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CHRISTMAS GIGS STARS IN THEIR EYES SPECIAL/ SONG, BY TOAD’S CHRISTMAS PARTY/ KID CANAVERAL’S CHRISTMAS BAUBLES/ DEATH DISCO’S XXXMAS PARTY/ RADIO MAGNETIC’S WINTER RAVE/ MUNGO’S HI-FI/ BILL WELLS’ BLACK CHRISTMAS See article for dates
In a bygone olden, golden era – circa 1995 BC (Before Cowell) – Saturday nights were all about Matthew Kelly and Stars in their Eyes.
eagleowl were clearly fans of this proto-karaoke televisual phenomenon. Their festive bash is a Stars in their Eyes special at which Broken Records, Meursault, Jesus H Foxx and eagleowl will assume the identities of their pop heroes. (Pilrig St Paul’s Church Hall, Edinburgh, Fri 17 Dec, 7.30pm, £5).
If the thought of Bart Owl embracing Matthew Kelly is too much for your nervous system, then head along to Song, By Toad’s Christmas brouhaha, wherein you can party to balmy alt-pop and brambly indie from Yusuf Azak, Meursault, Inspector Tapehead, The Savings and Loan and Rob St John. (Queen Charlotte Rooms, Edinburgh, Thu 16 Dec, 7pm, £7). Lovable melodists Kid Canaveral, meanwhile, are
decking the halls with Christmas Baubles: their dulcet feast of Noël-themed treats features ballboy, King Creosote, Come on Gang!, The Last Battle and Gummi Bako. (The Lot, Edinburgh, Sat 18 Dec, 2pm–1am, £12). The West Coast offers several similarly lavish
jamborees: Death Disco’s XXXmas Party unleashes aural debauchery from Burns, Zombie Nation, Unicorn Kid (pictured) and Wavy Graves (The Arches, Glasgow, Sat 18 Dec, 11pm–3am, £14/£7); while Radio Magnetic’s Winter Rave is spoiling us with FOUND, The Blessings, S-Type and Boom Monk Ben. (SWG3, Glasgow, Sat 18 Dec, 9pm–3am).
There’s also a yuletide dub hurrah courtesy of Mungo’s Hi-Fi – it’s their final fling at the Art School before relocating to Stereo. (The Art School, Glasgow, Sat 18 Dec, 11pm–3am, £8).
And finally, Stirling is well worth a visit for the wonderful Bill Wells’ Black Christmas. (Tolbooth, Stirling, Fri 17 Dec, £14, 8pm). Its stars include Aidan Moffat, Davie Scott and Benni Hemm Hemm – plus the National Jazz Trio of Scotland performing ‘off- kilter covers of Christmas classics’. What would Matthew Kelly make of that? (Nicola Meighan)
WEBSITE LAUNCH SHOWCASE TEN TRACKS PRESENTS Stereo, Glasgow, Fri 17 Dec
Scottish music download portal Ten Tracks is renowned for offering ten bundled tracks for a pound, so it makes sense that this live special should offer ten high quality acts on one lengthy and great value bill. ‘We’ve got The Blessings (left), who run the LuckyMe collective,’ lists Ten Tracks founding partner Ed Stack, ‘Frog Pocket from Planet Mu; Not Squares from Belfast; GRNR, who used to be in Findo Gask; math-rock trio Tokamak; Enfant Bastard, an eight-bit songwriter and musician from Edinburgh, Logic Party, who are a dance-punk group from Dublin; the Cry Parrot-affiliated Fur Hood; and others. Eclectic but danceable is what we’re going for.’
Although this night will double as a Christmas party, the main point of it is to launch Ten Tracks’ new website. ‘Basically, you’ll still be able to download batches of ten tracks chosen by labels, club promoters and people who put live music nights on,’ says Stack, ‘but now the customer can buy gift vouchers for friends or invite them to use the service. We’ll also be using PayPal from now on, which means more methods of payment. Everything’s been sharpened up, really.’
Despite the way his online business has caught the public imagination, however, Stack says it serves best as an advert for the business and most importantly the bands involved. ‘We’d turn a nice profit if we charged iTunes prices,’ he says, ‘but it’s events like this which keep us going.’ With regular curatorial link-ups with the Kelburn Garden Party and Hidden Door festival, and plans for a regular Ten Tracks night, perhaps the service they provide to Scottish music is as much cultural as it is commercial. (David Pollock)
Music POST-PUNK RETURN SCARS With TV 21 and Malcolm Ross, HMV Picture House, Edinburgh, Wed 29 Dec
When twinkly electronic pranksters Lemon Jelly played Edinburgh’s Usher Hall a few years ago to promote their new 64–95 album, some younger audience members may have been puzzled. At the end of the set, a trio of guitar, bass and drum-wielding gents of a certain age took to the stage to play the more abrasive parts of album standout ‘79 aka the Shouty Track’. Said parts were in fact sampled from ‘Horrorshow’, the debut single by Edinburgh’s missing-in-action post- punk fabulists, Scars. The trio on stage were three quarters of the original band.
Released on Bob Last’s Fast
Product label, original home of The Human League, The Mekons and Gang of Four, ‘Horrorshow’ was the perfect introduction to a band who combined brash, chimingly melodramatic guitars with the poetic swagger of singer Robert King. Scars subsequent 1981 album, Author! Author! should have helped them cross over to major label greatness following front page music press acclaim, two John Peel sessions and an appearance on BBC 2’s music-for- grown-ups TV show, The Old Grey Whistle Test. As it turned out, however, that was the last sighting of all four Scars together. Until now, that is. After almost 30 years, one of the great missing links of post-punk reunite for a one-off festive headline gig to show the hordes of latter-day guitar bands how it’s done. ‘I was 16,’ guitarist Paul Mackie
remembers of the band he formed in 1977, ‘and all the bands in Edinburgh then seemed quite American influenced. We were determined to do something that was consciously different from that.’ They have long been hailed as an inspiration by fellow travellers Davy Henderson and Paul Haig, of Fire Engines and Josef K respectively; Author! Author! was finally released on CD two years ago; and they have a session lined up for 6 Music’s Marc Riley show. All this means the return of Scars – to acknowledge the move of veteran record emporium Avalanche to the Grassmarket – looks very much like vindication. ‘I aways thought we were underrated,’ Mackie admits, ‘and I still don’t hear anybody now sounding like us. But it still feels like payback. It’s not like we’re going round high-fiving each other, but we’re quietly satisfied.’ (Neil Cooper)
16 Dec 2010–6 Jan 2011 THE LIST 81