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Track list:
- Green Eyed Monster Blues
- Take the Money and Run
- Scapa Flow
- Pictures of Miles
![]() Interviews:
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By contrast, headliner The Fire and I’s (photo on left by Edi Pyczek) set is the well-polished, confident presentation of rigour and near-palpable performance experience, and the crowd greets them like the rock stars they are. The gig marks the end of the band’s tour in support of their fantastic debut album, Stampede Finale, and the effective homecoming for the Bathgate-via-Mexico City energetic alternative rock duo, who have been touring not just Scotland, but Italy too. It will also be the last gig the band perform for at least a couple of months, as the band take time off to write some new songs, and work on a side-project; more on that to follow.
Hagana’s lead singer and guitarist, Leo Fox (left), was overjoyed with the performance. “Our new bass player done fantastic, he only had one practise with us, and he fitted like a glove, basically. He done fantastic.” Drummer
David Chisholm (right) agrees. “Good considering I came back from Asia on Wednesday night and we had one practice on Thursday night and then the gig on Friday night. It was good all three of us having fun on stage, which I think has been missing the last couple of months. Obviously we miss our old bass player; he’s been with us for so long, but I think all three of us could use a fresh band, I think we’ve got a nice but of fun and enthusiasm to the band that was missing before.”
Craig Robson (left). “I thought he was rubbish. No, I’m just kidding... I thought he was fantastic and I’m very, very proud.”
(right), lead singer of A Fight You Can’t Win, after whom Hagana have named a song in their set. “I think that Hagana’s bass player is a cross between the one fellah from Soundgarden and Gary Glitter,” Bakewell stated. “Which is, in my opinion, the best thing that ever happened. I think that he is both an excellent bass player but clearly fiddles kids.” Presumably, this is an endorsement from Bakewell, who is referred to affectionately by his friends as ‘Edinburgh’s favourite sex pest’. He went on to describe similar affections for The Fire and I: “I initially wasn’t entirely sure but actually they are the s***. Really, really good, and I want to f*** both of them in the ass, hard.” Hmmm.
The aftershow party is less than a minute’s walk away. Down Blair Street, across the Cowgate, up the alleyway stairs towards Guthrie Street you’ll find The Store. The VIP room upstairs is complete with low-sitting couches, a pool table, full service bar and Golden Age comic book artwork of Wolverine and Spider-Man (left) adorning the walls. Not to mention banging tracks and more faces from the Edinburgh alternative scene.
(right). On the subject of Hagana, she exclaimed: “Loved them! It was really much more energy and stuff, I really liked it.” Then, as the token girl, Angie offered some beauty tips: “The Fire and I were good as usual... lots of energy, very sweaty, and what’s his name? Gordon? Very good, however, needs to work on his hair as it looks like a wig on back-to-front.”
(right of photo on left) disagrees, “They’re tidy! The two of them are quite tidy. Good looking, aye,” she proclaims wistfully. Scene darling Martina Cannon is a regular sight at alternative gigs in Edinburgh and can be seen here as part of A Fight You Can’t Win’s stage invasion. She was impressed with Field’s debut appearance as well. “He was s*** hot, he moves like a panther. And there’s going to be a lot more of that, I can imagine, in the next couple of gigs.”
(right of photo on right) description. “I quite like the way that his head still moves the same way when he’s playing bass as when he’s playing drums. Just a little bit of leg action on top so what more do you want?” “Jumpy-aroundy,” Chris Elsheikhi (left of photo on right) adds. Chris and Angus run Bainbridge Music, and they put tonight’s gig together. They were very pleased with their headliner’s performance. “Brilliant, really, really good. Energetic, in a word,” Chris says succinctly. “Well, what did everybody else think of The Fire and I?” Angus asks rhetorically. “You heard the crowd, you’ve got it on record, they were unbelievable... even the monitor mix sounded amazing”.
(left), ever-smiling drummer of The Fire and I, strolls into the afterparty fashionably late with a grin even wider than usual. “Today it went like a Super Pot Noodle when you’re hungry; so, really good. Of course it’s good to be back, I miss all the passionate fans. Although, they’re passionate over there as well.” By “over there” he means Italy, where the band have been away on a manager-free, entourage-free, girlfriend-free two-person tour. So used to being joined at the hip to his bandmate, Sadikson found the idea of a new member in Hagana a little hard to digest. “He must have been the real bassist originally. Surely he did not learn all those songs in one day. That’s f***ing crazy. I love him!”
(right), is a lot more timid and patient than the screaming rocker we see on stage, and he is looking forward to the future. “We are going to be writing a lot, we have been writing a lot, and we’re going to write some more and do a lot of demos and work on the next album, which is going to be, hopefully, out next year.”
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