Feelings Gone

Trust Me #18

My sister had been banging on at me to check the Callum Easter album for age until I finally did, prompted by a longlisting for the SAY Award 2020.

I'm so guilty of this. In an age where it is incredibly easy to check out any artist, album or song, why do I not do it when I receive a strong recommendation from someone who knows my taste? Is it just because it is too easy? Back in the old days, when music wasn't as accessible, people would make mix tapes, copy albums on to CD or even lend a copy. So you'd go home and listen to it to check it out. I would buy both the NME and Melody Maker on a weekly basis and then enjoy hunting records down, enjoying the anticipation of a release date or a special trip into the likes of Missing Records to search for something.

Anyway, enough about the old days, the main thing is I discovered the Scottish artist Callum Easter in 2020, a year later than I should have!  I could have caught him live if I'd been on it!

Callum releases via the excellent Lost Map Records label and his debut album Here Or Nowhere is a beautifully varied affair with synths, beats, organs and anything Easter can get his hands on. I love the feel, atmosphere and vibe he creates and I do look forward to seeing him live whenever that might be! There is a bit of early Beck to Easter - that kind of need to create, lets see what happens, push record, lost in his own world, don't give a f**k about anything else. This creates a feeling of freedom in his music.

One of the songs I have really fallen for isn't on the album. Feelings Gone was originally released on a mini-album Get Don't Want Out a few years ago (pre Lost Map days from my research), then as a b-side (a live version) to the single Here or Nowhere/Back Beat, then again as the closing track on the Green Door Sessions album from earlier this year. It's clearly a song Easter himself is fond of.

The original version (video below) has a synth riff over a solid bass and beats. Easter plays on the mantra like hold me and the feelings gone. It's a song that just grabs me immediately and as soon as it is over I want to play it again. It has something pure and simple - soul.

With the live version, I love the lo-fi soul feeling Easter conjures from an accordion riff over an old drum machine beat, beginning by repeatedly singing;

Hold me and the feelings gone

Hold me and the feelings gone

Easter develops the song a little for a verse;

What we're saying is there's two kinds of people

What I'm saying is it's more like it's me and you

The whole song has (pardon the pun) a great feeling to it. This is number 18 in my Trust Me series. See below for the list of previous songs to feature. Search for Everything Flows Trust Me on Spotify for a playlist of all songs, or CLICK HERE

Previous Trust Me blogs

1. Something On Your Mind by Karen Dalton

1A. Crimson and Clover by Tommy James and the Shondells

2. I Am, I Said  by Neil Diamond

3. Where's The Playground Susie?   by Glen Campbell

4. If You Could Read My Mind by Gordon Lighfoot

5. Gimme Some Truth by John Lennon

6. Gone With The Wind Is My Love by Rita and the Tiaras

7. In The Year 2525 by Zager and Evans

8. The Music Box by Ruth Copeland

9. The Ship Song by Nick Cave

10. Sometimes by James

11. I Walk The Earth by King Biscuit Time

12. Didn't Know What I Was In For by Better Oblivion Community Centre

13. When My Boy Walks Down The Street by The Magnetic Fields

14. The Man Don't Give A F**k by Super Furry Animals

15. All Flowers In Time Bend Towards The Sun by Jeff Buckley and Liz Fraser

16. Are You Lookin' by The Tymes

17. A Real Hero by College & Electric Youth

Eugene Kelly at The Doublet

I really love The Doublet bar in Park Road, Glasgow. It's handy for Kelvinbridge Underground, Kelvingrove Park, Woodlands, Great Western Road and Gibson Street. But it's still just nicely out of the way to stand on its own.

The Doublet is a traditional old boozer, beloved by musicians and artists. So, when they announced they were putting Eugene Kelly with support from Molly Linen on in their upstairs function room, I knew I would have to be quick to grab a ticket.

Eugene is an artist I fell for back in my teens and I guess I have been extremely fortunate that a lot of the bands and artists I discovered back then have had long careers; Teenage Fanclub, Eugene and The Vaselines, The Pastels, BMX Bandits, Primal Scream, The Jesus and Mary Chain, The Lemonheads, Dinosaur Jr ... all still making music.

Upstairs at The Doublet holds 50 at a squeeze, so this was a special intimate show. Molly Linen played a beautiful set, her voice is gorgeously pure and her guitar playing is intricate, clever and melodic. Linen released a 10-inch EP via Lost Map at the end of 2019 and I will certainly be checking that out and hoping to see her again in the future.

On to Eugene Kelly of The Vaselines, or one-time of Captain America until Marvel Comics threatened to sue him, so he changed the band name to Eugenius 'which no-one could spell or say.'

People were literally sitting (on the floor) at the feet of a Scottish indie legend last night. The intimate setting was informal and friendly and Eugene dove way back into his catalogue to play songs of love, lust, frustration, bitterness, tenderness and humour.

The opening Wow! and Bed In from the Captain America days translated easily to an acoustic performance, making me appreciate them all the more.

New songs, School Sports Day and Dogs Best Friend, made me long for a follow up to Eugene's 2003 album Man Alive, from which he played a number of songs. Eugene brilliantly combines raw punk energy with brilliant pop melodies, riffs and hooks and it was thrilling to see him perform in such an intimate setting.

Jesus Don't Want Me For A Sunbeam is a song that has traveled around the world thanks to Nirvana covering it on their Unplugged album, here we were watching its author perform it in his local pub - a joy.

New song Is She Into Me? was brilliant - hilariously brilliant. The lyrics and melodies flowed as Eugene told a story about a guy doubting himself through a string of events. I so hope he records it.

Eugene ended with classic Vaselines songs Mollys Lips and Son Of A Gun to rapturous applause. This was a very special show from someone who displayed his very special talents.

My only disappointment was that Eugene didn't have time to play If I Could Talk which he co-wrote with Evan Dando and The Lemonheads recorded.

But hey, what a night!

Sweet Discontent by Tuff Love

Tuff Love is a name that caught my eye in a few places recently. Signed to Lost Map Records, they will be releasing the Junk EP on 5th May. Sweet Discontent is the single from the EP and it is an excellent introduction to the trio.

Pure and raw, Sweet Discontent reminds me of a lot of lo-fi indie guitar records from my youth, as does the video. I find this very refreshing in an age where songs can be deconstructed, over produced and polished to within an inch of their lives.

Sweet Discontent is the glorious sound of a band enjoying themselves; from the sound of the band finding riffs and chords and giggling over the start, to the infectious guitar riff that is played over furious bass and drums that begins when the song kicks in.

The vocals are slightly detached and dreamy, the lyrics tell it all.

When we first met you offered up your soul

And you saw depth where there was a black hole

And what you saw

Was more than I had ever dared to hope for

Tuff Love play the Old Hairdressers on Friday 2nd May.