After a blog hiatus, I’m very pleased to say that we’re doing a radio show. Not real on the airwaves radio, but internet radio. That’s an oxymoron you say? Ssh!… don’t analyse everything. Edinburgh University have a student run internet radio channel called Fresh Air Radio and from tomorrow VoxBox has a show on it. This is good and fun news. Now, it’s a long time since I left university and I’m certainly not down with the kids, I can’t twerk, I can’t sing, I ain’t pretty and my legs are thin so we’ll just see how it goes down with the young audience. Clearly you don’t need to be a student to listen in but if you like you can always pretend. No one will know.
I had a wee Fresh Air radio show during the festival called Plastic Passion. A terrifying two hour show broadcast live for 3 weeks in August. The shows are now somewhere on the internet and I’ll try to look them out. There were some good bits and some cringe-worthy bits. It is what it was though, and I’m chuffed to bits that I was invited on and given the chance to play at being a Radio DJ for a while.
For the August shows I roped in a radio and vinyl obsessed friend, Dominic to help out. He’s the more serious and professional one and thankfully is much less likely than me to become speechless and stammery with coffee and nerves. P-p-p-p-p-practice mak-k-k-kes p-p-p-p-p. Oh I give up. So Dom will be co-hosting the show again and I can’t rule out a cameo appearance from VoxBox George when he gets back from holiday. It’s exciting times and it feels good to get more deeply involved in the music community.
Our August shows were produced by Elyse and the new shows will be again so I’m hoping for a cozy feel. In August, she told me that it took her ages to come down to the shop. Why so? I was surprised that she had thought she wasn’t cool enough to go into VoxBox. “Now after meeting you, I realise my mistake.”
Thanks Elyse.
This NEW show is going for a similar feel as before. Totally uncool and unhipsterish. It’s called The Big VoxBox Radio Show and will be broadcast live on Fresh Air Radio every Wednesday from 1900-2000. I’ll figure out how to keep them as standalone Podcasts and put them up on Mixcloud or Podomatic and get a link up to the website.
What to expect? It won’t be typical music, what would be the the point of that? So, it’s more album tracks, local singles and other odds and ends that Dom and I come across in the shop or from home. Mainly new stuff though and mainly on vinyl.
We’ll make a particular point of playing Edinburgh and Scottish based bands especially if there is a new release on vinyl to plug. CDs, I’m less keen on but if the music’s new, underexposed and great, we’ll play whatever format we can get hold of. Send us your stuff is the mantra. We’ll probably play it.
Just In!
For instance, this week, to help plug The John Knox Sex Club/Over The Wall split single launch gig on Friday we’ll play it. Record available at the gig, from GerryLoves.com and in your favourite Edinburgh and Glasgow’s record shops.
Siobhan Wilson (self released CD out), Rick Redbeard (album out earlier this year, vinyl sold out although Rick might have a copy or two left for sale) and Honeyblood playing on Saturday? You might remember Honeyblood from RSD at our place. Honeyblood have their debut single out on vinyl on the 21st October and have had a bit of airplay on Radio 6 Music. There’s lots of talent around!
We’ll do our best to help.
*Songs the never play on the radio is the title of a book on Nico. She was someone who made music that was rarely played on the radio at the time she made it and equally today.
I’m totally chuffed to say that we’re taking part in the very first International Cassette Store Day. Is it a gimmick? Yes! Do people still play cassettes? No, not really, you could sell probably sell blank cassettes and never be found out! But they’re still great are they? Yes. Yes they are. Yes. Yes they are. This is not a problem with copy and paste. Tapes are great, yes they are.
Imagine you were one of One Direction. At the moment so confused with the hormones and the copious amounts of new tattoo ink in yer bloodstream. Push FFWD to 80. Once you hit 80+ years, memory failing, getting stiff, hip broken, teeth missing, memory failing, needing to pee five times a night and memory like a … what’s the word for a really fine collander? Your children want something to sell to pay your nursing home fees. Somehow you remember. I’m Harry bloody Styles! I was massive for doing something. Then you start looking for the memorabilia you have…
Not to be confused with One Direction, the Black International folk have been coming in to VoxBox since we opened. I’m really chuffed to have them on board for our 1st Cassette Store Day. They’re normally REALLY LOUD but strip down to an acoustic LOUD too. New single, Gilded Palace oot on cassette tape, 7 inch vinyl, and probably download too. They’re playing at 1600. Expect something like this but with party poppers:
Sending a Scottish lad to art school does not lead to Eric Clapton. It leads to an odd brilliance of arty punky stuff.
THE TAPES
We’ll have lots of CASSETTE STORE DAY tapes, but first may I interest you in these?
Randolph’s Leap -Brilliant! That’s not the title. I love the band and it’s brilliant that they are putting out something. We have 6 copies of a super limited run of 20 of their new EP. Twenty! Twenty copies! That’s the equivalent of U2 doing something like 100 cassettes. The fan to cassette ratio that is. Get a tape ASAP.
Adam Stafford EP Millions must work forever. Sold out Record Store Day cassette just found again in among some stuff. x1
An Inaugral Address -Gerry Loves Records, 16 track compilation label sampler. FREE to tape fans.
The Just Joans Live at the Wee Red Bar. They dropped in a few copies of their tape. It sounds like a bit like this:
Any PAWS Tigerlily demo tapes left from after the Mono and Banshee Gigs will be on sale. Basically, go to the gigs to be sure!
The Son(s) -Leviathan. Great debut by the nicest chap you could meet.
Oh, also Randolph’s Leap’s RSD tape. There’s a couple left. It contains the song ‘Crisps’.
A few other odds and sodds I’ve picked up by Garden of Elks, The Black Tambourines, The Perverts, Zaklante/Hazetomb, Roadside Picnic. (?. I know)
As far as official tapes, these have finally arrived.
JJ Doom Key to the KUFFS (Lex)
DRENGE (Infectious)
V/A Collective Hiss (Faux Discx)
Mum Smilewound (Blood and Biscuits)
Efterklang Tripper (Blood and Biscuits)
Dolfinz Pagan Dating (Tye Die Tapes)
Molly Nilsson The Travels (Night People)
Animal Collective Sung Tongs (FatCat)
His Clancyness “Covering Up” (FatCat)
Guided By Voices English Little League (Fire/Bad Paintings)
Xiu Xiu Women as Lovers (Bad Paintings)
The Fair Ohs JAMS VOLUME #2 (Supplex)
The Proper Ornaments Demos (Supplex)
Bright Light Bright Light-Make Me Believe In Hope (Self Raising Records) —->Gold tape!
Let’s Wrestle -Demos (Supplex)
Fear Of Men -Early Fragments
Loom, The Wytches, Polterghost -Sampler (Hate Hate Hate Records)
Potty Mouth The Spins (Marshall Teller Records)
Los Campesinos Live double album (Kissability)
Volcano Choir -Repave (Jagjaguwar)
Deerhunter -Monomania
Casket Girls -Coming from the USA -May be late.
Ambrosia(@) -Cordially Yours (Bomb Shop) -2 track including drone version of Anne Briggs’ “Go Your Way”
Rough Fields -You as You (Bomb Shop) – 2 track
Fierce County -Woodsman EP (Bomb Shop) -4 tracks of modern folk
Rough Fields -The hHarbour Wall (Bomb Shop) -Experimental electronic folk music
Pairs -Summer Sweat (Bomb Shop) -14 tracks thrashy Shanghai duo
God Bows to Math (Bomb Shop) Self titled album. New Zealand trio. Noisy rock music.
Sous Section 5 -Sonsuz (Bomb Shop) endless loop cassette EP (only 50 worldwide)
Mason Clinic -Prisoners (Bomb Shop) Fuzzy guitars and bittersweet melodies. Maybe New Zealand’s best band.
Preslav Literary School/Will Gresson, Analepsis/The Last Tram, split cassette (Bomb Shop)
Phew! More to come.
CHEWED TAPE RAMBLINGS
For a few years now small labels have been putting out music on cassettes. There are only a Tony Iommi handful of companies that still make tapes in the UK. Why have they been doing this? Why keep making tapes when CD-Rs are so cheap and easy to make? That question is probably the answer. CD-Rs are really shit. Vinyl is very expensive to make, especially for a short run of singles. Tapes are cheap.
Old technology is actually new technology to young people too.
They are also usually really limited. A young band may make 50 tapes of a release.
Like the band? Buy the tape! For a start, small bands get paid little for a gig. Buying tapes help bands.
Buying tapes from bands who you think might just make it is great. It helps the band. Tell yer mates about them.
The Flaming Lips putting out a tape limited to 100 worldwide is crazy. I collect records and tapes and have a shop. If we managed to get one and if I was a BIG fan what should I do?
So, like Record Store Day, some tapes are way too limited, but please remember that the day is about cassette tapes, not artists or even record shops really (How many still sell tapes?). The larger bands can create more media interest, but it’s not about the media and other stuff as much as the grass roots bands that have been grafting and making art for these years. I’ve said it. Art. These items really are, at their best, Art, and at their worst a triumph of unemployment over brainpower.
The artwork is often mindbreaking and often with individually hand-written labels and inserts. Sometimes the packaging is better than the music.
Is it a fad for status seeking retro walkman people? Yes, it is. Is it for you too?
Simply answer this question; Do you like tapes?
VoxBox is 2 years and 4 months old and we are due a party. It’s also my birthday on Saturday. There’s a party at our place all day. Food, balloons, cake and other things. Party poppers? Yes. Them too. And tapes. Lots of tapes.
George and I had so much fun with the bands on Record Store Day that we don’t want it to stop. Also, I’ve bought some foam letters and other arts and crafts materials that need to be put to good use. Mr Andy Loves Records has some filming equipment that he’d like to put to good use and friend of the shop He.is.William is chomping at the bit to get stuck into filming bands. The gist is. If you’d like to play, we’d like to film you and stick the result up on our VoxBoxMusicBox Youtube page. (a continual work in progress)
VoxBox Sunday Sessions start this coming Friday the 16th of August. Sunday Sessions on a Friday? There must be some mistake. Everyone knows that Friday is not on a Sunday. Everyone except VoxBox George and me that is.
Right, PAWS are playing Friday 16th, not on Sunday!
SuperMarioNation on Sunday 18th
Quiet As A Mouse on Sunday 18th
Cassette Store Day Saturday 7th September. Line up TBC.
Wave Pictures on Saturday 21st October. Strewth!
OK then, let us just say that the sessions were going to be called VoxBox Sunday Sessions but due to problems with the names of actual days of the week when bands can come in, we’ll call them VoxBoxMusicBox Sessions and bash on.
VOXBOXMUSICBOX SESSIONS
PAWS are playing a Friday session on the 16th August.
Our favourite melody thrashers are back in town on Friday 16th August to play at the HMV Picture House in support of The Cribs. Tickets and info here.
They are coming down to our place before the show to play songs from their brand spanking new (and soon to be recorded) album. This will be an exclusive preview of the new album tracks. It’s free and open to all.
The PAWS trio are renowned for their loudness and high energy performances. The PAWS’ claws will be kept in for this session though. The claws-out full on thrash being reserved for the Cribs show later that night!
It will happen at 6pm although there is a wee chance that we may bring it forward to 5pm.
A VOXBOX SUNDAY SESSION!
This Sunday the 18th August we have at 2pm SuperMarioNation‘s Steve who will be dusting off his acoustic guitar and kicking out some jams for us all. He has volunteered to make some noise for the fun of it. This will be acoustic thrashy fun that you’ll hear from across the street!
At 4pm Edinburgh’s Quiet As A Mouse will do a short session to promote their brand new single, Home Is The Hardest Place To Find.
The band’s reputation has quickly grown from shows with Palma Violets (Rough Trade Records), The Crookes, Hey Sholay & Dingus Khan (Fierce Panda Records) as well as debut London shows at the legendary Bull & Gate and the Buffalo Bar for Club Fandango.
The single was produced by Marcus Mackay (Frightened Rabbit, Snow Patrol, Sparrow & The Workshop) and mastered by Chris Potter (Arctic Monkeys, Anna Calvi, Suede & Primal Scream).
The Daily Record said of the bands April free giveaway single “some bands don’t even achieve such a great track as ‘An Accident Waiting To Happen (Awoo Woo Woo)’ let alone give it away for free. It’s a contender for Scottish single of the year.” Their next gig is on Saturday 31st August at the Liquid Rooms -tickets available from here.
CASSETTE STORE DAY!
We’re excited to be taking part in the first ever Cassette Store Day on September 7th. Is this not just a gimmick? You can not be serious? Well, we do try to support band that put out releases on tape and the grassroots music makers tend to be tape enthusiasts. Some big bands have signed up too. Check out the releases. OK, it’s my birthday 7th September and I was planning on having a party anyway. Expect cake, party poppers, tapes and an in-store or two by some tape makers. Full line up TBC. Watch this space.
A SATURDAY SESSION TO LOOK FORWARD TO: The Wave Pictures are playing at our place on Saturday 21st October. This will be an early one. They play The Pleasance Theatre on the night before.
If you would like us to film you or your band at our place on a Sunday or when you’re passing through Edinburgh, just drop us an email. VoxBox Darren and VoxBox George: voxboxmusic@live.co.uk
For use in situations when another shop steals a photo from your website. Let off steam using arts and crafts. #Records For Sale. It’s a hashtag, honest. Anyway, there’s a few things to blow our VoxBox horns about.
Just DJ it!
Our open turntable DJ Night has been good fun. It’s held on the on the last Thursday of the month at our neighbours down the road, The Last Word Saloon. Basically, you book a 30-40 minute slot and bring records that you like. Tunes you wish were on the radio, guilty pleasures, or for people that just fancy giving DJing a go. It’s geared at complete beginners and amateurs, so any fancy stuff with crossed hands spotted over the mixer will lead to stern tutting. But hey, knock yourself out. Just send an email with your preferred time to voxbox@live.co.uk
Send us your stuff!
A friend and I have booked a wee radio show on Fresh Air Radio during the fringe. That is, two hours from 1800 to 2000 every Wednesday for three weeks starting on the 7th August. This will be all new music and we will be playing music from tiny labels and tunes from the established medium and huge labels to see if folk can tell the difference. There will be some record shop based banter too. Sound like fun? This could be a disaster! For a start, my mate is called Dominic which leads to the awful “Dar and Dom” monicker. Dardom? Like the theme music to Jaws perhaps?
“Send us your stuff!” is the new mantra. We just want to play new stuff. For example if you think you are the best band in Leith and have a record out, send us your stuff! Same goes if you are reading this in Manchester, Los Angeles or Lebanon. Send us your stuff! Simply send us a copy and we will probably play it. The show will be vinyl only to begin with.
Sunday Sessions
Every Sunday from very soon we’ll be filming bands doing acoustic numbers in our shop and if we tire of that, maybe in different shops all the way down our street. Basically impromptu stuff. Turn up, do a handful of tunes, be filmed doing them by friend of the shop William, possibly talk to me on camera for a few silly questions too. A Sunday sesh will be from 1600. Turn up, if there’s a small crowd, great! Play a few, get put on the site. Or turn up, no crowd, play a few, get filmed and put on the site.
I don’t mind if it’s 5mins or 25mins. It’s not intended to be a proper gig. It’ll just be a regular thing for a band to bash out the tunes and hopefully get a wee crowd and a bit of publicity. Begins soon…
The idea is to get bands onto our shop website and on our youtube channel. Voxboxmusicbox. A bit like the mighty Wounded Knee on Record Store Day:
Oh and we’ll put your record on the shelf too.
Er. That’s it!
Other issues.
The clype. It must be the thunderstorms. Shame this, as I had a nice blog bit to do about Paul Weller.
After a conversation with a local business owner in the Grassmarket yesterday, it became apparent that some people in Edinburgh may be mistaken in certain issues about our VoxBox record shop. Just in-case these rumours have spread, I wanted to clarify a few points here as you know how word gets around.
(Edited to remove prolonged ranting and swearing)
We are amateurs and part-timers who do not know how to run a record shop.
The proof is in the pudding. We are over two years into running this thing with all of our major expenses out of the way. We keep a tidy shop. Stock is well presented and the records are kept on custom made browsers with clean record dividers. Bills are paid on time. The shop opens and closes on time (Or within 10mins, one exception being when Andy Murray was playing the Wimbledon final). I am also happy to say that we have not presided over the decline and closure of 4 record shops in the past.
We don’t sell any new records.
This simply isn’t true; we do and have done for 2 years. We make no bones about slowly branching into new vinyl. In fact, if you check, it is the first thing our website mentions. In general, we keep around 200 different factory wrapped new titles. Well, you don’t mention this on Facebook and Twitter.
Correct. We also do not announce every time we sell a particular record either. All our new records are price checked against Amazon and local competitors. We won’t stock a new record unless we can price match Amazon + P&P. We didn’t even know who RM Hubbert was. Sorry Hubbie. However, in our favour, we actively seek out Scottish artists who have albums out on vinyl. We are a record shop after all, not a CD shop that sells records as an afterthought. RM Hubbert’s SAY Award winning album has now been pressed on vinyl and of course we will get some copies in. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BO-oRHzCAAE-ajp.jpg:large
All we do is talk about PAWS. Erm, of course I do as I think they’re a pretty special band although admittedly, not everyone’s cup of tea. I’m going to see them support The Cribs in August and have written a gushing piece for The Cribs’ Fanzine. Love those guys. It’s a shame Matt left the group though.
Record Store Day is not meant for shops like you. You are a second hand shop that sells some new stuff whereas; we are a new shop that sells some second hand stuff.
We sell records from a shop. Record stalls sell records. Record shop sells records. Records sold by a shop should make the shop a what? Am I missing something here? Patisserie? VoxBox cakes?
Photo used by kind permission of VoxBox Music Ltd
I just don’t get it. And no, we are not responsible for any of the parody accounts. I’ve not seen the official RSD rulebook. Around 1/10th of our vinyl stock is brand new records. That ratio is on a par with that of many other RSD shops in the Grassmarket area.
We sold a record on Record Store Day that was not made available to all of the other RSD record shops. This must be the very fine Beer vs. Records release. This was clearly not intended as an official Record Store Day release. We still have a copy if anyone is interested but I think they have otherwise sold out.
The final point was regarding record stalls at the Grassmarket festival which I hope to have addressed in the previous piece although I should mention that VoxBox does not take a stall and no stall holder objected to a “record shop” opening in The Grassmarket.
After a 20 minute tirade, these words followed our hero out of the shop into the glorious Grassmarket sunshine:
“I’m expecting you not to turn up”
“If I see anyone selling records in the Grassmarket during the festival, I’m going to tell them to fun off.”
Great, everyone likes to have fun. I think he said fun, mind you, now I’m not so sure.
A record dealer I know has been doing record fairs for 25 years and he has been taking stalls in the Grassmarket for 20 odd years. You could find him during the Jazz and Blues Festival, The Fringe Festival, The Meadows Festival and often in the odd Christmas tent in the Grassmarket in December. Round, round, get around, he gets around.
Anyway, this year, you may have noticed that there were no stalls selling records (or clothes for that matter) during The Jazz and Blues Festival last weekend. Keep off the Grassmarket! [After speaking directly to the organiser that this was due to the objection of a shop owner]
That was a shame though, as lots of people come down to the Grassmarket for the record stalls that have been a feature there for many years. Some stall holders have been there selling vinyl for 20 years. When the media talk of the vinyl revival, some of us shrug it off with a knowing smile as we know that our beloved vinyl never really went away. It was sold from stalls and small record shops. Some successful stall holders will go on to open record shops of their own! I can think of a few Edinburgh shops in the Grassmarket that started with a stall themselves.
To some tourists and locals too, the record stalls have become an expected feature. Customers would browse while listening to the fine live jazz and blues music. The Grassmarket is second only to our very own Stockbridge for its fine independent shops.
The solidarity between record enthusiasts and friendly banter between fellow small shops and stallholders is joyous and brings a sentimental tear to my eye.
What? What’s that you say? Record stalls in the Grassmarket (and presumably in other areas) take business away from the record shops in the Grassmarket and threaten their livelihoods?
In defence of the stall holders as I know some of them reasonably well and I can say that for them, it is often, if not their livelihood too, certainly a much needed boost to their income. The record stall holders that have been in the Grassmarket for much longer than all of the record shops there are entitled to make the reverse complaint against shops. Yet they don’t. No-one has said record shops are taking money away from the record stalls as that would be ludicrous. It would be a terrible shame if stallholders are allowed to continue to be bullied out by a hypocrite. What other stalls should be banned?
The great Charles Chaplin knew that Little Hitlers deserve to ridiculed:
Stalls don’t have overheads! But yes they do. Yes they do. Van hire, table hire, license. Parking. Boxes. Storage. And no guarantee that it won’t piss down all day. Record shops can take a stall too if they want to. I’m not too keen on doing a stall myself, I sit in a warm shop all day while my dear business partner freezes in the winter Scottish winds.
Infamy! Infamy!
I can hardly believe that I’ve felt compelled to type this thing as the points are pretty obvious -that record stalls attract record buyers to an area, helping every business that is selling the things that record buyers want whether it’s coffee, beer, Groucho Marx glasses from the joke shop or even records, CDs and whatnot. This is good for everyone as it creates a nexus. Nice word that I looked up today to be sure of the definition as I thought it was a superhero idea that didn’t really take off.
Nexus! The Liberator of record stalls!
Which reminds me: COMIC BOOK STALLS ARE TAKING BUSINESS FROM COMIC SHOPS! And on and on it goes…
And to see the other side of the coin… Free market capitalism eh? What a pain in the ass.
*I’m pleased to say that the organisers of stalls in the Grassmarket during the later Fringe Festival in August are a charity and have not, as far as I am aware, banned anyone from taking a stall during the 3 festival weekends in August, however there is some doubt about whether these events/stalls can continue in their current form following the expected change in management of The Grassmarket.
Anyway, it would be a Shame Shame Shame if there were no-one selling a good selection of Jazz and Blues records to coincide with the next Grassmarket event as happened this year.
Among Scotland’s independent music scene, Adam Stafford stands out as a kind of genius. He is from Falkirk and played in Y’all Is Fantasy Island. He makes films and music. That was easy but doesn’t tell the whole story.
Seeing him live, don’t be fooled by the haircut and the shirt and tie. Top button tight office worker. Despite the air of ordinary respectability you soon find out that you are watching a one man Kraftwerk. This is often challenging music. Electro punk for the gentle insane.
Adam was kind enough to perform at The Last Word Saloon for us on Record Store Day. Also, with a week’s notice he was asked to do a Record Store Day EP on cassette tape to be released by Gerry Loves Records. Millions Must Work Forever. It’s a tape that sounds like East German noise carnage but he can knock out a melodic tune or two too.
To prove this, have a listen to his album, Imaginary Walls Collapse -out now on Song by Toad records based around the corner. The album is getting some great reviews. You can stream it all by clicking here.
If you like to hear and to see something hypnotic and intense this is for you. Two singles have been released from it so far and BBC Radio 6 Music are giving it some airplay. Good old 6 music!
Other people have done more detailed and better reviews and frankly I don’t like reviews that much. However, as the title was inspired by Ginsberg’s poem Howl, I’ve listened to his new album repeatedly while typing with my beat head on and came up with an imaginary Adam Stafford biography poem below. I will also accept it if Adam kicks me in the nuts next time I see him.
Ahem…
Bright colour teeming teenage mind met neuk clear post Falkirk grey depravity. Wasted land come run-down wasteland. Graffiti grey metal shutter shops shut down and kicked in. Absent neu industrial grey heart-heart of darkness. Internal flight of ideas meets external fight or flight or challenge. Create yer way out or suffer soul-shrink.
Career advisor said better sign on son. Maybe a supermarket will open, keep an eye out. Stay away from Schuh. The filth will lock you up and suicide you in your room quicker than you can say please please please stop. Crazy shoe shine fetishists should be exterminated.
Head on, head out. Broken glass. Go west. Makes like a tree and getsthehellouttahere.
Restless awake. Mind invigilator asleep. Broken dream ceremony.
No me me mantra. Dream creator. Slate scribbles are polluted overwritten illegible, like a dud CD-R. Call a doctor. Calls for cognitive revolution.
Check in for fantasy island mindwash. Patented and trademarked. “Ctrl Alt Delete mind defibrillation”. “Get’s the childhood brainwash out, or your money back”. Them ventricles is filled with mucus buddy. Corroded synapses, “uhhuh”. Serviceman takes a deep breath, whistles. “Oooh-wee. I’ve got just the thing for you, we’ll have you shining like a new penny in no time.”
Check in. It’s Bath Time. Stripped off and wired up. Scubbing brush and a hard hand-size brick of soap. I want you to get into all the cracks. You’ll be squeaky clean, lemon scented in a jiffy.
Dirty bathwater. Dead skin cell scum and chemical foam gone flat. Human flotsam and jettisonsom. coming around again and repeating. Spiral plughole whirlpool. Drowning but sign says don’t drink the water. If I drink fast enough maybe I’ll be ok. Effluent top of the milk. Childhood milk carton memories. Inner absolution potion. Left in empty bath. Soapy oddness shampoo eyes. Tested on humanimals. Feeling clearer. Cleaner. Turn on word shower. Bathe again. Rinse.
Have a little sleep by a stream, have a little dream.
Backed by one hand clapping, a sound falls down from a tree in your head. You pick up sounds and throw them around. See what grows. Strange bushes, New-Mind overgrowth. Wild flower garden helps bees make honey. Sprouted New-Mind idea forest. Let’s chop those babies down and build a harbour. Make educated paths and travel light. Move faster alone and avoid ordinary.
I’ve been up so long, it looks like me down there. What the hell am I doing? Somnambulising? They’re all me. They seem to be getting on ok. Not saying much. Voice box beats sounds and repeats. Comfort in one company. Sounds emanate, resound and rebound clearer and captured, recorded from mind to vinyl. Add overdubs, collaborate later.
New Adam composing; “I’ll add overdubs later”
Mind power spray. Thought eliminator. Cerebral squeegee. Reboot. Control-Alt-Delete. New music emanation. Vocal emancipation and dream theatre epiphany. What are you here for? Why do you keep coming here? The palace seen in clear thought through Blakeian daybreak. Other world symphonies from the silver lining of the new mind’s eye. Hits the sweet spot like a beam of light.
In four walled living room bluebottle cracking it’s head against a window flys around the room and repeats until dried out. Delirious. Glass pane heat fried brittle armour exoskeleton. One fly will hammer into a window pane and pass straight through.
Performance anxiety gone entering performance showman ecstasy and unchained fierce animal savannah big cat freedom. Midway through performance dripping binary, dripping sweat and dry humping the air, we’re in Adam-Time.
The world’s veil moveth. Inner child wonder returns and Imaginary Walls Collapse.
At the risk of bashing on about Record Store Day until 2014, there is still some footage I’m leaking out from time to time. Ideally with a wee piece about each band that played for us tied into something they’re doing or promoting. There is a lot going on though, with lots of tasty music being played by the bands that helped us on the day.
Wounded Knee and eagleowl have been touring donchaknow. Adam Stafford has had an album launch. Mike Heron and Trembling Bells were on BBC Radio 6 Music doing a session the other day. Honeyblood are playing T in the Park today… Today! Friday. Those Rob St. John and Kid Canaveral blog pieces will have to wait.
Ahem, Honeyblood are pretty fantastic. Last year, Phil from Haribo-thrashers PAWS had given me some Honeyblood RSD tapes to try to sell. Yes cassette tapes, on the Cath Tapes label which he runs with some friends in Glasgow. They were home demos recorded in a bathroom on red cassette tape. Pretty rough recordings to be honest but you can feel the melody in there. No Spare Key sounds a bit like Sister Ray by The Velvet Underground for the 1st few bars. Is this a compliment?
Yes, it is a compliment. I kept a copy for myself and sold the others. They are now very sought after. A stick of Rock history in the making.*
Honeyblood are a two piece now based in Glasgow. Guitar and drums. Stina and Shona. Great voice. Great songs. Lyrically like a bunch of blood red red roses. But watch-outcha! Those are thorny (Is that my blood?) red red roses.
It took a while for me to get to see them live at Henry’s gingerbread Cellar Bar (of course) although they have been in and out of town like sherbert dip for a while and there is some nice footage on youtube of them playing at Sneaky Pete’s for the Wide Days Scottish Music Industry event last year.
I sent the two-some a quick Twitter message (@yumhoneyblood), then a quick email asking if they would be able to play a short set for us for Record Store Day. “Hi Stina and Shona…blah blah blah” says I. “You fool” says Andy from Gerry Loves Records who knew Stina and was instrumental in helping organise the day. “Shona left the band”. Oh bugger, why doesn’t anyone tell me these things! I will appear a fool who knows nothing about the local music scene. “Who is the new drummer?” Andy didn’t know either. Andy went on to ask Stina about the equipment she’d need and so on. “… and what will your drummer need?” . Subtle Andy, very subtle.
As it turned out, Shona was back in the band. Oh Yeah! “your drummer!“. Jeez. Now it looks like I have my finger on the pulse.
“Hey, Sounds great” Say Honeyblood, and they came through and played for us and you.
“Happy Record Store Day guys!” Says Stina before singing Bud**:
“Hey, Sounds great !” say everyone present.
After flying around all day I managed to nip in to catch a bit of their set.
It is a sure mark of a successful day when you can’t see the band you’ve helped put on. Get outta my way everybody!
Help, I can’t see! Don’t you know who I am!
I only had a chance to say a quick thank you to the girls in person before they were off to do a session for In-Session local radio and then nipping back to deep fried Glasgow to plot world domination. First step some interviews with The List and The Herald, then T in the Park.
I’m stoked to say that there is a Honeyblood release in the pipeline due in August. I’ll let you know when they let me know.
If you are going to T in the Park, Honeyblood are playing the T Break Stage at 1800 today (Friday). Then you can go home for the day. Everything else will be bland porridge in your ears.
*Be aware that these two are not sugary fizzy-pop.
More like a nice lamb jalfrezi from Cinnamon in Portobello where you’ve actually eaten and chewed one of the green chillies. Maybe with a peshwari nan and some mango chutney and that onion stuff. Tasty, then on accidentally biting the long green thing… mmm there’s more to this. With bite. But tasty, very tasty.
At the Adam Stafford album launch at The Wee Red Bar last night I bumped into RM Hubbert. This is not the start of a joke, although my favourite thing to say in 1998 was ‘I bumped into Richard Ashcroft the other day’.
Moving on, if you’re called RM Hubbert, chances are that friends will call you ‘Hubbie’ which is a little too familiar for an impromptu introduction to a stranger unless you’re talking to, perhaps, a cat like this one.
Ralph (M Hubbert) the cat
Bearing in mind that I don’t know him, once I made it past his security, I addressed Mr RM Hubbert a bit like this: Hello Mr Hubbiert sir, then, with awkwardness passed, I fired words at him… congratulations on the award… then on and on and on… VoxBox, VoxBox… Your CDs your CDs… we direct people to the Chemikal Underground website, yes we do yes we do… we have a poster poster… really cheap at a fiver fiver… vinyl vinyl… CDs CDs… then I offered my hand for him to rub his face against. Finally, and as if to prove that it is better to remain silent and be thought an idiot than to open your mouth and prove that you really are one:
‘Also if you donate clothing to charity it’s much better to bring them into the charity shop and not leave them in a bag outside. This is because the charity gets more money that way. It’s through something, ah bugger… I can remember what it’s called but the charity gets your tax or something something. …your tax on the value of the donation… oh what’s it called… you’ve not paid the money yourself but you put your postcode on a form… you know… it’s called… er it’s on the tip of my tongue… and if you’re a taxpayer…
…
…anyway, you shouldn’t leave your stuff outside a charity shop.’
So that was that. I’m sure he’ll be on the blower to Aiden Moffat asking for a rewrite of ‘Car Song’ today. (Impatient folk should fast-forward to 2.40)
It’s funny how some things just stick in your mind and lots of talented people were in Edinburgh to see lots of talented people perform. We’re very lucky just now. What’s another word for talented? And how might a Glaswegian pronounce that?… It’s on the tip of my tongue…
First off, a hearty congratulations to R.M. Hubbert who has won this year’s Scottish Album of the Year Award. Who he?! He’s a nylon string strumming quasi-flamenco guitar player from Glasgow who now sleeps on a bed scattered with £10,000. In pound coins of course, otherwise that would seem like extravagance.
By all accounts he’s a lovely chap and deserving winner. His album, Thirteen Lost & Found is a fine collaborative effort and winning the award manages to pat several Scottish musicians on the back at once. Wha’s Like us! Anyway, he’s gigging and likely to be asked to gig a bit more so look out for a chance to see him live. Until the album is released on vinyl and we get a copy or 2, you can buy it for a fiver here.
On record shop day earlier this year, we wanted to have some Fence bands on the bill to show our support for the label. Ideally an artist with something to sell or promote. Johnny Pictish Trail who runs the Fence label had released his new album but was away touring on RSD. I asked Kid Canaveral who said something like ‘well we would but only the female half of our foursome is available’. Oh, that’s a shame. ‘But,’ says Kate, ‘we could maybe do an acoustic set and would you like me to see if eagleowl are available?’ Yes that would be great, please do ask Eagleowl too.
The first rule of Eagleowl is that it’s not ‘Eagleowl’ at all. It’s ‘eagleowl’, in lower case you fool. The band have been around for seven years and everyone in town knows this. Drat, they now know that my knowledge of eagleowl could be written on the back of an pygmyowl -but I’m learning, slowly.
Got him! Pass my black marker!
The second rule of eagleowl is that they (probably) don’t realLy MiNd aBOut HaVinG a LoweR CASe LetteR at the start. Phew.
Anyway, at some stage a Doctor Moreau style hybrid of eagleowl and Kid Canaveral came about which led to a name quandary. It went from Kate and Rose from Kid Canaveral and eagleowl (too descriptive) to Kate Canaveral? Girl Canaveral? (not serious enough) all the way to Kid eagleowl, eaglekids, Kid Canaverowl, eagleaveral, then to Evil Carnivalkid before settling on the catchier abracadaberarnivaleralowl with a lower case ‘a’ which we put on the poster. The experiment came to a wonderful conclusion.
After 2 weeks of practice, this unique Edinburgh supergroup sounded like this:
eaglowl’s 1st album is out now. They have recently had an incredibly successful album launch and short tour and I’ll get in early and say that they should be up there as a contender for next year’s SAY Award. Saying that, Kid Canaveral and Pictish Trail should be up for next year’s SAY Award too.
I don’t really do album reviews so you are getting this instead:
We’ve been lucky to meet several bands and artists and I can say that my new friends kick out the jams. Indeed, my new friends eagleowl kick out the jams but in a really, really slowly slow fashion, a bit like bits of The Velvet Underground’s third album and Lou Reed’s Berlin. Mainly in that the songs really take their time, they go slow. Low? No that’s a lazy comparison. Achingly slowly. So… So… I’m not sure how to say this… So. So slow. 95% of No. Pause. Comma, comma, comma, . H-y-p-h-e-n-s. That’s not it. Slower! So Slow. So Slowly. So quietly slowly. So peacefully slow and gentle that you’d fall asleep in the bath and drown. Shh, be quiet you and better wake up. Sowing slow poppy seeds to keep you in this sweet flat wet bath naked knackered slow opi-ate state. Then, so quickenly slow. So oddly quickening slowly slow. So slowly quickening. So slowly teasingly slowly speeding up and slowly intensifying. Slow drums pounding slowly faster and then the song levels out and is finished.
lower case and utterly compelling wow
To see what the fuss is about, you can hear and see eagleowl live tonight with the wonderful Wounded Knee in Dalkeith. It’ll be like a mini Record Shop Day. Read about it and get yer tickets here.
If you can’t make it to the gig, I’m happy to say that we have their eaglly awaited new album, This Silent Year in the shop on LP with free CD and on individual CD too. Both come with free poster.
Next week: Kid Canaveral vs eagleowl and a cheeky plug of Kid Canaveral’s new album Now That You Are A Dancer. Some talented folks on that Fence label.
Oh and I just found this short taster on YouTube. Bootleggers… fantastic!
VoxBox Music became the newest record shop in the world on May 21st 2011. We buy and sell vinyl and other formats of music. We are independent and sell mostly pre-owned records although we are slowly branching into new vinyl too.
