Never get out of the boat

Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Dance like a monkey...

I must admit to approaching the first Dolls album in 30 odd years with some caution..
Need not have worried, seriously, it ROCKS! Basically, starting where Too Much too Soon left off
its as though its 1974 again. David J's voice sounds like a few fags have been smoked inbetween mind you and in all fairness we could do without Micheal Stipe's cameo, but you can't have it all.
I read a thing where Noel Gallagher out of Oasis said, in response to critisism that Oasis had become a bit formulaic and didn't experiment etc like, say, Radiohead, 'Let the others do the experimenting, we'll blow the roof off everywhere we play'.
Thats the spirit of rock'n'roll for you and theres plenty of it here.
Between this and Primal Scream it's a rockin' summer....

Thursday, July 20, 2006

Rock'n'Roll part 3 - Saigon

Here's another of my greatest non-hits, 'Saigon'. This is my favourite of all the stuff I did for Bellboy.
Recorded at the beginning of 97 this was a deliberate move away from the four to the floor techno stompers that had become my trademark. The guitar came out of mothballs and this one features real bass guitar too. This track was scheduled as a single but potential problems with the Apocalypse Now samples (and the label having a bit of difficulty getting their heads around a radical change of direction) meant it was tucked away on the 2nd Bellboy cd compilation State of Play 2, as a bonus unreleased track. About 6 months after this came out Death in Vegas came out with The Contico Sessions, this wouldn't have been out of place on there so I knew I was on the right track even if the label didn't.
This track also featured in the 1998 Paul Spurrier film Underground grim tale of urban decay starring Ian Dury!
Heres the tune

Wednesday, July 19, 2006

Bono

In between saving the world Bono still has time for a pint.
Apparently in Ireland theres no equivalent word for the Spanish 'manana'.
There's nothing that requires that level of urgency.
Irish fella told me that so dont start.
Did this illustration as part of a St Patricks day thing but the client bottled it and wouldn't use it.

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

Latest from the garden...

After last years pumpkin fiasco (3 pumpkin plants just about took over the whole patio and then when they were just about ready for picking a hedgehog attack and half of them got nibbled) Ive stuck to tomatoes this year. 15 plants altogether with a good few big bunches of golfball size green tomatoes already.
Ive also experimented with chillis this year - theres 6 plants. I've had them inside as i thought they might be a bit sensitive, but with this heatwave we're having ive got them outside now.
The grapes are looking good too - I gave the vine a good chopping before last winter so this years crop look much better than last year's.

Wednesday, July 12, 2006

That cat's something I can't explain...

Monday, July 10, 2006

My Kurt Cobain story

A couple of weeks after Kurt Cobain topped himself, on a regular Tuesday morning, I was going about my business in the record shop i managed in Aberdeen. Next thing a couple of geezers came in, a journo and photographer. They explained they were doing a feature for Select magazine (serious rock mag a la Mojo or Q) on the recent demise of the aforementioned KC.
As Nirvana came from a small town near Seattle called Aberdeen the idea of the piece was to get vox pops from punters in the American Aberdeen and the Scottish one with individual reactions to the sad news and asked if I would mind if they hung around the shop to talk to the customers.
No problem, except at 9,30 on a tuesday morning there was no-one about so after half an hour they got bored and did me instead. I was a bit gumpy as per usual in the morning so reeled of some flippant comment about KC being a bit of a twat who bough the whole rock'n'roll death trip blah blah. Photo taken and off they went.
Next month in Select theres the article with my pic and sarcy comment. Within hours the phone in the shop is going mad with angst ridden Nirvana fans offering death threats and the like to yours truly and the shop window is full of spotty faces with greasy hair ponting in at me going 'thats him..'. A couple of them started following me home so I had to do a detour through a few gardens to shake them off. I was also a club dj at the time, and fairly well known locally, so I had grand delusions of being assasinated in mid backspin on the decks, I was more concerned about which record i'd be playing as the shots rang out - it would have had to be something obscure and cool.
The spooky thing was on the next page of the article theres a Nirvana pic and the bass player, Kris Nobolisk or something, is my double! (except I'm slightly better looking). Needless to say for the next couple of months we didn't sell much Nirvana and other grunge type stuff as the pimply punkers gave the shop a wide berth.
And thats my Kurt Cobain story.

Tuesday, June 20, 2006

History of Rock'n'Roll Part 2

For anyone whose interested heres my greatest hit in musical terms.
DJs picked up on the 2nd track on the b-side 'Pricks' back in 1995 and it got heavy rotation from the likes of Carl Cox and Nick Warren, busting up the club charts and back down again...
Released on Bellboy records in the uk, Tube in Italy and Techno Tools in Belgium it was a bit of a trans-european monster (flipped so as 'Pricks' was the a-side). It even turned up on a few compilations including Cherry Moon which is kind of Germany's Ministry of Sound.
I helped set up Bellboy in the early 90s and had a few releases under various guises but this was the one that did it, in critical terms, and nearly spawned an album deal with Cox's label.
Came to nowt in the end but I was able to hike up my DJ fee on the back of it.
The track itself was based on a Felix da Housecat one note and octave thing I had been djing with and was created by me and Cowie in his garage studio in about 2-3 hours and was mixed totally live. Basically a bunch of loops running and the two of us whacking faders up and down.
Listen carefully and you can hear the mistakes but thats techno-punk for you.

Here you go

Monday, June 19, 2006

World Cup

Ingerlund v Trinidad and Tobago from WSC...laugh out loud.

''Back in those days, a game like this would have presented little anxiety. Any goals scored by the Trinidadians, or Tobagans for that matter, would have instantly become the property of the Crown and therefore added to England’s tally...''

read the full thing here

Much chatter about the Argentina goal the other day, 24 passes then Cambiasso popped it in.
But we all know what the greatest world cup goal was...

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

Currently on the ipod...

Fourth live album from PW (Live Wood, 2nd cd of Modern Classics, Days of Speed and this).
As with Live Wood its basically the best bits of the last album (ie wild wood then, as is now, now)
plus a few classics. Highlight for me is an epic 'In the Crowd'.
I don't really do playlists on the ipod. I'm a bit of a traditionalist in that I'll listen to a whole lp.
London Calling on heavy rotation too as well as The Kinks 'Village Green'.

Thursday, June 01, 2006

Fit Like, New York

The last post set me off remembering that part of the 80's. This book is a pretty good document of that period (in fact it covers the 50's through to 90's)
GillianSilver don't make it in but theres a wee chapter about some of the stuff I was invoved in during the 90's (more about that another time)
Big chapters on APB (big in NY but sadly never quite made it at home) and The Shamen.
Glaring omission is probably Nervous Choir.
I think the book out of print but I would bet these guys still have a few copies/boxes kicking around

History of Rock'n'Roll part 1

Found this pic from around 83. We were called GillianSilver, named after a girl i was at school with who I thought had a cool name. This shot was taken at a cellar bar in Aberdeen where we played a few times. This line-up was the original 3 piece, me on guitar, Steve on vocals and Gregor on percussion. We were into Orange Juice and the so-called 'sound of young scotland' at the time ( i had discovered major and minor 7ths so all the songs we wrote had that melancholy jazzy vibe). The band later expanded to a proper 5 piece with drums and bass. We recorded properly a 3 track ep that was going to come out in some form after we started courting Charlie Cosh, who was managing Alone Again Or (who later became the Shamen) but somehow it didn't happen. The Shamen were mates of ours and we opened up for them a few times.
Our ill fated ep was produced by Wilf Smarties and i googled him in the vain hope that the tapes still exist somewhere (this was before digital storage, kids) and i could contact him. He's now a big shot producer and co-wrote half of Kylie Minogue's last album so I don't hold much hope of tracking him down. Never mind.
In case your interested the ep would have been..
Our Hands (moody soulful string-laden wrist slitter - written by me and Steve)
Some things Never Change (uptempo Motown-ish belter, chord sequence ripped off of Frank and Nancy's Somethin Stupid - another me and Steve original)
This Guys in Love with You (the Burt B number - featuring Gregor on bugle)

The Scream back on form

Been listening to this all week.
Faces/Stones/Dolls all chucked into the pot and the Scream rocking out like never before.
The great thing about these fellas is how they can leap from techno to rock'n'roll then dub
and it still sounds like them.
There are files around to download but these guys deserve your money so buy it

Tuesday, May 30, 2006

white bicycles - joe boyd

One of the best memoirs/autobiogs Ive read for a while.Basically Boyd recalls his time in the 60's underground scene at the UFO club inLondon via the Newport Jazz and folk festivals and road trips unearthing long forgotten blues legends.If you're an obsessive like me the detail is great and really brings the characters to life.I think I read this in about 4 train rides (home to work, work to home x 2)
get it here

Saturday, April 29, 2006

Rowies

They have had a bad press from the likes of Terry Wogan and that jobbie-poker woman off the telly but...
I'm informed that this is the recipe used by Aitkens Bakery
of Torry.
cant think of a better subject for my first post
so here it is...

Rowies
1oz baker's yeast 3/4 pint tepid water
1lb flour 6oz lard(hog)
1 level teaspoon salt 6oz butter
1 " tablespoon sugar
Warm all utensils before starting.
Sieve the flour.
Mix yeast , salt , sugar together and add with water
to the flour.
Mix well and then cover with warm cloth and
remove to warm place.
Allow dough to double in size.
When ready blend fats together and divide into 3.
Roll out dough on a floured board.
Dot one portion of the fats over the dough.
Fold in three and roll out again.
Repeat twice.
Form into oval shapes , place on greased and
floured tray and allow to prove for a further 30
minutes.
Bake at 400 degrees Farenheit ( gas 4-5 ) for
approximately 25 minutes.
When ready remove from oven , spread with
lashings of butter and eat immediately.