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ROCK/POP
Dark Star Glasgow: King Tut's, Sun 5 Mar.
It's early days, but the Dark Star story already has a new twist. Bic Hayes (vocals/guitar), David Francolini (drums) and Laurence O’Keefe (bass) only just survived the narcotic implosion of their previous band, Levitation, in 1994. They formed Dark Star after two strung- out years and made Twenty Twenty Sound, a brutal, sprawling album pulled taut between fractious guitars and great tunes. Gigs played at 'battle volume' with Suede, Mercury Rev and Ultrasound ensued, the trio always playing on the edge.
Then, Danny Saber remixed ’Graceadelica', one of the first songs the band wrote together, and Top Of The Pops came calling. ’Big surprise,’ Hayes laughs, ’but obviously a pleasure. It was one of those defining moments. It came to me when a friend of mine said: "Do you remember when you were a kid and your parents' friends used to say, when will we be seeing you on Top Of The Pops?" Embarrassing you in front of everyone. It was one of those moments to call them and say, "well, it's tonight!” ’
Not that Hayes is wallowing in it. He’s busy with Dark Star's next album, determined to make a better one. As for their gigs, a hint of success hasn’t sandpapered the rough edges. ’There’s no change there,’ he says. ’A good show should always be on the point of collapse. That's something we don’t have to try to do. Live music is getting so professional, you can’t tell the difference between the record and the show. That’s a shame. It should be dynamic and exciting.’
With the destructive nature of Levitation's untimely demise and the pushing of live shows to the most
Lost In Space: Dark Star
fraught of extremes, Dark Star are more than familiar with edgey factors of live music peformance. This risky element is also extended to the stage set. ‘The fairy lights? We love ’em. The reason we had them was because we didn’t have money for a light show but thought we should really make an effort. We got the fairy lights and everyone said they were such a good idea. They break all the time so we did one gig where we didn't have them as we couldn't replace them in time and a few people were really, really disappointed. So yeah, the fairy lights are staying.’ Likewise Dark Star. With a tentatively promised ‘psychedelic groove' twist to the new material, really, they've only just begun. (Kevin Harley)
Unfinished Business: Ceolbeg
FOLK/WORLD
backed-coup.
idioms and highly developed Western musicality on a world crusade. ln Glasgow, the concert support is led by Hamish Henderson, the father-figure of Scots music, and ceaseless scourge of the Right (he publicly refused an honour from the Thatcher government), Edinburgh Latin dance- engine Salsa Celtica, the harps and Gaelic vocal duo of Patsy Seddon and Mary MacMaster, Scots songstress Sheena Wellington and, launching their new CD, the six-strong Scots band Ceolbeg.
Wendy Stewart, the band’s harpist, and composer of Cairn Water — the album's instrumental title track — revealed that 'It’s quite a coincidence, but I'd been learning a Victor Jara song recently — even before we were asked
An Unfinished Song
Glasgow: Royal Concert Hall, Sun 5 Mar.
An inspirational figure to a generation of poets and musicians struggling for social justice, Victor Jara was a Chilean singer arrested, imprisoned, tortured (his hands were cut off) and murdered for his support of the democratically elected socialist government of Salvador Allende, deposed in the US
40 THE UST 2—16 Mar 2000
While General Pinochet continues to languish in England under luxury house-arrest, the Victor Jara Foundation presents An Unfinished Song — a Scottish concert in the late troubadour’s honour. Headlining group lnti Illimani were lucky — the military take-over caught the great Chilean band on a European tour, and they then continued to live as exiles, taking their fusion of traditional Andean
to do the concert. It’s just me and the harp. We've not even thought about a band arrangement, but I hope I might get to do it on the night'. She will though, be singing one of the highlights from the powerful, eclectic new album. 'Oh Were I On Parnassus Hill’ is a rarely-heard song from the pen of Robert Burns, but less about politics than the other wheel-of-the- world, love. (Norman Chalmers)
Surface noise
All the musings, fusings and bruisings from the music world THE LINE UP for Scottish jazz festival Soundcheck at Glasgow’s CCA has been announced. The three-day festival runs from Friday 31 March to Sunday 2 April and sees appearances from the likes of Paul Harrison, Marilyn Crispell, Jo-Anne Brackeen and from Vietnam, Nguyén Lé. Tickets are available from the CCA on 0141 332 0522.
T IN THE Park has been confirmed for 8 and 9 July with Travis are rumoured to be headliners, while Oasis and Primal Scream are appearing at a two-day festival on Glasgow Green on 25 and 26 August. See Agenda page 21 for more details.
FESTIVAL FRENZY CONTINUES as the line up for Blues 2000 is confirmed, blues legend Otis Rush makes his first appearance in Scotland for many years and Odetta, Lazy Lester, Big Joe Louis and the Blues Kings and Guy Davis make up just some of the supporting cast for the one—day fest on Sunday 30 April. Blues 2000 are still looking for sponsorship for their small bands ’talent' stage. Any interested parties should contact Morag Neil on 0131 557 5918.
JAZZ CITY IS a series of occasional concerts to be held at E2K nightclub (formerly Eden) in Edinburgh. American tenor sax man Scott Hamilton kicks off the season on Tuesday 4 April with the likes of Harry Allen and Warren Vache pencilled in for later in the year. GENEVA MAKE A Special guest appearance at the Virgin Megastore on Buchanan Street on Monday 6 March at noon, as do excitable boy band Mero, who are at the same store on Monday 13 March at 5pm, and the Edinburgh, Princes Street store the following day at the same time.
JUST ANNOUNCED
LONDON GUITAR LOUTS Elastica play at the Glasgow Garage on Thursday 6 April.
OTHER GIGS COMING to you soon include: Shelby Lynne, Old Fruitmarket, Glasgow, 1 Apr; Raissa, Garage, Glasgow, 30 Apr; The Flaming Lips, Garage, Glasgow, 10 May; The Crocketts, The Cathouse, Glasgow, 4 May; Mike Scott, Greenock Arts Centre, 20 May, Lyceum, Edinburgh, 21 May; Vonda Shepard, Concert Hall, Glasgow, 30 May; Alice Cooper, Barrowland, Glasgow, 1 Jun; Muse, Garage, Glasgow, 2 Jun; Pearl Jam, SECC, Glasgow, 3 Jun; Gabrielle, Cottier Theatre, Glasgow, 12/13 Jun; Chris Rea, Concert Hall, Glasgow, 21 Oct.
3 See Book Now on page 50 for details of ticket outlets.