It’s Tigerfest and The Kays Lavelle album launch this week, as well as being May, which says to me that our first barbecue of the season can’t be much further away, surely. Ach, who knows though, this Spring’s been all over the bloody shop so Christ knows.
Still, we’re firmly into the first stirrings of Festival Season now which is… erm, well certainly not a bad thing I guess. There are some fucking shitty festivals (blogs, bands, etc…) out there, and I am becoming distinctly picky in my taste for festivals, and really quite middle-aged. I do not have the patience for shitty camping and massive green-field sites with fucking dreadful beer, a swampy bog of misdirected urine surrounding the toilets and a two-hour queue for a drink. Not happening, not any more, not for Toad. Fuck off.
So, erm yes, the rise of the boutique festival in recent years has been very welcome for me indeed. The food and drink are infinitely better, the facilities are better, the lineups are a little more focussed and because the budgets are smaller you can be absolutely confident of never, ever, ever accidentally hearing Kasabian play.
And, let’s be entirely honest, there are simply fewer people and I really do not like people all that much.
So, if anyone can tell me what that little rant had to do with anything then there’s probably some sort of prize – amnesty from me hugging you when I’m drunk sounds like a suitable bonus. So, erm, live in Edinburgh this week then.
Apart from admin and spare cash, PR is pretty much the single most important function of a record label these days. It’s also, apart from actually making the music itself, the most important thing for any unsigned band to master.
I don’t know Miss Kitchen, but The Wee Rogue is really excellent, and the Last Battle have just signed up with 17 Seconds records and have a debut album on the way, so should be full of the joys of life at the moment. Their music leans a little more towards the traditional, in terms of song structures, in comparison to the general landscape of alternative folk around these parts, whereas The Wee Rogue leans a bit closer to total silence, his music can be that still. It’s compelling nevertheless, so this gig is highly recommended.
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On what is proving to be a rather busy Thursday this gig is Dead Boy Robotics’ EP launch, supported by Vasquez who I don’t know at all, and The Foundling Wheel. Expect thumping noise, which is likely to veer from the boisterously danceable into the ear-splittingly unhinged.
I know precisely nothing at all about this lineup, sorry. But it’s a combined promotional effort between Braw Gigs and Tracer Trails (I think – it’s called Braw Trails Presents, so I guess that’s probably right) and those two rarely ever put a foot wrong (new as the former might be) so I definitely think this will be worth checking out.
This is the Kays’ album launch party for their upcoming debut album Be Still This Gentle Morning, and I am going to be in bloody Manchester for Unconvention, which is hugely frustrating.
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This is curated by 17 Seconds the blog for Tigerfest and is not to be confused with the 17 Seconds Records showcase next week, which is different, apparently. Although X-Lion Tamer and The Wildhouse are actually on 17 Seconds Records. But then, without the approval of 17 Seconds the blog, they probably wouldn’t be signed to 17 Seconds the label, would they? Keep up!
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 Sometimes the Edinburgh weather frustrates me, but sometimes it genuinely makes me laugh – like today. It pissed down with rain all the way through the Festival and now, the minute the tourists leave town, blazing sunshine! Excellent.
