Trembling Bells

Trembling Bells feat. Bonnie 'Prince' Billy - The Marble Downs

New collaborator on band's eccentric psych-folk rock

26 Mar 2012

(Honest Jons) Over three albums in as many years, Trembling Bells have refined their heady mix of courtly psych-folk, Yorkshire country and colliery band jazz, losing some of their rickety charm, while gaining in dynamism and panache. For their…

Polar Bear, The Vaselines and Alasdair Roberts set for Doune the Rabbit Hole

Music festival in leafy grounds of a Perthshire country house

30 May 2011

Situated in the leafy grounds of a Perthshire country house, Doune The Rabbit Hole is a magical, family-friendly affair, inspired by Lewis Carroll and the early free festivals. Ursine jazzers Polar Bear headline on Friday, with The Vaselines and the…

Doune The Rabbit Hole music festival 2011

Polar Bear, The Vaselines and Zoey Van Goey set for rural Scottish festival

6 May 2011

The family-friendly festival, Doune The Rabbit Hole makes a welcome return next month with a plethora of live music including The Vaselines, Zoey Van Goey and recently-headliners announced, Polar Bear. Situated at Old Newton, near Doune in Stirling…

Trembling Bells - The Constant Pageant

Encompasses Renaissance filigree, coliery brass bands and wailing free jazz

1 Mar 2011

(Honest Jon’s) l Like an Iain Sinclair of the North, Trembling Bells songwriter Alex Neilson seeks to evoke the psychic landscapes of his native Yorkshire. And so we find him in Goathland, nursing a broken heart, or in Otley, reeling from a demonic…

Trembling Bells, Rachel Sermanni and John Grant among Celtic Connections highlights

Mavis Staples and Tribute to Bob Dylan also on diverse programme

23 Dec 2010

Chicago’s music scene is the first stop in this very international round up, specifically the music of distinguished gospel and soul singer Mavis Staples. In the 60s Staples released a string of hits on the Stax-affiliated Valt label. Last year, aged…

Music festivals 2010: Festival profiles

28 May 2010

Big or small, loud or quiet, dry or muddy – we love festivals whatever their size, sound or likelihood to leave you soaking wet. Over the next 20 pages we'll give you the lowdown on every major fest hitting Scotland this summer, and information on a few…

Wooden Shjips and Trembling Bells set for Glasgow date

15 Apr 2010

Formed in San Francisco, California in 2003 – once a Mecca of sorts for the chemical adventurers and free-spirited musicians of the 60s/70s – Wooden Shjips are purveyors of droning psychedelica, so mind-bending and caked in searing noise, it plays out…

Steffen Basho-Junghans with C.Joynes and guests

15 Apr 2010

A night of virtuoso steel-string guitarists, presented by the highly trustworthy Braw Gigs. There’s an introspective, subtle intensity to Basho-Junghans’ (pictured) fingerwork – generally leaving his crowds standing in pindrop silence. Cambridge-based…

Festival Music hitlist

16 Aug 2009

Amanda Palmer, Trembling Bells, Il Ritorno d’Ulisse, Benbecula Records, The Caledonia Sessions, Biffy Clyro, Orchestra in the Age of Enlightenment

Music hitlist

16 Aug 2009

Aly Bain and Phil Cunningham, A Band Called Quinn, Bill Callahan, Katy Perry, Soulsavers featuring Mark Lanegan, Trembling Bells and Ben Reynolds, We Were Promised Jetpacks, Broken Records, Sparrow and the Workshop, Some Young Pedro, Woodenbox with a…

Trembling Bells

Ecstatic folk-rock magic from Glasgow

14 Aug 2009

Alex Neilson’s questing spirit has led him to play with Will Oldham and Texan outsider Jandek, make free jazz with saxophonist Sonny Simmons, and explode traditional folk songs with Scatter and Directing Hand. But with Trembling Bells, the mercurial…

Exposure: Trembling Bells

30 Mar 2009

Bewitching and beguiling, Trembling Bells are the Glasgow folk band whose music conjures up bonfires, nature and Britt Ekland dancing in the buff. For this is a band who forgo a pop rigmarole, harking back to traditional folk roots, telling stories and…

Trembling Bells

5 Mar 2009

FOLK ‘Does that sound okay?’ says Alex Neilson near the beginning of the show. His eyes are beseeching the crowd to cough up a sound engineer with a firmly-stated opinion either way. No such luck, though; the audience are doing that awkward passive…