The Skababs - Penicuik
Town Hall 13th March
Ska music originated in the 50’s in Jamaica. It’s an amalgam of
reggae, jazz, calypso, rhythm & blues. It’s happy danceable
music. People of a certain age will just associate it with The
Specials, Madness, The Beat etc. but these lads were listening
to the original Ska long before they gave us the Two Tone
variation or the second wave of Ska. This is because they were
brought up in multi racial & cultural areas, they heard the
original Ska from their friends Jamaican parents. The Two Tone
symbol was in fact a symbol of racial equality & mixing. So
DON’T EVER think that Ska is racist skinhead music, it’s
completely the opposite. In fact racist skinheads are detested
by real skinheads the world over. Racists of any type should be
abhorred. Original Ska was a Mod / Skinhead favourite of the
sixties. Ska is still going strong in America, but they’ve taken
it to another more punky level. Which in my mind isn’t really
Ska , but hey ho what do I know?
Anyway lecture over what of the actual night?
The Skababs
are a Scottish Ska band, which is unusual in its self.
Mmmmm well I’m afraid I came away early. Why? Well to be
brutally honest I think the musicians were good, loved the
actual sound of the songs, loved the choice of tunes. But I’m
genuinely sorry I really didn’t think the singer suited the
genre of music. I’m 100% sure he’s passionate about the music.
But Ska doesn’t really suit someone singing in a local Edinburgh
accent. The Proclaimers can get away with singing in a Scottish
accent, but they sing their own songs. But I personally I don’t
think it suits Ska. So rather than just slagging someone off for
the sake of it, I came away. You might love it I don’t know?
When I left people were up dancing. Don’t get me wrong they
weren’t terrible or anything.. Look why don’t you check them out
for yourself on Youtube or their own My Space page above. They
weren’t personally my cup of tea. But for goodness sake don’t
let that put you off seeing them. You might like them. Check
them out, as I say there’s loads of clips of them on Youtube.
You decide for yourselves, you might really like them.
The Redstarts Cuiken Inn Sat 27th Feb
Well, what can I say...another great
performance from the Redstarts! As a lot of you may already know
the Redstarts play a variety of songs by bands in the 'mod'
northern soul genre such as The Specials, The Who,
The Kinks, The Jam, Small Faces...etc. The
guys are so tight & play really well together. The harmonies
are always perfect & their timing is never off! The majority of
the crowd in the Cuiken were there for the band & I can honestly
say that not one person left early...once the guys start
performing you want to see it to the end! Another great
night guys...well done!
Lynn xx
The New Age Jam with support by The
Redstarts Penicuik Town Hall 31st October
Another sell out gig! Mike Scott will
be driving a Rolls Royce at this pace. Mind you he’ll still be
pleading his poverty to everyone. We all know he’s loaded &
there’s strong rumours he actually relaxes in his mansion in an
Armani suit & hand made calf skin slippers!
First up were Penicuik’s own The
Redstarts, Ross White, Scott Neil, John Moare & Vince Archibald.
I thought they were excellent. Ross plays drums & sings, a hard
feat to do. Which your general punter doesn’t actually
appreciate how hard it is. The lads harmonies are great as well.
They play tunes from my youth the 80’s, & they play them well.
I believe they were a bit nervous
about the gig. Wondering if people would only turn up later for
the main act. Well they needn’t have bothered, because the hall
was already busy by the time they went on. The Jam numbers they
did went down a treat. Yeah I really enjoyed their set. Well
done lads, really enjoyed the set.
The main act
Right he ho, I was a big Jam fan from
roughly 78 to 82. I’ve been a big fan of four bands in my youth,
The Jam, The Stranglers, The Cure & Genesis. My bedroom walls
were plastered in Jam posters. BUT the worst concert I’ve ever
seen in my life was the real Jam at the Playhouse in 1982. So as
you can see even although The Jam was one of my favourites I say
it how it was. Paul Weller was crap that night.
So what has that to do with the New
Age Jam you ask? Well not really that much on the whole. As we
all know The Jam were a three piece act, The New Age Jam are a
four piece. So straight away you’re going to get an ever so
slightly different sound. So if you’re a perfectionist it’s a
wee black mark against them for the Jam numbers alone & the band
name. Because it kind of insinuates a Jam tribute rather than a
Paul Weller one. But they do state on their posters they are a
tribute to Paul Weller rather than a full on Jam tribute. So
they can be excused.
Who cares Hodge? Okay the actual set
was a good mixture of tunes not playing the Jam numbers in album
order was good. I’d personally have preferred a full Jam set,
but I suppose they are advertised as a Tribute to Paul Weller.
And as I’ve always said it’s not down to my personal taste it’s
what Joe Public likes. And Mr Public seemed to really, really
enjoy the night.
Well I asked a good few of my old
mates who were Jam fans in the 80’s. We all came to the same
conclusion. Yeah they were okay, pretty good but not
outstanding. However the crowd in the hall seemed to enjoy them
a lot more than us boring old perfectionists did.
Would I personally go and see them
again? No, & not because they were bad. Far from it they were
pretty good. I just personally don’t like much of what Mr.
Weller did after 82. And I’m a three piece perfectionist.
Should anyone who likes The Jam & Paul
Weller & is not as much of an auld grumpy git like me go & see
them? Oh definitely. They are a wee touch too loud tho,’ but
pretty good all the same. If you like Paul Weller, I think you’d
like the New Age Jam.
If you’re a Jam perfectionist? I think
you’d find them okay, not the worst out there by a long mile.
But not the best either, I still think the Jamm are probably
tops for Jam tributes.
But all in all, yeah a pretty good
night. Oh and well done to Peter Middleton on the sound desk.
Skool Rock - Various acts Craigiebield Hotel Sat
28th August
I get invited to quite a lot of gigs
doing this website. Often I don’t really want to go I’d rather
stay in & watch the telly. Thank goodness I chose to go out
tonight to help support a friend & work colleague Ross McVie of
Rayne. What a totally enjoyable & eye opening evening.
All the lads of Rayne along with the
likes of Gary Oliver have done more for local music than any
other band I know. Tonight was no exception Rock Skool a rock
night for 12 – 18 year olds. Giving young bands an opportunity
to play a local venue.
Any youngster under 16 had to be
accompanied by an adult. So there were a good few mum’s, dads &
big brothers & sisters about. Did everyone behave? Of course
they did! Not one bit of trouble, everyone was happy & sober. By
the look on their faces (well maybe not the Emo’s) they all
seemed to really enjoy the night.
Rayne opened the night with the
addition of Trish singing with the lads. What a really pleasant
good set they did. Trish & Ross actually sounded great together.
Should be done a bit more often lads. It was a nice surprise.
I was totally amazed at the level of
skill of the young bands. They could have put to shame some of
the bands I’ve seen in the last few years doing this site. There
dedication & obvious loads of rehearsals that really showed off
the work that had been put in. I don’t think there was one bad
band on the night.
Now I know I shouldn’t say this but there was one young lad
tonight who actually shone above the rest. That was the singer
of Electro Circuit. Now as much as everyone & I mean everyone,
gave their all tonight. This young lad really is a gifted
singer. Good band behind him too. I’m a bit of a Muse fan &
these lads played Knights Of Cydonia. Excuse the language but
bloody hell, I know older lads who wouldn’t even attempt that
one. And they did a fantastic cover, the young singer has a
voice many years his senior. What’s more he actually sang the
songs, didn’t shout, sang. I was very, very impressed. I really
think that he would show up three quarters of the band singers
in the area just now. That’s how good this youngster was.
As for the rest of the bands a HUGE thanks for the night. I’m 46
almost 47 (12 days time, don’t send presents send money!), & it
brought me right back to being a teenager myself.
The bands were No Need (great set lads, you have the Spirit of
1979 height of New Wave), Disposable Heroes, another great tight
band, loud, fast & one to watch, was well impressed. The
Revenue, another great set well done lads, you're really getting
better every time I see you. Bottom of the Night, I’m not
putting you down lads so please don't think I am please take
this as advice not criticism (that goes to any mums dads etc of
the lads too, I'm not putting down the lads. Because there's
loads of raw energy & skill there. Just needs a tiny weenie
touch of refining); you did extremely well, but possibly a wee
bit more rehearsing on your set pieces. Just to tighten what
you’re trying to do. Because you’ve got the look the energy, and
the attitude as well. I know there's loads of bands
with attitude out there. But what they all have in common is a
tightness of sound that comes from practice, practice & more
practice. And listen to older musicians too they can honestly
help, especially when setting up (I know that it sounds
condescending, but they've all been gigging for years & know the
equipment back to front). Lastly Electro
Circuit, well I said it all above, but don’t go getting big
headed over this. This is not the big music press it’s only a
local website & only one old mans opinion. I certainly no Simon Cowell or would want to be.
Over all a very high standard of musicianship from such a young
set of lads. If it happens again I really would advise anyone
who enjoys music to go along. Who knows you might be seeing a
fledgling superstar in the making.
If I've got the band names wrong let me know, cos it was
fellow old farts that told me who's who!
 |
 |
 |
| Rayne with Trish |
Disposable Heroes |
The Revenue |
 |
 |
 |
| Electro Circuit |
Bottom of the Night |
No Need |
To Hell & Back Meat Loaf tribute Penicuik Town Hall
27th June
Mmm
I pondered quite some time in whether I should write this or
not. As you can see I came to the decision that I’d write.I’m
not going to be as harsh as a lot of people wanted me to be. But
what I’ll try & do is put forward as honest a review as I can.
The sponsors of most of the tribute bands to have played the
Town Hall have spoiled us over the years. We’ve had great live
music “bands” playing here. “Pete Loaf” being one of them, which
I would say was a whole Meat Loaf experience. I’m afraid that
Pete made “to Hell & Back” tribute seem very much an inferior
product. The problem being for the sponsors they have to go on
what the acts send them, or on their websites & their reviews.
If you go to “Hell & Back” (www.meatloaf.org)
own website you get wonderful reviews & great tracks. So yeah
I’d probably have been taken in too. So we can’t blame the
sponsors for the night, so don’t go giving them a hard time.
They have, & are bring a whole load of great bands to the town.
Listening to the performers tonight I’m afraid I was extremely
suspicious from the very start. Because there was no band & the
two singers were singing along to backing tracks. Not a great
start for me personally as I much prefer live music. But I
thought “come on Craig give them a chance”. However because
every song I heard had so much reverb on it. And the vocals were
far too perfect at times; I had a sneaking suspicion that there
was an awful lot of miming going on. Don’t get me wrong the
vocals were good at times. The woman especially, but it was
friends who put forward a couple of issues.
1.
The woman singing was waving her microphone about at times, but
the vocals were strong & you never got any fading of her voice.
You would have I she was singing 100% live.
2.
They wouldn’t use the Town Halls own P.A. system, where our
sound engineers could have balanced the sound for them. Why not?
Well if you're singing to a pre-recorded track could have been
one of the reasons. Only supposition not fact, so don’t go
quoting me.
I do think they actually did sing on the night. I don’t think it
was all miming but I have my OWN suspicions & they are my OWN, I
do think they did sing along. And they most probably have really
decent voices. But with the reverb on, on all the songs I
listened to it was very hard to tell. And if there was backing
vocals on track it would mask any real vocals. Sing along to
your favourite music yourself you’ll see what I mean.
I actually came away because as I said earlier I personally
prefer a live band. However I did go back to speak to a whole
load of friends who stayed to the end. I unfortunately never got
one good bit of feedback on the whole night. I can’t write what
people actually said but it involved the word defecation in its
most colloquial form.
To give Hell & Back there dues, they did try to give a proper
Meat Loaf experience. But the phoney American accent didn’t
really work. Or trying to do the real Meat Loaf vapid
chauvinistic stage humour (which is all part of his act). Didn’t
really work either, it detracted from the actual singing.
There’s only one Meat so he’d have been much better just being
his self in-between numbers. I think the audience would have
liked that better. I also think they most probably have very
good voices too. But too much reverb on the tracks you couldn’t
get a good feeling for there voices. It might have just been the
Penicuik audience; we’re much more used to bands than backing
tracks. I think possibly to Hell & Back would be better on a
club circuit rather than a musical venue. They’re much more of a
“Stars in your eyes” type act than anything else.
I’m sure there were probably people in the hall that enjoyed the
night. And I don’t think any of the sponsors should be blamed.
This act was booked on faith, & they weren’t cheap to book
either. It’s not cheap to organise all the events they do, & we
should thank them for bring music back to the Town Hall. There
are a few really good live bands coming in the next few months.
So if you were disappointed in tonight’s performance you’ll not
be in the next few. They’ve just about all played here before to
rave reviews.
Personally I was a bit disappointed on tonight. I’m not a Meat
Loaf fan but I’ll give every performer a chance. And I genuinely
love when an act comes on playing music I don’t normally listen
changes my mind. I’m afraid To Hell & Back didn’t change my mind
tonight. But because it doesn’t matter what I like it’s what the
audience likes. The dozen or so people I talked to all had one
common theme. They didn’t think he was as good as Pete Loaf, &
they didn’t like the fake accent or attempts at real Meat Loaf
humour.
Reply from Dean (the performer):
I
found your review of our performance to be biased, and
slanderous and downright amateur!
I
dont know who you are and to be honest i dont really care .
First thing your slagging us off then in the next breath your
saying the vocals were that good we had to be miming !! You then
go on to say Peatloaf is better , well he would be he is from
Scotland!!! Peat in my opinion is f***ing dreadful , yes he is
good if you like your meat loaf sounding like Billy Conolly!!!
All our vocals are live, we didnt use the in house pa because it
was sh*te! , there was no top end to it , and it distorted like
hell at any reasonable volume, I suspect this is the reason for
your misguided review. Do you really think I wanted to lug 6
large speakers up 2 flights of stairs! if the in house system
was good enough ?
For the record we took 4 private bookings on the night, sold 11
CDS !! Had loads of nice comments from many people , quite a lot
saying i blew peatloaf out the water, which isnt really
difficult, i suggest you check his youtube videos against mine
to see for yourself, the ones of him in benidorm are awful to
say the least!!
The quotes about the american accent are again laughable , as
for being chauvenist again you obviously havnt seen a live Meat
Loaf show!
The hospitality at the venue was sh*te and we were made to feel
as welcome as a fart in a space suit, i think you like most
reviewers have an hidden agenda what that maybe again i dont
give a f**k, we have had lots of great reviews about the show at
penecuik town hall, see our guestbook!!
WE HAVE HAD MANY FANTASTIC NIGHTS IN sCOTLAND OVER THE YEARS
We have always had great reviews , obviously your a peatloaf fan
so your racist review dosent really bother me!
EUROPES NO1 MEAT LOAF TRIBUTE!!
If you have a good review, anyone out there who was at the Town
Hall I'll publish it. For the sake of a proper balanced outlook.
I'll not publish anymore bad points of the evening so please
don't send them.
I did point out to Dean in an email I'm neither a Racist (my
girlfriend is both English & Black) or even a Peat Loaf or Meat
Loaf fan. It was a review on what I thought of the nights
performance, & what more than a dozen people said to me
afterwards. I'm genuinely sorry Dean feels the way he does. And
I was more than pleased to post his reply.
However he must realise that we are in Penicuik more used to
live musicians (as in guitars, drums etc). And he is not always
going to be told how great he is. You have to take the good with
the bad in this life. As I said I wrote what people said to me &
not just two or three people either. It was more like 15 to 20.
You can check out his website guestbook & see the reviews if you
feel I wasn't fair. Or better still write a review & I'll
publish it (send your full name don't worry I'll not publish
it).
T9 in the Car Park 6th June 2009
Due to a bout of
food poisoning I couldn’t manage to get to the event till 2pm.
We’ll not go into full details, let’s just say upset tummy &
leave it at that. I only managed to stay till just after 5pm so
I’m afraid I missed a few bands. But what I saw was absolutely
great, not a bad band in the selection.
Despite it
probably being the coldest day in June, with intermittent
showers. It was a great event. The sound was by the
irrepressible Gary Oliver & it was top notch.
I walked in on
21Grams set. What a great band! Not my normal type of music but
I was well impressed. I believe they’re from Glasgow, check them
out if you get the chance. I think you’ll be quite impressed,
good hard rock band.
The Remedy was
pretty impressive too. Saw them a couple of years ago & they
were good then. But I think they’ve improved even more. Even a
song sung in a slightly too high key made everyone laugh.
Because the singer stopped burst out laughing & started again.
It actually made the set more enjoyable, because you could see
the lads were really enjoying the day. Really good set.
The Occasional
Rascueduos are old T in the Car Park familiars. Great sounds
again not really my cup of tea. But extremely enjoyable &
professional sound.
Rayne, the lads
who actually organise the whole thing, were fantastic. I think
it was one of the tightest sets I’ve heard them play for quite
some time. It’s a smaller line up these days, but I have to be
honest it sounds bigger. Okay they do have the combined age of
the whole of human kind foray into music. And their clothing
style is more B & Q than D & G. But it’s not a fashion show
(thank Cod!) it’s a music event, & I was well impressed.
All in all what I
saw was fantastic. The whole event was smoother than all the
previous years. The band change overs were quick & the sound was
great. Lastly the kids loved the day because they had the hall
all to themselves. A bouncy castle and games, was quite jealous.
Next year maybe a bouncy castle for adults?
Stu Goodall & The Whitlocks plus guests Navaar House Hotel Fri 1st
May
Stu is well known
on the local musical circuit. He’s also highly respected & has
an ever growing fan base. An unassuming quiet lad off stage, but
genuinely one of the nicest blokes you’ll ever meet.
On stage he’s a
consummated professional. He can turn his hands to just about
anything. I’ve seen him play lead guitar, rhythm, mandolin &
keyboards all to a very high standard. Plus he writes & produces
as well! I wouldn’t be surprised in the least, if he could play
the didgeridoo,
balalaika, Trombone & double bass.
Tonight he was accompanied by two fantastic guitarists Rodrigo
Braga &
Ant Law, Anna on violin, backing vocals & lead vocals too.
Plus of course Steve (bass) & Tony (drums). What a cracking
combination. Totally mind blowing musicians all of them. If you
like a bit of jazz, seriously check out Ant’s website.
The actual set was probably one of most mixed musical styles
I’ve heard in Penicuik in a long time. Everything from Survivor,
Queen, Bon Jovi to Phil Collins, Paolo Nutini & Coldplay.
Basically something for everyone. And not a bad execution in any
of them all played excellently. Stu even got the thumbs up from
his biggest fan, his mum!
I haven’t seen a crowd enjoy a small session like this in a long
time. I don’t think there was one person who didn’t enjoy the
night.
I you haven’t seen Stu or the fantastic Whitlocks, seriously go
along & check them out. Stu has a new website
www.stugood.co.uk check it out. And pop along to give him
support. You'll be going along to see the birth of a new musical
talent on the circuit.
Extremely enjoyable night a good 10/10.
Jam in the Bar, Craigiebield
House Hotel Friday 7th March
I wasn’t going to
write a review about tonight, I didn’t even take my camera. But
when I got there and listened to the music I felt I had to write
something.
Jam in the Bar is
a friendly, easy musical concept. Run by the lads from Rayne &
held in the bar of the Craigiebield House Hotel. It’s almost a
turn up & play concept. However a couple of months in & it’s
starting to get so busy you’re going to almost have to book a
slot.
Tonight they even
had to bring in seats from the restaurant to seat everyone. Even
then there was a few of us standing. No bad thing at all. And
the selection of music was even more diverse than last months.
We had the Blues, Rock, Folk & a brilliant Simon & Garfunkle
duo, with fantastic harmonies, Stu Goodall, the young lads from
last month of course the lads from Rayne. Plus a good half a
dozen new faces.
But one of the
best of the night, & to be honest he wasn’t a great singer at
first. Was a bloke who got up for his FIRST ever time to sing &
play guitar. But the sheer enthusiasm & the way he came across
as really enjoying his self. It was totally infectious. He came
off stage telling us he’d never sung into a mic before or play
live. He was so high on adrenaline that if you had put a string
round his leg. You could have floated him as a balloon. It was
fantastic! And the set he played was great, really good.
Coming a very
close second was an older bloke doing a couple of classic Folk
numbers. He was brilliant, & funny. He started into Whisky in
the Jar & shouted at everyone “Sing”. It was hilarious, & got
everyone behind him straight away.
All in all I think
Rayne & The Craigiebield have a winning concept going here.
However if it gets anymore successful I think they’ll have to
think about having it in the actual hall.
So if you like
live music & a pint at a good price too. Go along to the
Craigiebield first Friday of the month. You’ll enjoy it. Oh but
go along early so you get a seat!
Jam in the Bar Craigiebield House Hotel Friday 6th Feb
Sometimes it’s a
genuine pleasure to do a review, & tonight was one of them. I’ve
said it before & I’ll say it again. Penicuik has a real wealth
of musical talent. Not only that we have a strong experienced
core of musicians who actively support the up & coming bands &
singers. Ross McVie, Ian Hunter, Chris Stenhouse, Mark Anderson,
Kenny Archibald & Gary Oliver can all be found regularly at
these events. Whether they’re actually organising, encouraging
or just playing along for the pleasure of it. These lads are
rarely acknowledged for their contribution to the Penicuik
scene. But without this core of talented musicians I don’t
really think the younger bands would have had the opportunities
to be heard by the Penicuik populous. So as a mere spectator &
hopefully a friend of these lads, can I say thank you for
organising & encouraging the burgeoning music scene in Penicuik.
The venue was the
Craigiebield House Hotel. Which in my humble opinion is one of
the nicer venues in the town. It has a really nice relaxed cosy
atmosphere.
Anyway tonight was
a Jam in the Bar night, basically an open mic evening. Now I’m
going to be terrible here I can’t remember any of the names of
the young bands I saw. Sorry. But they all were very good. There
was a raw talent that made me smile. I think most of the mums &
dads were well chuffed too!
We also had a
great mixture of musical styles. Everything from Eagles numbers
to the blues to a bit of Green Day. Smashin! Oh & we had a first
tonight as. Gary Olivers 8 year old daughter sang a couple of
songs, with her dad playing guitar. She was fantastic, the
musical dynasty begins!!!! If Gary & Lesley give me permission
I’ll see what I can do to add the wee video I took to the site.
(Gary send me an email I've lost your address & I'll send the
photo's & video)
I’d genuinely
encourage anyone to go along & have a listen. It’s not like the
days of yore when at an open mic you had certain bands hogging
the mic. It’s a couple of numbers from each. Then if there’s
time everyone gets another shot. So you get a real good
selection of talent.
Yeah well done
everyone I’ll see you in March.
Saturday 31st January -
Charity Gig featuring Flat Oot & Strange Affair
This was a Charity Gig
organised by Jennie Anderson in aid of SENSE. Jennie will be
running in the London Marathon & this was a fund raising event
for the Marathon.
I believe Strange Affair
haven't been together that long. But I can tell you what a great
singer, really good voice. I was told he's in a Wishbone Ash
tribute act. I can't corroborate this but it does make sense. I
think they enjoyed themselves, & my ears did too.
Flat Oot is my mates band
& they're dead gid! I'm no just saying that because he's a
friend. To put you in the picture I was good friends with the
lead guitarist over 18 years ago. He was rubbish on the guitar
then, he used to strum away badly to all my favourite tracks.
Well I'm really please to say that practice does make perfect. I
was gob smacked! Well done Stig (Stevie White). What a
sensational singer Clare is too. Really good rockin' band, just
what the doctor ordered for the first review.
Huge thanks to Jennie &
the bands for a great night. Oh there might be a few clips on
You Tube if I can work out how to cut up the video I made. I'll
let you know via the News Page
