Six steps to indie superstardom
2002: the year of the triumphant return. With a spate of exciting young bands snapping at their heels. the big guns aren’t letting us down, and Doves are no exception. The band's second album released in April this year. The Last Broadcast. is the perfect accompaniment to both bedroom reflection and hands in the air euphoria. These six steps have seen them turn from acid house leftovers into gorgeous mainstream giants and here's how they did it . . .
1. In 1992 brothers Andy and Jez Williams start jamming with old school chum Jimi Goodwin and this. with years of hanging out in the Hacienda. leads to Sub Sub and a number three dancefloor killer
single in the form of ‘Ain‘t No Love (Ain't No Use)
2. The band's studio burns down in 1996 and from
the ashes of Sub Sub rise Doves and on a route to rock they
release ‘The Cedar EP’ on their own Casino Label in 1998 and re- release it to widespread acclaim on Heavenly in
orchestral compositions. The brainchild of Edinburgh-born investment banker, ex- diplomat. millionaire entrepreneur and now thriller writer. John McLaren. Masterprize aims to get new music away from the dangers of marginalisation and into the mainstream international repertoire. Jalbert's prize of $30,000 was won from a competition of Over 1100 entries. In turn. with its recording of the piece. the Leicestershire Schools Symphony Orchestra was awarded the associated prize for new music in education. (Carol Main) I NAYO@Centra/ Hall. 229 2927, 21 Aug. 7.30pm, £7.50 (£3.50).
FOLK/POP ROSIE BROWN AND THIS
Golden Brown 0...
Apologies are due. Rose Brown tells us. for one or two opening night teething problems. but — for all the audience can
hear — she's imagining things. For she and her band don‘t slip once during an hour's werth of quality jazzy folk-pop which you COuld lose yourself in like a penny slipping down the back of a well-worn sofa.
Some low-key horn backing. confident guitar work and a double bass 80und that a DaVid Holmes SOundtrack w0uld be proud of all melt nicely into the mix. But Brown's the deserved star of the show. With a beautifully expressive. iceberg melting veice that tWists and turns artfully all over the songs.
Well recommended for chasing away those (lack of) summertime blues. (DaVid Pollock)
I C, 0870 7075705. until 25 Aug, 7.45pm. £8.50 (£7.50).
ACOUSTIC, ECLECTIC CAULD BLAST ORCHESTRA
Cauld Blast blows in
Twice winners of the Critic's Award for Jazz on the Fringe. the Cauld
54 THE LIST FESTIVAL GUIDE 15-22 Aug 2002
March 2000. It sends anes throughjthgmdje ,_ cognoscenti: sick of stripped down acousticlsm. they
lap up the powerfully produced comedown music. 3. A hysterical reaction to dark and brooding debut Lost Souls in 2000 is followed by Mercury Award nominations sending them stateside for sold-out tours and generally into the stratosphere.
4. The band retire to work on a new album and seven-minute epic single ‘There Goes the Fear' which. with its hypnotic Brazilian drums and aching melodies. hits number three in April and rightfully raises expectations for the next release.
5. Two weeks later The Last Broadcast propels the band to front cover status once more. The introspection of their last release swells into triumph as a naggingly melodious treasure of dream-like
emotion, huge choruses. gospel and hooks surround
their trademark melancholia. An easy contender for
album of the year: it burns more intensely with each listen sending Doves sky-high
yet again.
Blast Orchestra are not a jazz band. And they‘re not an orchestra either. although their nine-strong aCOustic line-up can create a massive wall of SOund. They rampaged through Scottish music in bulldozer fashion in the early 908. leaving a Splendid memOry of some of the most innovative and exciting crossover muSic around.
Their exhilarating amalgam of folk. jazz and classical setirces developed in multiple directions. and very few bands on the Scottish music scene could lay claim to haVing mapped out such a distinctive musical territOry.
The music is all original. written by live band members and incorporating a strong element of radical claSSicism (clarinettist Karen Wimhurst has written for English National Opera) and a wide seam of theatre music — they originally formed for
Communicado's multimedia theatre epic Jock Tamson's Balms in 1990.
This is in addition to an eruptive post- modern jazz inflection (from Salsa Celtica saxman Steve Kettley. whose musical roots are in Free Improvisation) and an unmistakeable scent of Scotland in the playing of cellist Ron Shaw from Boys of the Lough and Jack Evans and Norman Chalmers (Easy Club and Jock Tamson's Bairns). There
is also a pervasive extra—
European feel in Ann Wood's violin and Rick Bamford's percussion. Career commitments and the Geographical separation means that the band now has few concerts back 'home' in Edinburgh, so here's a rare chance to hear the most unclassitiable and original band to emerge from Scotland in the last dozen years. (Norman Mathieson) I Queen's Hall, 668 2079. l8 Aug, 7.30pm, E 72 (£10).
Annu
al festiyal fever hits the UK in June with Doves soundtracklng Glasto benders and sunburn as their afternoon slot surprises onlookers as one of the performances to savour. Scotland is ripe for the taking and duly bows down in July as the band play a storming T in the Park set and claim the 2002 festival circuit for their own.
Over the years. this big-hearted bunch have eased themselves into every part of your life. Doves make 'moment to moment' music and combined with their uncanny ability to tap into the mood of the masses. the intoxication looks set to continue. (Camilla Pia)
I Corn Exchange, 08 707690700, 22 Aug, 7.30pm, £12.50. "
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PREVIEW
THREE REASONS TO GO SEE . . . ELVIS COSTELLO
Speccy~tacular songsmithery
1. He's got the back catalogue to please everyone. And the likelihood is y0u'll get a bit of everything. Mellow moments from his collaboration with Burt Bacharach; wiry. sub- reggae skanks like 'Watching the Detectives' or rousing stompers iike ‘Tokyo Storm Warning'.
2. He's unpredictable. You're as likely to witness a bluesy reworking of ‘Pump it Up’ as you are a frail acoustic version of ‘Oliver’s Army'.
3. You'll get value for money. The fashion for 30min of ‘wham-bam-thank-you-l'm-off-to-count- my-money' is not one Mr C subscribes to. A two- hour set with four encores? Now that's worth a fair wad of anyone's cash. (Mark Robertson)
I Corn Exchange. 0870 16907 00, 20 Aug. 7.30pm, £37 7.50.