Category: glasGOwest

The CD arrived about a week and a half ago and the postmark confirms that you are indeed based in Bristol. That might partially account for my having missed this release altogether. I don’t usually need a best of list to find music I like but there you were on Jockrock’s top 40. How did I miss a number a 3? Was there any noticeable uptick in sales? Have you ever discovered a band or artist in this fashion?

Definitely sold a few more because of review and press in Scotland.  There were plenty of artists on top 40 lists I hadn’t heard before and then listened to after I read them.

Blogging from afar, I’ve likely developed an overly romanticized view of the Scottish music scene. Is there a tangible difference between the local scene in Bristol and that of Glasgow?

“A bit. Tangible… in that there are more outdoor gigs in the summer because the weather is a bit better in Bristol. They both have good music scenes. Good in different ways. Glasgow’s is probably a lot bigger with more acts and great musical heritage… Bristol’s is probably more diverse in terms of genres having their own scenes. Loads of touring acts come to Bristol so you can see most acts that tour… same with Glasgow. Almost every wee town and village round the South West has some form of festival during the summer. I think that’s more down to the weather again.”

What’s the last Scottish act you’ve caught in Bristol?

“I supported Rachel Sermanni at the Thekla last october. She was great. I also went to see Twilight Sad at the Louisiana on their last tour (in fact, I’ve seen them every time they have played here since I’ve lived here… 4 or 5 times.)  Supporting R.M. Hubbert, Admiral Fallow and Malcolm Middleton were all great nights as well.” 

Even though we technically won’t feature them, do you have any local musical discoveries that you have made that you’d like to share? 

“Bristol acts – Poor Old Dogs, Scarlett Rascal, Locks, Minke Whales, I Am Horse, Clayton Blizzard, Gaz Brookfield, Chris Webb, Yes Rebels, Beau Ties and a band called The Bad Joke That Ended Well. There’s whole load of decent bands who look like they are going to do well. Idles, Velcro Hooks, St Pierre Snake Invasion. You can find some of them on youtube.”

I had not heard of Odeon Beat Club until I did a little research and I was immediately taken with ‘Being Realistic’. I couldn’t track down an actual CD, but I did find a digital copy of the record on Amazon. Are there any other Scottish bands from the ‘noughties’ that we probably overlooked and should investigate?

“Viva Stereo, Uncle John and Whitelock, Popup, Sneak Attack Tigers.”

The opening track of the new record kicks off with, to my ears at least, a Sons and Daughters like vibe underscoring the notion that this release, unlike the last one, seems to strive for a fuller band sound. I’ve noticed a few blogs saying just how much it has ‘upped the game’. Do you think you’ve found a proper balance as a solo artist as opposed to being in a full time band?

“Nearly.  I probably should do more band gigs. I’ve been rehearsing with the band and we did a few gigs at xmas. We will do more ….but probably not as a week in week out gigging band. I can (and often do) play every night of the week on my own and I like that. If a gigs rubbish there will be another along in a couple of nights.”

The  track ‘A Lonely Tourist’ is especially infectious. “The trappings of youth are mostly gone, I’ve got vinyl collection to remind of where it’s gone”. Is your collection still intact or is the lyric merely an apt metaphor for the subject of the song? 

“Haha…it is a metaphor but… my vinyl is sitting in my mums loft like a time capsule. Still intact. I didn’t sell anything. A few more dodgy Riot Grrrl and Indie Dance singles than anyone needs. I only stopped buying vinyl around 1998.  But I’ve also got some good stuff. A picture disc copy of The Holy Bible by The Manic Street Preachers …say what you you like about what The Manics turned into later…. but that album is amazing. I’ve got a vinyl copy of Peng by Stereolab that I think is rare-ish. I tried to get it on CD and there aren’t many around. A Captain America 12′ that I played to death when I first got it. Then again, I’ve also got a copy of Star Fleet by Brian May. (I was only 13 when I bought it… so leave me alone!).”

While digging further, I noticed that OBC once played a show with Cooper Temple Clause. I had the ‘misfortune’ of seeing them live once. While I rather enjoyed their albums, the live effort was almost comical and I left after the 3^rd song.  Fortunately I discovered the opening act Calla. I can’t help imagining that a few people had a similar experience with your show. What opening acts have you ‘discovered’? 

“I saw a Canadian act called Basia Bulat supporting Johnny Flynn. She was great (possibly better than the headliner). Honky Finger supporting Jim Jones Revue were the loudest thing I’d ever seen ever until Jim Jones played. They were louder.”

The closer ‘Viking Jazz’, an instrumental piece, that you yourself describe as “Mogwai type noise”. I can’t argue with the description. Can you share any thoughts about the musical direction for the next release?

“I don’t quite know yet. I’m trying to write and demo everything and see what is taking form –  possibily less acoustic guitar and more noise.”

I imagine there is a bit of interest back in Scotland to have you do some shows there? Any plans to do so?

“Yes. I will sort some gigs in Scotland soon… Possibly a festival too if it comes off. Open to offers as ever.”

Thor

Since sending these I realized that I had, in fact, mentally tucked away the first Lonely Tourist record planning to revisit it later. The problem with mental notes is pretty obvious, but I’m not sure why I originally felt the need to suspend judgment until later. Much of it has to do with my evident preference for full bands as opposed to singer song writers. I’d strongly suggest you get this as well. It is nicely priced and contains this gem Patron Saint Procrastinate. And as for the Manics, I maintain that ‘Life Blood’ is a nearly perfect musical inversion. Give me it over ‘Send Away the Tigers’ – the supposed comeback record – any day.

We are exactly one year old today. Technically one year ago, we had our first post about Cancel the Astronauts. A year later, CTA have finally released their debut.  While we stumble along at the furthest periphery of the Scottish music scene, I thought that a good way to mark this date would be to feature two recently acquired deluxe box sets; namely Meursault’s ‘Something for the Weakened’ on Song by Toad records and James Yorkston’s ‘I Was a Cat From a Book’ out on Domino.

I made a point of sitting down and listening to the previous Meursault record ‘All Creatures Will Make Merry’ before attempting to write down my thoughts about the new one. My overall feelings for the band stem from my initial and current reaction to this sublime record. While I did have the digital emusic version for some time, to be honest, it didn’t get much play time. It was obviously special, but I seemed to be less taken with the quieter bits in between the more accessible stomping melodic fare. As a result, I tended to listen to it sporadically. After pre-ordering the box set, I also ordered a vinyl copy of ‘Creatures’. Much of the time waiting was spent listening to the first record. To say it was a revelation is an understatement. Quietly sitting on the couch, listening and watching the vinyl spin it all made sense; the poetry, the compelling and contemplative voice, the lo-fi erratic beauty of it all; I fell in love with an album previously only understood superficially.

Getting the Deluxe Box Set (now sold out) was a relatively easy decision. It contained the 12 inch, both 7 inch singles, badges, a lyric booklet, download codes, tote and t-shirt and, most importantly of all, the inclusion of a 12 track demo CD. I purposefully avoided streaming any songs because I wanted to put the record on and hear it for the first time when it arrived, something that isn’t actually easy to do anymore these days.

The opening track is both simple and effective; immediately we learn that the ‘weakened’ should not and will not be weak anymore. The next song ‘Flitten’ happens to be the one song I’ve heard several times before. I almost wish that I hadn’t. It is so powerful, in fact, that on the first listen it still manages to eclipse everything else on side A.  ‘Lament for a Teenage Millionaire’ steps back somewhat with its pleasing banjo melody. Oddly there were no lyrics for ‘Settling’ in the booklet. It might actually be my favourite song on the record. What is most apparent is the confidence in which the music is presented. The layers are elegantly put together. It is rousing, deep and heartfelt. It seems more purposefully put together. Overall it is a surprisingly economical, effective and polished masterpiece.

When you turn the record over and the vocals from ‘Lightning Bolt’ began, I was struck with just how much more soothing, comfortable and accessible Mr. Pennycook’s voice has become.  The new single ‘Dull Spark’ has a beautiful and gentle melody which perfectly sets up the grander ‘Dearly Distracted’ which follows. I happened to be browsing  twitter and just as the mailman rang Ian Rankin (having just obtained the record himself) had commented how up until then that song was the standout. I’d have to gently disagree. I had taken such a shine to ‘Settling’ that I was expecting something even more massive.

 The first listening sequence was as follows album, the demo cd, the album on mp3, and then one more listen of the demos. After one listen I was not altogether sure the record had managed to go beyond the previous. The demo CD is truly wonderful. In many respects it represents a bridge for those people stuck on the beauty of ‘All Creatures’ to more comfortably embrace the new record. The acoustic version of ‘Settling’ is worth the price of admission alone. The other alternate versions are as wonderful as the unused gems ‘Timbre’ and ‘Steve’. Given a hypothetical choice of only being able to keep the new record or the demo CD, I might just have chosen the 12 songs on the demo after my first listen. Hopefully this will be made available in the future.

Several subsequent plays balanced and deepened my appreciation of the new material. It is truly an accomplished release. Meursault, always a diamond in the rough, have spent a good deal more time working on the setting. It is grand and heartfelt. Emotionally satisfying and moving. It certainly will rank as one of the year’s best. Personally, I think it raises Scottish music in general to a whole new level. I mean this in all seriousness; this single record by itself has raised the bar. Whether Frightened Rabbit fame awaits them outside (or even within) Scotland is an unknown. What is certain is that they should be as successful, both domestically and abroad, if there truly was any rhyme and reason to the musical landscape.

Though it arrived a bit late due to the apparent unavailability of the backgammon pieces, the James Yorkston ‘I Was a Cat from a Book’ box set is equally impressive. For one thing, there is a genuine box. The double 10 inch gatefold doubles as the backgammon board. The 3 piece CD/DVD contains the album, some alternate versions and DVD of the Union Chapel show. For someone never having had the opportunity to see JY in person this probably ranks as the best extra bit of all.

Like in the case of Meursault, my JY collection was limited to an emusic copy of ‘The Year of the Leopard’. For whatever reason, it was never really listened to either; with the exception of repeatedly played ‘Woozy with Cider’. I was enamored with the spoken word tale but did not explore the rest of the record. Odd as it might sound, I’d never really taken the time to hear James Yorkston sing.

The immediate reaction to the first song ‘Catch’ was how much I liked Mr. Yorkston’s singing voice. Watching a bit of the live DVD reinforces what a good guitar player-performer he is as well.  By the second song ‘Kath with Rhodes’ I was struck with the exceptional musical sensibility unfurling before me. Not just a pretty voice. The next two songs are equally satisfying. I literally knew nothing about the record other than it was coming out. I was completely taken by surprise to hear ‘Just as Scared’; unquestionably my favourite duet from the Fruit Tree Foundation record. The overall reaction was so favourable that  I had to go on a 5 item back catalogue online shopping trip to shore up some of the gaps in my instant  JY collection. 

I’m looking forward to the releases to come in our second year. There is so much still to explore. It has been a pretty amazing start.

To celebrate, Pedro has wangled us a couple of spots on the list for Django, Django this evening.  The Scottish connection just never ends.

Swervedriver returned to San Francisco for a stop on their brief US Tour. GlasGO Pedro sent some questions to Adam Franklin to bring himself and others up to speed on this underrated band. Thanks to Michele and the Swervie Fan Forum for helping out…

Swervedriver formed out of your first band, Shake Appeal, named after the great motor city madness of The Stooges. I recently saw Iggy punish the Warfield here in SF w/ James Williamson on guitar snarl and Steve Mackay on sax assault, while commanding the audience to “Occupy the Stage” which they wholeheartedly did. What was it about this Detroit hi-energy rock’n’roll that got you hooked in quiet, leafy Oxford?

“Well Oxford wasn’t all quiet and leafy in the late 1970s and early 80s. Mine and Jim Hartridge’s journey to school would take us through the old British Leyland car plant in Cowley where a lot of our friends’ parents were employed. I’m not going to say that the sounds of ‘metal-on-metal’ were an influence on the sounds of our guitars or anything – as The Stooges and Black Sabbath have said about their own experiences of being in proximity to factory sounds – but there was certainly something about driving past all of this smoke and car parts everyday. Triumphs, MGs, Minis and Rovers were all created in part there. BL used to do work for Rolls Royce also and the RR and Bentley chassis had to be covered over but occasionally you would see a Rolls Royce skeleton poking out.

 The centre of Oxford itself on the other hand, within the perimeters of the old city wall, can often be a quite beautiful and serene place and is possibly the very definition of the ‘England’s dreaming’ that Johnny Rotten sang about in God Save The Queen by the Sex Pistols. It certainly lent itself well to listening to post-punk stuff like Atmosphere by Joy Division and Echo & the Bunnymen in the days when me and my mates would walk around town in our raincoats with our Bunnymen haircuts.”

 I love the story of your first gig following My Bloody Valentine who ended their set by covering “Shake Appeal”. Did you foresee the impact they would leave on guitar sound and production later on?

“I remember being impressed and intrigued that Kevin had two identical combo amps – Fenders, I assume – either side of the stage with a completely clean signal coming out of one and completely distorted fuzz out of the other. At that period in time I think you stuck together with anyone that you felt was doing anything even vaguely along similar lines as your own band and so we looked out for their progress and bought the Geek! single which came out around the same time. By the time they released Isn’t Anything we had already become Swervedriver and both bands had shifted their line-ups around and the sounds were changing and getting more exciting.”

I believe our dear friend, Mark Gardener (of Ride), was responsible in getting you signed to Creation Records by playing your demo to Alan Mcgee while driving (how appropriate) around LA? When Swervedriver finally hit the states, fans, colleagues, and critics took to your sound and song craft right away. Was the reception that warm back home in the UK?

 “It’s difficult to gauge. Our gigs as Shake Appeal were quite chaotic and although we ended up being well loved in Oxford we confused the hell out of people when we played in London and Brighton. The first Swervedriver show was at the Fulham Greyhound in late ’89 when we performed under the name Junk – or it may have been Rollercoaster. I think the show was with B.A.L.L. as I vaguely recall chatting to Don Fleming and Kramer and them being a little curious about us. I think we still kinda confused people though.

Then McGee signed us and we went out on the road with the House of Love. Graham Bonnar had just joined on drums and his first show was at Liverpool Royal Court in March 1990 where he had reams and reams of prompt sheets for all the songs. Perhaps being put into the context of being a Creation Records band helped people to get a handle on us. I’m sure it did, in fact. It was all about noise and melody back then.”

Fellow live music supporters across the pond, Sonic Cathedral Records, sent us a question: When are you playing in the UK?? (If and when you do, Nat Cathedral is your man..)

“I don’t know when we’re playing – we’ll bear Nat in mind for sure!”

Now for a couple of questions from the Swervedriver Fan Forum:

 Will the new songs definitely be released or is that still being decided?

“No and yes. Will I definitely be knocked down by a bus tomorrow? I can’t say for sure on that either or on how long a piece of string actually is. I think the official line was that we’ve been working on new material for probable release later in the year. You can take an educated guess or interpret that any way you want but we have a couple of ideas we’d like to execute, certainly and we’ll see how that goes. There would be various other ‘variables’ to throw in the mix beyond that of course.”

I notice sometimes you use different amps depending on the gig. Is there a reason you use a Matchless, Marshall, or Vox depending on the gig?

“In Swervedriver I always use a Marshall in conjunction with either a Vox AC30 or a Matchless DC30. The Marshall is quiet and crunchy onstage and takes the drier effects pedals but can be cranked loud out front of course. I’ve always used Vox AC30s for the subtler chiming sounds as well as the crazier, wetter more “showboaty” pedals. I can’t always get a hold of an AC30 when I’m in the US but the wonderful folks at Matchless have me on their client list and can always sort me out with one of their DC30s which were of course based wholesale on the AC30, to the point where it went to court I believe. 

Jim has a similar set-up although his combo always seems to change – I have no idea why that is. We have the Marshalls panned pretty out far left and right at maybe 4 or 5 o’clock one side and 7 or 8 on the other, with my Marshall over on his side and his on mine and with the combo amps further in – mine at maybe 10 or 11 o’clock and his at 1 or 2. This means that the stereo effects – such as Jimmy’s stereo tremolo – pan across the whole stage. A creative soundman can pretty much fill up the room with sound with that set-up. People sometimes say they’re amazed that there are only two guitars re-producing all the guitars on the recordings but with four amps all creating slightly different textures you can certainly fool people’s ears into thinking they’re hearing everything I suppose. It’s all done with mirrors really.”

How did you initially come to use the Jazzmaster? Jimmy seems to have a different guitar, (or at least a different Les Paul) every tour, but you always stick with the Jazzmaster. When did you get the infamous sunburst Jazzmaster you’re always using?

“I bought that Jazzmaster for £400 from Andy’s Guitars on Denmark St in London in 1990. I went in and was served by Brendan who was the guitarist in Dave Vanian’s Phantom Chords and I put my money down and left it with Brendan to pick up the next day. As I walked out and was turning the corner onto Tottenham Court Road I bumped into Kevin Shields and Andy Bell from Ride who asked me what I was up to so I told them I’d just bought a Jazzmaster. Kevin wanted to see it of course so we walked back to Andy’s, I asked Brendan to take it out from behind the counter and gave it to Kevin to have a play on. Kevin played on it for a bit and then said “shit, this is a really nice one.. do you wanna sell it?!”

To be honest, what brought me to wanting one was simply because Thurston and Lee from Sonic Youth and J from Dinosaur played them. It didn’t hurt that Costello played one too. They look cool, have lots of mysterious knobs and switches plus there’s the area behind the bridge that sounds like church bells chiming.”

Thank you for pushing past your experiences with the cutthroat record industry biz fiascos of the past and coming out the other end by sharing your art and thought live and on the road. What keeps you and Jimmy forging ahead these days?

“I’ve been forging ahead for years because I get ideas. I had to re-record a demo of a new song a couple of days ago because the original recording was in a different key and I wanted to send it to the Bolts of Melody guys for a show we have coming up. It was only a demo recorded in the middle of an afternoon but it’s all I’ve ever wanted to do really.”

You’ve been playing, recording, and collaborating consistently over the years with a variety of interesting projects and people. From Toshack Highway and Bolts of Melody to Magnetic Morning and the split single release with current tour support, Heaven. Any other releases to anticipate this year?

 “Definitely maybe. There’s the new Adam Franklin & Bolts of Melody album I Used To Live For Music to finish off – we have the drums and bass all down under the original demos so far. There are the Swervedriver ideas, possibly a film soundtrack with a friend of mine plus I’m thinking of making Everyday, Rock ‘n’ Roll Is Saving My Life Vol 3 available, since there have been four albums since Vol 2 and there are some interesting demos/live/instrumental versions of songs as well as unreleased songs and covers knocking around that people might wanna hear and that might help fund the recording of the Bolts album too.”

What bands or records do you recommend we should check out (new or old!)?  

 “Right now I would recommend Kraftwerk’s Ralf und Florian album which is the one before Autobahn; a David Axelrod compilation called The Edge and Jackie McLean’s 1964 Blue Note release Action Action Action. I quite like that Tralier Trash Tracys tune from the TV advert which is called You Wish You Were Red. Heard a nice tune by Beach House yesterday and the UK band Toy have some cool Television-type guitars going on.”

Finally, any questions for us?

 How long is a piece of string anyway?

A guitar string is about 25.4″ (64.52 cm) or multiply the distance from the nut to the 12th fret by 2.
Chrono String Engines were the source of power for spacecraft. These engines drew their power from Chrono Strings.
Ah, the power and ease of the internet. How long is a Chrono String? First to answer gets a personalized Swervie mix tape on good ol’ fashioned cdr…

Live review: The set was loud, b-side heavy, and we managed to snag prime seating for lift off (or, for our old legs) at the end of the bar. “Space-travel rock’n’roll” at its finest. And as one pleased fan said on the way out, ” They played ‘Cars Converge On Paris’ and that’s all I needed to hear.”

Pedro