Too Much Music - Blog

So what about Trump?

9/12/2017

I thought I’d give this blog writing another go. Why not eh? I might not make it past this first paragraph but we’ll see how I get on.

Now what to talk about? I’m not sure how this blog will go. Should I stick to music? The website is called Too Much Music after all. Maybe just keep it free flowing and talk about any nonsense? How about I stop with these daft rhetorical questions!

So what about Trump? I used to hate the guy. I always saw him as a threat but recently I’ve learned we have a lot in common. I watched a feature about him earlier in the year and he is just a shy, unassuming guy who loves his snooker. One of the most talented players on the circuit and one of the most entertaining. I’ve started to warm to him now and love watching him play.

I love snooker but some people just think it’s a load of balls!

On the subject of sport I’m looking forward to what is looking like one of the best fights of the year Golovkin v Canelo. I’ve been a massive fan of Golovkin for a few years due to his animalistic nature in the ring. But with Canelo he will have the toughest fight of his career by far. A real 50-50 but I can see Golovkin just edging it.

On to music related matters. I’m buzzing to be promoting another gig after a couple of months’ break while I work on a couple of other projects. Ports of Essen will be launching their new EP ‘Circles’ at 13th Note on 29th September. It’s set to be a cracking night. Tickets are only a fiver and available to buy now or on the door.

I’m currently siting counting down the hours until kick off at Celtic Park tonight for match day 1 of the Champions League group stage. There is no better feeling than the excitement you get on the day of a big European night at Celtic Park. The atmosphere will be something else but I’ll just have to settle for BT Sports and a few beers. My heart says Celtic can pull off a special result but my head says it could be a difficult night.

Deni Smith is brining back the sun

9/20/2016

Deni Smith is a young singer/songwriter from Dunfermline. She cites KT Tunstall and Nina Nesbitt as influences and there is no reason Deni can’t follow in their footsteps.

Deni has gigged relentlessly over the summer building her fan base. The gigs culminated in a successful sold out show in her home town to celebrate the release of her debut single ‘Bring Back The Sun’.

“My single launch was absolutely insane. I'm originally from Dunfermline so I have a bit of support back there in terms of my music so I felt it would be a good place to get a response out of my single. I hosted the launch in De Brus Brewery on Canmore Street.” She goes on to say “I expected to maybe sell about 50 tickets, intending to keep the event chilled out and seated, however I was blown away when over 80 people bought tickets. I had to take the tables and chairs out just to fit everyone in!”

‘Bring Back The Sun’ has classic vintage feel with a modern twist. A classic beatlesy guitar line only adds to the song but it is undoubtedly Deni’s vocal which is the highlight. The song was written about lost love and friendship and hope that it would return in one way or another. This is a common theme in all great song in one way or another.

“As with most of my songs, I started writing it as a sort of emotional outburst. I tend to write best when I have an experience to inspire me and I guess I could say this song was written about lost love and friendship and the hope that it would maybe return again in whatever form.” She continues “I wrote the original song on my own but as it got to recording and producing I got a bit of help from some of my close music friends who were helping with the recording.”

Up next for Deni is an appearance at Broadcast in Glasgow on 28th September along with Amy Malcolm and Megan D. The year ahead for Deni will involve finding a balance between studying and music. “I've just moved back to Glasgow for university so my music is going to have to settle down slightly and balance with my academic life. I'm definitely going to keep writing and gigging and I aim to release a new single in the New Year. I love playing and music is definitely my passion so I'm never going to give it up.”

Catch Deni Smith, Amy Malcolm and Megan D at Broadcast on 28th September. Tickets are £4 and available here!

Srobie Rd Records helping with cassette resurgence

8/11/2016

With sales of vinyl records reaching a 20 year high last year could cassette tapes be the next retro format making a comeback? Sorbie Rd are doing their bit to help the resurgence.

Sorbie Rd are a recently launched independent record label set up to help artists record and release physically. Sorbie Rd were set up by friends Steven Kerr and Lee Strain.

I chat to Steven Kerr about Sorbie Rd, what difficulties they have encountered setting up the label and their future plans.

On setting up the label Kerr said “There comes a point when you're searching for music where you start to look at the labels behind the artists in order to find exactly what you want. Doing so opens you up to more of the same whenever you discover something specific you enjoy. Labels in the past like Postcard Records offered something new and shook the music industry.”

He continues “While we are not aiming to deliberately make an impact on the industry as whole - we are aiming to release music with intent, music which serves a specific purpose. Instead of choosing a specific genre to stick to we hope to let the values and ethos of the artists be the defining characteristic of the label.”

‘You Decide’ by The Pale Kids was the first release on Sorbie Rd. It was launched at The Old Hairdressers last month.

The Pale Kids are a North Ayrshire based they play post-punk pop noise. ‘You Decide’ is their debut release.

The release has been popular with the whole run of tapes selling out within the first week of release.

Setting up a record label doesn’t come without its difficulties particularly a label which specialises in cassette tapes.

“We've been making it up as we've went along the whole way.” admits Kerr. “Everything we've done we just tried to figure out ourselves.”

“Most of the problems have been technical ones, annoying things like working out the cheapest way to do things without a compromise in quality. Although tapes are a really cheap and easy way to make physical music we had a few problems trying to source equipment which worked.”

Kerr continues “Other than that it's just down to organisation, getting ourselves and others together at the right time to make deadlines.”

Kerr and Strain plan to keep the roster small to being with, working with artists to help develop their sound.

“After The Pale Kids, we'll be working on the debut releases of two other artists. We plan to keep our roster small to start with and to put a lot of effort into each release. Quality over quantity”

“We have the aim to work three core artists developing their sound within each of their own individual styles yet keeping the same indescribable quality that they all share.”

Although still in the very early stages of running a record label Kerr and Strain have learned a lot in such a short space of time. What advice would they give to other looking to start their own record label?

“Give yourself more time than necessary before doing anything. There has always been unexpected problems that come up which cause delays, this can sometimes lead to working out better ways to do things however.”

Kerr goes on to say “Try to do everything yourself, it give you complete freedom and a greater sense of achievement - that being said, ask for help when needed. There always seems to be someone you know who has the expertise to help you out, even if you don’t know them personally.”

For more information and all their artists check out the Sorbie Rd website.

http://sorbierd.com/youtube
https://www.facebook.com/sorbierd
http://sorbierd.com/

Anton & The Colts live @ The Old Hairdressers

3/28/2016

I'm buzzing to announce the next Too Much Music gig. Anton & the Colts will be bringing their own brand of rock n roll to The Old Hairdressers on June 4th.

Also on the bill that night are Ports of Essen who I'm delighted to welcome back after their successful gig at Broadcast earlier this year. Since then the band have been in the studio working on some new material which I can't wait to hear.

I'd also like to welcome The Rising Souls from Edinburgh who will also be joining Anton & the Colts and Ports of Essen on the bill. Fresh from the release of their new album 'Yardbird' The Rising Souls will be brining their unique style of soulful country to The Old Hairdressers in June.

Finally opening up the night is young singer/songwriter Kyle O. I'm delighted to welcome Kyle back after he played a blinder of a set at 13th Note in December.

For more information on the artists playing and to have a listen to their music check out the event page here.

Tickets are £5 and are available now.

Earths release new EP 'Blood Diary'

3/24/2016

Earths have released their new EP 'Blood Diary'. This is their third release after 2014's 'The Tragedy of Process' and last years single 'Kangerlussuaq' - which I still don't know how to pronounce.

'Blood Diary' was released through Gold Mold Records accompanied by a video for single 'Familiar Echo' which you can watch below.

Earths are definitely one of my favourite bands I've discovered since I've been doing the blog. I rank them alongside the best bands in Britain at the moment and on par with bands such as Foals.

As good as the records are Earth are best experienced live. I've been fortunate enough to have Earths play one of my shows earlier this year. As a live band they sound phenomenal. I would highly recommend seeing them if you get the chance.

'Blood Diary' is available to purchase through the bands Bandcamp page. There is a limited run of CD's and Cassettes along with a digital download.

'Blood Diary' EP features:
1. Body Parts
2. Familiar Echo
3. Roundhouse
4. We Will Kill Again

For more information on Earths and future live dates:
www.facebook.com/thisisearths
www.thisisearths.bandcamp.com
www.soundcloud.com/thisisearths
www.gigmit.com/earths

Carol Laula releases new album 'The Bones of It'

2/16/2016

A new year brings around all those resolutions and for me, this New Year was no different. Lose weight, get in shape and drink less. I’d give up smoking but that would first require me starting. One of my main resolutions was to focus on Too Much Music and trying to build something that will bring my love of music to the masses. Whatever that is, only time will tell. Strangely, Another resolution was to read more books. Anyone who knows me will know I’m not that big a reader unless it’s a takeaway menu. I’m happy to report six weeks into the year, I’ve given up the takeaways and I’ve read a book!

Another thing I will be doing this year is to write more blogs and do one of my favourite things, interview more musicians. So when I had the chance to interview Carol Laula I jumped at the opportunity. I was introduced to Carol’s music through her upcoming new studio album ‘The Bones of it', what a great title for an album.

Generally when I do my interviews, a long walk to the meeting point is tradition and this interview was no different. Siempre Bicycle Café – who describe themselves as ‘a new type of chain store’ – was the location this time. A good walk before our interview helps me prepare and go over what I want to discuss and helps gets me into the 'music zone'. A recurring thought I was having was ‘This woman has toured the world and is about to release her eighth album, I hope our interview goes well’. I was putting unnecessary pressure on myself.

I was worrying needlessly, I was immediately put at ease by Carol as we start our conversation. I started by trying to find out a little bit more about Laula’s introduction to music. “I started in a covers band. I think that’s how most of us started. But I never really got into song writing. I played guitar when I was a wee girl and I couldn’t do it. Then I was in cover bands and we started writing our own stuff. I can’t even remember the names of the bands. They were great, bands like Touch and we went on to become This Perfect Heart, which was quite a funky Glasgow band at the time. I started writing songs and I remember thinking none of this is really what I want to be writing about nor is it how I want to sound.”

Carol goes on to tell a story of one of her early solo gigs. “I became quite accessible to a lot of promoters in that I was able to turn up to a gig, plug in, sing and that was it. I got a call to open to open up for Transvision Vamp. They were a real 80’s ‘we don’t give a shit’ English band. So I was able to get those kinds of gigs and get great experience, it was very weird because it was a real strange marriage. I do remember I was doing my third song and it was all hippy and I remember one guy who was really steaming down the front going ‘she’s no that bad actually’.”

In 1990 Laula’s independently released single ‘Standing Proud’ which was chosen to represent Glasgow as it's anthem for the year of culture. This brought with it a lot of media attention. “Glasgow had its year of culture in 1990 and love it or loathe it, 1990 became a big year for me. They had a song writing competition for a song that would represent Glasgow in its year of culture. When my song was chosen that kind of allowed Carol Laula to become much more of a household name. Which was great for my ego of course. But I must say when I was writing that song I was really sceptical about it. I was like, here’s Glasgow getting all this money, city of culture. When I went to pick up a cheque, to pay for the studio that I played in from Glasgow City Chambers, there were two homeless guys sitting in the street and that didn’t quite sit right with me.”

Laula is about to release her eighth studio album ‘The Bones of It’ the first In eight years. This has led her to a more organic style of song writing and without the pressures of a record label, the writing and recording has been much more enjoyable. “What’s made this album my favourite for me is there were no barriers. I had no pressure from any record labels or publishers, this was for me. I’ve been working with some amazing musicians particularly Marco Rea who has his own studio. We had the studio time all sorted out financially and that’s a big thing even for an old artist like me."

Away from recording and touring Laula finds time to work in different ways, with song writing workshops. “I’ve learned a lot more new skills when I’ve been trying to share my experience with song writing with other people. Over the last twenty-five years a lot more opportunities have opened up on that front. Song writing workshops and singing workshops. Lots of organisations got funding to put on these workshops. They want to get experienced people to come in and do it.”

Over the years the workshops have become more frequent and can often outnumber the number of live shows. “It started off just being a few wee workshops here and there along with my gigging and it’s almost like the gigging became less and less and the workshops became more and more. Now I’ve moved into a lot broader field. I’m doing a lot of work with the criminal justice system. In prisons, outside of prisons trying to help show people a different way forward in life using the arts. I’m doing a lot of work with the Citizens theatre. We will for example be going into a prison in the near future. I went in there as part of a Scottish Government initiative to see how the arts would impact on re-offending. So we went in there and collaborated with the girls in the jail, we wrote songs to go with a piece of theatre that they had created.” Luala goes on to talk about the impact the work has had on her. “The Citizens theatre is amazing. Their community work is awesome and that’s a word that is overused. My jaw dropped at the impact we were having and I can only imagine what that experience was like for the women. A lot these folk have never had that kind of experience, that audience experience. It’s really important I think for them to not just witness the process but actually be a part of it.”

After listening to the preview tracks from the new album ‘August Leaves’ was the stand out track for me. The song was chosen as the lead track from the album. “We made that the lead track and when I was a wee girl you made it the single.” Talking about the writing of the song Laula says “It’s just a wee story. It’s not about anyone in particular. I had written the song about this unrequited love, they loved each other when they were young and one of them went away. That was all fine. A couple of weeks after we recorded it I saw on the internet, it was about a Russian artist who created an art installation. She went into a museum, it was in a big room and there was lots of people queuing up. It was a cordoned off area and at the top of that was her sitting at a table. And what you’d do was sit across from her at the table, she would lift her head and look at them for sixty seconds with no words. But the back story to this was she lifted her head at one point and she saw her lover from twenty-five years ago. In my head that songs about that story even though I didn’t know the story.”

The title of the album ‘The Bones of It’ comes from a place of song writing in its purest form. To write good songs whatever the genre it may be that you need to get to 'The bones of it' to help the song writing process. After that the song can be absolutely anything you want it to be. ‘The Bones of It’ is the result of Carol Laula having the creative freedom to do what she likes and to allow us the joy of making her songs what we want them to be.

'The Bones of It' is available now from www.carollaula.co.uk

'The Long Way Home' New single by Unkle Bob

10/28/2015

'The Long Way Home' is new single from Unkle Bob. Originally a five piece band singer-songwriter and frontman Rick Webster revived the name releasing a third album 'Embers' in July 2014.

Talking about the track Rick says "This song pushes through the side-door. It was meant as a b-side but hypnotised it's way into the foreground and sounds like a kind of grown-up lullaby. The electric guitar was recorded the first time we ever jammed it in the flat and has that feeling of being played for the first time. Co-written with Scott on the bass, I guess it's actually a duet between the bass and the guitar/vocal."

The new single, 'The Long Way Home' is self released world wide in October 2015 as a digital download.

Download the song for free on Bandcamp now.

Unkle Bob on Facebook / Twitter / Soundcloud / Bandcamp / Official website

Mark McGowan 'Colour Of Surrender' Premiere

9/8/2015

Bonnie & Clyde/Colour Of Surrender is the debut double a-side from Glasgow's Mark McGowan from a brand new label, In Black. Mark is one of the guys at the local open mic who you think is amazing but hasn't released anything, and you'll struggle to find online but just need to hear more, this single is the thing that changes that for Mark.

This single showcases his ability to create heartfelt intricate songs with timeless undeniably great hooks. You can listen to 'Colour Of Surrender' below.

To celebrate the release of Mark's debut single he is playing a special launch show. This Friday (September 11th 2015) Mark takes the stage at the newly refurbished The Hug and Pint. Support on the night comes from Acting Strange and Piranhas and Sharks. There will also be a limited run of physical run of the single with some exclusive bonus tracks available to purchase on the night.

Tickets for the gig are available to buy here.

Mark McGowan on Facebook / Twitter / Soundcloud

Ladies and gentlemen...Mr Gav Prentice

7/9/2015

Gav Prentice is a Glasgow based musician, writer and all round funny man (go to a gig or watch some vines for full details). He formed half of the sadly missed electro pop due Over The Wall. Now concentrating on his solo work and side projects which includes work with the National Theatre of Scotland (Rantin and Tin Forest).

'The Invisible Hand' was released in 2012 on Instinctive Racoon Records during a break from Over The Wall. The album consists of striped back acoustic songs which after listening to Over The Wall came as a complete surprise but for me this shows off how strong Prentice's song writing is - particularly on 'Coatbridge 1967' and 'Burning Down'. Lo-fi recording 'I Know That' is another highlight.

Prentice also does a cracking Robert Burns cover. His cover of 'Ae Fond Kiss' appears as the closing track on his album 'The Invisible Hand'. He also recorded an exclusive version of 'My Luve's Like a Red Red Rose' for our charity album.

After the rise and fall of Over The Wall Prentice continued to treat us to some solo tracks including 'You Can Only Run' and the brilliant 'Where The Streets Have Royal Names' which is available to download for free on Gav's Soundcloud.

Throughout 2014 Prentice wrote a couple of fantastic articles in support of Scottish Independence for the National Collective. They can be read here:

Replacing British Values (5/1/2014)
'Ideological' Is Not An Insult (7/5/2014)
On Being Patronised (19/6/2014)
Genetic Programming and The Ability to Rule Yourself (9/9/2014)

Towards the end of 2014 Prentice debuted his new band ULTRAS. With very little information on the band shared their first track 'This Is Where I Fall'.

Taken from the bands website - ULTRAS is a music act from Glasgow founded in 2014. ULTRAS is also a word used by young people throughout Europe to describe their pride in where they've come from, their friends, the way that they celebrate their culture, and their solidarity with one another.

The band released their debut single in May this year. 'The Path to Getting Paid'.

For more information on Gav and ULTRAS check out their websites and usual social media pages.

http://www.gavprentice.co.uk/
http://www.facebook.com/gavprentice
http://twitter.com/gavprentice

http://www.ultrasband.com/
https://twitter.com/ULTRASband

Interview with Michael Timmons

5/29/2015

Another long walk precedes the interview, I think this is becoming a nice habit. This time I'm interviewing Glasgow based Michael Timmons. I discovered Michael's music by accident when I was looking at gig listing and Michael was supporting, I had a listen to him and instantly loved 'Material'. I was quite surprised to find an electric based a singer/songwriter. The venue this time was the Rio Café in Glasgow's west end. An out of the way venue but surprisingly busy.

We start by talking about Timmons beginnings as a solo musician. It seemed like the best place to start. "About two and a half years now, Just kind of gigging and trying to figure out if it was something I could do. I quite like weird instrumentally stuff so I started off with like 10 minutes of just weird noises and there was maybe only one guy in the audience who actually liked it. It took me a while to change." He goes on to say "At the very start I was just lots of effects. I started changing, making the instrumental bits smaller and the songs longer."

Talking about the sound of his music he tells me "It's all kind of melodic and quite quiet I guess. I use an electric, I was always a bit afraid it was gonna be quite gimmicky using an electric but it was more I can't really play an acoustic, it never sounded right it was dead clumsy, I just kind of fell into the sound that I've got. It's kind of slightly reverby and ambient with weird noises. Yeah it's all kind of like that." For me the unique sound of Michael's music was something I loved instantly. His voice and the sound of the guitar is a great combination.

"My stuff is a bit of everything. A bit of Bon Iver, Alexi Murdoch and there's quite a lot of weird ambient music that I listen to with not really much singing. I love King Creosote too. When writing songs now the biggest thing that kind of spurs me on is when I'm playing with other musicians and I see that their songs are so much better than mine that inspires me to try and write more. There's a guy called David Lan, Dear Lara he's called. One of my early gigs I played a show with him and that just kind of changed the way I was writing cos I just thought this guy is amazing and that spurred me on, he's a good friend, you should have a listen to his albums. So I do that with everyone I play shows with, I pick up a wee thing here and there."

I ask Timmons about the themes of his songs. Are they inspired by love, growing up or change? Has he wrote a song for someone and played it for them? "No I've never done that yeah probably the opposite. Things happen and change especially when you are growing up, lot of change in different ways, I put that into music. I don't think there are kind of any happy love songs - not yet anyway. I don't really write about specific events just a combination of things kind of pulled together into one kind of theme. I've never had to explain it before, it's strange." He goes on to say "Something will happen, a change or something. I don't sit down right away and think of something, a song. I'll kind of write about it over time, I struggle to force out a song, so just gradually pull it together with different things like I could be out and maybe on the train and you'll over hear a conversation and you'll mentally note down what that person said and put those ideas in there too. It just kind of falls together."

We go on to talk about on of my favourite songs 'Material'. "It's kind of just about changes. People kind of growing apart and relationships grow up and go different ways. That's kind of what that was about and as I've said there is different things pulled within that song. That's why some of the lyrics might seem a bit weird at times. I really like playing Material but I can't ever remember sitting down and writing it."

If you watch the video for 'Material' and some other videos on Timmons YouTube channel you will notice the frequent use of archive footage.

"I used a lot of archive footage, I used internet archive and got obsessed watching different clips and stumbled on the clips I used for the video. I got obsessed with it, They are really old home movies from a couple that their ancestors have put online to be shared, and there were so many great videos, it started with them very young meeting, to getting married, to travelling and having children. I tried to find a contact somewhere to get in touch with their family, as I imagine they have passed away now, couldn't find anything."

Timmons is also the latest addition to Gargleblast Records, a small independent record label based in Hamilton. They will be releasing Timmons debut album later this year with a single being released before the album. "I'm due to release a single and an album with Gargleblast Records this year which I'm really excited about. I've known of Gargleblast for years and when it was time to record I didn't even have to think about it. So I recorded the whole album with Andy Miller, who is an amzing producer and such a nice guy. He has so much music knowledge and is so generous with it, really helps you get the best out of you. We just set up my guitar and microphones and I just pefromed the songs live and we captured most of them in one day. We felt this kept the sound quite raw and personal and seemed to work. I'm really excited to be working with Andy, Shaun, Pat at Gargleblast and also thier other newest signing Mayor Stubbs. They have released some great music in the past, if you didn't hear Martin John Henry's stuff you should check it out."