So, after the chaos of the Festival, we are back to normal service here in Ides of Toad HQ (which looks suspiciously similar to Song, by Toad HQ and bears a more than passing resemblance to Song, by Toad Records HQ).

Actually, I thought I managed to get myself horribly waylaid by the Festival, but it turns out I have most of the Autumn’s lineups already filled and ready to go, with only a few gaps here and there.  This level of organisation rather shocks me, I have to confess, but I am sure I will find some way to have a last-minute panic in the end.

Anyhow, apart from next week’s Japanese War Effort, Animal Magic Tricks and Yusuf Azak gig, on Saturday 17th at the Wee Red Bar, we have the following:

Saturday 1st October, just confirmed: John Knox Sex Club, Plank! and Easter at Henry’s Cellar Bar.
This is going to be a cracker.  JKSC have a new album to promote, which sounds amazing, and Plank! and Easter are coming up from Manchester.  It’s going to be one of those evenings where none of the bands have that much in common exactly, but I still think the lineup will work really well.

Saturday 22nd October: Rob St. John album launch, with Meursault and eagleowl.
The venue is TBC on this one, but we are looking for somewhere a bit interesting, rather than your usual gig club bar venue thingie.  And I would imagine that readers of this site need little introduction to eagleowl or Meursault, but as Rob plays in both those bands as well, I do find myself wondering if he’s given any thought to just how much work he’s going to have to do on the night.

Saturday 5th November: Dad Rocks! and Shoes and Socks Off, with one more TBC, at Henry’s Cellar Bar.
This will be an evening of smart acoustic pop, and we have one more band still to add to the bill. I may try and add a full band to the headline slot though, just to make sure everyone stays on their toes.

Saturday 19th November: at the Wee Red Bar, and it’s my fucking birthday as well!
The whole lineup for the 19th is TBC, because I am trying to get Manchester’s Weird Era and Glasgow’s Battery Face onto the same bill, but we are just in the process of juggling dates, so none of this is confirmed yet. I am confident it will work out though, because everyone involved is keen to make it happen.

Sunday 27th November: Withered Hand, Samantha Crain and Michael McFarlane at Henry’s Cellar Bar.
I think Withered Hand will be playing solo acoustic, although I’m not sure, and I am absolutely thrilled to get Samantha Crain here for a gig, some three years after regular commenter and sometime contributor Campfires and Battlefields introduced me to her music. And finally, Michael McFarlane is someone I knew absolutely nothing about, but he’s a local lad who played Lach’s Antihoot this Summer and I thought he was bloody excellent, so I asked him to open.

Saturday 10th December: Song, by Toad Records Christmas Party.
This entire thing is TBC, but I think this is the best date for it.  It should at least give us time to clean up the house in time for the New Year’s House Gig, in any case.

So, umm… there you go.  I have to confess I never thought ‘putting on the odd gig’ would lead to this, but er, they should be really, really good shows.  And it would be nice if you all came to them too, otherwise I am going to be in all sorts of money trouble!

There have been a few posts recently – Gaseous Brain, Radar – bewailing the collapse of the Edinburgh University Settlement, a century-old charity reduced to dust in the space of a couple of years.  The loss of their ridiculous homepathic program is something for which we can be grateful, but the accompanying demise of The Forest Cafe and The Roxy Art House is more of a problem, particularly for those of a musical bent.

I have to confess, I thought the GRV was also owned by the Settlement, but they are not closing, just changing their name, so whatever the situation there might be, the venue collapse we are suffering is at least limited to the Forest, the Bristo Hall and the Roxy.

This, of course, is more than enough cause for worry as it is.  As the Radar piece quite rightly points out, the presence of decent, low-cost venues is crucial for fostering a thriving music scene, and without wishing to denigrate the ones we do have like Sneaky Pete’s, Henry’s and The Wee Red Bar, we are hardly blessed in that department here in Edinburgh.

Just to add to the fun, though, we also seem to be fast running out of promoters.  I always mention I Fly Spitfires when I talk about this, but in the three years or so since their demise we have yet to see anyone willing to step into their shoes and bring genuinely trendy bands to Edinburgh.  In terms of the scene slightly closer to home, as far as I am concerned at least, Tracer Trails have all but stopped, Trampoline has been silent for ages, The Gentle Invasion seems to be on one of its periodic hiatuses, and Ruth from the Bowery hasn’t really been able to get back in the game since her venue was placed in other hands at the end of 2009.

Woe is me, waah waah, piss moan, whinge whinge, will we ever have a scene ever again etc etc etc etc…

Stop it.  Just stop.  I don’t really disagree with anything either Nick or Milo say in their respective articles, but I don’t want to focus on what damage this might do to Edinburgh music.  All this doom and gloom is ridiculous, and utterly needless.  The very point of DIY and alternative music is that it is quite literally alternative.  It is an alternative to mainstream mass-market culture and as such will always be a struggle.  To complain about that is kind of ridiculous, because it is inherent in the culture – it’s like saying that you hate swimming because you always get so wet.

The Tracer Trails, Spitfires and Bowerys of this world did not have it easy.  Spitfires brought fashionable music to an initially indifferent city, when most people would simply skip Edinburgh altogether when putting together their tours.  Tracer Trails were so unimpressed with the actual venues on offer they made it a point of tracking down unusual places to put on shows.  The Bowery was started in a disused basement on a budget of a couple of grand.  Christ, even I wrote about music for an audience of zero for nearly three years, before someone actually commented on my website for the first time.

None of the institutions we think of as being representative of Edinburgh’s thriving DIY scene over the last five years had an easy time of it – that’s why they are so respected.  So quite simply, if we perceive the closure of these venues and the absence of these promoters as a real problem threatening the progress of the city over the immediate future there is only one answer: fucking do something about it.  Yes, YOU!

If you want to put on gigs regularly, just do it.  Start with bands who are mates so you can afford to underpay a bit if you have to until you find your feet, but a venue doesn’t have to be amazing.  I saw Meursault blow the roof off Henry’s, and Jeffrey Lewis pack the place out so much it nearly burst at the seams.  I saw The Low Lows’ amazing set at the Ark, which really was a shithole.  Just do it.  Just put things on – it’s not as hard as it looks, you just have to be a little organised.  Make sure you have a PA and a sound guy, get some posters up a month in advance – even shitey photocopied things are just fine – make a Facebook page and get your friends along.  Fuck it, it can be done.

Edinburgh may be famous for having reticent crowds and a dearth of venues and few decent bands and so on and so forth, but you can always make things happen if you are absolutely fucking determined and prepared to force them to.  This is what everyone else had to do, before we got a bit of press for the good bands which appeared in the city over the last few years, but sometimes I think this has led to people treating a music scene as something which just happens, and it most definitely is not.  It is something you have to care about enough to make happen.

Which means that the only way to react to these venues closing down is to use other ones, and bollocks to whether or not they’re quite right.  And if you hear anyone sneering about how the gigs aren’t as busy or the venues aren’t as nice or the bands aren’t as good or the writers don’t care or any of that shit, then FUCK THEM.

It’s a piece of piss being part of a thriving scene – it’s good fun and everyone pats you on the back.  But when there’s little there and you have to fight like hell to keep things happening and to make sure that whatever small fire you have is still being fed, that’s when it’s rewarding, that’s when you’ll feel like you’re achieving something.  Adversity is fun.  It’s a challenge, and I fucking hate being told by people what I cannot do – and that’s what being part of DIY music is actually about.

And while you’re at it, the Forest are trying to raise the money to buy their space from the Settlement (or their administrators, presumably) and you can donate here.  Please do.  It’s worth more than the pints you might spend it on otherwise.

As you can see I have complied with Mrs. Toad’s request to stop featuring cutesy Edinburgh pictures on these little posts and put up some pictures of radgy wee neds instead. This is something I think she feels is more representative of a kind of Edinburgh life that tends to be ignored (for more such pictures, go here, it’s hilarious).

I play football regularly in Craigmillar, often against teams from there or alternatively from lovely places like Craigour, Niddrie and other delightful Edinburgh tourist spots. I’ve actually been threatened with being knifed something like three or four times during various matches when we’ve played out there. It is a little unsettling actually, because for all you always have to respond with bravado – ‘Yeah fuck off – I’m more scared of your Mum you little poof’ or something equally erudite – there’s always the slender chance that one of the weaselly little fuckers is just crazy enough to mean it.

The biggest question I have with neds (pikeys, scallys, radges, whatever you local variation might be) is how they manage to find the stamina to go through life so CONSTANTLY FUCKING ANGRY. Honestly, where does that rage come from, how can they summon that level of anger, all of every day, about nothing at all? I suppose having lost at everything doesn’t help. Maybe the anger is why they live such short lives too – the rage must just burn you up.

Anyway, all that’s by the by really, isn’t it. What’s on this week then? Not much, but one absolute corker: Fence Club.

Wednesday 17th September 2008: James Yorkston & the Athletes, Malcolm Middleton, and Pictish Trail & Rozi Plain at The Caves.
In terms of lineups you’d struggle to beat this. James Yorkston’s new album is gorgeous, and given his tour is necessarily going to be a solo affair I really recommend you take this chance to see him now. The lush beauty of the sound is going to be perfect for The Caves, especially with full Athletic accompaniment. Malcolm Middleton’s literate, witty, downbeat indie takes little introduction, I would hope, and the dynamic duo of Pictish and Plain should be a treat. Tickets are getting close to selling out, too, so I’d buy one now if I were you. The official line is that there should be tickets left to sell on the door, but they aren’t certain. Book here to put your mind at rest.
James Yorkston – Queen of Spain
Malcolm Middleton – A Brighter Beat

Saturday 20th September 2008: Jonquil at Henry’s Cellar Bar.
One of Edinburgh’s own has recently agreed to become their manager, so they must be good. It’s a sort of experimental folk sound, broadly speaking, and is really bloody marvellous live. It’s a late one too, so don’t get so plastered you fail to appreciate the music. I do that all the fucking time, and it irritates the shit out of me.
Jonquil – Apparency

And, you know, I really think that’s it.

Ah the perils of actually interacting with bands and watching your objectivity vanish into the distance.  The Steeples were hanging around before and after their gig and came across as such a sincerely enthusiastic group of really, genuinely nice lads that I really, really hope they do well just on that basis alone.  Watch them play live and the number of times you catch any two members of the group grinning ridiculously at one another, as if playing this gig was the single best thing that had ever happened to them, is just silly.  You can imagine, I hope, how that sort of  boundless enthusiasm spills over into an audience: what fucking brilliant fun to see, these guys are.

I think perhaps the most obvious and instructive comparison to make, although they may not thank me for making it, is with The Fratellis.  Indie-snobs the world over turned their noses up at The Fratellis somewhat, which is something I find partially undeserved and irritating.  The album itself was a splendidly catchy and eminently enjoyable slice of indie pop which I think it is just plain churlish to sneer at for seeming a little lightweight.  That said, The Fratellis’ big failing, one which The Steeples highlight strongly by their difference, is that with the exception of the drummer they sucked sweaty donkey balls live.  Two thirds of them just couldn’t play.

The Steeples, on the other hand, have no such problems.  Live they are really, really tight.  The sound is similar to The Fratellis alright, albeit with a much bigger debt to ska, but the playing was light years ahead.  If you fancy a really fucking good night out, I wouldn’t recommend many bands above The Steeples.

That said, recorded, I think a lot seems to have gone missing.  The infectious joy and energy of the live performance is not really there, if you ask me.  Over-production would be my first guess, but who knows how these things happen.   Either way, perhaps be cautious about the records, but definitely go and see them live.

The Steeples – Tight Tina

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