the face i’m making is the one i make when i think of you mother…..fact
that should have said ‘your mother’
there is no such thing as james are not shite….fact. it’s a matter of opinion. and it’s my opinion that they are. matthew, dc and tart think mogai are shite. not fact but their opinions. that’s totally fine by me. Razorlight are also, in my opinon shite. – which is not that interesting.
Euan,
If I may offer the appropriate response to your argument.
Thank you.
Toad, Planet Earth, I believe, are supporting Noah & The Whale, & would be one to catch if you change your mind. They’re genuinely shambolic indie twee (O, the tags! The tags!), with deliciously simple, infectious tunes & the lead singer has a marvelously odd singing voice, which is infected by his accent.
As for James, the first couple of 12″s, EPs & albums were, at times, flawed genius but always engagingly superb (their live LP One Man Clapping should be hailed as a perfect example of a live album, if only the fucker hadn’t been a limited 10,000 run that has never been re-issued).
you should really look forward to Los Campensinos, i saw them at Øya (in oslo) and they were quite charming kids. actually any band that uses xylophones are charming. i would recommend everybody to attend to one of their gigs
blah blah blah blah blah
If you do get to see the Los Campesinos! band, Toad, remind them they’re not from Cardiff, for me, will you? They only went to university here for a year or so, which doesn’t make them a Cardiff band. If anything they should be called a Cardiff University band, which is a decent compromise. Remind them for me, should you bump into them, will you?
Actually, as I’ve said before, having gone 5 -odd-thousand miles around the world to find out, they are very good live (frenetic, I’d say, was/is the best way of putting it) — although I’m really, really, really not convinced by them on record (the new one is awful: over-produced & lifeless, altho some interesting tunes/what passes for hooks these days). I agree with whoever it was I read a month back that said the far more interesting music from LC! was their self-produced demos. The rawness & clattering enthusiasm you see on stage is captured probably at its best in these demos — not perfectly by any means, but captured far better than their multi-producer a/effected debut & miles better than the attempted to but couldn’t quite disguise polished nature of their follow up.
Aye, you should enjoy them live, Toad. They make for a pleasant evening’s racket.
And they’ll be downright confused if they are playing away and get heckled with something like: “Oi, you lot. You’re not Welsh, alright, so just stop it.”
the question is, can i do 3 gigs in a week?
defo going to see James Yuill (no relation) mainly to see Dan the man.
Also going to see The week that was….with eagleowl
but i also want to go and see Popup and WoodenBox…..
dunno if i can do all three…
As an aside, Broken Records will also be supporting Noah and the Whale at the Dundee, Arches and Liquid Rooms gigs, so if anyone is going to this, come early and see us. Presume due to previous comment we may be first on rather than main support, but we will aim to be ten times louder than anyone else.
Apologies for shameless pluggage.
Jim
Exaclty, Toad. Exactly.
Interestingly, the only thing I’ve heard by Razorlight is a clip of that song about America or something that they always use on adverts for ‘happening’ compilation LPs. I fear that is all I need or want to hear.
Some people like Mogwai, some people like James. Neither elicit extreme feelings from me either way. The Chuckle Brothers, on the other hand…
You have to be careful what you mention on here at the moment.. You’ll ‘out’ another one of Matthew’s bizarre fetishes.
DC, Jim.. Does anyone know when and where Broken Records are playing in Cardiff during the Swn?
Can’t find any useful info online.
Sunday 15th.
But Sunday isn’t a 15th.
I meant Saturday – fucking calendar & its S instead of a Sat or Sun. T’will be an evening of over-exuberant imbibing, methinks.
I doubt it. The Broken Records lads don’t drink much. Very sensible lads.
Fuck them, I was talking about me.
I’ve never know you to take a drink DC. You’ve always struck me as the very model of sobriety.
What venue are they playing. Does anyone know?..
They haven’t announced Saturday’s breakdown yet – so no one knows where they are playing at present. My guess would be one of three places: Tommy’s Bar, The Point, or Barfluy (depending on who’s supporting).
Barfly would be cool – I have a soft spot for that venue. Some very good times there.
Last time I went in I’d been living in Edinburgh for two years and was back home for a visit. Me and a couple of mates went in and Mike the DJ recognised me straight away and put Debaser on (My usual request).
Which I thought was nice.
Where’s Tommy’s Bar?
Tommy’s Bar is in Howard Gardens, UWIC. 2mins around the corner from DCHQ.
The thing with Barfly is I’ve never used it like a club. For one thing it smells of piss stale ale. I only ever went there for bands & fucked off as soon as the kiddie disco cranked up — unless I was meeting the headlining band, for whatever reason, after they’d packed up. So, I’ve avoided knowing the names of the bar staff unless, obviously, I know them already.
Now, if I mentioned The Square Club I bet you haven’t got a clue what I’m on about… although, depending on when you started going out drinking in Cardiff, you just maybe old enough to recognise the name & understand the significance of the place.
It’s where I saw Spiritualized 2 years before Lazer Guided Melodies was released & about 2 weeks after their first single, Anyway That You Want Me (which I still have), quietly snuck out.
It was an ENORMOUS gig for me – the best I’ve ever been to, period. I was at the front, dead centre, face buried into the stomach of the sole ‘security’ guy for most of the first 20 minutes, as the 100-odd crowd kept surging forward towards the whole, original line-up of the band crammed into what would normally have been a seating area at the back part of the groundfloor of the club. For most of the gig I held onto the neck of Jason ‘Spacemen’ Pierce’s guitar (above his capo) & propped myself up by grabbing onto the mic stand. All this to stop myself from being pushed into him by a stupidly enthusiastic audience.
That’s what I remember more than anything: JP rooted to the spot because (a) that was his wont, (b) there was no room to move with the whole band jammed behind him in a tiny space, & (c) me hanging on to his guitar & mic so he simply couldn’t really move anywhere anyway. Then him, mid song, catching my eye & winking at me. I was 18. Nothing would better that for fucking years.
Now you see, I was probably at the kiddie disco (at least when it was indie night.)
And a smell of piss and beer doesn’t necessarily prevent anywhere from being a good venue!
When started living back in Cardiff at an age old enough to go out without my mum, it was 1996 and I was 21.
I don’t remember the Square (Apart from that awful barn on St. Mary Street, and I know you don’t mean that dump!)
Sounds like I missed out on something a bit special!
The Square Club was at the bottom of Westgate Street & I think the building is now either part of Ticket Master or Ticket Line or something, or may be still a solicitors (which is what it turned into when their license was finally revoked & the owners kicked out on their arse).
Some people refer disparagingly to it as a grubby goth club, but it was far, far more than that. It was on two levels – downstairs was a long corridor of a rats maze, lots of seating areas in mad nooks & tight corners, often overshadowed by HUGE bass amps & bins. Down there you had what was considered indie cross-over (you’d get the latest fad music, which tended to veer towards popular indie dance, some hip hop, some gansta rap etc.). It’s there where I first experienced NWA‘s Straight Oughta Compton, sat on the shoulder rest of one of the wall sofa’s, leaning against a bass bin, & it was a perfect King of New York experience. The world looked all that bit more sinister as I was pounded by the bass & beat & the dance place had that beautifully sleazy bacchanalian vibe/post-Roman orgy feel it was infamous for – regularly people were ‘caught’ fucking in the various little nooks & crannies & in the office doorway halfway up the stairs leading to the second floor.
On the second floor you had your more ‘hardcore’ musical element, it was a much smaller dance space with seats around the walls, a DJ booth with a lifelongb resident DJ (Lizard) who played everything from Happy Mondays’ Wrote For Luck, to Big Black’s <Kerosene, to Soft Cell’s <Memorabilia, to Butthole Surfer’s Cherub, to Bongwater, Galaxie 500, Nitzer Ebb, The Cure, Depeche Mode, Pixies, Sonic Youth, etc. etc.
I met my first serious girlfriend there (when I was 17) at a private party that I & a few friends had put on for a series of coinciding birthdays (the Baz, Daz, Shaz & Gaz Bash) & I ended up abandoning the party to go back to her place (she lived with her parents in Dinas Powys) & pretending I was a friend from her college course (she was 24) in order to get them to agree for me to stay the night. 6 months later I moved in with them all (£100 a month, shared room, separate beds) & commuted back to my home town of Caldicot to finish my A Levels. I stayed there for almost 2years.
The only other place that really compared was Subways, which was the basement of what was the GWR pub on the bottom end of St. Mary’s Street – but, it became populated by a mnacing posse of genuine skinheads & all hell used to break out when one of them decided he was sick of smelling Dewberry Oil (the body masking scent of choice for most students of a certain ilk back then) & would smash a bottle across someone’s cranium. We didn’t go there that often, only when the SC was shut de to license irregularities.
Yes, very fond memories of the old Square. It was a fucking marvelous place.