Comments for Song, by Toad http://songbytoad.com Independent music from Edinburgh, Scotland - with added gin and swearing. Fri, 10 Feb 2012 01:12:18 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Comment on No Fun Please, That’s What Glasgow is For by Lauree http://songbytoad.com/2012/02/no-fun-please-thats-what-glasgow-is-for/#comment-86461 Lauree Fri, 10 Feb 2012 01:12:18 +0000 http://songbytoad.com/?p=13387#comment-86461 While I'm not in Edinburgh, I can identify with the issue at hand. Thankfully, here in the DC area, we have a plethora of venues putting on gigs, and there seems to be more opening up! as I was reading this post, and the ongoing discussion in the replies, I've Suicide Commandos "Complicated Fun" in my head... While I’m not in Edinburgh, I can identify with the issue at hand. Thankfully, here in the DC area, we have a plethora of venues putting on gigs, and there seems to be more opening up!

as I was reading this post, and the ongoing discussion in the replies, I’ve Suicide Commandos “Complicated Fun” in my head…

]]> Comment on No Fun Please, That’s What Glasgow is For by Tim London http://songbytoad.com/2012/02/no-fun-please-thats-what-glasgow-is-for/#comment-86459 Tim London Fri, 10 Feb 2012 00:11:12 +0000 http://songbytoad.com/?p=13387#comment-86459 There is one, obvious answer to this: take over the back room of a pub and make it a regular gig. Upstairs at The Meridian on Leith Walk, for example. It's a recipe for madness for anyone willing to give it a go (having seen what that stress can do to promoters in the past) but at least we'd all have somewhere we can think about going to, when the moon is high, the wind is in the right direction and there's nothing on the telly. There is one, obvious answer to this: take over the back room of a pub and make it a regular gig. Upstairs at The Meridian on Leith Walk, for example. It’s a recipe for madness for anyone willing to give it a go (having seen what that stress can do to promoters in the past) but at least we’d all have somewhere we can think about going to, when the moon is high, the wind is in the right direction and there’s nothing on the telly.

]]> Comment on Django Django – Django Django by Cogstar http://songbytoad.com/2012/02/django-django-django-django/#comment-86458 Cogstar Thu, 09 Feb 2012 22:34:17 +0000 http://songbytoad.com/?p=13375#comment-86458 really like this...bought it too, thanks for posting really like this…bought it too, thanks for posting

]]> Comment on Django Django – Django Django by Ed http://songbytoad.com/2012/02/django-django-django-django/#comment-86456 Ed Thu, 09 Feb 2012 20:27:18 +0000 http://songbytoad.com/?p=13375#comment-86456 Firewater seems to have disappeared...? Anyway, great couple of tunes, so have just bought the album off eMusic. Money well spent so far Firewater seems to have disappeared…?

Anyway, great couple of tunes, so have just bought the album off eMusic. Money well spent so far

]]> Comment on No Fun Please, That’s What Glasgow is For by rampant chutney consumerism http://songbytoad.com/2012/02/no-fun-please-thats-what-glasgow-is-for/#comment-86455 rampant chutney consumerism Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:20:19 +0000 http://songbytoad.com/?p=13387#comment-86455 i'll come back if it makes a difference i’ll come back if it makes a difference

]]> Comment on No Fun Please, That’s What Glasgow is For by Hamish http://songbytoad.com/2012/02/no-fun-please-thats-what-glasgow-is-for/#comment-86453 Hamish Thu, 09 Feb 2012 16:48:12 +0000 http://songbytoad.com/?p=13387#comment-86453 Yeah I completely agree there, the fact there's such a successful festival on for one month seems to average out the rest of the year and give the city the right to bill itself as cultural, when in fact the rest of the year it's just the same as any average city. I'm just still not sure why the continual reference to higher arts in the post, but if it's more of a reference to the festival as a smokescreen then fair enough. Would anyone with good knowledge of Edinburgh's theatre/art scene be able to spare some insight into what kind of focus those industries put into local artists? Yeah I completely agree there, the fact there’s such a successful festival on for one month seems to average out the rest of the year and give the city the right to bill itself as cultural, when in fact the rest of the year it’s just the same as any average city. I’m just still not sure why the continual reference to higher arts in the post, but if it’s more of a reference to the festival as a smokescreen then fair enough.

Would anyone with good knowledge of Edinburgh’s theatre/art scene be able to spare some insight into what kind of focus those industries put into local artists?

]]> Comment on No Fun Please, That’s What Glasgow is For by Dylan http://songbytoad.com/2012/02/no-fun-please-thats-what-glasgow-is-for/#comment-86452 Dylan Thu, 09 Feb 2012 16:43:41 +0000 http://songbytoad.com/?p=13387#comment-86452 I think we have to face up to the fact that audience size is a significant part of the problem in Edinburgh. Venues are expensive places to run and you have to keep them busy to pay the bills. Something like Oran Mor in Glasgow is an ideal hybrid, as I'm sure the take in the bar upstairs - which trades as it does as a regular pub - subsidises the venue in the basement. I should think many of the bar's regulars never venture downstairs to ticketed events in the gig space, but the price they pay for their pints still helps support it. There's plenty of disused churches and spaces in Edinburgh that could work on a similar model - but you'd be a brave soul to invest in such a project in the current climate. I think we have to face up to the fact that audience size is a significant part of the problem in Edinburgh.

Venues are expensive places to run and you have to keep them busy to pay the bills.

Something like Oran Mor in Glasgow is an ideal hybrid, as I’m sure the take in the bar upstairs – which trades as it does as a regular pub – subsidises the venue in the basement. I should think many of the bar’s regulars never venture downstairs to ticketed events in the gig space, but the price they pay for their pints still helps support it.

There’s plenty of disused churches and spaces in Edinburgh that could work on a similar model – but you’d be a brave soul to invest in such a project in the current climate.

]]> Comment on Django Django – Django Django by Django Django - Storm :: Indie Shuffle http://songbytoad.com/2012/02/django-django-django-django/#comment-86451 Django Django - Storm :: Indie Shuffle Thu, 09 Feb 2012 16:20:59 +0000 http://songbytoad.com/?p=13375#comment-86451 [...] Download Django Django - Firewater Download from: songbytoad.com (External Link) Note: In many cases we can't share a track for free. So, we either link to sites that can, or [...] [...] Download Django Django – Firewater Download from: songbytoad.com (External Link) Note: In many cases we can't share a track for free. So, we either link to sites that can, or [...]

]]> Comment on No Fun Please, That’s What Glasgow is For by Muz http://songbytoad.com/2012/02/no-fun-please-thats-what-glasgow-is-for/#comment-86450 Muz Thu, 09 Feb 2012 16:11:32 +0000 http://songbytoad.com/?p=13387#comment-86450 Putting on my very cynical hat, and believe my I don't really like this, but isn't it the fact that the people who own these clubs don't owe Edinburgh or the people, like me, who live in it and enjoy whole-heartedly, the recently,brilliantly christened 'Bad Fun', anything. And isn't the reason a lot of the best clubs, club nights, labels, football clubs, shops etc end up failing is because they end up being run by people whose intentions are romantic and noble, but don't really have the experience or expertise to make a viable business out of it. Of course it's possible for these to survive, but when they do, they are very very rare. For some reason Glasgow seems to be better suited. Maybe Glasgow has a better balance of the required experience and genuine enthusiasm to make these clubs et al work. Putting on my very cynical hat, and believe my I don’t really like this, but isn’t it the fact that the people who own these clubs don’t owe Edinburgh or the people, like me, who live in it and enjoy whole-heartedly, the recently,brilliantly christened ‘Bad Fun’, anything.
And isn’t the reason a lot of the best clubs, club nights, labels, football clubs, shops etc end up failing is because they end up being run by people whose intentions are romantic and noble, but don’t really have the experience or expertise to make a viable business out of it. Of course it’s possible for these to survive, but when they do, they are very very rare. For some reason Glasgow seems to be better suited. Maybe Glasgow has a better balance of the required experience and genuine enthusiasm to make these clubs et al work.

]]> Comment on Ides of Toad in the New Year by Matthew http://songbytoad.com/2012/01/ides-of-toad-in-the-new-year/#comment-86449 Matthew Thu, 09 Feb 2012 15:01:38 +0000 http://songbytoad.com/?p=13332#comment-86449 Shame on you Tom. Shame on you indeed. Shame on you Tom. Shame on you indeed.

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