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.

Thursday 6th May 2010: Born to Be Wide Music PR Seminar at Electric Circus.

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.

Thursday 6th May 2010: Hannah Kitchen, The Wee Rogue and The Last Battle play the Leith Tape Club at the IsoLounge.

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.

The Last Battle – Nature’s Glorious Rage (Fresh Air Session)

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Thursday 6th May 2010: Dead Boy Robotics, Vasquez and The Foundling Wheel play Limbo at The Voodoo Rooms.

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.

Friday 7th May 2010: Cath & Phil Tyler, The One Ensemble and Neil Davidson at The Roxy Room.

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.

Saturday 8th May 2010: The Kays Lavelle, The Oates Field and The Scottish Enlightenment at the Wee Red Bar.

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.

The Kays Lavelle – Scars From the City

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Sunday 9th May 2010: 17 Seconds presents X-Lion Tamer, The Wildhouse and The Gothenburg Address at The Roxy Room.

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!

X-Lion Tamer – Life Support Machine

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For those of you who missed it, Toad favourite Samantha Crain has been making telling us about the progress on her new album, over on this thread about Arizona. She has this excellent news to deliver:

We’ve finished our full length album “songs in the night” and right now it’s gettin’ all nice and pretty (mastered, artwork, pressed, etc)…the official release date for it will be April 28th but i’m sure we’ll be getting to a copy to review before then.

Bloody marvellous is all I have to say about that.

Anyway, this week you friendly neighbourhood Toad ages by the princely sum of a single year, with my thrity-third birthday falling on Wednesday 19th November. And by some remarkable instance of good fortune there happens to be a gig on that night. A very Toad-friendly gig indeed…

But first, I have no idea if I have any readers in Dundee – certainly no-one has ever mentioned it, although one or two of you have confessed to being from there – but there is a show there this Friday that a friend of mine is putting on. Mike from Manic Pop Thrills will be putting on De Rosa, Esperi and The Wildhouse at Hustlers in Dundee this Friday, 21st November 2008.  It’s scary enough thing to promote a gig, but the first one is positively terrifying, so I really wish him the best of luck, and it would be great if we could get some Toadlings down there to support.

So, that birthday show:

Wednesday 19th November 2008: Sparrow & the Workshop, Rob St. John & Meursault at Cabaret Voltaire.
My friends Tallah and HP from Fresh Air radio have rather serendipitously chosen to put on three of my favourite Scottish bands on my birthday, and entirely by coincidence too. Tickets will be £4 on the door, and I believe Rob will be taking the opportunity to launch his new EP, although I haven’t actually confirmed that with him. He’s playing an electric guitar these days, and I have to say that it really suits his sound. Neil from Meursault will be playing entirely solo this time, and Sparrow & the Workshop say they have quite a few new tunes to try out. So if you want to know what the alternative folk scene in Scotland is like
outside of the Fence Collective, then this mix of epic melancholy from Meursault, intimate loveliness from Rob and furious Americana from Sparrow & the Workshop gives you about as good a cross-section as you’re likely to find. And there’ll be the added benefit of sniggering at a certain drunken gentleman staggering about and making a tit of himself I should imagine.
Sparrow & the Workshop – Grizzly Bear

Thursday 20th November 2008: Zoey Van Goey, Over the Wall & Callel play Limbo at the Voodoo Rooms.
Sorry – forgot to add this one. Over the Wall were really good at the End of the Road Festival. It was an exuberant performance swinging between glitchy electronica and full on pop music, and they seem to be shaping up nicely into a very decent band indeed. Zoey Van Goey are basically an indie rock combo as far as I am aware, but I have been told they are good countless times, this will be my first chance to see them and I do not intend to miss it. Also, this is Limbo’s first birthday, following a year in which they have rather incredibly managed to put on three bands every single fucking week, which is a feat that completely amazes me. Congratulations lads, quite an achievement.
Over the Wall – Thurso

Thursday 20th November 2008: Pockets & the Kazookeylele at The Bowery.
I am not going to plug this at all, except to offer the video below if a bizarre gentleman playing The Final Countdown on one of the most peculiar instruments I have ever seen. One for the real connoisseurs, this.
Pockets & the Kazookeylele – The Final Countdown