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
Mercury Rev came to town last night and led a sold out Art School audience on a glorious, magical, mystery trip through their back catalogue. It was a mesmerising performance, the ninety minute set flew by as everyone was captivated by Joanathan Donahue and his exceptional band.
So yeah, that was the setlist. Some bands take a few songs to get into their stride, to warm up, to find their groove - not Mercury Rev!
Donahue conducted his band, vibing off the soaring riffs and beats, pretending to fly at times and probably believing he could and he was.
Carwash Hair was funny, uplifting and life affirming. Frittering was psychedelic bliss, Tonite It Shows was delivered with tender care, a beautiful lysergic lullaby.
Mercury Rev were on fire. Donahue was up on the drum riser, lifting one of the lights off the stage to use as a spotlight to shine on the band, on him, on the audience, grabbing his guitar and joining in some of the glorious psychedelic jams that ended some of the songs, delivering an exceptional front man performance. The gleam in his eyes, the smile and his genuine heartfelt thanks were great to see and hear, this was a guy singing from the bottom of his heart. His band were sensational, Grasshopper shredded his guitar at times and delivered tender riffs at others.
Holes caused a few guys in their 50's beside me to grab each other and sing with gusto. The rest of the crowd felt the same way. A beautiful Tides led into the life affirming Opus 40 - but this whole experience was life affirming. The whole set made me think that every band in the universe should try LSD at some point!
The band went off for literally 30-seconds before coming back on and playing Goddess On The Highway. Arms were raised, the air was being punched and everyone sang along, especially on the melancholic yet soaring refrain.
And I know, it ain't gonnna last
And I know, it ain't gonna last
Dark Is Rising finished the set as a young couple embraced in front of me, lost in the music and each other and Donahue thanked the audience; 'thank you from the bottom of our hearts Glasgow, it's been too long'.
I didn't go and see New Order the last time they played in Scotland. I was upset that the band had carried on under the legendary name following the departure of Peter Hook. All reports from that Edinburgh show were that the band were in sensationally euphoric form - better than ever.
So, when they announced they were playing in Glasgow I snapped up tickets quick sharp. At £40 a pop they were not cheap, but the incredible 10-minute version of Temptation was worth the admission price alone....although there was much more besides!
I did miss Hooky though and although New Order played well, I think they also miss his stage presence and passion. I do wish they would kiss and make up but sadly that seems a million miles away.
Bernard Sumner, Steven Morris and Gillian Gilbert remain from the original line-up, assisted by Phil Cunningham and Tom Chapman and they all gelled well, although Bernard took a while to warm up and muttered something about being under the weather.
The crowd didn't care, they were bang up for it and that seemed to translate to New Order. Ceremony was predictably charged and punky, Your Silent Face was as welcome as always and 5-8-6 a pleasant surprise from the early days.
Lonesome Tonight was beautiful but perhaps the most pleasing thing of the whole night was the incredible response from the crowd to the new songs from this years Music Complete album.
Tutti Frutti, People On The High Line and Plastic were greeted with sheer elation. Sumner managed a few twirls on stage and his vocals at the end of Plastic were euphoric. A full on disco was taking place in Glasgow with a superb light shows, regular blasts of dry ice and people dancing without a care in the world - lost in sublime electronic pop music.
Bernard Sumner bathed in lights
The only bizarre song of the night was a remixed version of Waiting For The Sirens To Call which just didn't work at all - in terms of the remix or the song selection or placing it directly after Bizarre Love Triangle which was utterly incredible. The crowd went nuts, punching the air and dancing like it was the 80's.
The end of the set was sublime, Plastic,The Perfect Kiss, a euphoric True Faith and then a 10-minute romp through Temptation with a brilliant moment when Bernard brought things down to the beat to listen to the crowd singing, chanting and hollering the ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh refrain. The crowd started this up again during the down time before the encore. It was also brilliant to bounce around with my friend Tel and his son Benji - a Dad taking his teenage son to his first New Order show.
Atmosphere was shimmering glory in all its splendour, an incredible song played with the video in the background and pictures of Curtis. Love Will Tear Us Apart was delivered at pace and Blue Monday ended the show with everyone going crazy.
A great night with some truly joyous moments getting lost in timeless music.
January is an incredible month for music in Glasgow. The cold winds blow, the rain falls from the sky, so we like nothing better than to head to one of the city's many warm and welcoming venues, meet with friends, grab some beers and watch some bands. Celtic Connections grows from strength to strength, but elsewhere in Glasgow, the legendary venue King Tut's Wah Wah Hut has been showcasing some of the brightest young talent in Scotland for the last few years under the banner New Year's Revolution.
New Year's Revolution was set up by Craig Johnston and as Craig deservedly progresses up the DF Concert ranks, the role of booker and curator for NYR has been taken on by young Chris Beltran.
Chris has booked an eclectic array of bands, artists and guest DJ's (including me on January 23rd when one of my own favourite promising acts November Lights take to the Tut's stage) and wants to create a festival style vibe every night.
The 2016 KTSN16 line-up has over 80 acts plating over 16-nights! With 5 bands on offer downstairs and upstairs over the course of each night plus DJ's and all for only £7, Tut's is set to be rammed and jammed in the best possible way to kickstart 2016.
Golden tickets that allow you to go to every show (high stamina required) are available for the bargain price of only £35 for the next two weeks and they then rise to £50. A nice Christmas present and something to look forward to in January!
Here is the line-up (and see poster above), could you find your new favourite band or artist?
Thurs 7th: Little Waves + Graeme Quinn + Ports of Essen + Couriers Club
Venue DJs: Sofar Sounds Glasgow / Bar Band: Michael Cassidy
Fri 8th: Echo Valley + The Pacific Blues + The Chelseas + Orthodox
Venue DJs: EmuBands / Bar Band: Return To The Sun
Sat 9th: The Phantoms + Proud Honey + The Ranzas + Sonic Templars
Venue DJs: Medicine Men / Bar Band: Holy Pistol Club
Sun 10th: Jill Brown + Junebug + Saint Huck + Blackleaf 40
Venue DJs: Ravechild / Bar Band: Steve Grozier
Mon 11th: The Fast Camels + All The Franklins + Homeward James + Black Cat Revue
Venue DJs: DJ5 / Bar Band: Miracle Glass Company
Tues 12th:Chloe Marie + Chris Ashton + Amy Groden + Liam Doyle
Venue DJs: FCK Yes / Bar Band: Northern Central
Wed 13th: FCK Yes (Live): Tongues + Forever + Life Model
Venue DJs: Fantastic Man / Bar Band: Friends In America
Thurs 14th: Cow Cow Boogie + The Big Nowhere + The Strange Blue Dreams + The Rulers Of The Root
Venue DJs: Bella Rebel / Bar Band: Alexander Hynes
Fri 15th: Halo Tora + Toy Mountains + Nothing Universe + Verse Metrics
Venue DJs: VASA / Bar Band: Special Guests
Sat 16th: The Calm Fiasco + Foggy City Orphan + Indigo Velvet + Bad Mannequins
Venue DJs: The Candid Mixtape / Bar Band: Ded Rabbit
Sun 17th: Bloodlines + Tetra + The 21st State + GoodCopGreatCop
Venue DJs: Scottish Fiction / Bar Band: We Were Hunted
Mon 18th: The Winter Tradition + Life On Standby + Cavaliers + Artie Ziff
Venue DJs: Abandon Ship / Bar Band: Copper Lungs
Tues 19th: Patersani + The Blood and Gold + The Dead Settlers + The Northern
Venue DJs: WeCameFromWolves / Bar Band: Velvetbomb
Ultimate Painting were brought to my attention earlier on this year when Bobby Gillespie from Primal Scream posted about their Green Lanes album and how he thought they were cool. I always love Bobby's posts on Facebook, his knowledge and passion really comes across, as does his fantastic taste.
Then a lovely girl Holly Calder who DJ's in Glasgow, puts on shows and generally has fantastic style and taste posted that she was putting Ultimate Painting on at the Old Hairdressers in town - a superb little venue.
I checked them out, bought the album and also bought tickets. Due to exceptional demand, the show was upgraded to Mono and what a show it was. I have had a rather manic week or so since then - hence the very late blog!
I caught most of Vital Idles set, a raw 4-piece enjoying making a noise, their guitarist spent most of his time facing his amp and buzzing off what his band were creating on stage. The young female singer occasionally bounded about the stage to help generate a response from the crowd.
The Bellybuttons were excellent, I thoroughly enjoyed their set, the guitars sounded glorious, they looked like they were having fun and their sound was reminiscent of the Fanclub at times, Pavement at others. I definitely hope to catch this band again in the future.
Ultimate Painting expand to a 4-piece when they play live and the resulting sound and performance was a joy to watch and listen to. The two guitars gelled superbly at times and played off against each other at others.
Jack Cooper and James Hoare shared vocals and their Velvet-y sound gained a warm response from the crowd - the coolest looking crowd at a gig I have seen in ages!
Songs like Break the Chain highlight the sense of melody and tenderness the band are capable of, while Out In The Cold is one of the most gorgeous songs I have heard in 2015.
Kodiak was dreamy guitar brilliance over a simple beat. Check it out below. I hope to see them back in Glasgow soon and I'll get a blog up a lot quicker next time!
Over the last year or so there has been a lot of talk about Crash Club . A spot at T in the park in the summer , closely followed by winning the best electronic act at the SAMA`s in early October put them in the spotlight and they continue to pick up fans every time they gig . I first came across them at an Everything Shakes event in the Admiral bar at the start of October although I`d heard Murray and a few others talking about them previously. Last Friday they played This Feeling at Tuts along with Our Future Glory , The Trend and The Insomniac Project and at a £5 for 4 bands it is superb value for money.
Our Future Glory ( Dundee based trio ) were first on and set the tone for the night with a high energy performance. The Trend were decent but looked out of place as a guitar band amongst many synthesisers, not their fault and they still gave it their all . I`d like to see them again in their own show to judge them better. The Insomnia Project are relatively new on the scene in terms of playing live as far as I know, last time I spoke to Murray about them he reckoned they hadn`t played more than a handful of gigs but thats twice I`ve seen them in a month and both times they have blown me away. If you were a fan of Johny and the Giro`s ( I was ) then you`ll know a few faces in the band and the addition of Deborah on vocals was a masterstroke. Having watched them in the Admiral last month I had said that I`d like to see them in a bigger venue as her voice would be suited to it. I`m glad to say I was right on this and they had the crowd going wild for the whole of their set. The strobe light added to the atmosphere, sadly they overran and couldn`t get their last song in but it didn`t dampen the spirit in the crowd.
Crowd video from Tut's - Sphinx by The Insomniac Project
To the main event and the trio from Kilwinning didn`t disappoint. The job of lighting the stage was pretty easy as they once again turned the strobe on and let it go from there . Pulsing beats taken to highs and allowed to come back down, just as you thought the tunes were over a roll of the drums and they were off again taking the crowd with them. They hardly stopped bouncing the whole time. Joined by Ian McKinnon of Medicine Men for the epic and euphoric Recondition and by Charotte Brimner (Be Charlotte) for another tune I didn't catch the name of. They ended with Last Dance and smashed it out the park. If you haven't seen them yet then grab the chance with both hands. They are well worth it.
Crowd video from Tut's - Last Dance by Crash Club
Crash Club have smashed everything put in their path through 2015, so I caught up with Neal Mcharg, the energetic bassist and all round good guy - the Glasgow Mani - to see what he was saying to it.
1) It's been quite a year - what have been the highlights for you?
Yeah it's been a proper good year to be fair, loads of different highlights. Festival season with T, Belladrum and Electric Fields is up there and supporting The View was good exposure to a crowd that would never have heard of us. Playing and winning an award at the SAMA's was also great exposure.
Personal highlight for me though is the fact that people have responded positively to what we have been trying to do at the live shows with lights, visuals and guest vocalists.
2) Ian MacKinnon has added a new dimension to your live performances, how did he become involved?
We all love Medicine Men and big Ian's a really good mate so we asked him to to do Recondition and from then on Ian has basically been at every show working the crowd up. Look at theTenement Trail video, I don't think I've ever seen a crowd go as wild at being called mother***kers in my life before!
At one point the bar staff were on the bar raving and big Gino from Vigo Thieves and others were up on shoulders. It was pretty much carnage, trying to get on and off the stage was interesting, never mind the gig itself.
'it was pretty much carnage' - Recondition at Flat 0/1 for the Tenement Trail
3) How much confidence do you and the rest of the band gain from that kind of reaction?
Loads - the stage show definitely gets better when you see a crowd like that, it's hard not to get into it a lot more. Aran even moved a wee bit more than usual!
4) I believe you have some more guest vocalists lined up for future releases?
Yeah, Be Charlotte has been smashing it live as well. We can;t wait to get her into the studio.
5) How far off is an album?
We're recording the EP in Rocket Science studios just now. It is sounding massive, Ross and Michael (producers) have worked wonders on it. The drum and bass sounds are pretty much inspired by the New York scene - LCD, The Rapture, Gossip!, Holy Ghost, but with synth tones of Justice, Chemical Brothers and New Order.
6) Sammy has an incredible ear for a tune. Does he bring the songs fully formed to the band, or do you each add something?
No, basically what happens is Sammy will come up with an idea, recording different sounds based round the same theme. Aran and me will go down, hear all the new noises and start writing parts with Sammy on the synths and then the fun and games of structuring the track begins for us in the hut. So all that has to happen before we even think about what we're going to out down guitar, bass or drum wise. Once we've got all that done then we pick the right singer to collaborate with.
7) Anything left before the end of the year? And what do you hope to achieve in 2016?
We might be doing something else before the end of the year, but can;t say too much for now.
It's probably a bigger year next year for us because I think more will be expected. We'll step it up a level with the live shows, get the EP out. If the demand is there we'll go in and do an album by the end of the year. But as we have seen with 2015, we can plan things, but things you don't expect to happen, happen and your year is completely different.
La Fontaines are a young Scottish band hailing from the Lanarkshire towns of Motherwell and Wishaw on the outskirts of Glasgow.
The band have been building a fantastic following through self-releases, hard work, word-of-mouth and a growing reputation for their energetic and euphoric live shows.
Class, their debut album, was released earlier on this year, making the top 100 on the UK album chart - a phenomenal achievement for a band self releasing through their own 889 record label.
This momentum led to the band, led by the charismatic frontman Kerr Okan, headlining the world famous Barrowland Ballroom in Glasgow last night, 7th November.
In Kerr's own words - No label, no big corporate machine behind us, no industry politics, just right good tunes written from the heart.
As it was one of my best friend's 40th birthday, I couldn't make it along to witness this historic moment of a young DIY band packing out the world famous Barrowland. I did consider getting someone to write a guest blog and then I came up with a better idea.
La Fontaines are incredible at engaging with fans via social media and they get a lot of love back in return. So I thought I would let their fans review the show with their tweets and comments.
It sounds like a good one! Well done to the band and to their lovely manager Aarti Joshi. What next for the Fonts? The last band that I am aware of to be doing this kind of thing was Arctic Monkeys.
'The roses are blooming' said Noel Gallagher on Soccer AM a couple of weeks ago.
Indeed they are. The band have sold out 3-nights at Manchester City's Etihad stadium and a 4th will surely sell-out between now and June.
There was panic online from 9.30am onwards this morning as ticket websites crashed or left you waiting anxiously in a queue for up to 20-minutes to see if you got through to the sale section.
A 3rd night was added after around 45-minutes and then, quite incredibly - a 4th!
The shows and the tickets created heated questions and debate;
1. Why were tickets on exchange websites like Seatwave for £1,000+ within minutes of the tickets going on sale, promoting one Roses fan to ask How Do They Sleep?
2. When will regulations into these kind of businesses and sites be put in place?
Quite frankly they take the absolute piss. Something should be done. Thankfully most real music fans will exchange at cost price, but the touts live on - and now they have websites!
3. How do they get their hands on so many tickets?
They seem to have them from the moment they go on sale - again, something needs to be done.
4. Have the Roses defeated the touts?
Adding a 3rd and then a 4th night will surely mean that many touts will be left selling their tickets at face value or potentially even less on the day - this happened on the Sunday at Heaton Park.
Since the Seatwave picture in section 1 of this blog was taken, prices for standing tickets have dropped on their website to between £250 and £350 and they have over a hundred available - so they are likely to come down again.
Everyone who wanted a ticket should really have got one. I'm certainly sure there will be plenty of tickets kicking around between fans at face value between now and June.
5. Who will support?
Tim Burgess has been enthusiastic with his tweets from the moment lemons started appearing around Manchester, I would bet on The Charlatans playing a few dates and also The Courteeners. Beyond that it would be guesswork - although John Squire was up in Glasgow at the start of October to watch Blossoms at King Tut's - so also a good bet.
6. Will there be more shows? Will there be warm-ups?
I don't know, but The Roses haven't played live since 2013 so I would suspect that they will fall back to their tried and tested technique of playing some small European shows in late May to get warmed up for Manchester.
And surely The Roses will add at least one Irish date.
Whether or not they have the desire to tour remains to be seen, but I am pretty confident that there will be more dates.
7. Will there be new music?
The million dollar question. I hope so, but only if it is fitting of the name, not just for the sake of it. The Roses playing live again gives people something to look forward to, a bit of hope and joy. Amazing new music would be the cherry on the icing on the cake.
