The New Pornographers, Oran Mor, Glasgow

The New Pornographers

September 7, 2010

Notionally a Canadian supergroup, with members who are all solo artists or in other bands, The New Pornographers are frequent visitors to these shores, regularly touring the UK in support of their album releases.

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Jon Allen: Paul McCartney’s NBF

Jon Allen

A graduate of The Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts, Jon Allen has gradually been acquiring a large fan base thanks to his debut long player Dead Man’s Suit and his relentless touring up and down the country. After one of his songs was used in a Land Rover advert he began to attract the interest of a number of A&R men, surprising them all by deciding to release his album on his own label. Here, Muso’s Guide puts a few questions to him and finds out what it was like sitting down to write with the one and only Sir Paul McCartney.

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The Voluntary Butler Scheme at Breakfast, Dinner, Tea

The Voluntary Butler Scheme

The debut album from the one man band that is 23 year old Rob Jones, this is a breezy piece of infectious pop. The Voluntary Butler Scheme have been touring the UK as a support act and in low key headline shows for most of this year, and in this time they’ve built up a dedicated following as well as a collection of songs, both tender and catchy.

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Must Be Something, Make Sparks and Pacific Theatre, Glasgow Captain’s Rest

June 8, 2009

The Go Button are a Glasgow-based promotions company fast making a name for themselves for music and comedy gigs throughout the city. They run regular nights at The Captain’s Rest in the west end.

This downstairs venue has become one of the best places in town to see up and coming bands, both of the local and touring variety. It’s an intimate and indeed sweaty room of the best kind. Unfortunately the crowd are a bit slow to trickle in this evening, not helped by the late cancellation of one of the acts, but by the end of the night there’s a decent audience packed in.

The band that kicks off proceedings are Pacific Theatre, a three-piece from Paisley. They make a very pleasant noise and have some killer riffs. They also have a nice line in lyrics. ‘A Silent Argument’ features the refrain, “So tell her you need her or Just Fuck. Off. Home.” On a busier night this can turn into a crowd singalong. They do need to brush up on their between song banter however.

Pacific Theatre - image by Heidi Kuisma

With a quick change over Make Sparks take to the stage next. Coming from the north-east of the country in Carnoustie, this they tell us, is their first time playing Glasgow. It’s not started off well for them as the police have collared them outside the venue, spotting their van’s lack of a valid MOT disc.

This run in with the Strathclyde Constabulary hasn’t put the group off their stride and they knock out a few breezy tunes. In particular Adam Parker on drums puts in a fantastic shift, smashing away at his kit with wild abandon. They play an inspired cover of Eminem‘s ‘Just Lose It’, which sounds much better for the rock flavour injected into it.

They just about edge it as the best band of the night. It goes slightly wrong at the end when their singer produces a guitar pick claiming it once to Chad Kroeger from Nickleback, and expounds on how much the group have influenced him. It was probably ironic, but there was too much of a hint of sincerity to completely convince.

Make Sparks - image by Heidi Kuisma

The headline act is Must Be Something. They’re a tight outfit, with some fast guitar riffing and a rhythm section in complete sync. They never really rise above ordinary tonight though.

All in all it’s a decent evening’s entertainment with a couple of bands to watch out for in future.

Jon Allen, Glasgow King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut

Jon Allen

June 18, 2009

One day some years ago in South Devon, a young man swapped his Sinclair Spectrum 48k computer for an electric guitar and a fifteen watt amp. What became of the new owner of that iconic home computer is unknown. The kid that excitedly took home a second-hand guitar that day strolls out onto the sparse stage and strums through the songs on his debut album ‘Dead Man’s Suit’.

Charming and softly spoken, on record Allen sounds not unlike a youthful Rod Stewart. Live, he accompanies himself with an acoustic guitar and occasional harmonica. He namechecks Bob Dylan as an influence himself, but his performance also recalls such singer/songwriters as James Taylor and Tim Buckley.

Songs like ‘Friends’ wear the Dylan influence heavily, but that’s no bad thing. Allen clearly has a talent for penning, tender, touching songs.

As he plays ‘Lay Your Burden Down’ a girl beside me, slowly begins to weep. By the end of the song she’s blubbing uncontrollably. Her friend, who had spent the preceeding four minutes sending text messages, attempts to comfort her. She puts an arm around her.

“What are you like?” she asks.

“It’s such a beautiful song,” says the girl beginning to compose herself. Her friend rubs her on the arm before wandering off with her phone held out in front of her, presumably to get a better reception.

Our crying girl is not the exception, there are several people in the room who appear to be moved by Allen’s heartfelt songwriting.

Unfortunately the half-full venue has plenty of people far more interested in having a chat with their pals than in listening to the songs. One group have a lengthy discussion about what beers Tut’s has on tap, before all four loudly settle on pints of Stella.

The fans who actually came to listen to the music spend a lot of time ‘shooshing’ people around them. Allen seems continually humbled that he’s developed an audience, happy to come out to see him play live. As he wonders out loud why this is an voice from the back of the room explains.

“You’re fuckin’ brilliant mate.”

When it’s time to close the show with ‘In Your Light’ the crowd whoop with delight. Allen still seems grateful that he’s developed a following but he takes the opportunity to encourage a singalong.

An engaging live performer, Allen and his songs have the potential for him to become ubiquitous almost to the point of annoyance.

Our new favourite one-man band: The Voluntary Butler Scheme

The Voluntary Butler Scheme

You may have become familiar with the catchy tunes of The Voluntary Butler Scheme through frequent support slots and appearances at festivals such as Hinterland and Stag and Dagger.

The man behind the playful name is Stourbridge native Rob Jones. “I worked in a place in Bournville, where the Rover plant closed down,” he tells me down a crackly mobile phone line, “It was opposite the Job Centre and there were all these leaflets trying to get the Rover workers back into work. They all said ‘Voluntary something scheme’. So that was where I took the name from.”

With loops, guitar, drums, piano and kazoo at his disposal Rob plays as a one man band but felt he needed a group name for his project thanks to his sporting namesakes. “There’s a footballer (Hibernian’s captain) and a rugby player (the former Welsh scrum-half) called Rob Jones. You can’t be singing songs with that name.”

He doesn’t long for the companionship of other musicians on stage? “I like playing on my own. It’s not too serious. When you have a band it feels a lot more professional.” … Continue Reading

Bishop Allen – Grr…

Bishop Allen

Bishop Allen, Grrr…

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Fanfarlo, Glasgow Captain’s Rest

Fanfarlo

February 27th, 2009

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Heath Ledger on Nick Drake Tribute Album

The late Heath Ledger

The New York Times reports that Heath Ledger will be included on a forthcoming Nick Drake tribute album. The late Australian actor recorded ‘Black Eyed Dog’ in January 2007 for an art installation. … Continue Reading

Frightened Rabbit, Edinburgh Liquid Rooms

Frightened Rabbit

Tuesday 9th December

 

This year has been a pretty good one for Selkirk’s Frightened Rabbit. Their album, The Midnight Organ Fight, has been universally acclaimed, they’ve toured extensively, supporting Death Cab For Cutie and Biffy Clyro along the way, and through their live shows they’ve developed an impressively large and loyal following. … Continue Reading