Big fame for John Wean!

A few weeks ago I decided to leave the city of Glasgow to go back to my home town of Falkirk so that I could meet up with the guys from Embassy for their interview (which you can check out here). I decided to stick around for their gig and I'm really glad I did because I discovered this fantastic Glasgow called John Wean, who Embassy were supporting. 

The band are a four piece made up of Conor Cartwright with vocals and rhythm guitar, Stuart Anderson on lead guitar, Jude Smith with vocals and bass and Simon Coakly on drums. The band formed in 2009 where they wrote some of their very early work and were slowly finding their feet. However, they had a bit of a rocky start and needed a little guidance. Once they got back on track the guys have been working on maturing and really putting an incredible amount of hard work into their music as well as bonding with their fans. 

Since then, John Wean have broke onto the Glasgow Music Scene with their appearances in King Tut's which has resulted in lots of new fans and plenty of respect and credit as musicians. They have recently been travelling the UK and their music has even reached the London scene.

The band have a really catchy sound which completely gets in your head and before long you will find yourself jumping around and singing along. Their Indie Pop/Rock style is truly infectious. During the 20 Rocks gig in Falkirk there was an intense energy and sense of fun they created. It was easy to tell they were really enjoying themselves. I find this makes live gigs all the more enjoyable knowing that the band are enjoying it just as much as I am.

The music is lighthearted and easy to listen to which will stick in your heart as well as your head. The songs about "love, life and...girls" offer something everyone can relate to, I dare you to give them a listen or go to a gig and not enjoy every minute! 

Make sure to check out their Facebook page for more news from the band:  http://www.facebook.com/johnwean

Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/JohnWean

The Official website (which is really worth giving a look) :  http://www.wearejohnwean.com/

The guys will be playing the Stereofunk Festival 2012 which is not to be missed out on! More info on my blog post of the event here.

I always like to give you guys a little something to listen to/watch to give a taste of the band, so as always, here you go! :)

                                 

An Interview with...Embassy (Part 2)

This is the second part of my interview with Embassy! To read part 1 first either just scroll down if you are on the main blog page, or click here :) 

There are a lot of great bands that have came from Falkirk, what makes you stand out from the rest? 

Aidan: There is no bullshit with Embassy. We have heard horror stories of bands who's guitar wasn't in tune and he like, started crying and shit!

James: If something goes wrong then we'll take the call for it, we won't say 'it was the sound guys fault' or some other persons fault. If someone criticises something about our live act or something in the recordings we won't be divas and totally freak out: we'll take it on board and see what we can do and there is no pretence of 'oh we're in a band, get away from us' which isn't so prevalent in Falkirk, but in Glasgow...

Do you believe you have an individual sound that makes you stand out? 

Aidan: It's difficult to define the sound of the band.

James: You can hear individual influences coming together in places, but with us folk have asked "what do you think you sound like?" and we can hear different bits - this part sounds like this band but there's not a whole band that sound exactly the same. It's a cool sort of amalgamation of all those different styles I guess.
 

What is your method for making music and song writing? 

James: Well we all write individually...I'm shite for it!  I'll not write anything for ages and I'll sit down and just...something will happen. I might think 'that sounds kind of cool' and I will get clicked into the method of doing it and I'll just sit for an hour and then it's written by the end. If I try sit down with the intention to write I just can't! It's like when you sit down to do an essay and you're thinking 'right I am going to write this' your brain just blanks whereas if you think 'I'll just write a page' or something the next thing you know you've wrote 8 pages.

Aidan: Different songs are different processes, like with 'Pretty Little Liar' I worked on the versus for a couple of months - it took me ages to get them - but then I basically just jammed out the chorus. But yeah, write about what you know! I tend to take the Morrissey approach to writing where every line has got a meaning to me. I like to make it vague enough that people can relate to it, but if you asked me about a line I could tell you what it means.
What I like is that we are all open to suggestions.

James: It's like that for all the songs, there is someone who wrote it and there is the base song but I could point out chucks of it that were written by someone else who added in something extra.

The boys in the studio 

What do you enjoy most about being in a band?

Aidan: There is not a  better feeling seeing a crowd jump or clap to your song. Those were just words that you wrote in your bedroom and you see someone singing them!

James: With 'Pretty Little Liar' we have had a lot of folk in our last couple of gigs singing it back to us. Something we may have made up on the spot is then being sung back to us.

What are your opinions of  the 'Glasgow Music Scene' ?
James: I think its really good but you need to go to the right places depending on what you want to hear. I mean, I'm not really into metal or anything like that, but there are places you can go to hear that. I know 'Sleazy's' plays more my kind of style. I think Glasgow is good because it has a mix of everything, you know you could go to Google and search for 'jazz bar' and you'll find more than just one.
Aidan: We played The Barrowlands back in January and the bands we played with there were really good. Hotel India are really good, The Directors are great, and A Bit Too Clever you really need to check them out!

Here is a promo video of Embassy's song 'Pretty Little Liar' make sure you give it watch/listen!  you are interested in the band why not check out there official Facebook and give it a like! http://www.facebook.com/EmbassyFalkirk

Embassy are having an official demo launch night on Friday, 13th April at City Falkirk! Make sure you attend to see some fantastic bands and truly great music! More info can be found on the Facebook event page! http://www.facebook.com/events/145176618942316

An interview with...Embassy (Part 1)

Embassy are a band from Falkirk who have a real passion and charisma when it comes to creating music and playing live. The five piece include Alasdair Marwick on vocals, James McManus on lead guitar, Aidan Buhrmann on rhythm guitar, Callum Barret on bass and Ian Simpson on the drums. 

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of meeting up with James and Aidan to talk a little about themselves, what they think of other local bands and their opinions on the Glasgow Music Scene. Check part 1 out here.

Why did you chose the name 'Embassy' ?

 James: Well, what happened was, Alasdair was on holiday watching the news and there was an Embassy somewhere being attacked, and then Ali just heard the word 'Embassy' and came back from his holiday with a tan and told us the name Embassy and we quite liked it! 

Aidan: Each of us had a different name we were pushing for, I wanted 'Cute Poison' as the band name just because I thought it was good, but now it is a song name. It was the
'Silver Romeo's' at one point. We had to flip
a coin between 'Embassy' and 'The Embassy'.

What bands and artists influence you? 

Aidan: Individually we all have our own inspirations *points to James* (The) Beatles man, *points to Ian* Oasis man. I'm the obscure guy, I'm really into The Black Keys, Band of Skulls and I really like The Pretty Reckless and I might get slagged for that but I think they are a really good band.

James: I think if you listen to the tunes we wrote a year ago compared to now you can hear how it's changed. Like I used to listen to the Beatles all the time and you can hear the from what input I've had. Now I listen to The Black Keys and Band of Skulls and its kind of good to hear how it's changed with new bands, it's not as 60's sounding!  It's kind of cool to see how it's changed since we wrote the last one. 

Aidan: With 'Words' I was listening to The Raconteurs a lot. 'Cute Poison' I was listening to Lana Del Rey a lot and with 'Pretty Little Liar' was mostly The Pretty Reckless. 

Are there any smaller or less well known bands that you admire? 

Aidan: Different bands around Falkirk are really good, last Saturday we played with Electric Alice and I will definitely big them up! One of the best gigs I've ever seen, and last Saturday Wallace (Pate) was just an amazing front man.

Why did you decide to start a band?

James: Well I was kind of the one who brought everyone together because I have been playing guitar for a while and I wanted to play along with people rather than just on my own and it's just...it's fun!



Is it mostly just a hobby or will you strive for success? 

James: It's kind of half and half just now. We are looking to push to get to a good level where we can make a bit more money, with the demo we are looking to sell it to companies. Venues like King Tut's would never take on anyone who doesn't have recordings and I don't think 20 Rocks even takes people without recordings, so it is really just taking it to that nice level where there is real money to be made.

Aidan: We understand that it takes a while to get to that stage of being crazy successful, but what with Facebook now it can make things a lot easier and could cut the process down by a couple of years easily.

James: It's just a matter of sticking on with it, cos Primal Scream were almost completely unknown for I think about twelve or thirteen years and they were just playing gigs sort of at this level and then found success all of a sudden. 


Part 2 of the interview coming soon!

Give a hand for Davey Horne!

While wasting many hours on Facebook one day I noticed that a few people I know (and people who's music taste/judgement I wholly trust) had posted links and wrote statuses and the same name that kept cropping up was 'Davey Horne'.

I often give such things a listen or read. I trusted that this guy would be pretty decent if such people were ranting and raving about how good he was. However, nothing could prepare me for how blown away I was when I clicked on this very video.

Being a terrible singer myself I utterly adore when I discover a voice with such charm and soul, and an artist with such talent. True, the video is understated, and Davey hardly grabs the eye as an 'out-there' or eccentric performer begging for the audience attention. Rather, it is the subtlety that makes this song and the artist himself all the more sweet. I honestly haven't been this impressed by a singer/songwriter since the early days of a young Paolo Nutini releasing his very first album.

What might surprise you is that Davey has not been snapped up by a record company yet. In a way this is a blessing because there's something special about unsigned acts, who are wonderfully talented and brilliant yet have no one to answer to, they remain sort of exciting, fresh and new!

As I am writing this entry I'm listening to this very song and getting distracted by how soothing, relaxing and mesmerising it is...

Back on track! Personally, my favourite fact I found out about Davey is...He is from Falkirk! If you have read my previous blog posts you will know by now that Falkirk is my home town and I feel very strongly towards bands and artists who grace from there. It really does make me feel proud that such a voice has ties back to the town.

In a very short  space of time he has successfully broken into the Glasgow Music Scene and has totally blown everyone away. He has played a sold out gig in King Tut's which you must agree is pretty impressive, but not surprising!

Some exciting news is that his debut EP is released THIS MONTH. (April) So make sure to give it a listen and prepare to be swept off your feet!

LET'S GET FUNKY!

I have to admit, as much as I adore live music, having a drink and being with my friends I have never ever been to a festival.

I know...

The idea has always made me excited, but then I remember the camping and the mud and rain. Not to mention my love of small intimate gigs, which a big festival just can't recreate. Watching my favourite bands so far away from the stage simply isn't my cup of tea.

However!

I recently discovered a festival that I am really excited to go to. It is called STEREOFUNK and it is the exactly the festival I have been looking for!

What is great about Stereofunk is that it is fairly small and not all that well known. Which solves the problem of feeling detached from the bands performance. It is largely unsigned bands who take part, which is so appealing to me as I love to discover unsigned acts.

Unfortunately, I can't give you much info on the festival as the official 2012 website hasn't even been released! What I can tell you is that it is on the 6th of May, 12PM - 10.30PM. Tickets are £25 and is held in Strathclyde Country Park. 

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/#!/stereofunkevent

Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/stereofunkfestival

Here is the line up! http://www.stereofunkevents.com/

Maybe I will see you there! ;)

Let's Talk Tenement TV

Tenement TV is a brilliant website created by Chae Houston and Paul McJimpsey of  PMCJ productions who film both up and coming and well known bands and artists from their Glasgow flat. Artists include The Imagineers, Nina Nesbitt, the Orange Unsigned Act winner Tommy Reilly and Sky One's 'Must Be The Music'  winner and former busker Emma's Imagination.

If you are interested in the Glasgow Music Scene then you simply HAVE to check this website out. It is superb for getting a real taste of some home grown Scottish music (along with acts from all across the globe) and it keeps you up to date on bands and artists that you haven't yet discovered. The sessions are done in a simple yet wonderfully raw acoustic style which really shows off the bands and artists true talent.

I really could go on and on but instead why not check it out yourself! I've even made it easy for you:

The official site: http://www.tenementtv.com/

Here is a link to the official Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/tenementtv

And the Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/tenementtv

They recently had a great interview with website glasgowmusic.co.uk which you can check out if you click here. It really gives you a good insight into the aims and workings of the website and it is quite funny and entertaining!

And to finish off, here is one of my favourite sessions from the site. Guaranteed to get you in a good mood. The River 68's..

No Need For Idols King Tuts Videos

Here are two videos for you to check out from No Need For Idols gig at King Tuts 02/03/2012

Please note: There is some strong language, and audio/video isn't of the greatest quality! (This will be worked on in future. I promise)