Confused by Confusion

As I sit here, in the process of launching a new radio station with Emily I'm looking through all the talented musicians throughout Scotland and thinking how lucky we are to be able to be involved.

One band stick out like a sore thumb for me and its not because they're untalented, far from it. Infact it's because they are so talented yet they don't gig as much as they should.

Confusion are a band from Stevenson in North Ayrshire and are possibly one of the best sounding group of artists around. For the past 13 years they have developed a sound that incorporates what I can only describe as Blue Oyster Cult combined with Primal Scream. For me they define the "rock'n'roll" genre with there mix of talent and enthusiasm that can be heard on every track. I'm currently sitting writing this on my phone, but confusion got me so excited and annoyed that I couldn't stop myself logging in and start typing away.

I've never witnessed confusion live, which is a shame cause I've heard nothing but good things about them. They played the illistrious King Tuts this month and its one of those gigs I missed that I'll forever kick myself for.

Its not often I'll highly rate a local act without seeing them live, and that's what confuses me here. Confusion need to get out and showcase their talent more, here is a group of musicians who could completely own a music scene and pack venues every night of the week. Hopefully at some point in the near future I'll see them live and when that happens I'm sure that I'll have a hell of a lot to write about them.

One thing is for sure however, they will 100% be getting airtime on MESi radio. Infact they're already on our website.

www.mesi-radio.co.uk

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The Flask March 25th 2012

On a sunny day in Scotland (well anywhere in the world really) people tend to head towards the beach, shorts on etc. if you’re in Ayrshire then a lot of people tend to head towards Saltcoats beach, and if you head towards that beach, just off the main street down from the amusements lies a building with the words outside “The Flask” from the outside it looks like a nice wee restaurant and if you walk in during the day it’s got a great atmosphere to it. However if you walk in on a Sunday night, you’ll walk straight into a wall of music, some good and some not so good. Sunday the 25^th of March 2012 was one of those nights where the music was great. Two Glasgow bands “Audiodriver” and “The Detours” gave The Flask some of the best music that it’s ever had.

Emily and I headed down for dinner before hand, and originally wanted to see Audiodriver, a band who I’ve never actually witnessed live. When I saw them take to the stage my first thought on their image was Blink 182, they had ¾ lengths on, pink hair, Mohawks and they just had that overall feel that they were going to hit out some 4 chord structured songs and sing about blow jobs…..they didn’t.
Audiodriver are a band who command a presence on stage, write great songs and perform a tight set. Tonight was a night with a new drummer, and in all honesty you couldn’t tell. As in every band, it’s important to have the rhythm section performing well together and Audiodriver pulled it off brilliantly. Don’t get me wrong, sometimes I got the impression that the Bassist wanted to be the front man, but that’s possibly because he has so much energy he needs to vent it somehow. Their songs “Who I am” “Universal Truth” and “Reach Out” were so full of life and had lead guitar parts that blew me away. Their cover of Pink Floyds “Brick in the Wall” had even the crowd that wasn’t interested in the music dancing. My favourite song of the set was not one of their own, it was in fact a cover of South Parks Chef with “Chocolate Salty Balls” I’ve never heard the song covered before and it was an amazing cover, in fact it was better than the original, they even threw in a bit of choreography. Overall I would recommend going to see Audiodriver, they are a great band, they performed amazingly but the best was yet to come.

After a cigarette break and a wee chat with our “Star in the reasonably priced bar” Amanda, we settled down for the next band “The Detours” the crowd had dispersed as they had all obviously came to see Audiodriver, and felt that no other band deserved their attention, a common occurrence at gigs and one that grates on my nerves enormously. They missed out greatly though, because The Detours are possibly the best band I have seen in years. Everything from the lyrics right down to the image was perfection. The song “Ignite” caught my attention, the guitar was so beautifully loud it was enough to make me smile (not much makes me smile) when the vocals kicked in, I knew this band were going to be good. Before they had even finished the song, Emily turned to me and said “They are going to be big” and she’s right. Ignite has the Lyrics “Your mind is hectic don’t lose the drive” and I can see that every individual of the band have the drive to succeed and make music that everyone will love. They remind me of a more melodic version of a band called “Rev Theory” (if you’ve never heard them I suggest you check them out) The Detours in my eyes however are a much better and stronger sounding band. They threw in two covers in their set, one was an amazing version of “Wayward Son” by Kansas which was so good, I thought I was listening to a cd version, three vocal harmonies at the one time and instrumentally sound, it’s the best cover I’ve ever heard of any song. They also performed a mash up of “Country Roads” and “Want you to want me” which should be the original version of both songs (I have that awful habit of preferring originals, not in this case however) because I think more would enjoy this version. The guys finished their set with their single “One Last Chance” which when introducing it they announced that they were very proud of the song and that it’s due to be broadcast on Kerrang, and I can see why. I’m not going to lie, I thought the lyrics were “Get a ginger ale” and it’s actually “This ship won’t sail” so I do feel like a bit of a plamf, but none the less, the song has “HIT” written all over it.

After the set we had a little chat with the band, and I even bought a CD. Amanda explained to them that I don’t buy anything, so they must have impressed me, and they did. I think I have a new love, and that love is The Detours. It’s one of those moments in life, when you realize that there’s a reason why you love music. For me The Detours embody everything that I love about music, and that’s what makes them such a great band to listen to and watch. I’ll definitely be attending more gigs of theirs, if it means giving up some of my own gigs. I’m now an addict. As I sit here with a copy of their CD sitting next to me, I’m thinking to myself, that one day these guys will be touring the world, selling out arenas, making television appearances and you know what? I saw them first, at a small venue in Saltcoats on the West Coast of Scotland.

Check out the detours at http://www.wearethedetours.com/

Like the best "he's" fearless

Every Saturday night, I run a wee music night in Garfield's in Ardrossan and every week I have a special guest with me. This week I had the very very talented Scott Nicol, a man who has that rare talent of being both a performer and a musician, he can get any crowd (whether it be 2 people or 200 people) singing along and moving their feet. Tonight was no exception. 

Garfield's isn't the biggest venue in the world, in fact it's a Ta-pas Bar so you can imagine it's fairly small. Small however doesn't mean bad, it's intimate, and a great place to both play and watch performers. In the last couple of years I've played alongside Scott and watched put on a great show, so when I got the position of booking acts for Garfield's he was one of my first choices, and I'm so glad that he agreed to come along.

He started the night off with a great song, which had people starting to tap their feet, always a great way to begin a show. From the off, he had the crowd fixed on his every move and lyric. His second song was "Wildfire" is a song which I'm not too familiar with, but I loved it, every chord hit and every vocal that left his mouth was pitch perfect and filled with such passion. Clearly a guy who loves music, loves to perform and loves to do what he does. After Wildfire came one of my favourite Scott Nicol tracks "Swimming in the waters of civilisation" I love it, every time I've saw it performed live I've absolutely loved it, the Chorus is just those words from the title and it's so catchy and easy to sing along, it's a song that fills the room with enthusiasm, not mainly because Scott is a guy who oozes enthusiasm. He finished his first set (yes he played more than one set, what a star) with other songs such as "Like the best she's fearless" "Live like a lion" "Christina's View" (a song about a painting in New York inspired by a French artist) he even threw in a cheeky wee cover of Jessie J's "Price Tag" which was absolutely astounding.

After I got up and played a few tracks, Scott returned to the floor. This time to play requests from his many fans in the room (myself included) songs included "Welcome to Dreamland" and my favourite Scott Nicol song "Paradise" Scott did ask me if I wanted to sing the second verse of "Paradise" but I politely refused, mainly because I don't think I could do the song justice and secondly because I love the song that much that I just wanted to sit back and relax and enjoy it. 

Scott Nicol in my eyes is one of the best musicians around Ayrshire if not Scotland, and yet I sometimes feel that he's so underrated. I think that's due to his modesty mainly, but someone needs to stand up and say "THIS IS SCOTT NICOL, START LISTENING" 

If there's one man in Ayrshire who has the biggest passion for what he does, then it's Scott. You can tell that just from watching him, being in his presence and listening to his tracks.

Pure Dead Brilliant

Pure Dead Brilliant are a band from Fife, and when you hear the name you're torn between thinking that they are either a) some random neds who've picked up a guitar or that they're endorsed by Prestwick airport. Well let me tell you that neither of those are true.
I was sent a link to their soundcloud to have a listen to their album. Being the rebel that I am, I never listen to things in order and so the first track I decided to listen to was "Best of Life" and I'm not going to lie, when the guitar started I instantly thought to myself "Brilliant another Blink 182 wannabe band" normally I would just have switched off but as I said I'd review it I thought I'd give it a chance. I'm glad I did, because after the first few bars of what I thought was going to be a rip off of Blink, the song progressed into a much more mature sound, the dynamics of the vocals draw you in the moment you hear them. The guitar part is simple yet effective, and the song in it's entirety is very entertaining and enjoyable. It's a band you could imagine being on stage at the Slam-dunk festival and getting everyone in the crowd moving along.
The next song was Festival High, again I heard the intro and thought of another band, this time it wasn't so much the actual melody but rather the tone. The tone of the intro reminded me so much of "I'm not okay" by My Chemical Romance, I was half expecting the drums to come in and do a build up, however what I was graced with instead was some harmonics, which seem out of place but fit perfectly, an odd combination. Again for me it's the vocals in the song that pull me in. Music wise, the band seems fairly simple. They have predictable chord progressions however this doesn't pull away from the fact that this band sound great and pull together. I've had a look at some of their videos on YouTube and live they seem to be just as good as they are recorded.
I'm a sucker for acoustic tracks, so when I saw that there was a live acoustic track I had to listen. I'm an acoustic artist so it's the music I love, and when I hear a full band being stripped down to just acoustic it amazes me. No difference here, in all honesty you couldn't tell it's the same band. "Cried myself to sleep" is an acoustic track that reminds me so much of the Stereophonics in terms of vocals, yet I prefer it to anything Stereophonics have done. I'm going to keep listening to this band, I'm going to make sure I see them live and I suggest that you do the same. I'm glad I kept listening after those first few bars, otherwise I would have missed out on something spectacular.

You can find the band at http://soundcloud.com/puredeadbrilliantuk

Setting the Standard

I'm not going to lie, I get annoyed at myself sometimes, I'll not listen to certain bands or go and see some bands just because I don't think they'd interest me. Then I accidentally hear them, or I see them somewhere and think to myself "why the hell did I not listen to them sooner"
This could be said for what's just happened with me with The Standards. I'd never properly listened to them and I'd never made an effort to go and see them live, then the other day after I put up a blog Tommy sent me their E.P over and so I knew then that I'd have to listen.
Now I'm going to pride myself on being honest at all times when I blog about bands and acts, and so hears my honest opinion on The Standards..........Amazing.

The Barely Legal EP just blew me away.

First song I listened to was "Come on Now" it's a song that could get stuck in your head for days. The timings are just perfection and the whole band just comes together nicely. There's no "this could be done better" feeling in my opinion and you can tell just from listening to that one track that it's not just music thrown together because some guys decided to start a band.

The next song I listened to was "It don't matter" and I'm sorry to say it but again it's just so damn good. I don't know The Standards, but I want to. "It Don't Matter" is a song that you know when you hear it, it will instantly register that The Standards are a band to be reckoned with.

"Blu Today" and "Butcher Girl" are another two great tracks on a sublime EP. It's hard for me to sit here and pick out a favourite track, because it's so hard to decide on what one to choose. So I'm not going to pick a track, what I'm going to do is urge you to go and listen to the EP, go and see these guys live. You will not be disappointed at all, and while you do that I'm going to go and bang my head off a wall and shout at myself for not giving these guys a chance sooner.

The Standards EP can be heard at http://soundcloud.com/the-scottish-standards

Scarlett Inside

Last night I ended up at the Flask in Saltcoats. I wasn't going to go out, Sunday night, not bad viewing on the old tv box, but I decided to get ready and go out. After some nice chit chat via facebook with the lovely Amanda (manager) of The Flask, I decided to take my guitar down and play some tunes to open the night. I love the Flask, I love that there's live music every Sunday night, but I wish I had stayed in last night. I can't really review myself as it would be a bit biased, so all I'll say is I was just my usual self. Then my beautiful partner in both life and business got up to sing Valerie. She pretty much nailed it as she always does.
After I finished my set and had a cheeky wee cigarette, I sat down with my pint of Fosters (only £2.65 aswell, that's why Amanda's my star in the reasonably priced bar) and waited on Scarlett Inside to begin their set. They begin with noise, just noise. As an avid lover of music, I respect musicians for what they are and don't get me wrong, the band are talented individual musicians, but as a whole I just didn't get it. There was no real structure to the songs, and the guitarist was pulling instruments out from all over the place, including a violin and a Norwegian Harp (which looked like a bread basket, half a broom pole and some strings) and changing and playing them mid song. It had the feel of  “I can play these instruments so I'm going to do it anyway whether it works or not” mentality about it. As one person I spoke to said “it feels like I should be sitting in the dark smoking a giant doube” which funnily enough was the exact thoughts going through my mind.
I'm not going to say that they were an awful band, because they were far from it, in the technical side of things they were a great band, the timings were spot on, the drummer never missed a beat, the bassist (apart from disappearing during a song and leaving the guitarist looking like a rabbit caught in the headlights) was an astounding player, and the guitar itself was great. As a whole however it just didn't work. I'm undecided whether it was the group together or if it was just the sound that they were going for. I left before the end of the set, no disrespect to the guys, but it just didn't do anything for me. You win some, you lose some and Scarlett Inside lost me at the first bar.

Johnny Graham – Love is Blind

I debated with myself whether or not to review Johnny's album, but I decided that I should. He's one of my good friends, and has given me some great advice over the last few months, and been one of my “go to people” whenever I need something. He also has a tendency to lead me into debauchery but that's another blog. My deciding factor about reviewing it was thinking back to how hard he's worked to get the album out, and the stress levels that he gained. Looking back on countless conversations, I thought at one point he was going to start shooting people, including photographers, and the cd printers.

Love is Blind as he puts it, is about “Love and Death in a cheery manner” it gives you a little chuckle just thinking about death in a cheery manner, but that's just his mentality.

There's so many stand out tracks on the album, it's hard to pick a favourite, but I'm going to start with one of my favourites “Where I Belong” it's a song that just oozes talent. When it starts, you're instantly drawn into it, it's got the feeling that (as corny as it sounds) listening to this song is where you belong, right here, right now. Is the song about love or death, that's for you to decided, personally I think it's about being in The Burns on a Sunday night.

Another song, is probably his best known song “Candlewax” I've heard this song countless times, including both live and recorded, it was probably my most played song when I worked on KA Radio. The opening line “Stop what you're doing I'm not going to take you back” resonates so strongly in so many peoples mind, you're instantly taken back to that time when someone keeps harassing you to give them another chance, and the next line just clears it up so well “You're love's like a candle, a candle that's ran out of wax” it's spot on. Musically and Lyrically it's such a strong song, you can't help listening to it over and over again, even when you're not listening, you can't help singing “Whoa oh whoa oh whoa oh” to yourself.

The last song I'm going to go into is “Crimson Red” or as myself and Emily call it “Red Red” Johnny, isn't Crimson just another name for Red? I've asked him this before, but I never get an answer. It's a song that you don't expect the full band to kick in when it does, it changes tempo so quickly yet so seamlessly, with the words “You fell out from the sky, just to say you're alright” it's possibly one of the catchiest songs I've heard in a long long time. “Crimson Red” in my opinion is one of the most lyrically sound songs on the entire album.

The whole album from the Intro (Violins Bled I) through to the outro (Violins Bled II) is just astounding. For a guy who a mere two years ago wasn't on the “scene” as a solo performer, to bring out a full album as strong and musically appealing is amazing . I remember a few months ago being with Johnny one night and him asking the question to some guy “Do you know who I am? I'm Johnny G” yet the thing is, I don't see it being very long at all before everyone does know who he is. When that day comes it will be well deserved, and I'll be there, with all the “Ah ah ah ah's” and “whoa oh whoa oh whoa ohs” that I can manage. I urge everyone to go to The Burns in Irvine on a Sunday night for Johnny's open mic night, go and see him for free, before you're having to pay  20-30 quid to see him playing. It will happen one day, and aslong as I get free tickets for being his mate, then I'll be very happy for him.