The debate over Scotland’s most rock’n’roll city rages on and so far Vic Galloway reckons Dundee might have the edge.
I've had a bizarre time recently. Whether it's expenencrng mental avant garde film and music at Kill Your Timid Notion; DJing alongside Maxuno Park at the Funhouse; giving presenter workshops to university students. or heading to Radio Scotland's ‘Sound‘town' of Elgin to inflict rock'n'roll norse on the high school kids. life is freaky but fun. It seems as if Scotland is being taken seriously at long last. Recent announcements seem to pOint that way.
T in the Park sold out in an hour. OK. there's no Glastonbury, but that's still pretty impressrve. They'd only announced the headliners and an initial few names on the bill when the tickets disappeared. Surely now. it must hold its place as one of Europe's central music attractions. I've been to every one and broadcast live from six, but it's been incredible watching it grow to this extent.
Also on the radar: Radio 1's One Big Weekend in Dundee on 13 and 14 May. It promises to cover the entire spectrum from rock and indie to pop and hip hop and Will turn up some very big names indeed. New bands from the local area are already planning world domination as a result of the showcase gigs that are certain to surround the weekend. Dundee will be jumping and a good thing too.
To add to this. Belle & Sebastian‘s new LP The Life Pursurt went Top Ten. KT Tunstall won a Brit award and a huge number of Scottish bands. both signed and unsigned. are primed to play the South by South West festival in Austin, Texas this month. I‘ll leave that until next time and give you the low-down from the USA. Yes . . . from Elgin to Austin, the circle is now complete!
Vic Galloway presents BBC Radio Scotland's ‘Arr' at 8. 05— 70. 00pm on Mondays and BBC Radio 7 at 7. BO—me on Thursdays.
62 THE LIST ‘6 Mar .‘Cx‘i'fi
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CARA DILLON
Liquid Room, Edinburgh, Sat 11 Mar; Arches, Glasgow, Sun 12 Mar
On After the Morning, Cara Dillon’s new album, the County Derry lass takes ‘Brockagh Braes’, a lyric she’s loved all her 30 years, and infuses the beautiful song with authentic sean nos ornamentation even as it sits in a dense, layered and contemporary studio arrangement. For all that artists and pundits talk of ‘bringing the tradition up to date', it’s a rare trick to pull off — it takes someone steeped in generations of song and singers to make such delicate melodic decoration seem as easy as breathing.
‘l’m trying to draw attention to Derry’, she says, ‘I’m very proud of our tradition, so when we're putting a song together or going into the studio, there’s more to it than just doing what we like. I want people to hear these songs — they’ve been around for hundreds of years, they’re wonderful, and they should live on. We try to keep the essence of the songs; they’re like gems
\J/V/ ULF WAKENIUS Jazz Centre at the Lot, Edinburgh, Thu 9 Mar.
lllf \’V£lk(?llltl8 is best knox‘tn in ia/x circles as a member of pianist Oscar Peterson's group. but the Swedish guitarist has a broader stylistic remit
than just mainstream swing pyrotechnics.
His recent album of the music of KOllll Jarrett. Notes from the Heart, reflected a different side of his multifaceted musical sensibility, something
that should be apparent when he makes his Scottish debut.
Wakenius was recommended to Peterson by the late Niels Henning Orsted Pederseri. The pianist checked out a couple of his recordings. liked what he heard. and innited the guitarist to Join the band. His love of guitar goes back to a \'er\ different source, however — an earl, taste for the
blues-rock of Cream.
“When I was young the blues were quite popular. and not ja/x. I loved to listen to Cream. and I later realised they were acting like ,John Coltrane — the; plzixerl blues tunes like Crossroads for minutes in big venues.‘
That early immersion in blues rock has remained part of his style. even as he has (ll\.'(}l8lfICU. He has aztcrked with artists like Pat Metheny. Herbie Hancock. Michael Brecker. Joe Henderson and Max Roach. among others. and his Jarrett lNOlBCl added another dimenSion to his work.
'l r‘»ertcr'rhe('l with the S-.'.'€‘(ll8l‘ Radio Sianphony Orchestra at the Polar Prise award ceremony for KP tn Jarrett in Stcckholni. and after that decit‘led to focus on his muse this tune. He is one of the three great piano players in my book of music — number one. of worse. is Oscar. and the
other is Herbie Hancock] iKenm Mathiesoni
and, like a jeweller, we’re always try to find the right setting.‘
When she‘s back home with friends and relations - big sister Mary (‘she’s my biggest influence’) was the magnificent singer with Deanta — she’ll be singing these songs, unaccompanied as is usual, in the local pub, having just jetted back from Korea, or Singapore, or from the US where she recently joined Mary Black, Sharon Shannon and others on the Woman’s Heart tour.
‘It was hectic’, she says, ‘but it was really great. It was my first time touring the States, and I’d heard all those stories of bad gigs, endless distances and discomfort. But we were in fantastic tour buses, good hotels and 3000-seater theatres!’
Things have come a long way for them since pianist/ partner Sam Lakeman and she spent three years signed to Warners, sitting writing in a London flat and watching their pals go to University.
‘When they were graduating’, she muses, ‘we still had no album. It seemed awful then, but I’ve no regrets about it. It seems priceless now!’ (Norman Chalmers)