Haddowfest Acoustic Sessions 2011

In April 2011, Edinburgh's music venues were host to Haddowfest 2011, and in the smoking shelter out the back of The Liquid Room, edRock.net recorded live acoustic performances from some of Haddowfest's performing bands. Hear the full coverage on the Day 2 webcast, and stream or download the individual tracks for free from bandcamp.

Death Trap City | FreshAir.org.uk Session

edRock.net are joined live and streaming in the Fresh Air studio by Craig and Mike of Death Trap City, who discuss their upcoming single 'Ignite'/'Fight or Fall', play a couple of acoustic tunes, and tell us about the launch party Friday 13 May 2011 at Sneaky Pete's with Hagana and Jump: Press A.

News: Sick Kids Charity Album

When drummer Col McGregor’s Edinburgh band Frantic Chant were booted off of a charity compilation album for Yorkhill Hospital in Glasgow that had decided to become exclusively Glaswegian, he decided to take doing his bit into his own hands. Together with Dom Holt of newly formed Leith-based Youngteam Records, Col has put together a compilation album of twenty-one tracks from Edinburgh-based bands.

The profits from the sale of the album, entitled ‘No Colour Too Strong to Paint’, will be donated to The Sick Kids Friends Foundation, the registered Scottish Charity that supports the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Marchmont.

The track listing contains many of Edinburgh music’s glitterati, with a few unknown gems too. A full track listing appears at the bottom of the article. In Col’s words, “It’s a great document of what's going on in Edinburgh right now and it’s for a fantastic cause.”

The album title comes from a letter written to The Scotsman newspaper by Dr John Smith in 1859. The letter began "No colours are too strong to paint the sufferings of young children amongst the lowest and poorest classes of the population, when afflicted with disease." The cover artwork is produced by Nick Paul and the album was mastered by John Durnan, who also contributed a track.

The album will be available to download from “all the major online retailers” [iTunes, and, I guess, Amazon? eMusic maybe] for £6 from 7 May 2011. There will also be a limited edition CD of the album on sale for this one night only.

To mark the occasion, several of the participating bands will be performing at Maggies Chamber at The Three Sisters, Cowgate, Edinburgh, the evening of the launch. This launch gig is being organised by Ginger Music Promotions, and has almost sold out! Which is excellent news for Sick Kids, as the profits from the gig are also going to the charity.

Tickets are no longer available in advance, but a limited amount will be sold on the door so get there early if you don't already have tickets.

If you don't manage it and still want to get the limited edition CD on the night it is released, there is one other option. edRock.net is presenting another event that will also be selling the album on its launch night. At Sneaky Pete’s, just a few doors down from Maggies Chamber, Brain Storm 3 will take place. This is the third in a series of alt-rock live music events coordinated by noise-popniks Scrap Brain and sponsored by Bainbridge Music and Great Junction St Music Studios.

In addition to Scrap Brain, who appear on the No Colour... album, the night will feature Bathgate duo The Fire and I and Glasgow pop-punks Acrylic Iqon. The gig starts at 19.00 and tickets are available from TicketWeb for £3.

After the launch, the album will still be available online, and rumour is that there will be more promotional gigs to come. You can follow their progress and hear about upcoming activities on the No Colour Too Strong To Paint official Facebook page.

No Colour Too Strong To Paint 1. Dancing Round the Nails - The Jackals 2. Tear it up - Frantic Chant 3. To Be Sad... - Steve Heron 4. If I Lived Here I'd Be Home Now - My Electric Love Affair 5. I'll Rest - The Thanes 6. Dollyrocker - The Valkarys 7. Sheltered Life - Delta Mainline 8. So - White Heath 9. First Light of Day - Matt Norris & The Moon 10. I Want You, You Want The Devil - Scrap Brain 11. Spirit Walk - Inspired 12. She Said, You Said - The OK Social Club 13. Summertime - The Steals 14. Light - John Durnam 15. Two to Tango - Epic 26 16. Traffic Management - The 10:04s 17. Eighteen Tonne - Imperial Racing Club 18. More Than I Could Tell - The Remnant Kings 19. Sick Of You - David Winpenny 20. Sewed Beneath The Fabric - Nicky Carder 21. Bicycle Day (The Hoff) - The Lunes

Launch Party Maggies Chamber Frantic Chant My Electric Love Affair White Heath Steve Heron The Steals The Remnant Kings David Winpenny Brain Storm 3 Sneaky Pete's The Fire and I Scrap Brain Acrylic Iqon

Haddowfest 2011 Day 2: Backstage Acoustic @ Liquid Room, Edinburgh

For the second day of Haddowfest 2011, edRock.net go backstage at Liquid Room and record some acoustic performances from Haddowfest bands, and do a few interviews with Edinburgh music folk.

*CONTAINS STRONG LANGUAGE* - photo by Dom Holt

• Kerrie Lynch - Something New
• Steve Heron - Eleanor
• Gary of Ginger Music Promotions
• The Remnant Kings - More Than I Can Tell
• The Fire and I - Control
• Craig of Alive & Amplified
• The OK Social Club - She Said, You Said
• Chris Helme - Last High
• Michael of New Found Sound
• Homework - Why Oh Why

Haddowfest 2011 Day 1: Bainbridge Alternative Stage @ The Store, Edinburgh

edRock.net spend the first day of Haddowfest 2011 at The Store speaking to bands and other participants at the Bainbridge Music curated Alternative Stage.

*CONTAINS STRONG LANGUAGE*

• Seafield Foxes
• Babylon Dub Punks
• The Dark Jokes
• Casino Queen
• Angus of Bainbridge Music
• Ghosts of Progress
• The Fire and I
• Tourettes
• Keith D Edinburgh of Edinburgh Underground
• Death Trap City
• Fatalists
• Hagana
• Chris of Bainbridge Music
• A Fight You Can't Win
• LaFaro

Merit/Privilege - Notebooks

Stirling's Notebooks first surfaced in 2010 and have been plugging away diligently since, on the back of a reassuringly back-to-basics model which seems to be working quite well for them. The Notebooks’ agenda is quite simple: gig mercilessly, sell t-shirts and CDs, play dark and heavy modern hardcore. And a year or so down the line, their work has culminated in their debut EP Merit/Privilege. The CD is sharply packaged and clocks in at just 17 minutes, concise in every way. Beginning with Network, featuring a sample from the film of the same name that quite neatly sums up the whole record, and blasting through five tracks of pure intensity. Merit/Privilege never lets up but never overstays its welcome, which is always a big plus.

The first "proper" song on the EP, Sorrow, serves as a nice introduction to the band's sound: a breathless rush of aggression that collapses into a brilliantly heavy groove with the furious roars of vocalist Chris Gregg unrelenting throughout. Gregg's vocals are one of Notebooks' strongest assets; they are devoid of the melodic-to-unmelodic shifts that are common in metalcore. While these shifts are not always a bad thing, staying away from this style prevents the songs on Merit/Privilege from ever falling into overly melodramatic, scene-orientated pitfalls. The songs on the EP play on the band's grasp of straight-up, deeply confrontational aggression. The structures are fairly simple and riff-driven, which does lead to structural and dynamic repetition at points. On the other hand, this allows the emotion of the songs to bleed through, putting emphasis on Gregg's passionate song writing and the sheer heaviness and darkness of the band's music. It's good to listen to a band that encroach on a scene that too often veers towards what's almost self-parody, yet emerge proudly brandishing their songs with their own sound and credibility firmly intact. The EP's highlights include the pummelling Four Walls and Being Human’s brutal, head banging intensity.

As a body of music, Merit/Privilege serves as an immaculate portrait of exactly why Notebooks are here. Whilst sounding very much like the work of a band still finding its feet, everything from its presentation to its songs indicate a young band who already have real depth and integrity in their grasp.

Stewart McLachlan

Feel Safe Small - French Wives

‘Happy indie pop’ best describes French Wives’ new EP, Feel Safe Small.

The Glasgow band kicks off the EP with Big Brave Boy, an upbeat track containing clapping and a decent rhythm; the sound is a bit like being on holiday. The vocals may seem slightly irritating at points of this song, but fear not, it doesn’t last. Moving on to Purple Hell, the vocals are a lot stronger and are reminiscent of an early Maxïmo Park. This poppy, summertime sound continues in Covered In Grace, a tune that could be played at indie discos across the country.

The EP is saved from being trite indie pop by the final track. Wrapping up the record is a sweet, melodic ballad, Confidence, the EP’s strongest track. The violin, harmonies and atmosphere show the band’s potential; the song seems to have more depth and originality than the others.

The EP overall is definitely worth a listen, but isn’t groundbreaking. The array of music instruments is enjoyable; however, the violin is sometimes too dominant, although this may be down to production.

Although the whole sound is a bit too much like what has been floating about the indie scene for the last few years, the band show promise overall.

Dani Rowley