Music PROFILE
WILLIAM DOUGLAS I’ve seen that guy around, haven’t I? Very possibly, yes. He’s been gigging around Edinburgh and Glasgow for the best part of six years now, with the four-piece rock‘n’roll outfit, William Douglas and the Wheel. They do quite Beatle-y sounding stuff, sometimes with a sort of Neil Young style too. Is he up to much these days? Well, funny you should ask. Actually, he’s got a side project on the go – a side-wheel, if you like. The House of LA is a quieter, more laidback take on The Wheel’s stuff. More melodic, and more acoustic really.
House of LA, eh? Is it some sort of glitzy, Californian thing then? Not really, nope. It’s called that because Douglas likes using household objects as percussion. The album they’re launching features a cheese grater, em, and some spoons.
You had me at cheese grater. So what else do you know about this album? It’s called KLAUS, and is made up of 16 brand new tracks. It’s a series of little storytelling vignettes, involving the fictional characters Klaus, Isobel and Mary Marigold. They’re brought to life using guitars, drums, woodwind, strings, glockenspiel, and that cheese grater I mentioned. I’m in. Where can I hear the album? Douglas will be performing the album at The Jazz Bar, and giving away free albums with the ticket price (a fiver). ■ The House of LA presents KLAUS – featuring William Douglas and vocals from Ruth (ex Aberfeldy) Barrie plus special guests, Sat 19 Dec, The Jazz Bar, Edinburgh.
Got an opinion? You can now Comment on all our articles at list .co.uk 72 THE LIST 17 Dec 2009–7 Jan 2010
PREVIEW JAZZ KONRAD WISZNIEWSKI City Halls (Recital Room), Glasgow, Sat 19 Dec; The Jazz Bar, Edinburgh, Sun 20 Dec
Saxophonist Konrad Wiszniewski confesses that he is unlikely to don a Santa suit for the two Christmas concerts he has lined up, but says there will be a few festive trimmings added to the otherwise self- composed repertoire for the debut of a new quartet that he is very excited about.
The Glasgow-born saxophonist has developed into a leading figure on the Scottish jazz scene over the last decade, and is a regular member of several key bands up here, including Brass Jaw, the Colin Steele Quintet, the Haftor Medbøe Group (see album review, page 74), the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra and Ken Mathieson’s Classic Jazz Orchestra.
That stylistic spread gives a clue to his range and adaptability as well as his prowess as a jazz improviser. His own bands are also a central component in his work, and the new line-up he has brought together for these gigs features a special guest in London-based American bass player Michael Janisch, alongside pianist Paul Harrison and drummer Stu Ritchie.
‘These are all musicians that I have wanted to bring together for a while,’ he said. ‘I have worked with all of them in other contexts, but never as a band in our own right, and I’ve been working on new material for the concerts with them in mind. As well as the two gigs, we’ll also be doing a recording for BBC Scotland’s The Jazz House while Michael is here with us.’ (Kenny Mathieson)
PREVIEW INDIE REUNION THE YUMMY FUR Nice’n’Sleazy, Glasgow, Thu 7 Jan
‘There’s no rhyme or reason to this,’ says Jackie McKeown of his first notable band’s forthcoming reunion. ‘There’s no tie-in or media event window we’re trying to sneak into. We’re getting back together for a week, purely for our own amusement and that’s it’. Formed in ‘92 and dissolved in December ‘99 (‘for no more reason than it was the end of the decade’), The Yummy Fur were a cult success of the 90s Glasgow music scene, with singer/guitarist McKeown going on to front 1990s, and drummer Paul Thomson and sometime Yummy Fur accomplice Alex Kapranos (then Alex Huntley) both enjoying a subsequent career as half of Franz Ferdinand. McKeown and Thomson are back for this short reunion tour (taking in Glasgow, London and five dates in America), as is sometime guitarist Brian McDougall and their old label boss at Guided Missile, Paul Kearney on bass. McKeown is unsure whether Kapranos will make an appearance at this show, but a bunch of FF fans turning up and demanding he take to the stage probably wouldn’t be welcome. ‘The Yummy Fur were never Alex’s band, I’m sure he’d be the first to agree,’ says McKeown. ‘Besides, Paul’s the best drummer in Scotland. He’s probably bigger news than Alex or I!’
So, if the end of this tour means it’s all over again for The Yummy Fur, how does he think they’ll be remembered? ‘Probably two different ways. Right now: exciting, weird, abstract pop heroes of yesteryear. At the time: a bunch of stroppy little pricks that half of Glasgow were really wary of’. The feeling is that he’s happy with either. (David Pollock)