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.
A few of my friends have formed a band called Crusades and they’re playing their first show on the 21st of this month with Blacklisters, Shapes & Citizens at Bar Bloc. I’ll be heading along to see what kind of noise they make. You should too.
I’ve been trying to come up with a good name for the band. It’s surprisingly difficult, and I’m not surprised that bands often go through a whole host of name changes in their lifespans. I’ve been lucky enough in the past to avoid these difficult decisions by joining bands that already had a name or forming bands where there was general agreement from the word go. I have admit, I’m struggling for inspiration.
I don’t want to try something too pretentious, while I know that ‘jokes’ quickly wear thin (just ask the Test Icicles). A quote or vaguely obscure reference would be good, but from what? What hasn’t been said already?
At the moment, I have:
Blink in Reverse – a Douglas Coupland reference and a really nice concept, but runs the risk of being referred to as ‘Blink’ and I don’t really want that association with Mark, Tom and Travis.
The Safety Net – no real reference here, but I’ve Googled it and there doesn’t appear to be a band already using this name.
The Written Word – this appeals to me, and I didn’t get any hits on Google or Myspace for bands using this exact name.
Never Writ – taken from Shakespeare’s Sonnets 116. I’m not huge on poetry, but I like that.
Broken-Heart Lungs – I have a recording of Tegan Quinn playing at the Juno awards and she mentions singing quietly to avoid disturbing her neighbours. She words it by saying she was trying not to use her ‘broken-heart lungs’. I like the phrase and I like the meaning, but it might be a bit of a glass half-empty kind of name.
More vanity today I’m afraid. I don’t really have much else to post at the moment. I’ve been working on some words and recording riffs and verses in snatches. Nothing’s finished, nothing’s polished. I recorded this in my living room a couple of months ago and I’ve just taken the privacy settings off of it on Youtube. It’s one of my favourite songs, one of my favourite bands, but I’m not saying it’s a good version – I just like finding songs I can easily sing in my own accent.
I’m jamming with friends today. I’d honestly forgotten how difficult it is, after years of playing with the same, accomplished musicians, to start a band and get used to new people and their playing styles. I’m not sure if the band will come to anything, but I’ll hopefully get a few more ego-stroking Youtube videos out of it.
I’ve been working on a cover of Such Great Heights by The Postal Service. It’s one of my favourite songs and I’m really excited to be putting my own twist on it. Last week I was finally able to get my hands on a vinyl copy of Give Up, with bonus covers and remixes disc. I was lucky enough to pick up a copy of Wincing the Night Away in the same shopping trip, so this track is a perfect representation of my past week. Enjoy.
So I’ve been looking out some songs which might be good to cover as a starting point for the new band that we’re trying to get together. Rather than go for true ‘classic’ songs, I’ve been looking more at tracks which were big in the nineties and will provide a little bit of a nostalgia kick if we ever decide to play them to an audience. Also, I grew up in the nineties and they give me a little kick too.
This is a track which I’d completely forgotten about until my brother put it on a few months ago. It’s pretty perfect.
ReelGlasgowKid 