LiveIt SpotlightOnLeithFestival
Shore thing David Pollock takes a look at some Leith Festival highlights, including Leith Records’ chip shop-based music competition, Batter of the Bands
‘L eith is making a musical comeback,’ says Jim Wolff, digital planner at advertising group the Leith Agency and also the man behind their musical arm Leith Records. ‘So our main aim is simply to help support live music in the area.’ Neither a record label nor an advertising gimmick, Leith Records is a labour of love for Wolff. Originally starting it as a music blog through the company responsible Irn-Bru’s advertising, he’s now building up campaigns like Batter of the Bands to give exposure to artists from the local area and across Scotland.
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‘It’s a chippy-inspired musical showdown,’ Wolff says of the contest. ‘We’ll be putting five bands on at the Leith Festival [Studio 128, Edinburgh, Thu 17 Jun, 7pm] with the winner of this battle of the bands event earning themselves a package which includes recording time, CD pressing and creative work by the Leith Agency.’ That’s a good bit better than your typical BOTB
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prize, and Leith Records have pieced together a line-up worthy of it. The five up-and-coming Scottish acts performing are Futuristic Retro Champions, Schnapps, Jakil, Little Eskimos and The Fusiliers. So where did the Batter of the Bands name come from? ‘In the run up to the event we’ll be filming the bands in chip shops around Leith,’ says Wolff, ‘playing little guerrilla gigs to publicise the event. It’s the kind of thing we’d like to carry on,
‘IT’S A CHIPPY- INSPIRED MUSICAL SHOWDOWN’
actually – we’ve been talking to people about making this an ongoing nationwide thing. After all, apparently 2010 is the 150th anniversary of fish and chips.’ Elsewhere at the Festival, local music is well represented. Leith Sessions (The Granary, 32-34
BEST BARS David Pollock suggests the finest locations for a festival beverage, or two
Leith’s four popular, Swedish-owned bars are a pub-crawl in themselves. Starting off at the very top of Leith Walk there’s Joseph Pearce’s (23 Elm Row, 0131 556 4140), which serves full meals through the day. Halfway down the Walk, and separated by only a block, are Victoria (265 Leith Walk, 0131 555 1638) and Boda (229 Leith Walk, 0131 553 5900), both of which offer inventive drinks in stylish surroundings, while down by the Shore Sofi’s (65 Henderson Street, 0131 555 7019) is a popular neighbourhood haunt with themed event nights every week. (See www.bodabar.com for info on each). These are not all that the area has to
offer, however. The Roseleaf (23/24 Sandport Place, 0131 476 5268, roseleaf.co.uk) is a wonderful pub overflowing with character, which serves good food and cocktails in china tea
18 THE LIST 10–24 Jun 2010
sets. The large Bond No.9 (84 Commercial Street, 0131 555 5578, www.bondno9.co.uk) fills as much space as it can with possibly the best spirit bar you’ll find in Edinburgh. The Pond’s (2-4 Bath Road, 0131 467 3825) warm welcome and large beer garden makes it a destination for drinkers from all over town, and The Village (16 South Fort Street, 0131 478 7810, www.bevillage .com) is a pleasant local bar with regular folk gigs in its back room. Honourable mentions also go to the stylish iso-bar (7 Bernard Street, 0131 467 8904), Guilty Lily (284 Bonnington Road, 0131 554 5824, www.guiltylily.com), and the recently opened, cycling themed Tourmalet (25 Buchanan Street). Lastly, the team from the city’s excellent Blue Blazer has only just taken over the lease at the Windsor Buffet (45 Elm Row, 0131 556 4558).
The Shore, Fri 11–Fri 18 Jun, not 15, 17, £5) is an almost nightly series of three-band gigs, while Live @ The Carrier’s (Carrier’s Quarters, 42 Bernard Street, Fri 11–Sun 20 Jun, not 14, £4) welcomes a band a day. Other one-off highlights include singer- songwriter Kim Edgar (iso-bar, 7 Bernard Street, Sat 19 Jun, £8/6), T h e G i l l y f l o w e r s (Queen Charlotte Rooms, 56a Queen Charlotte Street, Fri 11 Jun, £7), T h e K a y s L a v e l l e (Queen Charlotte Rooms, Fri 18 Jun, £7), a showcase set from local electronic label Alex Tronic’s Forward Play (iso-bar, Sun 20 Jun, £4/3) and an alternative folk double bill from Blueflint and eagleowl (The Village, 16 South Fort Street, Mon 14 Jun, £7).
There will also be a weekend of comedy gigs at Cruz (14 The Shore, 0131 553 6600/99, Fri 1–Sun 20 Jun, various times and prices) including Phil Buckley, Keara Murphy and Vladimir McTavish’s Whisky: An Eejit’s Guide. Finally, it’s the fifth year of the Leith Short Film Festival which will showcase a mixture of local and international work including some international premieres. (Duncan Place Resource Centre, 17 Duncan Place, Thu 10 & Fri 11 Jun, 7.30pm).
www.leithfestival.com