This girl is Irish and has red hair – so might just be my idea of a perfect girl. That said, she’s also massively talented. My brother’s girlfriend posted one or two of her videos on Facebook and I have to admit, this is the most impressed I’ve been with a female singer-songwriter for a while (possibly since Emmy the Great’s first album). This girl looks to be one of these prolific Youtubers, with a fuckload of cover version videos from (presumably) her bedroom, but I’d be unsurprised if she crops up on the radio or in the charts soon. This song’s called Sixteen, but check out the other videos as well.
There were two gigs in the past weeks that I wasn’t at. This is because there is no justice in the world. First of all, Frank Turner played Wembley. I really hate all that ‘I was into this before you were into this’ chat – who cares? Normally people get into bands when they get popular because that’s when they get really good. Having said that, I’ve been going to see Frank since I was a teenager – since Sleep is for the Week, which I just got on a limited vinyl pressing for Record Store Day, which is awesome – and I still love everything that he does. I don’t care that more people have jumped on the bandwagon, that’s great, there’s still room for more. It’s a real ‘Local boy done good’ kind of feeling that I have when I try to imagine the 11,000 people who packed out Wembley to see the show on Friday. My only complaint is that I wasn’t there to see it too.
This is my favourite video (so far) because he got his mum up on stage to play in one of his songs. This is exactly what you should be doing when you play the biggest show of your life: get your mum involved.
Another show that I should have seen is the triumphant (so I hear) reformation and return of Refused, who played Coachella in California over the weekend. The only UK date they’re playing is Download and I’m unlikely to make that. Proof, if ever it was needed, that God hates me.
These posts are getting a little bit predictable. I seriously can’t get enough of Crusades at the moment and this video should pretty much explain why.
Straight off the back of their first three gigs, Crusades have been getting a lot of awesome attention, which is well deserved. Last night their track Pseudo Andro was played on national radio by Ally McCrae on his Introducing… show. Being referred to as, “Like At The Drive In but more hardcore” is a pretty big deal.
Anyway, if you’ve been living under a rock – or in Paisley, or somewhere equally culturally deprived – and you haven’t yet heard the band, you can check out and download the track for free here.
If you’d like to see it and more like it live, you should hit up The Captain’s Rest on Wednesday night to see the boys support The Darien Venture. It’ll only cost you £4 and it should be a cosy little evening. I’ll be propping up the bar as usual, so feel free to buy me a pint.
At the moment, I have a grand total of 10 tattoos. I have Black Flag bars on my arm, swallows on my chest and even an acid-house smiley on my hip. If I’m honest, some of them are a bit silly. On my right arm I have artwork from a Frank Turner album. It’s perfectly reasonable, I think, to conclude that this is song is all about me.
When I went looking for the video again, I also found this outtake from the video for I Still Believe. I can totally relate to this.
ReelGlasgowKid 