Music, Rock & Pop

25 things you might not know about Tom Waits

17 Jul 2008

The chance to see Tom Waits, one of the planet’s true music raconteurs, is worth £100 of anyone’s money. But did you know he once worked for the coastguard? If not, Jonny Ensall suggests you read on…

Hydro Connect festival line up 2008

17 Jun 2008

The Hydro Connect Festival takes place in the stunning countryside around Loch Fyne within the grounds of Inverarary Castle between Friday 29th and Sunday 31st August 2008.

The Ting Tings

15 Nov 2007

POWERPOP Liquid Room, Edinburgh, Wed 17 Oct If record labels really must go getting caught up in unseemly ‘bidding wars’, the least they can do is make sure they’re getting a good band. Columbia recently won the squabble for Manchester duo The Ting…

The Edge Festival announces line-up

5 Jun 2008

The line up has been announced for The Edge Festival, the new August music festival which replaces T on the Fringe. The festival takes place in August throughout the capital in various venues ranging from Cabaret Voltaire to the Corn Exchange.

Tom Waits - Live Review

17 Jul 2008

Orpheum Theatre, Phoenix, Arizona, Wed 18 Jun The seldom touring ‘love or hate him’ artist transported his trademark whisky-soaked growl to the desert to kick off only his third tour of the decade. And, judging by his polished performance, one can…

Bow Selecta - Dizzee Rascal Interview

22 Jul 2008

He’s worked with Arctic Monkeys and Calvin Harris while giving British rap a good name. With his own record label on the rise, urban music star Dizzee Rascal tells Miles Johnson about a life of grime.

Jay-Z - live review

SECC, Glasgow, 20th July 2008

21 Jul 2008

If there were any haters still doubting after his decisive clamping of Noel Gallagher at Glastonbury a couple of weeks back, this man of a thousand monikers, J Hova, God MC, Hovito, Jigga or, as his mother knows him best, Shawn Carter remains very much…

Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny

The devil plays guitar

13 Nov 2006

Tearing modesty a new asshole, Tenacious D describe themselves as ‘the world’s greatest rock band’. The D’s two members, Jack Black (vocals and rhythm guitar) and Kyle Gass (lead guitar and backing vocals), name check among their inspirations Kiss, Dio…

T in the Park line-up 2008

3 Jul 2008

The full line-up for Scotland's biggest music festival, which takes place 11th to July 13th in Balado, Kinross.

Vashti Bunyan

23 Aug 2007

From Stones protégée to modern folk icon, Stewart Smith counts down the four ages of effervescent folk singer Vashti Bunyan

Sultans of swing - Pendulum Interview

Edinburgh Festival Fringe

22 Jul 2008

Hardcore drum & bass fans may have objected to the rockier feel of Pendulum’s new sound, but Richie Meldrum finds original member Rob Swire in no mood to apologise

Arctic Monkeys

ROCK

26 Apr 2007

The weight of expectation hasn’t affected the Arctic Monkeys one iota. They’ve hardly broken their stride and have tossed off a second album of casual brilliance. It almost feels unfair how off the cuff Favourite Worst Nightmare feels; the lyrics are as…

KT Tunstall

6 Sep 2007

POP KT Tunstall delared she wanted to make a ‘scuzzy rock’n’roll album’, but teaming up with Steve Osbourne, who has put the gloss on Placebo, Happy Mondays and U2 among others in the past, meant it was never really going to happen. Instead, Tunstall…

Newton Faulkner

Hand Built by Robots

16 Aug 2007

POP Until you’ve actually seen young Faulkner attack an acoustic guitar in a whirl of spider-like fingers and dreadlocks transforming it into a three-piece band in the process, it’s hard to properly appreciate this album. There’s loads of…

Retrofest 2008 lineup announced

17 Apr 2008

The bill for Retrofest, Scotland's annual festival of pop nostalgia, has been announced. The event, which moves to a new home at Strathclyde Country Park, Motherwell from its old location at Culzean Castle, Ayrshire, is expected to attract 15,000 fans…

Rilo Kiley

6 Sep 2007

ROCK Rilo Kiley’s last album and singer Jenny Lewis’s subsequent solo debut both contained a handful of indie-country stonewall classics, but this lacklustre and scattershot offering shows none of the same spark, despite Lewis’ ever-wonderful and…

Hydro Connect festival announces further additions to bill

22 May 2008

Hydro Connect, which takes place in Inveraray between the 29th and 31st of August 2008, has announced the addition of Joan as Policewoman, Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks and Black Lips to the bill. DJ’s from Soma and Optimo have also been confirmed as…

Momus

17 Jul 2008

PREVIEW POP Stereo, Glasgow, Sun 27 Jul When Nick Currie named himself after the Greek god of mockery, being clever, like ridicule, was nothing to be scared of. Edinburgh-based Currie had already fronted The Happy Family, a band that featured half…

Björk

23 Aug 2007

It is a muggy summer’s afternoon, and although she has been doing interviews in an airless west London hotel suite for several hours, the Queen of Quirk is in fine form and fizzing with energy. Having recently released Volta – touted as her most…

Georgie James

20 Sep 2007

POP Places (Saddle Creek) Imagine The White Stripes raised on summer sunshine and vintage Beach Boys instead of Detroit rain and Delta blues, and you’ll get some idea of the genius of boy-girl duo Georgie James. This is pure, driven pop music with…

Dananananaykroyd

17 Jul 2008

PREVIEW FIGHT-POP Cabaret Voltaire, Edinburgh, Wed 30 Jul; The Arches, Glasgow, Thu 31 Jul ‘I break an average of three drumsticks per show,’ nods John Baillie Jnr, one of the two drummers in crashing, Glasgow guitar-rock band Dananananaykroyd.

KT Tunstall and The Pictish Trail

17 Jul 2008

ROCK Alhambra Theatre, Dunfermline, Thu 10 Jul This first proper gig for the newly-refurbished 1700-seater Alhambra is a fitting one, with returning Fifer Tunstall warming up for T in the Park. Opening is Johnny Lynch, aka The Pictish Trail…

Liam Finn - I'll Be Lightning

17 Jul 2008

Like father like son, New Zealand-born Liam (offspring of Crowded House’s Neil Finn), finally comes-of-age courtesy of his long-awaited debut set. Now 23, and several years on from his initial live workouts in London (where he’s based), the man highly…

The Dykeenies

6 Sep 2007

INDIE ROCK After a year of sell-out gigs and internet hype the Cumbernauld brotherly trio plus two mates release their debut album. The opener (‘The Panic’, about STD fear) is prophetic: a great, stompy, bang of the fists and wail of the klaxons with…

The B-52s

Preview - Carling Academy, Glasgow, Mon 21 Jul

17 Jul 2008

Aside from almost daily radio outings for ‘Love Shack’ and ‘Rock Lobster’, new wave pioneers turned camp party pop stars The B-52s have been all but unheard of since their last album Good Stuff came out in 1992. The Athens Georgia quartet have been…

T Break 2008 line up announced

5 Jun 2008

16 new and unsigned bands will be performing at the T in the Park music festival at Balado on the 11th, 12th and 13th July. The bands, selected from 48 acts playing in the qualifying heat gigs held in Edinburgh and Glasgow earlier this year, now…

Jay-Z to play Scotland

17 Apr 2008

Hip hop superstar Jay-Z is to play dates at Glasgow SECC on 20 July and Aberdeen Exhibition Centre on 21 July as part of a wider UK tour. The rapper, who reportedly married his girlfriend Beyonce last week, will first headline Glastonbury on 28 June…

Torche

15 Nov 2007

ROCK In Return (Rock Action) More terrifying than Cradle of Filth coming to your house to do trick or treat and heavier than a sack of Ozzy’s spuds, Torche at least have the common decency not to take up much of anyone’s time, clocking this…

KT Tunstall interview

6 Sep 2007

Looking around the room gives a clear indication of the reason behind KT Tunstall’s remarkable success. Crammed into the boardroom at XFM Scotland’s headquarters in Glasgow are two dozen competition winners being treated to an intimate acoustic show…

Exposure - Cajun Dance Party

3 Jul 2007

It’s not Cajun or dance music, but their indie rock has given these five smiling north Londoners a rollercoaster 18 months. Aged 17 and still at school, they’ve supported Kings of Leon, Thom Yorke loves them and Bernard Butler is producing their next…

Digitalism cancel Glasgow show

18 Apr 2008

German laptop electro duo Digitalism have cancelled the remainder of their UK tour, including a date at Glasgow's Arches on 22 April, due to unspecified band illness. The pair said in a statement: "We are really sorry that we have to cancel our UK…

5 Reasons To Go See - Edwyn Collins

10 Apr 2008

The Scottish troubadour’s career has spanned 30 years, during which time he’s been a relentlessly original and innovative artist, redefining pop music first with his band Orange Juice and then as a solo artist of great renown. Three years ago Collins…

Exposure - Pete and the Pirates

10 Apr 2008

A rag tag band of five Reading songwriters press-ganged into service as a functioning indie pop group after a gig down their local, Pete and the Pirates are presently leading a stealthy campaign to become your new favourite band. Melodic, upbeat…

New Scottish bands

15 Nov 2007

Over the last couple of years, it has sometimes seemed like the end of an era for Scottish indie music. Starting with the amicable split of the seminal Delgados, and, more recently, the demise of Falkirk’s Arab Strap and underrated noiseniks…

Mr Hudson & the Library

18 Oct 2007

The ultimate hybrid, Mr Hudson & the Library mix mournful piano with emotive vocals, acoustic guitar and grime. It’s not a marriage you’d imagine would work, but Mr Hudson creates a startling new sound as Chet Baker-inspired rhythms are underpinned by…

The Decemberists interview

4 Oct 2007

Any band who name themselves after the Russian uprising of 1825 are, you feel, coming from a different place to most other heralded groups for whom the tune’s the thing. The Decemberists’ architect and songwriter Colin Meloy is not so much a tunesmith…

Bobby Gillespie

23 Aug 2007

Fire Engines ‘I’m a big Fire Engines Fan. They were a big influence on us: fifteen minute sets, very intense. ‘Get Up and Use Me’ – their single. ‘Candy Skin’, ‘Meat Whiplash’, ‘Sympathetic Anaesthetic’, you know? Big fan of the Fire Engines…

MIA

23 Aug 2007

Were we to try and describe the precise sound which London-born, Sri Lanka-raised MIA makes, we’d be here all day. While she can be very broadly described as an electro-grime act whose vocals are a combination of hip hop cajoling and reggae rhythm…

Scouting For Girls

Edge Festival

22 Jul 2008

What a rollercoaster ride it’s been for this London-based indie pop outfit since ‘She’s So Lovely’ crashed into the top ten in 2007. Typical of their instantly catchy, mass-audience appeal, the single had four old school friends finally leaving behind…

Little Feat

Edinburgh Jazz and Blues Festival

22 Jul 2008

Formed in 1969 by Lowell George, one of Frank Zappa’s Mothers of Invention, Little Feat were always going to be different from the blues bands of the period. Small in stature, guitarist and lead singer George was a talented firebrand of R&B, country…

Music - List picks

17 Jul 2008

Jay-Z Sadly not collaborating with the Butthole Surfers across town on the same evening, Jigga man shows us how it’s done after his triumphant Glasto shindig. SECC, Glasgow, Sun 20 Jul. (Rock & Pop) Butthole Surfers and Desalvo Texas’ most wonderfully…

White Denim

17 Jul 2008

GARAGE ROCK Captain’s Rest, Glasgow, Thu 10 Jul Sweaty, shoebox-sized spaces like the Captain’s Rest are just the sort of venues Glasgow needs more of, and rough’n’ready, in yer face, garage rock trios like Austin’s White Denim are just the sort…

T in the Park announces additional stage

22 May 2008

T in the Park is to have an additional stage this year and will also feature night-long DJ’s. The Relentless Energy Drink Stage will showcase up-and-coming British and International music. The Duracell Powerhouse is also set to make is fourth…

Pete Doherty Welfare Fund launched by fashion website

18 Apr 2008

Discount fashion website lastseason.com today announced it's to set up a 'Pete Doherty Welfare Fund'. It's aim is to help the troubled singer get back on his feet when he gets out of jail in late July. 'Pete's incredibly talented and as a musician he…

Lou Hickey

Pop

29 Nov 2007

‘I was brought up watching Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin movies, and when I was a little girl I wanted to be just like Marilyn Monroe singing ‘Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend’. Lou Hickey is a bit of an anachronism – a classically-trained…

Fan pays £83,000 for Led Zeppelin tickets

16 Nov 2007

A Led Zeppelin fan from Glasgow has shelled out more than £80,000 for two tickets to see the band’s reunion concert next month, after they were auctioned for charity. Kenneth Donnell will also watch the group’s three remaining members rehearse ahead…

The Proclaimers

6 Sep 2007

POP With the Comic Relief single and a musical based on their songs, 2007 has already been a great year for The Proclaimers, and this consummately crafted and soulful album can only add to their wide grins. Title track ‘Life With You’ is as big…

Red Hot Chili Peppers

16 Aug 2007

There’s a tenuous logic that argues if an artist is not struggling their art is less vital in some way. There’s a healthy disrespect for careerist attitudes in art, especially among musicians, but there’s a contradiction inherent to the notion that…

Records - Take a Worm For a Walk Week

Take a Worm For a Walk Week

13 Mar 2007

SCARY NASTINESS Far from sitting on the fence TAWFAWW choose to unceremoniously hack down the fence, stamp it into little pieces, collect it up and feed it to a pack of hungry dogs. Well, that’s what it sounds like. To be honest this sounds like…

Brigade

17 Jul 2008

When it comes to rock us Brits are often in the thrall of the US, and Londoners Brigade certainly don’t buck that trend with a mix of pop punk meets post-hardcore, featuring Will Simpson (brother of Busted/Fightstar frontman Charlie) on vocals and…

Claire Wood

17 Jul 2008

REVIEW POP The Halt Bar, Glasgow, Sun 6 Jul Claire Wood is off to seek her fame and fortune in London after spending the last ten years in Glasgow’s piano bars. She decided to launch her EP, Grow‚ and say farewell to her friends, family and…

Chrome Hoof, Mikel Rouse cancel Triptych shows

18 Apr 2008

London krautfunk orchestra Chrome Hoof have had to pull out of their date at the Triptych festival. The band were due to play Optimo at Glasgow's Sub Club on 27 April, making them one of the last acts to appear at the final Triptych. Reasons for…

Drive By Argument announce debut album and Scottish tour

17 Apr 2008

Glasgow rockers Drive By Argument have announced the release of their eponymous debut album, which will be out on Lizard King on 12 May. The group have also announced a short Scottish tour to promote the album, which was produced by Apollo 440's…

The Edge replaces T on the Fringe

14 Apr 2008

DF Concerts, the promoters behind T in the Park, are rebranding their August live music series at the Edinburgh Fringe as The Edge. The month-long series has been an annual fixture since 2000 although, as DF's partnership with Tennent's on T in the…

Paul Haig

10 Apr 2008

INDIE Voodoo Rooms, Edinburgh, Sun 13 Apr When Josef K named their solitary album The Only Fun in Town in 1981, it was as dry a statement on Edinburgh nightlife as a band named after a Franz Kafka character could muster. Almost 30 years on, ex-Josef K…

Barry Adamson

27 Mar 2008

Barry Adamson is making his pitch. The way the composer, crooner, ex-Magazine and Bad Seeds bassist and now big(ish) band leader tells it regarding his forthcoming eighth album, Back to the Cat, though, sounds like making movies. But then, the absorbed…

Leonard Cohen

28 Feb 2008

There’s no particular reason why Glasgow poetry promoters Vital Synz are holding a Leonard Cohen Supper this fortnight. It’s not the great songwriter’s birthday, and he’s still, as far as we know, in rude health. He is being inducted into the Rock…

Various - Rough Trade Counter Culture 07

14 Feb 2008

EVERYTHING (Rough Trade) If anything can be gleaned from these expansive, annual compilations its this: try as you might you can’t keep up with all the fine new music around unless you actually run a record store. And while you might have…

Rihanna

13 Dec 2007

Girls Aloud know it, Leona Lewis knows it, and even Franz Ferdinand know it – great pop is hard to beat. America’s most recent answer to our successful crop has to be Rihanna, whose infectious ‘Umbrella’ dominated the UK charts and playlists for months…

Britney Spears

15 Nov 2007

POP Blackout (Jive) Producer So, she’ll be here in a few minutes, yeah? Record company executive Yeah, so we’ll have a window of 30 minutes to lay down some vocals. P But she hasn’t even heard the tunes yet . . . RCE Erm, yeah, just, um…

Charlatans offer free downloads to boost following

5 Oct 2007

Alan McGee, the mastermind behind Britpop success stories Oasis and the Charlatans, has launched plans to allow singles and albums to be download for free. McGee had the idea when negotiating a distribution deal for the Charlatans. He rejected…

Kylie to headline Glastonbury 2008?

28 Sep 2007

Kylie Minogue is among a list of names reportedly lined up to headline the Glastonbury Festival next year. The Australian singer is thought to be frontrunner to top the bill at the UK’s most prominent festival, three years after cancelling an…

Blunt album to focus on MySpace fans

21 Sep 2007

James Blunt’s new album will be promoted on the social networking site MySpace in a bid to capitalise on net surfing music lovers. Warner Music is allowing browsers to listen to the British singer’s new offering All the Lost Souls on his MySpace…

Swimmer One

6 Sep 2007

INDIE There’s a lot of idiotic soulless electro pop around, so it’s a good job that Swimmer One are here to redress the balance. This stunning debut effort more than meets expectations raised by the Edinburgh and Glasgow-based duo’s promising set of…

Paths of glory

23 Aug 2007

By Coach Citylink will be providing buses to and from the festival throughout the weekend and you can purchase your shuttle bus ticket at the same time as purchasing your festival ticket. This way you can sit back, enjoy the ride and take in the…

90s revival

16 Aug 2007

When you are young there is no such thing as nostalgia, there is only the seemingly limitless advance of new experiences. Music inevitably provides the backdrop – a drunken first kiss, the first gig you ever sneaked into underage, or maybe just that…

Genaro

Genaro

9 Aug 2007

ROCK There is a fine line in the risky profession of innovative guitar music between brilliance and wanksmithery and Benbecula signings Genaro appear to tread this with glee. Still, the majority of their debut sits on the right side of the divide…

*Hitlist

3 Jul 2007

• T in the Park 80,000 folks have over 100 reasons on stage to get down this weekend, from Arctic Monkeys to Wu-Tang Clan (pictured) and all in between. See full running order . Balado, Fri 6-Sun 8 Jul. (Rock & Pop) • The Skids After Green Day and…

65daysofstatic

Exposure

23 Apr 2007

65daysofstatic are a Sheffield rock band who are distinctly different to their indie-bretheren. Combining drum & bass beats, glitches and synths over an instrumental rock template has seen them win over the rock press, Zane Lowe and the late John Peel.

Juliet & the Licks - album review

Juliet & the Licks

2 Oct 2006

ROCK While Brody Distiller’s busy being broody and all remains quiet on the Courtney front, it’s left to this Hollywood actress turned musician to out-riff the big boys. And she’s done it again with Four on the Floor; her band’s second collection of…

The Clash

2 Oct 2006

Earlier this year I noticed guerrilla-stickered cartoon bubbles around London that posed the question, ‘What would Joe Strummer do?’ They were trailers, it turned out, for a range of hip babygrows. But this mild absurdity exemplified how, almost four…

Dykeenies, The

The Dykeenies

4 Sep 2006

If the Arctic Monkeys weren’t enough to convince you that having an iffy moniker needn’t hold a talented bunch back, this catchy Cumbernauld quintet have been sending shockwaves through the Glasgow gig scene with a whole host of hysteria-fuelled shows…

Isoceles

Edinburgh Festival Fringe

22 Jul 2008

This Glasgow-based foursome jump to the sound of the raging bull. Or so say their Japanese fans, according to glowing reviews reworked by one of the internet’s more established language translators.

Kora

17 Jul 2008

With a platinum album that has spent six months inside the New Zealand top 20 with rave reviews, the Maori brothers that make up four fifths of Kora are on something of a roll. Their sound is a unique blend of reggae/roots/dub/rock for which the quintet…

The Nelson Mandela Birthday Party Tour

17 Jul 2008

For the Nobel Peace Prize-winner’s 90th birthday Scots/African artists will be offering a tribute to the defender of democracy from Scotland’s three major cities over the course of a single weekend. Performances from the Berlin-based Senegalese reggae…

The Shakes

17 Jul 2008

ROCK King Tut’s, Glasgow, Thu 10 Jul Gracing the stage at King Tut’s with their presence for the first time, Dumbarton band The Shakes played to a full house. As the first guitar pickings of ‘Every Time I Go Away’ begin the audience cheers…

Edge Festival adds Santogold, Laura Marling and Angus & Julia Stone to line-up

20 Jun 2008

The critically acclaimed Santogold, Aussie siblings Angus and Julia Stone, Reading’s rising star Laura Marling and Scots indie band The Twilight Sad have been added to bill of the inaugural Edge Festival, taking placed across Edinburgh from 1st to 27th…

Freshly squeezed - support for Edwyn Collins

19 Jun 2008

The great and good of the music glitterati have come out in force to support former Orange Juice frontman Edwyn Collins' new single, Home Again, which hits the shelves on Monday 23 June. Franz Ferdinand, Jarvis Cocker, Bernard Butler, Graham Coxon and…

Pete Doherty announces Glasgow Barrowland show

12 May 2008

Babyshambles frontman Pete Doherty is out of jail and getting back to doing what he does best: playing live to an adoring audience

Girls Aloud to broadcast concert live to UK cinemas

8 May 2008

Girls Aloud are to broadcast their London concert to 50 Vue cinemas across the UK.

Santogold to play Scottish date

17 Apr 2008

New York-based singer and producer Santogold is to play a one-off Scottish date at Glasgow's Sub Club on 30 May. The gig will be part of the Kinky Afro club night. Santogold, real name Santi White, releases her debut album on 12 May, and is tipped to…

The Kills

16 Apr 2008

Being as cool as The Kills must be exhausting at times. They have thrived since they emerged amid the flurry of ‘The’ bands that brought us, among others, The Strokes. Happily, however, they’ve surpassed their lethargic contemporaries and are here with…

Xfm Scotland's Jim Gellatly wins radio award

16 Apr 2008

Jim Gellatly of Xfm Scotland was honoured with a PRS John Peel Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music Radio last night, 15 April. The award was presented at the Radio Academy's Celebration of Music Radio event at the London O2's Indigo2 venue, and…

Kate Moss joins The Kills in Edinburgh

16 Apr 2008

Supermodel Kate Moss watched her fiance Jamie Hince's band The Kills in action on Wednesday night, as their current UK tour kicked off in Edinburgh. The Anglo-American duo of guitarist Hince and singer Alison Mosshart, who recently released their…

Indie record stores unite

10 Apr 2008

Glasgow and Edinburgh's independent record store Avalanche Records is to head up the Coalition of UK Indie Stores, a trade body which will fight for the interests of independent music shops across the UK. The initial grouping includes 15 of the…

Down The Tiny Steps, Le Reno Amps and Doug Johnstone

10 Apr 2008

INDIE FOLK 13th Note, Glasgow, Thu 20 Mar A little bit country, a little bit rock’n’roll. And, to kick off, some acoustic folk from sometime author Doug Johnstone who, confusingly, is premiering the back catalogue of The Ossians, a band invented for…

Calvin Harris gig postponed

7 Apr 2008

Dumfries electro popster's Barrowland gig is off Calvin Harris has cancelled his upcoming live show at Barrowland, Glasgow, which was due to go ahead on Sunday 13 Apr. A statement on the singer's official website (www.calvinharris.tv) reads: "We…

The Gossip - Live In Liverpool

27 Mar 2008

LIVE ALBUM (Columbia) The Gossip may have been catapulted to fame on the back of an advert for E4 teen-soap Skins, but they’ve been playing spine-tingling gigs on the underground for years, and this live performance, recorded in Liverpool’s Carling…

Correcto - Correcto

31 Jan 2008

(Domino) INDIE This foursome may boast the talent of two of Glasgow’s indie glitterati – Franz Ferdinand’s Paul Thomson and Patrick Doyle of The Royal We – but there’s so much more to Correcto than the hype about their famous members. The band’s…

Drive-By Truckers - Brighter Than Creation’s Dark

31 Jan 2008

(New West) COUNTRY ROCK Any band with songs called ‘Daddy Needs a Drink’ and ‘You and Your Crystal Meth’ can’t be all bad, and so it proves, as Drive-By Truckers here provide a fantastically sprawling trawl through the Southern Gothic hinterland of…

The NME Tour Featuring The Ting Tings

31 Jan 2008

INDIE Mix indie music, punk attitude, clubby vibes, pop melodies and art-rock sensibilities, then say hello to The Ting Tings, the Mancunian duo of Katie White and Jules De Martino who are one of the buzz bands of 2008, and rightly so. Having…

Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend

31 Jan 2008

(XL Recordings) INDIE Indie rock has taken many wilful turns in its ragged adolescence but the predilection for smartening up and tuning up has been one that’s arrived to infrequently for most. Vampire Weekend look like dropouts from an Abercrombie…

Chi Weapon - review

29 Nov 2007

The Beat Club, Glasgow, Wed 7 Nov For every band breaking new territory by moving too fast to be pigeon-holed, there are plenty more who are spreading themselves too thinly. Chi Weapon, originally from Bute but now Glasgow-based, live up to their…

Jimmy Page says last Led Zeppelin reunion was a disaster

20 Nov 2007

Jimmy Page has described as ‘shambolic’ Led Zeppelin’s last reunion. The metal gods last played together in Philadelphia at the original Live aid in 1985. Led Zepp thought their performance was so bad that they wouldn't let it be included on the…

Stereophonics

15 Nov 2007

ROCK SECC, Glasgow, Sun 25 Nov It’s a rock truism. Some bands burn out, some fade away while a few just keep rolling on for an age, undaunted by critical opinion and undimmed in their fans’ affections. Stereophonics are an archetypal example of…

Paul Vickers & The Leg

15 Nov 2007

ROCK Nice’n’Sleazy’s, Glasgow, Tue 6 Nov Rock’n’roll clichés, eh? Musicians trashing their instruments, throwing TVs out of their hotel room windows, and erm . . . their backing bands modelling terrifying panda-meets-voodoo-skeleton outfits. The…

Jimmy Page - broken finger a ‘nuisance’

7 Nov 2007

Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page has spoken about the broken finger that saw the group postpone their much anticipated reunion concert, claiming it will take ‘a little while to heal’. Recently named a Living Legend at the Classic Rock awards, Page…

Rufus Wainright interview

4 Oct 2007

Late last month, Rufus Wainwright was in Los Angeles, treading the hallowed boards of the Hollywood Bowl, whooping it up as only Rufus can whoop it up. He had brought his acclaimed Judy Garland Live At Carnegie Hall show to town. Just him, an orchestra…

Pink Floyd 1 – Spice Girls 0

28 Sep 2007

A survey by digital music provider Music Choice has found that Pink Floyd has topped the nation’s wish list of bands most wanted to reform. Next in line were 70s Swedish stars Abba and rockers Guns N’ Roses. The poll of 5,000 music fans spells…

Sex Pistols to reunite

21 Sep 2007

The Sex Pistols have confirmed plans to reunite for a one-off gig to mark the 30th anniversary of Never Mind The Bollocks. The legendary punk band will play at London’s Brixton Academy on November 8, bringing together original members John Lydon…