Tuesday 01 ***RECOMMENDED***
STARS KILL (pictured) / SAMUEL SHARP (pictured) / HOSPITAL SHIP (pictured)
Sporting a nifty line in promotional posters and a praiseworthy regard for safe [interracial] sex [with midgets], Stars Kill make music a bit nagging headache caused by your boss thrapping you in the face with his warty nob while bellowing demeaning insults about your fondness for Japanese schoolgirls, through a loudhailer, at your mum. 'You mean, actually quite satisfying?' 'Yes.' Deeply troubled young men need an outlet, and Stars Kill's insistence that they've 'never had a [Big] Black cock in a bap' rings hollow, if we're being truthful. Which we're not, obviously. Luckily, the Hospital Ship is here to offer timely medical support. Oh, wait! It's not a real hospital ship! It's another group of malcontents with guitars and a number of issues. Some joking aside, this evening presents you with real deal fuzzy duck hardcore squnge and Hospital Ship make admirable non-use of myspace to communicate that they're far more driven by illicit stills, cranked amps, unsettling time signatures and shouting than by being Weblords Of The New Consumer Paradigm. No, have it. Mercifully, after all this shouty maleness, Samuel Sharp head up from Wigan to sort things out with a bit of no-nonsense straight-ahead hairy Afrirampo on phet covering Mojo Pin in a barn festival compered by Mark E Smith kind of shouty maleness. Thank god, something I can understand! I feel exhausted - and kind of soiled, but in a good way. Doors 9pm - Admission is £3.00
www.stars-kill.net
www.myspace.com/starskill
www.samuelsharp.co.uk
www.myspace.com/samuelsharpnoise
www.myspace.com/hospitalship
Thursday 03
Dicelines: ACUTE RIOT (pictured) / YOU ALREADY KNOW / DARKLIGHT / MIA (pictured)
A cool mix of bands tonight from the dicelines peeps. DARKLIGHT cover the expansive, melodic, soaring rock music corner. MIA BABY meanwhile are in the heavy angular indie rock corner. ACUTE RIOT are embracing the classic rock through a very modern indie rock filter corner. Shit...that still leaves one corner...erm....let's put a yoghurt in it! Doors 9pm - £4
www.dicelines.com
www.myspace.com/acuteriot
www.youalreadyknow.net
www.myspace.com/youak
www.miaband.co.uk
www.myspace.com/mia667
Friday 04
ROLLOR (pictured) / RAAR tbc
"Top notch action from hot 3 piece band". If i wrote headlines, that's what i'd write. Seeing as that's not my job i'll get on and tell you what these guys are like. Rollor rock in a smashing pumpkinsesque manner...tight rhythm section underpinning melodically uplifting vocals with more than just a hint of "jag" on the guitars. No strangers to improvisational jamming, these guys really know how to put on a show....come check them out, you'll not be dissapointed
www.rollor.co.uk
www.myspace.com/rollormusic
Saturday 05
DONPHOBIA / I AM CHEMIST
"Donphobia took the stage with the desire to entertain their audience, and sure enough they delivered. Their strength lies in their ability to create a positive relationship with their audience (giving away free Tunnocks teacakes are always a sure-fire bet). Their music belongs to the same category as Tenacious D and Electric Six: poppy, light-hearted songs delivered professionally and with ample energy"
www.donphobia.4t.com
www.myspace.com/Donphobia
www.myspace.com/iamchemist
Sunday 06
Scottish Music Network: 3 BANDS tbc
www.scottishmusicnetwork.co.uk
Monday 07
tbc
Tuesday 08 ***RECOMMENDED***
THE RETROSEXUALS (pictured) / EYE CONTACT LEADS TO MORE
Greatest word ever casually found when Googling: contortopop. Even better: It was attached to the link for The Retrosexuals' smashing web domain, which afforded many a happy while meandering through their archives... Musically - listening to the Retrosexuals, I am reminded of a personal experience of d-r-u-g-s, the time a friend played the 'Loveless' album by My Bloody Valentine to me when we were both so high we needed a stepladder to scratch our own asses. Although in real time that sounds pretty straightforward, when locked in a moment of dancing like Morrissey in fast rewind on a DVD having our heads marshmallowed by phased out guitars, it was not, dear reader. So when I say that 'contortopop' is supposed to be 'electro tragic-funk new wave', what I mean to add is 'but it's not as straightforward as that.' Dance! Badly! Because you're spannered on hairspray! Eye Contact Leads To... fabulous mono-riffic chord like a jackhammer drill going bad outside, Fred from the B52s takes an aerobics class, turning up the volume on the New Order track till it distorts. In the corridor, the feverish heat of the sports complex sends people daft - a child with a pony tail kicks the soft drinks machine for unvended sweets and the attendant has left the laminator on, a smell of melting vinyl prevails throughout. Another afternoon here in the metropolis!
www.theretrosexuals.com
www.myspace.com/eyecontactleadsto
Wednesday 09 ***RECOMMENDED***
IN THE YEAR OF GRACE / TINROKIT / DOWN THE TINY STEPS
Tinrokit come from Edinburgh and people put things like this about them online: 'They certainly know their way around a tune, and play noisy pop music and play it well. Make no mistake - Tinrokit are a major label rock band in waiting.' Is that it? Where are the baying hounds? Where are the densely crafted allusions to trees eating the stars? Is all I get 'akin to JimmyEatWorld being sucked off by Sonic Youth' [Yeah, RIGHT]? STOP STOP STOP! Tinrokit are the band on the radio as you drive from the city to anywhere, hysterical with dumped upset, having just heard by text from your kid brother that your poorly chosen but loved Leslie Grantham lookalike ex-boyf has also been seeing a well-known Scots Premier midfielder on the sly. YOU KNOW - pop music as intangible and fleeting emotion rather than lazily signed referent. I seem to recall... Down the Tiny Steps cut it a bit less frantic, in some ways Fence Records pine box of hand-carved 'alt-folk' - but don't be fooled, as they're all trading in their rice-cracker banjos for proper Rickenbacker guitars as soon as they get a major label deal. For real - their website said. IN the meantime, here are deceptively unadorned numbers with actually loads of plunk-thrubbbang-plink ideas happening. Acoustic Gorky's fans yearning for something a bit less troubled, in the If Fingers Were Xylophones manner, will fall about at the deadpan and generously observed like of 'Hankies'... a simple tale of bemusement at the endless succession of accessories plucked from the sleeve of a well-prepared magician. Kind of like this blurb. Very sweet and I'm still humming it days after first hearing. Which is far nicer than imagining Thurston Moore fellating Jim Atkins. Hey, what? I just had dinner. Doors 9pm - £4
www.myspace.com/tinrokit
www.downthetinysteps.co.uk
Thursday 10
POPLIFE: Monthly Pop Quiz
Returning from a one month hiatus...pop-life bring you the usual antics...pop questions....pop answers....not to mention a case of non-tennents lager for the winning team and a chance to go for the cash prize. Entry is a measly £1 all of which goes into the prize fund. With JC and Molly hosting the show whilst trying to fend off "patter" from some old tosser at the sound desk. Get there at 8:30pm to ensure you're there for the first round!
Friday 11
Moonshaker Promotions: SUICIDE UNDERGROUND (pictured) / SOJOURNER FLEET
Sojourner Fleet have this to say for themselves..."We are a band. We play music that sounds a little like many things, but a lot like nothing - the little ones ranging from Sonic Youth to Neil Young. We like what we play and we think you should too." i can also hear the pixies / the afghan whigs / and low in there too! Looking forward to this one. Entry £4
www.moonshaker.co.uk
www.myspace.com/moonshaker
Saturday 12
Joy Promotions: 3 BANDS tba
www.joypromotions.com
Sunday 13
TAKE A WORM FOR A WALK WEEK (pictured) / WALL STREET AMMUNITION HERO / WITH SCISSORS / I-AMB NECCESNO
TAWFAWW: the locust meets dillinger escape plane from glasgow....tech-core. / WSAH – ..."we make songs of a vignette rock persuasion with guitar, bass and drum machine technology. We try hard. / WITH SCISSORS - The tightest, funkiest, heaviest, mathiest brutalist bastards in the uk today!? This 4-piece must be seen live if you wanna experience the full grinding rabid spitting sonic puke assault. Have just finished a UK tour with The Illuminati 3 and a new split-ep (with I Breathe Spears & Chickenhawk, on Milliepeed Records) will be available from here mid-June!...
www.myspace.com/takeaworm
Monday 14
THE OCEAN FRACTURE (pictured) / THIS FAMILIAR SMILE / FRAGILE (pictured) / CHRIS LAWRENCE (ALL MY LOGIC - acoustic set)
Ocean Fracture say of themselves - "Formed in early 2004, have since played shows in various parts of Scotland including support slots with Aconite Thrill, Midasuno and Eden Maine. Between February and April '05 we recorded a 5 track e.p. entitled "The Sunmachine And The Ocean" with Ben Phillips (The Guillame Seam, Jairus, November Coming Fire) at City of Dis studios, Kent. We've recently played shows in northern England and Scotland with Devil Sold His Soul and Secondsmile and have just recruited a new bassist. " / Thisfamiliarsmile are a five piece rock band based in Glasgow, they play rock music full of irregular timings, complex structures and yet manage to keep their music cohesive and melodic. With influences stemming from the cure right through to At The Drive In, thisfamiliarsmile have a mixed plethora of influences that are evident from the moment the sound hits your ears one at a time. Doors 8.30pm - £4 ticket / £5 on the door
www.theoceanfracture.com
www.thisfamiliarsmile.com
www.myspace.com/thisfamiliarsmile
www.fragilenoise.com
www.myspace.com/wearefragile
Tuesday 15
SKUD PUPPETZ (pictured) / THE FB35's (pictured) / 3 STEPS BACK / TWISTED RAINBOW
Some hi octane pop-punk for you tonight...with the odd hint of ska to summer up yr evening!
www.skudpuppetz.bravehost.com
www.3stepsback.com
www.myspace.com/atwistedrainbow
Wednesday 16
BEACHES OF THE PROUD / CAPTAIN HADDOCK
Beaches of the proud: "Brand new Glasgow-based ambient electronica project formed by a member of The Makos, with visuals from Dundee video artists." / Captain Haddock: "Glasgow's cast adrift ambient sea farers"
www.myspace.com/beachesoftheproud
Thursday 17
MIABEANE AND THE ASTHMATIC SCENE / MY ELVIS LEG / + 1
"Kicking off the second Petty Vendetta night at the same time as the World Cup battle between Portugal and Holland was raging, a more apt band than MiaBeane and The Asthmatic Scene could not be found. With the band describing themselves as sounding like "Phil Spector making love songs about football", its perhaps ironic that the hardy souls who were enjoying their set were doing so at the expense of catching another game full of red cards. Bounding on with more percussion than you could shake a stick (or a triangle) at, the band quickly launched into a set very reminiscent of the sort of swooning indie that Glasgow was famed for before Franz Ferdinand bludgeoned their way to the front. Lead vocalist Matt's soft and melancholic delivery of tales of football, growing up and the harsh realities were life could bring easy comparisons with Stuart Murdoch of Belle and Sebastian fame but there was a strong sense of fun throughout. For every track that seemed soft or slow the next would crank up the guitars and riffs and counterbalance the styles and, on the whole, the set was warmly received. With additional vocals coming from chief percussionist and melodica player Fiona, there was always a lot going on and even in the quiet moments, there was never any down time or boredom. With the track "Remember Your Shinguards" name checking one of this writers earliest footballing heroes, its probably obvious that Mia Beane would impress - but thankfully the band work on so many more levels than purely football anecdotes. The amount of audience participation and handclaps throughout the latter half of the set indicated that many folk agreed. The music was intriguing and the guitars jangled nicely throughout, providing a pleasant backdrop for the set. It was certainly a range of songs that indicates they would appeal to many fans of 80's indie or Glaswegian styled indie pop."
www.myspace.com/theasthmaticscene
Friday 18
BAYAN tbc
www.myspace.com/bayanmusic
www.bayanmusic.org
Saturday 19 ***RECOMMENDED***
Drive Carefully Records: BOYFRIEND/GIRLFRIEND (pictured) / BABY BONES (pictured) / GAY AGAINST YOU (pictured) / + Drive Carefully Djs
Drive Carefully, hyperactive record label touting hundreds of new bands and all with anti-scene tendencies. Guesting tonight at this launch of Boyfriend/Girlfriend argue their choruses assertively over insistent, agitated guitars, all exciting drum skitter-batter and flailing mazurka /prog endings very like Scarce and Talking Heads when they were three having a water fight while adults argue war by the barbecue. Jamie, Hugh and Lauren rattle about disjointed pop guitar unit, everyone sings and this is as it should be. / Bootyshaking beat combo BabyBones make a triumphant return to the event they headlined last month, bringing festoons of energy with their infectious, dancable electro-rock. At times shouty, in your face and abrasive, but eqally endearing poppy beats and it's this diversity that makes the band, fusing synth hooks with driving drum and bass loops, loud guitars, multiple vocal patterns and yes, even a trombone! BabyBones ooze enthusiasm and attitude. / Ploughing an individualist furrow utilising tin foil agri-tools and masking tape covered tapes with made up people behind them, it's best to simply experience Gay against you, immerse yourselves. It is the brilliant and unholy union of already noted genre-bending sproink-rop geniuses Yoko Oh-No and Germlin, only with occasionally matching outfits and more shouting. It is performance art, dressing up, jumping, attaching small paper ears to the crowd, who are as much part of the spectacle. And it is pop music, tunes and heart-tearing sentiment both dis and entirely proportionate to the original emotion. It is, in short, great. Come and see the bands the major labels couldn't sign!
www.drivecarefullyrecords.co.uk
www.myspace.com/drivecarefullyrecords
www.myspace.com/boyfriendgirlfriend
www.myspace.com/babybonesglasgow
www.myspace.com/gayagainstyou
Sunday 20
Gargleblast Records: DESERT HEARTS / GENARO (pictured)
"Desert Hearts are Charley Mooney (guitar/vocals), Roisin Stewart (bass/vocals) and Chris Heaney (drums). Having completed their acclaimed debut album 'Let's Get Worse' for Rough Trade in 2002, Belfast-based Desert Hearts embarked on a year of touring and drinking until in mid-2003 they developed their relationship with recording engineer Andy Miller (CHEM 19) further by recording several new tracks, two of which emerged on Gargleblast's debut release 'Gravitas/Hammer and Frogs'. A new album is in the works. They rock our fucking minds here at the Gargleblast nerve centre. They have recently supported The White Stripes, Bloc Party, Peaches and The New York Dolls."
www.gargleblastrecords.com
www.genaro.co.uk
Monday 21
tba
Tuesday 22
THE OMINOUS / + GUESTS
www.theominous.com
Wednesday 23
ALAN EMSLIE (pictured)
Alan Emslie Dark Matter tour, devastating prog goth metal with drummer & vocalist Alan, with John Irvine on electric guitars. "Raw, Explosive Energy" www.progressor.net
Doors 8pm
www.alanemslie.com
Thursday 24
THE MARTIAL ARTS / THE CAPTAIN'S TABLE / THE LOST MARBLES
The Martial Arts was originally the name used by singer/guitarist Paul Kelly when his demos were released on two compilations by Swedish label Groover Recordings. Having found his music via the most unlikely of sources (a link on a Redd Kross Yahoo! group), they invited him to record an album in Stockholm with Shout Out Louds producer Ronald Bood. The one-man-band idea was scrapped after the recruitment of drummer Sean McGrath, formerly of sadly defunct shoegazers Close To The Ground, and Gregor Mackay on bass. With not one live appearence to their name, the three recorded their debut EP 'Do It Riot Grrl' in their homtown of glasgow with Chris Gordon of Union Of Knives infamy, and then in August 2004 made the trip to Stockholm and recorded their debut album 'Your Sinclair'. On returning home, Joe Kane of psycadelic legends The Owsley Sunshine offered his services on guitar and keyboards, and The Martial Arts were finally fit for public consumption. 'Your Sinclair' provides a mixture of 60s pop and 80s indie, with a few moments of intense guitar abuse thrown in for good measure. On one song they manage to reference Brian Eno, The Yummy Fur and The Kids From Fame, and somehow remain on topic. Surely worthy of your investigation, yes?
www.themartialarts.org
www.myspace.com/themartialarts
Friday 25 ***RECOMMENDED***
BROKEN OATH / BY MY HANDS (pictured) / BURNING SCARS OF BETRAYAL
Hardcore! Disclosure: I am biased. The uncompromising sound of metal is fantastic damage to my ears. Broken Oath don't fuck about. The beats and guitars thump like the onslaught of inappropriate artillery similes and there's these totally ferocious vocals over it all, the sound of Regan from The Exorcist in full priest's neck breaking mode. Fantastic. It's all a million miles from the safety of the mainstream - where Kaiser Chiefs coyly offer speculation on civil unrest on 'I predict a riot', Broken Oath are unequivocal: someone has reneged on a promise, and Blood Will Be Shed. Possibly by By My Hands, who scoop their metal from the same bubbling black cauldron as Sunno)))), Hatebreed, Coldplay and that. Vox holler and oozing squnch guitars go molten, glowing rocks boiling up to the surface with occasional bursts of speed and evaporate with every vaporous riff and lick, tongues searing on the coals. Fantastic, also. Next up BSOB exhort you to 'strike a poser' - more audible vocals but no less astringent guitars, wire brush and Dettol tooth makeover sound. But with intro samples a la Wu Tang, a brilliant remix-esque version '1050 Daggers', which is a bit like ODB/Kelis having a drunken argument on mobile phones from wind tunnels a thousand miles apart while lounge jazz plays in between, they sound [like Cannibal Ox name-checking By My Hands] like they have been at the rap/metal cabinet and this - also also - is fantastic. Very heavy, very exciting.
www.brokenoath.co.uk
www.bymyhands.co.uk
www.myspace.com/bymyhands
www.myspace.com/theburningscarsofbetraya
Saturday 26
Wiseguys present 'Massacre': CARPATHIA / MAELSTROM / DIONYSUS (pictured) / NOVELLA
Carpathia - Black/Thrash/Prog metal from Coventry. / Maelstrom: An intriguing proposition of doom inflected black metal with a strong Celtic influence. Obvious influences include Bathory & Emporer, but as the rasping black vocals & punishing riffs give way to acoustic Scots folk passages, touches of Opeth begin to show through. / Dionysus: One of the most original & impressive bands in Scottish metal, Dionysus combine rasping blackened vocals with a seemless blend of aggressive & melodic metal backed up by stirring keyboard harmonies. Epic, majestic, symphonic - this is a band you must hear - NOW! / Dionysus: 5 Piece metal band from Glasgow with influences from a wide range of styles including black / melodic / death / doom and power and fantasy inspired lyrics.
www.wiseguys.plus.com
http://groups.myspace.com/massacrenights
www.myspace.com/carpathiametal
www.dionysus.eu.com
www.maelstrom-metal.com
www.myspace.com/maelstromscotland
Sunday 27
YOU ALREADY KNOW / AND SILENCE
YAK - Review of Carling Academy 8/6/06 : Skinny Magazine "Glaswegian rockers You Already Know perfectly compliment Sacramento's Deftones in advance of their entrance this evening... and produce sufficient goods to whet the appetites of its inhabitants; exciting prospects for Scottish hard rock in the offing." - Review of 2005's "Guiding Light" demo in Is This Music? Magazine "If you close your eyes you can almost imagine how good they will be on stage; you can almost see that raw passion oozing out of every pore. Bands like that don't need to try; it's just there." - Review of Oran Mor 4th June show by Lick Magazine "The set is peppered with golden moments; the heady crunch of Dead Inside still packs a punch but its the shimmering Crystal Clear that steals the limelight.....it looks certain to become a staple of Scotlands rock radio play-lists."
www.youalreadyknow.net
www.myspace.com/youak
Monday 28
ENDLESS OVER / CRYOGENE
Tuesday 29
Q WITHOUT U (pictured) / COPY HAHO (pictured) / FUTURO / HOUSEHOLD
" Q Without U are one of the most original bands I've seen this year. Blending dark, brooding melodies, powerful yet jangly open-tuned guitar, and a rhythm section tighter than an Aberdonian at a charity auction, they sound something like a cross between the Pixies and New Order, though that doesn't really do them justice – they sound like themselves. Tonight we are introduced to a new member who, according to the bass player, they "made out of chewing gum and tin foil". He seems to spend the duration of their set twiddling knobs and making strange noises – to great effect too. Q without U are clearly enjoying themselves and it comes across in a slick performance, displaying good songs and musicianship, as well as something which is sadly lacking from most bands these days: a sense of humour. All in all, highly recommended." / futuro (new wave indie funtime frankies) copy haho ( recent lamaq favourties from Aberdeen) and Household
Doors 9pm - £4
www.qwithoutu.co.uk
www.copyhaho.cjb.net
www.myspace.com/copyhaho
Wednesday 30
Zero Airplay Promotions: SAPHENA / THROUGH SOLACE / FOR THE DAY OF REDEMPTION / RISE WITH THE FALLEN
Through Solace is one of Wales' most proficient exponents of hard-hitting riff-driven metallic hardcore. The band was formed in 2005 and has played dozens of shows, building a strong fanbase in Wales and England. Through Solace recently recorded a 4-track EP, which will see them become one of the UK's most exciting metalcore acts in 2006.
www.throughsolace.com
Thursday 31
The End of the Month Club: with live sets from
CNUT / STINKY MUNCHKINS (pictured) / BOZiLLA (pictured)
plus VJ Thriftshop XL & topical material inspired by the past month
August's EOTMC is going to be an extra special one for a variety of reasons... It will be an experience not to be missed. secondly after five and a half years together BOZiLLA's life as a trio is soon to come to an end as vocalist Aimee relocates to Japan for the next year. To mark this the band are giving away a special five track CD of their Japanese themed songs to the first 30 entrants to eotmc on the 31st of August. This will include the only public release of live favourite Ichi the Killer so to snag one be early. This will be their penultimate show as a trio with Aimee's final eotmc being at the end of September. It's gonna be emotional. rounding off the bill is Glasgow's Stinky Munchkins self proclaimed refugees of V-Twin, the Vugs and charity shop record bins like the wombles these fellas make inventive tunes from things that everyday folk leave behind. (9pm - £4)
www.eotmc.com
www.bozilla.co.uk
www.myspace.com/bozillabozilla
www.myspace.com/munchko
www.stinkymunchkins.com
