May 25, 2013: The first wave of acts confirmed to play the Belladrum festival’s GoNorth Seedlings Stage on August 2-3 has been announced – Cleavers, Prides, Roman Nose, Blood Relatives, Red Ronson, Ranald, Dylan Tierney, Crystal Seagulls, Three Blind Wolves, Garden Of Elks, The Oxides, Fat Goth, St Max And The Fanatics, Fake Major, State Of Flux, Bear Arms, Little Fire and Lionel.
Sarah Hayes’ debut EP, Mainspring, is streaming on Bandcamp ahead of its release on May 28. She has Glasgow gigs scheduled for The Old Hairdressers on May 29 and The Wee Chill festival at SWG3 on June 29.
Boards Of Canada have unveiled new song Reach For The Dead, taken from forthcoming album Tomorrow’s Harvest, out on June 10.
May 24, 2013: The line-up for King Tut’s Summer Nights, which runs in the Glasgow venue from July 15 to August 1, has been revealed. The headliners are The Recovery!, Sunshine Social, TeKlo, Alarm Bells, Taffy, Sienna, So Many Animal Calls, Michael Cassidy, The OK Social Club, SOS, Departures, Fake Major, Prides, Waiting For Go and Arches. Other acts worth checking out include Cherri Fosphate, The Clock, The Youth And Young, Campfires In Winter, Kevin Harper, Discopolis and Father Sculptor. There’s also a Pop Cop DJ set on July 25.
Quickbeam song Grace is available for free download – it’s taken from the band’s self-titled debut album, out on June 3.
Giant Fang has unveiled a video for Aqualung.
May 23, 2013: A Music Open Day is being held at Aberdeen’s Lemon Tree on May 26 with a programme that includes three music industry panels, a soundcheck workshop and live music from Revere, Uniform, Leanne Smith and Marionettes. Free tickets to the evening show will be available to anyone who attends the free seminars during the day.
The Wickerman Festival has added Admiral Fallow, Chic ft Nile Rodgers, Dreadzone, Waylayers and Greg Wilson to its line-up on July 26-27.
Algernon Doll track Anti-them is available for free download – it’s taken from second album Citalo-pop, due for release on June 10.
May 22, 2013: The Basement Coffee House in Ayr has been shortlisted by NME as Scotland’s representative in a public vote to find the best small venue in Britain. The 80-capacity venue opened eight months ago.
Tomorrow’s second instalment of the Dewar House Experimental Batch series sees Edinburgh’s Caves host free live music from Kid Canaveral, The Last Battle and Adam Ross (Randolph’s Leap). There will be 550 tickets available on the door on a first come, first served basis.
May 21, 2013: Camera Obscura song Fifth In Line To The Throne is available for free download in exchange for an email address. It’s taken from the band’s fifth album Desire Lines, out on June 3, and pre-ordering it will get you another track, Do It Again.
Book Group have released their debut EP, Homeward Sound.
Sparrow And The Workshop’s third album Murderopolis, out on May 27, is streaming in full via DIY - one of the songs, The Faster You Spin, is also available for free download.
May 20, 2013: Garden Of Elks’ debut EP, Extended Play, is available to buy and stream.
The Clock have a video for their excellent song Everything’s Eventual, which is released on May 28. They have Glasgow gigs lined up at Broadcast on June 1 and Roxy 171 on June 20.
May 18, 2013: The 16-strong T Break line-up for T in the Park on July 12-14 has been unveiled - Arches, Blindfolds, DARC, Fake Major, Hector Bizerk, Honeyblood, Machines In Heaven, Michael Cassidy, Poor Things, Pronto Mama, Seams, Sunshine Social, The Merrylees, The Velveteen Saints, Vasa, Waiting For Go.
Anna Sweeney has announced she is taking a full break from music and has cancelled her scheduled appearance at Wickerman in July as she relocates to Reading for work in June. Another musician swapping Scotland for England is Plum, who is moving to Brighton in July.
May 17, 2013: The stage times have been released for the 35 acts playing Stag & Dagger across seven Glasgow venues on May 18.
Franz Ferdinand’s fourth album Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action will be released on August 26 – check out this brief trailer.
Frightened Rabbit recorded a cover of Best Coast’s The Only Place for Australian radio show Triple J. The band release their Late March, Death March EP on June 2.
The Mouse That Ate The Cat song When I Wake Up is available for free in exchange for your email address.
The title track of Adam Stafford’s forthcoming second album Imaginary Walls Collapse is streaming here.
May 16, 2013: The Discopolis remix of Bwani Junction single Civil War is available to download for free from SoundCloud.
Born To Be Wide’s next seminar at Edinburgh’s Electric Circus on May 30 is on the topic of goNORTH, with a panel featuring broadcaster Vic Galloway, goNORTH duo Amanda Millen and Alex Smith and Chasing Owls frontman Ben Sunderland explaining how musicians and delegates can get the most out of the annual Inverness convention. Tickets are free.
AC/DC have backed a campaign to erect a bronze statue of their former frontman Bon Scott in his hometown of Kirriemuir in Angus. Community music group DD8 Music hope to raise £50,000 via Kickstarter by June 5.
Kite And The Crane’s debut EP, Found In The End, is out on Bandcamp.
May 15, 2013: Biffy Clyro have a video for their new single Opposite.
The View are playing a one-off show at Glasgow’s King Tut’s on June 12 for the Sunday Mail Centenary Fund.
Adam Stafford is launching his second album Imaginary Walls Collapse with a gig at Glasgow’s Glad Cafe on July 5 with support from Siobhan Wilson and Robbie Lesiuk.
May 14, 2013: The Wee Chill will mark its 10th anniversary with a two-stage bill at Glasgow’s SWG3 on June 29 for the West End Festival. The line-up features Malcolm Middleton, James Yorkston with Sparrow & The Workshop (collaborative debut), Aidan Moffat (spoken word), Three Blind Wolves, Roddy Hart & The Lonesome Fire, Miaoux Miaoux, Fake Major.
Tommy Perman, who recently left FOUND, has unveiled his new solo project ComputerScheisse – check out These Beautiful Minds, the title track of his debut EP, out on July 15 through Phuturelabs.
RockNess have announced more acts for the festival on June 7-9 including Fenech-Soler, Fatherson, Public Service Broadcasting, The Boy Who Trapped The Sun, Niteworks and Jemma Tweedie.
Too Many Fireworks Records will donate all profits from sales of Variations Of Chopin, an album of contemporary interpretations of the composer’s music, to the fundraising campaign for drummer Robbie Cooper, whose cancer fight was documented on The Pop Cop.
May 13, 2013: New releases out now include Young Aviators’ debut album Self Help, Eagleowl’s debut album This Silent Year, and Cherri Fosphate’s new Burning Youth EP.
May 10, 2013: The live schedule for goNORTH in Inverness on June 5-6 has been unveiled – it includes a Scottish Bloggers Showcase hosted by The Pop Cop, Peenko and Song, by Toad featuring a four-band bill of Garden Of Elks, Friends In America, The Yawns and Flutes.
May 9, 2013: The documentary Hunting For Remoteness details The Magnetic North’s visit to Orkney – where frontman Erland Cooper is from – for the making of their debut album. It will be released on June 24 alongside a reissue of that record, Orkney: Symphony Of The Magnetic North. You can watch the trailer here.
Alphabetical Order Orchestra are streaming their first song, The Architect. The band is made up of My Latest Novel members Chris Deveney, Gary Deveney and Ryan King.
A Band Called Quinn have launched a crowdfunding campaign to support performances of their multimedia show Biding Time (remix) at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August.
May 8, 2013: Three Blind Wolves have released their new album, Sing Hallelujah For The Old Machine.
May 7, 2013: Adam Stafford’s new single Please is streaming online – it’s taken from his second album Imaginary Walls Collapse, out in July.
May 6, 2013: The T in the Park Roadshow is bringing free live music to Scottish towns this month – it stops at Glasgow today for The View at Kelvingrove Park (1pm) and Buchanan Street (3.30pm); Edinburgh on May 10 for Vigo Thieves at Queen Margaret University’s Student Union (noon), Dundee on May 11 for The LaFontaines at Overgate Centre (noon); Aberdeen on May 12 for Sienna at Aberdeen University (noon); and Ayr on May 18 for The Redettes at Ayr Railway Station (noon).
Fake Major have a video for Fiction, a song on their Have Plenty Of Fun EP. Fellow Comets & Cartwheels artist Finn LeMarinel has a new video for Garden, taken from his debut album Violence.
Capitals have released a sampler of all the tracks on their debut album A National Service, out on June 3.
May 3, 2013: Episode 11 of BBC ALBA’s Rapal music TV programme is on iPlayer and features Cara Mitchell, Brown Bear & The Bandits, Three Blind Wolves and Anna Sweeney.
Steve Mason has accused Samsung of plagiarising the video for The Beta Band’s 2004 single Assessment for their new television advert. Both show historical figures running down a beach and helicopters circling overhead.
May 2, 2013: Young Aviators’ debut album Self Help is streaming on Electric Honey’s SoundCloud ahead of its release on May 13.
May 1, 2013: Travis have a video for Where You Stand, the first single and title track of the band’s seventh album, out on August 19.
Fake Major’s debut EP, Have Plenty Of Fun, is available for download.
My Latest Novel have gone on hiatus, with three of the members forming Alphabetical Order Orchestra - look out for music from them next week.
Kobi Onyame has a video for his new single The Real Part 2.
Trapped In Kansas have unveiled new song Collapse Rebuild.
Rob St John’s new AA single Charcoal Black And The Bonny Grey/Shallow Brown is out now.
April 30, 2013: Boards Of Canada will release Tomorrow’s Harvest, their first new album in eight years, on June 10.
Quickbeam song Immersed is available to download for free from DIY – you can also listen to snippets from every track of the band’s self-titled debut album, out on June 3.
Discopolis have unveiled the video for their new song Falling (Committed To Sparkle Motion), out on May 5.
April 29, 2013: The SAY Award will stream each of the 20 longlisted albums for 24 hours through their app, starting today with Miaoux Miaoux’s Light Of The North. You can read The Pop Cop’s feature here.
Panda Su’s new song MAPS is available to buy now on Amazon, while Bwani Junction’s new single Civil War is on iTunes.
The Boy Who Trapped The Sun has a video for new song California ahead of his May tour in Scotland.
The Pastels have a video for Check My Heart, taken from their forthcoming new album Slow Summits, out on May 27.
Frank Turner covered Frightened Rabbit’s The Modern Leper for Jim Gellatly’s In:Demand Uncut session.
April 27, 2013: Episode 10 of BBC ALBA’s Rapal music TV programme is on iPlayer and features two fantastic unreleased songs by Beerjacket as well as The Holy Ghosts, The Merrylees and Ray McCartney.
Travis, Johnny Marr, Hurts, James Skelly, Jack Savoretti, Willy Mason, Foy Vance, Steve Mason, Milo Greene and DIIV have been added to the T in the Park line-up, which has now been separated into day-by-day splits.
Edinburgh venue The Forest Cafe, which has been banned from hosting live music due to council restrictions, are looking for acts to play their new monthly event, the Forest Big Night Out at Old St Paul’s, which launches on May 23. Email foresteventsedinburgh@gmail.com for details.
April 26, 2013: The Burns an’ a’ that! Festival will feature live music as part of Weekend in the Park at Ayr’s Belleisle Park on May 25-26. Rose Parade, Little Fire, Pronto Mama and The Bluebells are among the free acts; Justin Currie + Rachel Sermanni play a ticketed gig on May 26.
Other newly-announced concerts on sale include Lana Del Rey + Kassidy at Glasgow’s SECC on May 16 (replacing her two dates at the Academy on May 15/16) Bombay Bicycle Club at Edinburgh’s Liquid Room on June 7, Belle & Sebastian at Inverness’ Ironworks on July 1, We Are Scientists at Glasgow’s Oran Mor on July 29, Kid Canaveral + Ballboy at Edinburgh’s Liquid Room on August 10.
Kid Canaveral + The Last Battle + Adam Ross (Randolph’s Leap) also play a free show at Edinburgh’s Caves on May 23 with 300 tickets on the door on a first come, first served basis as part of a Dewar’s event.
April 25, 2013: Seasick Steve, The Pigeon Detectives, Julie Fowlis, Meursault, Washington Irving, PAWS and The LaFontaines have been added to the Belladrum Festival line-up on August 2-3.
Washington Irving have released Palomides Volume 1, the first half of their debut album.
The View are streaming Kill Kyle, one of two new songs on their compilation album Seven Year Setlist, out on June 17.
April 24, 2013: The showcase list of artists picked to play goNORTH in Inverness on June 5-6 has been announced. For the third consecutive year there will be a bloggers’ showcase stage hosted by The Pop Cop, Peenko and Song, by Toad. More details to follow soon.
Kilmarnock’s Dirty Weekender will feature 45 acts over three venues on May 31 to June 2 including Fridge Magnets, Bwani Junction, The Ok Social Club, Ross Leighton (Fatherson) and Chris Helme.
Poor Things’ new single Morgan is free to download – it’s taken from their Hurricane Poor Things EP, out on June 10.
Similarly, Cherri Fosphate are giving away Wool from their Burning Youth EP, out on May 11.
April 23, 2013: Glasvegas will play Aberdeen’s Garage on June 27, Edinburgh’s Liquid Room on June 28 and Glasgow’s ABC on June 29.
Reverieme’s second album With Up So Floating is out now.
Roddy Hart & The Lonesome Fire have announced they will release their self-titled new album through Middle Of Nowhere Records in July.
Herculean have a video for Red Weather, taken from The Falling Thunder EP, out on June 7.
April 22, 2013: Stag & Dagger have added Phosphorescent, Rachel Sermanni, Randolph’s Leap, French Wives, Fake Major, Prides, Chris Devotion & The Expectations and Donald Macdonald & The Islands to the Glasgow festival’s line-up on May 18.
Episode 9 of BBC ALBA’s Rapal music TV programme is on iPlayer and features Brown Bear & The Bandits, Cara Mitchell, The Open Day Rotation and John Wean.
Texas have unveiled a video for The Conversation, the title track from their first album in eight years, out on May 20.
Bronagh & The Boys have released their debut single Green, taken from A Young Heart EP, out on May 19.
April 19, 2013: Kassidy’s Barrie-James O’Neill and his girlfriend Lana Del Rey have recorded a cover of Summer Wine (made famous by Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood), backed with a video featuring handheld footage of the pair in Los Angeles.
My Bloody Valentine, Trash Talk, Fidlar and The VirginMarys have been added to the T in the Park line-up.
April 18, 2013: Pre-sale tickets are available for Regina Spektor at Glasgow’s Academy on August 20 and Kings Of Leon at the ciry’s Bellahouston Park on August 15, the latter being part of the Glasgow Summer Sessions.
The Mirror Trap have unveiled a video for Westminster Ghost Story, the first track to be taken from their second album Stay Young, due out this autumn.
April 17, 2013: Midnight Lion have changed their name to Prides and expanded to a trio with the addition of Kitty The Lion’s Callum Wiseman on guitar and vocals. To coincide with the announcement, they have unveiled wonderfully addictive new song Out Of The Blue.
T in the Park have added Local Natives, Lucy Rose, Swim Deep, Theme Park, Lewis Watson and Sons & Lovers to the festival on July 12-14.
April 16, 2013: Doune The Rabbit Hole have announced that this year’s festival will take place at the new location of Cardross Estate at Port of Menteith in Stirlingshire on August 22-25. The line-up features Clinic, Meursault, Rachel Sermanni, Alasdair Roberts, Washington Irving, The Pastels, PAWS, Beerjacket, Rick Redbeard, We Are The Physics, Randolph’s Leap, Siobhan Wilson, Panda Su, Shambles Miller, Jo Mango and TeenCanteen. See here for full day-by-day splits.
April 15, 2013: James and Twin Atlantic will headline the Belladrum Tartan Heart Festival on August 2-3. Other acts on the bill include Admiral Fallow, Fatherson, Rick Redbeard, Noisettes, The Horrors and King Charles.
April 13, 2013: Edinburgh’s live music scene has suffered yet another setback with Forest Cafe having its live music licence reviewed, causing the immediate postponement of gigs there, starting with the Solas Showcase scheduled for today.
Newsnight Scotland featured a report on the music industry on April 10, prompted by the Wide Days convention in Edinburgh. Watch the segment on BBC iPlayer, with contributions from Stanley Odd’s Dave Hook, Plum’s Shona Maguire, Chemikal Underground’s Stewart Henderson, Wide Days organiser Olaf Furniss and journalist Nicola Meighan. The interviews were conducted by Galleries drummer Andrew Black.
April 12, 2013: Episode 8 of BBC ALBA’s Rapal music TV programme is on iPlayer and features Niteworks, The Holy Ghosts, Miaoux Miaoux and The Merrylees.
Eagleowl have unveiled Not Over, the first offering from debut album This Silent Year, which will come out through Fence Records on May 13.
Dear Lara, aka David Lan, has released his debut EP Plans as a free download.
April 11, 2013: Capitals’ debut album A National Service will come out on June 3, with those who pre-order it (from just £5) getting an immediate download of any of the record’s 11 tracks, one of which is Reliever.
The View will release singles compilation Seven Year Setlist on June 17 – the album features two new songs, Dirty Magazine and Kill Kyle.
Several Scottish acts have posted tracks from forthcoming new albums – check out Washington Irving – Wandering Wits, United Fruit – Taste I Can’t Give Up and Hector Bizerk – Orchestrated Madness.
April 10, 2013: Promoters Cry Parrot will host their 6th Birthday Party at Glasgow’s Glue Factory on April 26 with a gig featuring Sacred Paws, Hector Bizerk, Tut Vu Vu, Ultimate Thrush, Ela Orleans and Sad City.
Three Blind Wolves are previewing Slow Summer Deer, taken from their Sing Hallelujah For The Old Machine album, released on May 6.
Where We Lay Our Heads single Keanu Leaves is out now.
Great Cop are giving away new song Stop Hiding as a free download.
April 9, 2013: Mogwai guitarist John Cummings uploaded a photo of himself at Glasgow’s George Square yesterday where more than 300 people gathered, inspired by his band’s 2011 song George Square Thatcher Death Party.
Hi-Arts, which promotes arts in the Highlands and Islands, has issued notices of redundancies to all 10 of its staff in the wake of funding cuts.
April 8, 2013: Fridge Magnets will play a ‘silent gig’ at a secret outdoor location in Glasgow on May 15 (6pm) – tickets can be won through organisers Deezer. The band will perform inside a mobile perspex box with the 300-capacity audience able to hear them through headphones.
Kassidy have released new mini-album People Like Me.
April 7, 2013: Song Of Return have launched their Singles Club project on Bandcamp through which they’ll be selling unreleased tracks. Month 1 contains Torn Between The Tides (see video) and Enough.
Cairn String Quartet, who were profiled on The Pop Cop in March, have unveiled their orchestral cover of Kid Canaveral’s Low Winter Sun.
Travis have made new song Another Guy available to download for free through their website. It also has a video.
April 6, 2013: The following 16 HMV and Fopp stores in Scotland will remain open following Hilco’s takeover – HMV: Aberdeen, Ayr, Dundee, East Kilbride, Edinburgh Fort Kinnaird, Edinburgh Ocean Terminal, Edinburgh Princes St, Glasgow Argyle St, Glasgow Buchanan St, Glasgow Fort, Inverness, Livingston, Stirling; Fopp: Edinburgh; Glasgow Union St; Glasgow Byres Rd.
Bwani Junction have a video for new single Civil War, out on April 29.
Rachel Sermanni and Emma’s Imagination are among the acts playing the Kintyre Songwriters Festival in Campbeltown on May 24-26.
Quickbeam will launch their debut album with a gig at the disused Govanhill Baths in Glasgow on May 31. They will be supported by Fake Major whose debut Have Plenty Of Fun EP comes out on May 1.
April 5, 2013: Spotify director Mark Williamson will give the keynote speech at next week’s Wide Days event in Edinburgh as part of a session on the business of streaming. The full running order is here.
Episode 7 of BBC ALBA’s Rapal music TV programme is on iPlayer and features Anna Sweeney, Cara Mitchell, Discopolis and Paul McGranaghan.
Dot JR has uploaded new song Waterfalls to SoundCloud.
April 4, 2013: The Tiree Music Festival will take place in An Talla on July 20-21 with a bill that includes Roddy Hart & The Lonesome Fire, Washington Irving, The Youth And Young and Brown Bear & The Bandits.
Galleries’ fantastic new single Midnight Rush is out now.
Casual Sex have made a video for their debut single Stroh 80. They play Glasgow’s Nice ‘n’ Sleazy on April 5 and Oran Mor on April 7.
April 3, 2013: Comlongon Rocks have added a third day of live music to its line-up at Comlongon Castle in Dumfries & Galloway on May 17-19. The festival’s line-up features Three Blind Wolves, Emma’s Imagination, The OK Social Club and Saint Max.
Chem 19 are offering three days of free recording time to five Scottish acts through their Creative Scotland Demo Fund. To apply, musicians (under-25s only) should email a link to some demos and a bio to info@chem19.co.uk with the subject Chem19 Demo Fund Enquiry before April 26. Chosen acts will also take part in a live showcase.
Siobhan Wilson + Julia And The Doogans + Jo Mango will play Glasgow’s Roxy 171 on June 26 as part of the Scottish Fiction Presents: Aye Tunes vs Peenko night at the West End Festival.
April 2, 2013: Acts confirmed for The Insider Festival in Aviemore on June 21-23 include Rachel Sermanni, Karine Polwart, Hector Bizerk, Urstan, David Thomas Broughton, Miaoux Miaoux, Pete Roe, Jonnie Common, Adam Holmes And The Embers and Sparrow And The Workshop.
Up-and-coming acts can apply to play the Hebridean Celtic Festival in Stornoway on July 17-20 through their One Step Further competition which is open to musicians aged 18-25. To enter, artists need to email office@hebceltfest.com with the subject HebCelt New Talent Submissions and include links to three songs, a biog and high-res photo. Closing date is April 12.
April 1, 2013: Quickbeam’s self-titled debut album will be released through Comets & Cartwheels on June 3 – check out the video for lead track Immersed which will be available as a free download on April 29.
We Were Promised Jetpacks will headline the second night of the three-day Solas Festival in Perthshire on June 22.
Minor Delilah will be giving away copies of their new EP, Only Dust Can Hear You, to anyone who attends their launch gig at Glasgow’s Classic Grand on May 3.
07
Jul
Can everyone stop fighting please?
A couple of weeks ago, the Radar music blog ran an editorial titled Is friendly fire killing our music scene? in which the author (Billy Hamilton) was curiously affronted by “the same old faces we’re seeing on the same old blogs” and went on to claim that some Scottish bands were being written about favourably not because the writer particularly liked their music, but because of personal friendships.
Unsurprisingly, this accusation did not sit well with a few Scottish bloggers, although the matter of who the intended target(s) was remains open to conjecture given that the author has so far been unwilling to give a single example of perceived favouritism. Indeed, I brought this issue up as a comment on the original article, to which Billy replied “What’s the point?”. The point is, until he does, the argument simply doesn’t carry any weight.
The reason I found the article so counter-productive is that new Scottish artists need all the help they can get – no matter how much talent they have. Take this weekend’s T in the Park festival as an example. If you disregard the T Break Stage (which is confined to local musicians) only 10% of all acts who have been invited to play this year are Scottish. That isn’t a slight on the band bookers, it’s simply a reflection on Scotland’s standing when it comes to producing bands popular enough to attract punters to a large-scale music festival.
However, where I could find common ground with the Radar piece is on the level of camaraderie, togetherness and co-operation that this country’s music scene enjoys, something I discovered first-hand when everyone rallied round to support The Pop Cop’s recent salvage operation. It’s heartening to think that Scottish artists, podcasters, bloggers and gig promoters appreciate and respect each other’s worth and contribution…
…or so I thought.
Two episodes have left me gobsmacked this week.
First, Matthew Young of the universally respected and long-standing Scottish music blog Song, By Toad has had to deal with some “pretty serious legal threats made about having the site shut down” courtesy of PCL, a Glasgow-based gig promotion company who are responsible for putting on the likes of Mika and Scissor Sisters.
PCL took exception to being insulted by a couple of Song, By Toad readers (let’s just say a word that rhymes with “runts” was used) on the comments section of this post when the topic of debate turned to Meursault gigs they were promoting. The comments relating to PCL and Matthew’s response (in which he emphasised that he had no problem with the promoters personally, but just wanted to have a couple of things cleared up since Meursault are on his record label) have since been removed due to the threat of legal action, but needless to say the heavy-handed response – and that’s not even going into the issue of censoring comments – has left a lot of people disgusted and angry.
As if that wasn’t shocking enough, along came this frankly astounding email exchange between a Glasgow-based indie group called Un Cadavre and the organisers of the city’s Pin Up Nights club night. To summarise, Un Cadavre were invited to play at the Flying Duck venue in May. They were told in advance that payment was on a “door split” basis but since there were ZERO people there to see them when they played, Un Cadavre were not paid for their efforts (although they did help themselves to free beer).
Now, the band made it clear they were unhappy at not being paid for playing to no punters but instead of accepting the organiser’s offer to meet face-to-face to discuss it, they thought it would be a much better idea to immaturely doctor a photo of the man who booked them to play and post it on the internet (see above).
However, the Pin Up team took it all in their stride (sample quote: “Perhaps an apology would have been appropriate today given your language, behaviour and unfounded defamatory allegations but that would probably never occur to someone with their head so far up their own arse that they must have difficulty breathing”), and proceeded to obliterate the band’s increasingly desperate, pretentious, arrogant arguments to sawdust in a series of emails which they decided to make public here.
Who said this place was too friendly?
20 Responses to “Can everyone stop fighting please?”
July 8th, 2010 at 05:15
I’ve read the 3 features mentioned and they all have left me wondering why such animosity is present.
The only thing the radar piece left with me was: why have such a lack of faith? to think that anyone who invests so much time/effort/money in promoting unsigned music in scotland would be so easily led is unfair to those who do.
I have only read the Song By Toad thing after the comments were removed, but I think it is crazy that a forum can be censored in such a way. What are things coming to if that is going to happen?
As for Un Cadavere, they’ve just shown every unsigned band how to not get anywhere. I havn’t listened to them but probably wont now. Not as part of a group effort, but simply as I think the way they acted is ridiculous. Not what happened on the night or whether they are right or wrong in the argument- the fact that they started a petty internet hate campaign over a probable 30 quid. Why would I subject my blog to a potential barrage like that?
Basically, chill out folk, we’re (almost) all going in the same direction.
Apologies for this being so long
July 8th, 2010 at 06:49
RE: Song by Toad
The censorship issue of `legal threats` from big companies throwing their weight around is outrageous and wrong on so many levels, Although im entering this unbeknown to the full facts of what was actually said, Im confident that this sounds almost like bullying
RE: the Radar debate
The self-censorship of bloggers/ writers not wanting to upset their friends or people in their outer social circle which is completely understandable but can be slightly frustrating as at times it seems from the outside that the majority of writers are sometimes always in agreement with each other (I do not include Pop Cop in this statement)
RE: The pin-up saga
Here both parties have went on the complete opposite extreme of not rocking the apple cart and resulted to the pettiness of calling each other out over the internet. To be fair, It was the band who started it and it was the band who came off far worse but im sure the band have generated publicity as a result. They`re next gig will probably have far more than `ZERO` people through the door and I for one will be interested to see if they can cut it live and read the reviews afterwards if they were to play a good gig.
Would the reviews reflect that?
Would their be any?
They sound like obnoxious pricks but arent most bands? Ok maybe not you or my friends that are in bands but it should be music first, Personality second.
I think Its good to see people asking if our scene is too friendly because it means we actually have a scene. A scene full of great bands and bloggers although it could well seem a bit daunting and too close-knit for people who have just arrived. Its everyones duty to be friendly to the lesser known and prove the doubters wrong and let it grow bigger. We should support each other whilst still maintaining our own individuality . This scene helped save Pop Cop and did its small part for 6music. It can grow from strength to strength if we do it right
July 8th, 2010 at 09:30
cracking post there kidda,
I must admit that I had never heard of them until two days ago when I read that Pin Up nights article. That’s one way of getting your name out there I guess!
I particularly enjoyed your Un Cadavre picture
July 8th, 2010 at 10:24
PCL are cunts.
July 8th, 2010 at 10:25
Oh my, Un Cadavre. You’d think someone that pretentious would be a little more restrained with his exclamation marks. Although, I’m sure he could write me a referenced essay on the merits of needless repetition of punctuation when not used for comedic effect but dour, humourless dummy-spitting.
As for Mr B. Hamilton, he should really have the man-parts to name who he is levelling this criticism at. I suspect he doesn’t as The Scotsman may take a dim view of him laying into blogs promoting Scottish Music and he probably doesn’t want to upset bloggers from whom he could possibly need favours or support from. He certainly wouldn’t want them to turn on him en masse, I imagine. This is not his first and I suspect won’t be his last self-important, and frankly dull, editorial. He’s sparked a debate he refuses to take further, which is rather limp.
I must admit that I laughed quite hard when I read that a representative of PCL had threatened to stuff “£100 pounds in notes up” Matthew Song, By Toad’s arse. I wish I could have heard his reaction, as judging by his podcasts the language must have been rather colourful. The threat of legal action over opinion is absolutely ridiculous, however.
And you! Mr Pop Cop seem to have sparked further handbags!
July 8th, 2010 at 10:43
I take full responsibility for the doctored Un Cadavre photo. And to think I called THEM immature, ha!
July 8th, 2010 at 11:10
Did no one else find the Radar piece hilarious? Given the fact that three of their writers are in bands that they have ‘tipped’ at one point? Blue Sky Archives, There Will Be Fireworks, Dems. It just made me laugh as they are as guilty as anyone yet seem to look down at the rest of the blogging community because they like to think of themselves as proper journalists. All that piece equated to was ‘WAAAAAAAAAAAH’. Counter-productivity at its worst.
PCL- that is completely shocking. When did big promoters become the Gestapo?! CUNTS!
July 8th, 2010 at 11:30
Is Billy in a band? I’d love to hear them as, quite clearly, the must be the most incredible band in the world. Or is he just a serious journalist?
I don’t think you went far enough with your Un Captioning. “Un Cadavre are front bottoms and their music is like a foghorn covered in Nietzsche quotations poo-ing in your ears”. Let’s immature it “to the max”.
July 8th, 2010 at 11:36
“their music is like a foghorn covered in Nietzsche quotations poo-ing in your ears”
Nothing has cheered me up this much since the double rainbow video.
July 8th, 2010 at 19:34
Can of worms officially open! All we wanted to do with the Radar editorial was raise a question that most of us have probably wondered at some point. Taboo maybe, but not that controversial surely.
And it wasn’t directed purely at blogs (of which we are one) – the wider issue was whether too much positivity can be a bad thing for a music scene – especially when viewed from the outside. That’s a valid question is it not?
For the record Ian, we featured There Will Be Fireworks a year before Gibran ever offered to write for us, we have never once mentioned Dems (yet) and, yes, we put on a gig with Blue Sky Archives and plan to feature them in the future, but that’s because we think they’re a bloody good band. Any accusations of bias are frankly laughable.
I stand by the decision to run the editorial because open debate keeps things from stagnating. It’s a shame that such debate becomes personal on comment threads. I’m sure we’d all get on fine and maybe come to some kind of consensus in the real world, over a pint, but there you go.
Stop fighting indeed.
July 10th, 2010 at 14:07
i think the problem that most people had with the radar piece wasn’t so much what billy had written, more the fact that he completely disengaged from it. i think if you’re going to write something which is undoubtedly going to generate such a heated response then you have an obligation to interact with the comments thread. this is what makes blog writing so worthwhile. without doing this the article doesn’t stand up as a platform for debate, it just stagnates and distances the writer from any potential conversation.
Oh, and for the record, PCL are just lovely.
July 10th, 2010 at 19:49
Hiya
Pin up nights is an average club in my opinion, but they go on the defensive a bit too quickly – that band was obviously drunk and pushing their luck, nothing more… why argue back? We once came to pin up nights to play with a band from Canada who we’d agreed to play on a song with and had to pay into pin up nights for the honour… we was quite miffed about it but we did it because we liked our Canadian pals. I mentioned afterwards that I thought it was a bit odd and the chap was quite defensive about it and pulled out a host of statistics about their costs etc. I found it a bit over the top. It’s definitely not the worst run club in the world though, or the most selfish, but it’s kind of churlish to respond to a band who are out to annoy them for a bit of fun. It hardly said ‘I’m a pure cunt’ on the wee MS Paint thing they made likesay. I wonder why they feel this is necessary.
In respect to the radar thing, I get what the guy was saying, though I think it could have been more eloquent. As someone who plays in a fair few bands in Glasgow and in Edinburgh and having been around playing in them for a long, long, long time, it is definitely a topic of contention about how bloggers ‘fit’ into music. It is something that hasn’t settled and may never but it must be true that some people are social networkers with a blog and some people are bloggers that happen to establish a social network. The same is true with band members – you get people that can chat their way to anything. I can’t and I don’t but without people that did, I’d not meet lots of new people and do new things.
I do feel that Radar and Song by Toad, to pick two examples, are exacting in praise and criticism. I think that’s mainly down to really good writing and a variety of contributors. That’s not to say I don’t value other people’s input or think anything in terms of them being cliquey or whatever. Not any more than the average band member anyway.
We should celebrate the variety of things like podcasts, people uploading radio sessions, doing reviews, interviews and so on. For me (and I think maybe the guy that wrote the Radar thing) the important thing is that the good outweighs the bad. It’s stupid to say ‘blogs are rubbish’ because that’s true in many ways and false in others. But it’s also stupid to get angry at the insinuation that people aren’t entirely selfless or that they form cliques using a social networking tool. Of course they do. Criticism is the greatest tool for improving any group of people really and it should be welcomed – what I’d rather see is everyone that cares trying to do things to improve independent music rather than try to industrialise something that simply isn’t going to be a career for most people involved in it – especially following the rules of the music industry.
So maybe someone should post their top 5 things they would do to make music better in Scotland, rather than just getting wound up. I’ll send a beautiful CD of my band to the first person that does. If that’s not enough reason to do so, I don’t know what is.
July 12th, 2010 at 16:33
1. I think an aggregation site of some sort with all Scottish blogs and music sites would be quite helpful.
2. More attention given to other areas rather than just Glasgow and Edinburgh. There are some fantastic bands up north that constantly get overlooked.
3. Young fans. Most gigs I go to featuring up and coming talent are full of 30 years olds. There needs to be a pull for younger fans to come to small gigs rather than just going to club nights. If there is no future audience then the Scottish scene is going to be fucked in coming years.
4. Better integration between Scotland and the rest of the UK. Press-wise and promotion-wise.
5. It is never going to happen, but money. Norway, Sweden and Canada get money pumped into up and coming bands and it really shows. Read this interesting piece by Pitchfork. It talks about America, but it is applicable for Scotland too.
July 13th, 2010 at 03:58
I find this discussion interesting because I play in some bands based in Glasgow and therefore I’m aware of the blogging network that has been building up around the Scottish (Glasgow/Edinburgh anyway) music scene.
It wasn’t so long ago that all you had was hard copy newspapers/magazines that did the music industry chat and that was it. Forget the radio and the television stuff – not many people on the radio or TV were ever looking to really examine the state of affairs in this music world. It was the zines that commanded respect of the underground music scenes.
It was folk working for no pay, printing only a hundred copies and passing them out to friends who in a way were helping start the blogging generation. They didn’t have comments boxes – they sat around and discussed it. The most disturbing movement the internet has caused was to make it easy to wax lyrical right from the comfort of our computer desks. It has made us anonymous and cold in some ways.
My problem with the article is the way it talks about our responsibilities. How we are striving to create a good scene and that the conduct of how bloggers and bands are becoming to chummy.
First of all, no-one in their right mind strives to create a scene. It’s a natural unassuming process unless you have a seriously Napoleonic mind. When I started playing music in Glasgow I knew no-one involved. This changed over the course of years playing gigs, working in bars, etc. I didn’t make any conscious choice to talk to this guy or make sure so and so liked me. I just lived my life and through working in this industry got to know folk. You can’t manufacture that – it just happens.
Secondly, why would you consider this to truly be a problem? If you strive for a ‘good scene’ then surely this should be a big part of it. Why can’t a good scene be one where the people writing music and the people writing about it have a true connection? The most fascinating pieces of journalism have come when a writer and a subject have had some kind of connection. Cameron Crowe and the Allman Brothers or Hunter S. Thompson and the Hells Angels to name two of the top of my head. You’ve got to know what you’re writing about and it’s not a very big town.
This isn’t a rant or a rave, merely my unadultered thoughts on this situation as I wax lyrical from a computer desk. I suppose that’s what it’s about. We can finally all say what we want rather than just reading what other people say.
July 15th, 2010 at 18:37
I thought the Un Cadavre thing was pretty funny to be honest,a bit pretentious, but their obviously not serious. Not seen them live, but I just heard their stuff on myspace- sounds pretty good. To be honest, my mates band Peter Parker were ripped off by Pin up Nights. John D wanted to give them 20 quid, after making two grand on the door- doesn’t sound like a fair policy to me.
July 15th, 2010 at 21:48
The Un Cadavre v Pin ups affair – and the subsequent reaction to it here – is incredibly depressing. I left Glasgow because of an utter lack of colour and variety in the music circuit. Whilst I’ve never heard of these guys (although I will now look them up) and know nothing of the spat other than the one account printed here, it does seem as though the club is being a bit joyless and neurotic about it all. I don’t really understand their reasoning for giving a band they clearly dislike loads of exposure, other than the fact the band must have hit a nerve (as well as a mannequin).
The arts here in Berlin are very much centred around the freedom to be ‘pompous’ and ‘arrogant’ (my primary school teacher used to say that people who used those terms disparagingly are the worst culprits, that it assumes an unacceptable rightness. She also liked Muriel Spark too…And Byron…What a woman.) and that is something the Glasgow establishment is clearly still resistant to. Colour and nuance are wonderful things. Good luck to Un Cadavre. I won’t be back anytime soon. Peace.
August 8th, 2010 at 15:50
This whole article seems a false, or dubious. You’re always talking about the outrage of the on-line blogging community, when I know for a fact that nobody reads music blogs, particularly about Scottish unsigned bands who play the T-Break stage.
I think it’d be safe to say that most of people that read are probably the friend’s bands which you review, and some mid-thirties music fans who want a bit of reprieve from their jobs through thinking they still have a connection to the youth of today.
RE: Un Cadavre V Pin-Ups. Been to Pin-ups once when it was at the woody, it was pretty rubbish to be honest. I would say: who said we all have to be nice and pretend we like each other’s awful music & club nights?
Im confused why Pin-up nights made this public? Its not like people are gonnae read it and think, ‘oh, they might not pay bands and sound a bit like dicks- I’m gonna go to that night!’ I wouldn’t say they’ve done themselves any favours.
Also I thought that the way they said ‘vapid, uninspired night of indie cliché’, was pretty funny. I’d probably describe Pin-up nights like that an all!
Jonathan-x0
August 16th, 2010 at 02:56
Some interesting comments here. The main motivation for publishing the un cadavre correspondence was because they refused to meet me,and also because they made themselves sound very silly. It has given a lot of people a laugh. I’m amused by attempts to intellectualise about,or lend dignity to,what was essentially a nasty wee guy writing nasty wee emails and getting rightly ripped to shreds by the reasonable pin ups chaps. I also hoped to spark a debate about how bands are paid by venues/promoters across Scotland. Unfortunately that hasn’t happened. I actually suggested it to RADAR as a valid editorial subject. It’s a more practical subject for the “scene” than hand-wringing about blogs. I expect the pin ups system would look pretty fair compared to most other venues/promoters! Re Peter Parker,i freely acknowledge they spurred me into creating a system. Turnover is a bit different from profit though. We took £1500ish and spent about the same on the event. I wasnt hoarding cash. I also expect its one of the biggest crowds that Peter Parker have ever played in front of. But yes they were entitled to ask for cash and let’s be clear – they got it.
In Peter’s comment above he fails to mention that I paid his Canadian friends £100, and that 2 of the Super Fury Animals were Guest DJing. I was therefore keeping a fairly close eye on the guestlist as costs were pretty high. Pretty reasonable I think, and it also sounds like I took the time to try and explain this reasonable position, when I could easily just have said “if you don’t think your pal’s performance or the super furries are worth paying for then just stay at home.”
Finally, I thought the range of ideas, themes and guests we’ve booked is pretty unique, but since Jonathan reckons it’s “cliche”, I assume he must know of loads of other nights doing the same thing. Tell me about these nights please! Since we get ripped off pretty relentlessly by clubs throughout the UK, I’m looking forward to turning the tables. Of course, it might just be that Jonathan was spouting rubbish in the course of trying to take a cheap shot, and will be unable to back up his neat little soundbite. Surely not.
Apologies for the length of this post, but when you see this much gibberish you have to comment.
Keep up the good work Pop Cop! Dx
August 16th, 2010 at 20:07
Whatever John D- you’re a pure laughing stock mate. Specially since you decided to print these e-mails, now everybody thinks your a cunt, and they actually think that Un Cadavre hav done good for standing up to you. Good luck to them! I don’t need to give any other nights that are more fair, every cunt knows that pin-up nights is the worst night ever, full of sad old bastards.
Jonathan,
X
August 16th, 2010 at 20:25
Just stumbled on this from a link on Jonny’s facebook. I think its quite pathetic how John D feels the need to comment to protect his reputation, what a dick. I’ve never been to pin-up nights, but im definitely not going now.
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