Named after the debut single by Teenage Fanclub. 1,000+ blogs! This blog is all about being a music lover in Glasgow; reviews, interviews, memories, old faves, new discoveries (past & present) and more. Thanks for visiting - I hope you discover something amazing you've never heard before, or that you rediscover an old favourite. Regular features/playlists; Never Ending Mixtape / Cover Version of the Month/ Trust Me. Twitter - @murrayeaston Email - murrayeaston {AT} gmail {DOT} com
Wednesday 18 September 2024
Never Ending Mixtape part 93
Friday 13 September 2024
My God Has A Telephone
My God Has a Telephone is a soul-stirring track by The Flying Stars of Brooklyn, a one-off side-project for drummer/singer Aaron Frazer when he isn't recording with his band Durand Jones & The Indications, or releasing solo albums.
Released back in 2017 on Coalmine Records. The label has repressed 1,500 copies of the single under the name Aaron Frazer, which seems to highlight The Flying Stars of Brooklyn is likely to have been a one-off. Shame - great band name!
Frazer's other band, Durand Jones & The Indications, has made a significant impact on the modern soul scene with albums like American Love Call and Private Space, where Frazer’s falsetto harmonizes beautifully with Durand Jones’ powerful lead vocals. Their music is a blend of classic soul, R&B, and modern influences, and it has resonated with audiences worldwide.
Yet Frazer is bursting with creative energy and has also pursued a solo career. In 2021, he released his debut solo album, Introducing..., produced by Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys, then releasing his second solo album, Into The Blue, in June of this year. Both albums showcase Frazer’s exceptional versatility as an artist; there are elements of doo-wop, gospel, and soul, all infused with his signature falsetto, beautifully layered and produced. a
But, for the time being, lets get back to The Flying Stars of Brooklyn.
My God Has A Telephone beautifully captures vintage gospel-soul with a modern twist. Allegedly recorded on a 4-track tape machine, it's an absolute gem of a song. Frazer's falsetto is exquisite, the backing vocals are angelic and the music sounds rich and timeless. It's super cool!
Aaron Frazer is touring his latest album. Sadly, there are no dates in Scotland, but he is playing Bristol, Manchester and London in October. Check his website for details.
Previous Trust Me blogs
Tuesday 3 September 2024
Oasis and dynamic pricing
" I detest surge pricing. It means hardly anyone ever pays the actual advertised ticket price.
It's a legitimised scam and bands who agree to it are complicit." R
UPDATE - 06/09
In the early evening of Wednesday 4th September. 4+ days since the dynamic pricing row erupted, Oasis released the following statement;
"It needs to be made clear that Oasis leave decisions on ticketing and pricing entirely to their promoters and management." The band added they had "at no time had any awareness that dynamic pricing was going to be used" in the sale of tickets for the initial dates.
NOTE - No condemnation of dynamic pricing. No statement to say they disagree with dynamic pricing. And absolutely no apology.
Poor show.
Anyway, here is the original blog - 03/09
Tickets for the Oasis 2025 reunion shows went online last weekend. Those with a pre-sale code (myself included) got access on Friday night at 7pm. I logged onto the Ticketmaster app minutes beforehand and was shocked to find that I was immediately at number 56 in the queue just after 7. I'd checked out after buying 3 tickets by 7.04pm. Sorted, nice one, mad for it. God that was easy, I was singing the praises of Ticketmaster for being so smooth and high tech.
Saturday morning was when the real clamour for tickets started. This was like Knebworth x 10. I wonder how many people actually (virtually) queued for tickets? Everyone seemed to be after them.
Back in 1996 you could either attempt to phone and book tickets, or you could go and queue outside a ticket shop. A reported 2.5 million people tried to get tickets. Oasis could have sold 20 nights, never mind a double header. I'd hazard a guess that more than 2.5 million people were online trying for tickets.
I'm a member of a number of Oasis online groups, including an amazing collectors group, full of passionate fans from around the world that spend small fortunes on Oasis memorabilia. I love seeing some of the unique items people have procured over the years. My own collection of records, tickets, magazines, wrist bands etc just comes from buying them at the time. I wish I had bought extra copies!
The online groups were full of posts about people being 10,000+ in the queue and then this seemed to jump considerably to 200,000+. I couldn't believe I got so lucky the previous night!
People were still getting tickets, it was just taking an age in the online queuing system.
Oasis and Ticketmaster were regularly posting across social channels that tickets can only be resold at face value via Ticketmaster and Twickets.
By now, you probably know what happened.
Due to demand, and despite Oasis and Ticketmaster promoting prices in advance, dynamic pricing kicked in, resulting in a completely justified explosion of anger. £150 standing tickets were suddenly closer to £400. Those waiting to buy 4 tickets at a total of £600 (plus booking fee), were now faced with a total price of £1,600 plus fees!!!!
Imagine finding that out after being in an online queue for 5 or 6 hours! People had minutes to decide whether to go ahead and buy them anyway, or whether to ditch it, after waiting all that time ....
Ticketmaster (and Oasis) completely fucked up on communication and customer care. Not that either will care given the millions that each earned over the weekend.
Ticketmaster have been getting it in the neck, but in actual fact it is the promoters and the band that decide whether or not dynamic pricing should apply to their shows.
Oasis - the band of the people! What a joke.
Why were ticket prices not capped? £150 is more than enough for a stadium show. And lets be honest, Oasis are not about the show, they are all about the songs. They don't need a huge catwalk or super dazzling lightshow.
In comparison; Paul Heaton is doing an arena tour where ticket prices are capped at £35. While Robert Smith from The Cure ensures that dynamic pricing does not apply to any shows his band is playing.
MP's are even getting involved, with many experiencing the issue personally as they joined the scramble for tickets.
Oasis is still the band of the people .... and the people are making their feelings known.
This whole episode has been an absolute mess. Ticketmaster and Oasis have come out of this looking like they couldn't care less about fans thanks to;
- MIS-COMMUNICATION (AKA double standards) - Ticketmaster and Oasis heavily posted and tweeted that tickets could only be resold at face value. Meanwhile, due to the fact that millions and millions of people were in a virtual queue for tickets, they put the prices up way beyond face value! If you didn't laugh, you'd cry. Many people did.
- LACK OF CUSTOMER CARE - This resulted in people who has been queuing online for hours, finally getting through to buy standing tickets at £150 per ticket, only to find that thanks to dynamic pricing, they were £400 each. So a couple looking to spend £300 on 2 tickets, were now looking at £800 for 2 tickets. Not surprisingly, some people (wisely in my opinion) decided to switch off and forget it. This complete lack of customer care from Ticketmaster and Oasis is deplorable.
- PROMOTERS - It must be nice being a promoter for a show like this. After all, you don't really need to invest much in the way of promotion! These gigs sold themselves. While there will be a high cost in putting these shows on, the profit the promoters will be making is gigantic.
- BAND OF THE PEOPLE - Oasis know their fanbase better than almost any band. They were among the first to get people to sign up to mailing lists and they have hammered merch, limited and exclusive releases to death. The support the Gallagher brothers receive is phenomenal, bordering on religious for some die hards. So why take the piss? Why take £150 tickets and sell them for £400?! Despite Noel's expensive (£20 million allegedly) divorce, they don't really need the money. So why agree to dynamic pricing? It really does leave a sour taste in the mouth.
Monday 2 September 2024
The Rat
Trust me #77
The Rat by The Walkmen
One wet and stormy midweek night, back in 2004 (I reckon), I jumped in a taxi from my flat in Dennistoun to King Tuts in town to see Tanya Donnelly from Belly. I loved Belly's Star album from 1993 and have to admit to having (to this day) a major crush on Donnelly.
My friend Reddy was meant to be going, but he was stuck on the M8 in a storm and called to say that when he eventually got to Glasgow, he would be going home and staying in.
The rain was utterly relentless. I may well have mused with the idea of staying at home myself. But I was a mere 10-minute taxi ride to the city centre. I was going ... on my own!
A band called The Walkmen had somehow got on the bill. I guess that they either knew Donnelly or someone in her band, or had a cracking booking agent. Their singer, Hamilton Leithauser ,was a good looking frontman and his band all looked like a gang. Early in their set he said something along the lines of; 'We're The Walkmen from New York City, we don't have a lot of money and we don't have a place to stay. If anyone has a floor we could crash on then come and speak to us after.'
The fact that I didn't offer my floor and sofa to The Walkmen remains one of my major gig regrets to this very day! Perhaps the fact that I was there on my own had something to do with it. I seemed to be drinking quicker than normal, probably as I had no-one to talk to.
However I was hugely impressed by The Walkmen and their short set of energetic, fuzzy and punky guitar pop. I should have offered them a place to crash!
Alcohol probably did fuel one of my few conversations that night. At one point I walked through to the upstairs bar and found Walkmen guitarist Paul Maroon sinking a bottle of beer.
'Hey, I loved your set. That song The Rat you played is better than anything The Strokes have done!'
Paul said 'thanks' and I don't remember if I said anything else or not. Maybe I might have mumbled 'hope you find a place to stay tonight'. I hope I did! However I never offered Paul and his mates the opportunity to kip on my floor.
Damn! What a missed opportunity!
However, even in my drunken state, I did recognise what an absolutely fantastic song The Rat is. Taken from their second album, Bows + Arrows, the song rides in with fast, furious, driving rhythm guitar and beats. You need to strap yourself in as The Rat doesn't let up. This is relentless! The intro is a glorious 51 seconds long before Hamilton Leithauser comes in, mirroring the energy of the music with an intensely passionate vocal.
You've got a nerve to be asking a favour
You've got a nerve to be calling my number
Leithauser sounds angry, bitter, frustrated and his voice cracks with emotion and desperation as the song drives on.
I know we've been through this before
Can't you hear me I'm, calling out your name?
Can't you see me I'm, pounding on your door?
The Walkmen are locked in their punk groove, the drums crash, the bass is just about holding everything together and after a second verse (virtually the same as the first), things cut, leading to a mini-mantra (that I kind of wish went on a little longer);
When I used to go out, I'd know everyone I saw
Now I go out alone, if I go out at all
Everything kicks back in and we're back into the verse, or is it a chorus?
The Rat is 4 minutes 22 seconds, but, through the intense pace, ferocious guitar and the emotions that pour out in the vocals, it really doesn't feel like it.
Somehow, I doubt The Walkmen will ever need a floor to crash on again if they come back to Glasgow. But if they do, I will offer!