Named after the debut single by Teenage Fanclub.
This blog is all about being a music lover in Glasgow; reviews, interviews, memories, old faves, new discoveries (past and present), playlists and more. Thanks for visiting - I hope you discover something amazing you have never heard before, or that you rediscover an old favourite.
Regular features/playlists; Never Ending Mixtape / Cover Version of the Month/ Trust Me.
Insta - @everythingflowsglasgow
I was in the old Captain's Rest on Great Western Road when I first heard this song. It was one of those 'what the f**k is that?' moments as it drifted up the stairs to where I was working the door for a friends band. I abandoned my post to go downstairs and listen.
The continuous synth bass pattern was infectious, the crystal clear vocals were sublime, the little synth riffs were all kinds of dreamy gorgeousness and I was just lost in wonder for a few minutes as the song played out the PA.
Afterwards I went up to Gerry Blythe who was DJ-ing and asked him what on earth he was playing.
Upon seeing the film, I fell even deeper in love with the song. A collaboration between French electronica artist College and Electric Youth.
Austin Garrick (Electric Youth) was inspired to write A Real Hero by a quote from his Grandfather, who spoke of airline captain Chesley Sullenberger after the US Airways Flight 1549 water landing incident in January 2009, referring to Sullenberger as "a real human being and a real hero" which became the songs refrain. The song also includes the line "155 people on board" which refers to the survivors.
Meanwhile College (David Grellier) said that he took inspiration from cinema and in particular the kind of lone hero from the Mad Max series.
It's an exceptional song, both music and vocals create a really emotional feel to it and that is amplified when you see it in the film on the big screen. The song and lyrics fit absolutely perfectly.
Check a live performance and the recorded version below.
And all of the songs in the Trust Me series (listed below) feature on the Everything Flows Trust Me playlist on Spotify. Search for that or click HERE
Nevada Base surfaced from months of studio time at the weekend with a Christmas show at Captain’s Rest. The band who released their debut single ‘Love In My Mind’ earlier in the year now have over and albums worth of material recorded and intend to release their music in various forms over the next year leading up to an album.
You can get new song ‘An Avenue’ as a free download by signing up to the Nevada Base mailing list at http://www.nevadabase.co.uk/
But back to Saturday night. Support came from DJ Gerry Blythe (New Life) who played at the start, between bands and afterwards. I hadn’t met Gerry before but he came across as a lovely guy with a fantastic taste in music and I asked him about a few of the tracks he played. I will DEFINITELY be buying the soundtrack to Drive very soon.
The fist band were Machines In Heaven and they played a sublime set with singer and guitarist Graham Crossan conjuring up some sweet melodies, vocally and via his guitar. Check out their track Sub-E, dedicated to the bass speakers in the Sub Club HERE.
Next up were Crash Club from Kilwinning whom Nevada Base pinched their young drummer from, so it was only right that they should offer them a support slot in return! Crash Club picked up the pace from Machines In Heaven and went at it full pelt for 25-minutes. The front man had a swagger and a sneer that captivated many, whilst the bass player kept the groove that allowed guitars, synths and effects to go mental. The crowd loved it.
Nevada Base strode confidently on to the stage and went straight into old favourite ‘Electric Touch’. There were smiles all round as the crowd danced and sang along. Old songs mixed easily with new; ‘Crisis’ was a highlight, as was the sublime ‘Kisses Her Bullets’ with an extended instrumental intro and the hook ‘the stars, the stars, she shoots at the stars.’
The addition of Calum Muir (below) on drums has really beefed up the live sound, the fact he is a handsome and cheeky young blonde 21-year old won’t escape many females attention.
One new song had a reggae/dub feel at the start before morphing off into synth led euphoria and ‘Love In My Mind’ and ‘If I’m Late’ went down well as always. There was no encore, the band eager to look ahead to 2012 and leaving their fans eager for the next gig.
Well it has been a blast. Almost 5-years to the day they formed, Futuristic Retro Champions have sadly called time on their adventures in pop. As a brother, friend, fan and manager, I've had loads of fun and learned lots about working with a young band.
There have been many highlights; a support with The Vaselines in London and support from Eugene Kelly (on stage and off), artwork from Martin Creed, radio play, the endorsement of Kissy Sell Out, the Mono launch of 'May the Forth', the Hidden Lane Festival and watching a band develop into something quite special. Who knows what would have happened if they had continued with the rate of progress they built up in 2010?
FRC's, Hidden Lane Festival, 2010
It's time to move on though and I'm delighted that the band decided to go out on a high with two farewell parties and the release of an album; 'Love & Lemonade', that contains pretty much everything they recorded.
The album is available on ltd edition double cd with 26-tracks fo only £7, and a 25-track edition (not including the cover of Robert De Niro's Waiting) is available for download from itunes and other places as well.
Friday April 8th - Captain's Rest with Little Eskimos & Manda Rin (dj set)
Friday night started well. The band had a final practice session in the afternoon and were in good form at soundcheck. The venue started to fill up nicely and doors opened at 8.30pm, with the lovely Manda Rin playing a great selection of tunes to warm people up.
Little Eskimos came on around 9.40pm and it was great to see so many people coming downstairs to check them out. Lynn very kindly watched the first half and came up to take over the door to allow me to go down and watch one of my favourite bands. Kevin very kindly dedicated one of my favourite songs 'Broken Heart Bridgade' to me. It soars to places other bands can dream of. Not that Little Eskimos talents end there, far from it and I would highly recommend checking them out. They ended the set with a special cover version of FRC's 'May the Forth', turning an electro-pop gem into a bittersweet, heart tugging ballad.
I closed the door upstairs just as the first strains of 'Epic New Song' started blasting out from down below. I had actually turned a few people away due to the fact that the venue was close to over spilling, but I called them over and said they could squeeze in if possible. After the first song ended I called for Sita to ask everyone to take a step forward and that eased things slightly.
'Hi' was next, the first song the band wrote together and a few people sang along with the 'woah-oh-oh-oh, HI' chorus. The band invited their friend Fergus Weir on stage for the deep booming section of 'Let's Make Out' and it was a real highlight over the course of the weekend. The band flew through the soaring 'I want to be in your arms, I want to see all your charms, I think that we should make out' chorus.
Fergus took the time to thank the band for all the fun he has had with them and he made a short but emotional speech, reminding everyone that unfortunately the fun would be ending soon.
Harry took on lead vocals for 'Speak To Me' and the girls all joined in with the sugar sweet harmonies on the middle eight section;
'you and me are lofi, hanging out in our torn up levis, stick a record on the hifi,
and point the speakers right up to the sky'
'Strawberries & Vodka Shots' was pop perfection before 'Count To Ten' , an ode to a twee indie DJ slowed things down a little.
Ceal took on lead vocals for 'Uh Oh (No Show)', a beautiful 3-minute pop song about meeting a boy at a disco and not making it home. Not that Ceal would ever do such a thing! It was one of the last songs the band wrote and it is one of my favourites.
The downright dirty and sleazy 'DIY Lovesong' was dedicated by Carla and Sita to anyone who likes to 'do it themselves' with the bands humour shining through on the infectious chorus;
'I'm going to homebase to get some glue, so I can stick back together me and you,
it's just something I really have to do, cause I can't stand being apart from you'
Next up was the melancholic 'Isn't It Lovely?' and I have to admit to having a few tears in my eyes, the glorious refrain caused me to well up.
Not for long though as the band blasted through the trio of 'May the Forth', 'Jenna' and 'You Make My Heart' to leave the crowd gasping for more. Before the last song the band thanked everyone and there were a few cries of 'don't split up' and 'stay together'.
Saturday April 9th - the Wee Red Bar with Emelle and SPILL DJ set
On to Saturday and back to where it all began. The band all met at Edinburgh School of Art and they played their first gig there back in the summer of 2006.
I drove through with Lynn and Marty, arriving at 5pm and sitting outside in the sunshine as the band began to arrive. We left them to soundcheck and went to a cracking Japanese restaurant on Lothian Road for some dinner.
All was well when we returned, with the support act Emelle finishing their soundcheck.
Before I knew it, doors were opening and people began to pour in. Emelle played a good wee set of celtic inspired pop/rock with lots of catchy refrains. Lead singer Craig was a cool, funky wee guy.
The DJ's were the same DJ's that played at the very first FRC show at the Wee Red Bar back in 2006 and they played a fantastic mix of stuff ranging from soul and funk, through to jazz, pop and indie rock.
Futuristic Retro Champions took to the stage, well the floor and after thanking everyone for coming (112 people according to the doorman) they launched into 'Strawberries and Vodka Shots' and they just didn't let up from there on in.
'Kitten With A Loaded Gun', 'You Make My Heart', 'DIY Lovesong' and 'May the Forth' swiftly followed. It was like the band were showing off - this is how good we are.
It all got a bit too much for Sita during the next song though. 'Isn't It Lovely?' may be the most emotional song in the FRC cannon and halfway through it got too much, Sita burst into tears and couldn't continue. Harry and Carla took over and then an emotional crowd joined in with the 'ba-ba-ba, ba-ba-ba, ba-ba-ba, ba-ba-ba-ba-ba's' and handclaps. It was a moving moment.
Harry took over lead vocals for 'Speak To Me' after yet more emotion, with Carla paying tribute to their tutor Paul Carter who sadly passed away just a couple of years into the FRC's career. He had encouraged them to form a band and write music after their initial demos.
'Let's Make Out' was thrown into the set with the song dedicated to their friend Craig as 'Craig is the best at making out'. In the absence of Fergus, Craig got up to sing along. Well he shouted a bit and stood about looking drunk - it was all good fun!
'Robert de Niro's Waiting' was a blast and 'Pulling Box Shapes' was a riot, with Carla inviting former FRC trumpet player Dan to dance at the front. 'Epic New Song' wasn't so new, but it was epic, before Dan joined the band to play on their first ever song 'Hi'.
Then it was time for an emotional dedication to the bands great friend Jenna, with the band joking that tonight was her first time on the guestlist!
'Jenna' is one of the bands most loved songs and tonight it was a joy. The band held it together to get through it with everyone joining in with the chorus and handclaps and the 'E L E C T R O' section.
'I went out with Jenna last night, she looked alright, we danced all night'
That was supposed to be it, the band hadn't done an encore the night before and didn't plan to do one in Edinburgh, however the crowd wouldn't let them leave without another song, so they played 'Count To Ten', ending quite aptly with the line 'this is my religion, this is my religion.'
Last night I headed along to Captain’s Rest for the release of the debut EP by Seventeenth Century. I’ve mentioned them a few times in previous blogs and have been following them for over 2-years, so I was delighted to see their hard work over the last two years resulting in a lovely 10-inch vinyl EP, with the follow up already scheduled for April. I’m also pleased that new Glasgow indie label Electra French have added them to their roster, along with Mitchell Museum. I hope that this is the start of a productive label.
The entrance fee last night was a January friendly £3 and the 10-inch vinyl came with a download code, meaning that those that don’t have record players can have nice bit of art to display in their room and still get the mp3’s to play on whatever gadget they have.
Support for the night came from former De Rosa singer Martin John Henry and it was clearly apparent who in the crowd was there to see him and those that were there for the Seventeenth Century. The first two songs didn’t do it for me and if I hadn’t been driving I would have headed up to the bar for a beer. I’m glad I stayed though as things began to pick up considerably with a beautiful song that contained a lyric something like ‘you know I need a map, I don’t know my way around London’ followed by a song introduced as a rarely performed De Rosa song that had a playful guitar riff.
Henry was certainly warming up, introducing a laptop with beats and samples to accompany him and his acoustic guitar. He seemed genuinely pleased to be playing (I don’t know when he last played) and engaged in witty banter with the older people in the audience, while the young teenage girls sitting at the side looked at their watches wondering when Seventeenth Century were coming on. The last 3 songs were highlights, including a stunning song with a hook that went something like ‘You’re a ribbon and I’m a bow’.
Following a short break Seventeenth Century strode quietly on to the stage and a hush fell over the audience. The band consist of Mark Farmer (lead vocals and violin), Ryan Burns (guitar and vocals), Nicholas Grant (bass and vocals) and brothers Michael and Andrew Truscott on drums and trumpet.
The band quickly demonstrated why there is a bit of a buzz around them by kicking off with a beautiful, short instrumental ‘Amongst Other Things’, allowing them to limber up and it wasn't long before the trumpet and violin began to soar. They then all turned to face the drummer and to those that hadn’t witnessed them live before it must have sounded like they were tuning up, however the melodies and rhythm of ‘Roses In The Park’ appeared, with the band showing off their harmonies and Mark singing with all his heart, as he does every time they play.
The audience were captivated, the teenage girls in front of me mimicked Mark’s flicking of his hair as he got lost in the music. If the NME ever pick up on the band his hairstyle is one that could be replicated around the country. The elder members of the audience nodded approvingly at how tight they were on stage, with one seasoned gig-goer commenting to me at the end ‘they were on the money tonight.’ Nick on bass held things together, allowing vocals, violin, guitar, trumpet and drums to fly upwards and then drop down when required.
From memory there was a song called ‘Bags of Gold’ that I hadn’t heard before, a soaring instrumental, a beautiful ‘Countryside’ and a glorious ‘Young Francis’ that followed, with the last song in particular really demonstrating to any newcomers in the audience how majestic Seventeenth Century can be in full flight. Farmer’s jaw movement as he poured himself into the song with every ounce of soul and emotion in his body reminded me of Kurt Cobain.
During the last song the band jammed furiously with Farmer seemingly hellbent on ripping the strings on his bow to shreds, all of the band roaring along. Having the trumpet, violin and Farmer’s voice on board allows Seventeenth Century to create a unique sound.
Captain’s Rest wasn’t quite full to the brim last night, it being a Tuesday in January after all, but there was a healthy crowd and Electra French will need to start scouting now for a larger venue to accommodate their next EP launch as I expect that the vast majority of people that attended last night will be spreading the word. An outstanding performance.
