Indietracks in 7 minutes

I'm still hammering away at trying to shorten this video to make it more manageable and digestible. This is a seven minute version.

Indietracks long video - Part 1

Part 1 of the Last Night From Glasgow Indie Eyespy full length video of Indietracks 2009



This video feature the following bands recorded on Friday and Saturday

• Modular
• Rose Elinor Dougall
• Au Revoir Simone
• Little My
• Lets Whisper
• Friends
• Tender Trap
• Fitness First
• The Frank and Walters
• Labrador
• The Specific Heats
• Butcher Boy
• Camera Obscura
• Alaska
• Emmy the Great
• La Casa Azul
• 'Allo Darlin'
• The Smittens
• David Pope from The Just Joans
• Moustache of Insanity
• The Vegetable Assembly
• Images of Mathematicians on Postage Stamps
• Pete Green

My plan is to do a full length video in two 10-minute long parts, this is the first one, the second one with cover bands from the Sunday. I also plan to make a 7-minute cut, a 3-munite cut and then finally somehow distill 40 minutes of footage of Indietracks into a 30 second clip featuring all the bands.

Videos from Indietracks 2008 last year are here, here and here

Sorry the sound quality is pants, I recorded it all on my trusty Canon Ixus 50 camera and built-in microphone with a 2Gb memory card in black and white, and used Windows Movie Maker for editing and subtitles. Its not high definition, its not even DVD quality, it's barely YouTube quality. I'm not a professional, I'm an unemployable wretch, so its got to be quick, easy and hassle free.

There were loads of other video folk at Indietracks, the Scottish mob, the pretty girls with professional equipment and the thousands of folk thrusting cameraphones at the stage, there's got to be some higher quality videos out there, but this is what I saw and what I heard, and it was great, I know cos I was there. Was There Then.

Videos from Indietracks 2008 are here, here and here

Twee As Fuck: The Days - The Victoria

Four skinny lads, I'm wondering if they are the nominal headline act, the final band of the night after Comet Gain cancelled.


Do Comet Gain always cancel? I lost faith in them a long time ago.

On stage, The Days, from Gothenburg. Breezy and jangly, with just a smidgen of quirky.

Some very gentle hooks in the melody, those wee descending guitar lines, and last night in the city vocals.


Some people at the front really getting into it. But its too relaxed for me, if I could find a seat it the music would lull me to sleep.

Its been a long day, there are lots of big scary drunk people here, staggering and bumping.

I've been listening to lots of early-era Franz Ferdinand recently. This mob on stage, their vocals sound like the more quiet and less arty bits of the Franz.

Twee As Fuck: Tender Trap - The Victoria

Fast, exciting, yelpy music, as usual, from Tender Trap. I don't really know what to say. They sure look like they're enjoying themselves on stage, if a little hot and sweaty.

Nice backing vocal 'ba ba baa's, which today I shall describe as yummy.

Setlists dissolving into pulp beneath their feet, the previous band spilt beer on stage, and mopping can only do so much.

They were still undecided which new song to play, the one that half the band know or the one that the other half of the band know. It turns out okay anyhoo.

Twee As Fuck: Slow Club - The Victoria

Slow Club are a two-piece, bloke on guitar and girl standing playing drums. Both singing harmonies, a bit country really, there's a twang in the girl's vocals.

Crikey, the young Jane Fonda is in the audience, that's somewhat unexpected. And there's a chap who looks like Skif45 off of Songkick, which is less unexpected.


Occasional harmony whistling solos, and bumbled songs restarted halfway through, but done nice.

The girl's got a mighty fringe.

Ooh, in the absence of a lead for an additional guitar, the duo wander into the midst of the crowd to play an un-mic'ed acoustic number. A dozen cameras are thrust into the air trying to snatch a shot. Nice harmonies, they silence the yakking at the back of the audience a little, but it soon rises again.

The band grow on me mightily through the set, its the contrast between the twang in the vocals and the between song banter that really makes it. Luv it.

Twee As Fuck: The Bobby McGees - The Victoria

I've never noticed the apostrophe in McGee's before, it could just be a typo I guess.

There was a hella debate on the Anorak forum recently about the nature of 'twee', and how lazy journalists (mostly from The Guardian) brand the whole of the indiepop/DIY scene as twee, and how it really pisses off some of the non-twee folk. Today is the Twee As Fuck 2nd birthday Alldayer, and whilst many acts that play at the Twee As Fuck clubnight are far from the twee end of the spectrum, the Bobby McGees are the very epitome of twee.

They wear facepaints and throw sweeties and paper aeroplanes into the crowd, they have scottish accents and blow bubbles, they have songs with audience participation, songs about being scared your girlfriend is going to dump you or that you're not going to find a girlfriend. They play glokenspiels and ukuleles, they host a series on youtube teaching how to play the ukulele. There are none more twee than this mob.

Its a bit sickly sweet for some. According to Songkick I've seen the Bobby McGees play live fifty seven times, but sometimes I can't look in the direction of the stage lest I wee myself and try to enroll back at primary school.

Christ, Jimmy has glitter in his beard.

They played a new song, which was very nice and soulful, it'd be nice if there was more of that sort of thing and less hamming up of the twee. Actually the one that come next using the closure of Woolies as a metaphor for the loss of innocence, that was beautiful and just a little majestic. The majesty of twee.

Twee As Fuck: Veronica Falls - The Victoria

Traffic was hell, I arrive late at the Twee As Fuck alldayer and manage to catch the last song from Veronica Falls.

Its swelteringly hot in here, not quite Wood Side Social sweat dripping off walls yet, there's plenty of time for that later. The band are a lot heavier than I remember from the other week, thunderous you might say. Patrick's standing up behind his drums when he's not singing, the others rocketing along.

Outside its overcast, raining a little bit, all warm and humid as though a storm's about to break, and on the corner stage in The Victoria this evening, its like the storm has broken.


All raw and youthful energy blasting off the stage.

HDIF: Butcher Boy - The Luminaire

My ladyfriend thinks that Butcher Boy sound nicer than Cats on fire, more gentle, its elegant. Its the strings and the melodica that do it.

Some tunes are bouncy and some lull you to sleep.

Sent using BlackBerry® from Orange

HDIF: Cats On Fire - The Luminaire

Cats on Fire a little better than they were the other night.

Oh aren't I the prettiest boy in the playground.

Does a pouty thing like what an ex- in Glasgow used to do.

My attractive young ladyfriend was giggling and blushing after every song, but she did say she thinks I look like the guitarist, so thats kind of okay.

Keyboard girl looks like a twelve year old, that can't be right.

Sent using BlackBerry® from Orange

HDIF: Pocketbooks - The Luminaire

We wander in a few moments into Pocketbooks's first song, the sound guy still tweaking the vocals.

Hmm, there's something awkward about the gaps between songs tonight.

Ooh occasionally flashes of Saint Etienne, their projection of London.

Sent using BlackBerry® from Orange

Daydream Parade - The Torrino

Ooh, I've seen this chap before, he's funny.

Aye, acoustic guitar, sat on his own, and singing a song about deaths caused by eggs. Surreal stuff, Edward Lear would be proud.

'Its been ten years since I saw my penis' ah, a song about chidhood obesity. It would be funny if it was true.

'Comedic, but socio-political' appartently, I'm get the comedic side of things, but the funny voices play down the other. There was that scene in the League of Gentleman movie with the theatre company, there are shades of that here.

'Was very comical political original'. One of the songs was very poignant, all finger-picked and nice.

Sent using BlackBerry® from Orange

The Plimptons - Ocean Colour Resurrection

And then, almost right on cue, you've got the Plimptons's new single launch at The 13th Note in Glasgow. Its one of these ones where they give out the CD for free and there's a screen set up for the video.

Kind of like a Mighty Boosh skit, there's something odd about how the sound is mixed though.

The Beat Hotel: Shrag, The Loves, Smokers Die Younger, To Arms Etc - Buffalo Bar

I fell asleep as soon as I got home from work, and awoke a few hours later, hungry and still uncertain as to when the gig was.

Facebook had said it as tomorrow or was that yesterday? Dinner cooked too quickly, too many chillies, rush across town and I arrive at the Buffalo.

Folk I recognise from the internet stand around, members of Pocketbooks wave hello. The woman on the door keeps me standing for ten minutes whilst she natters to friends before taking my money and stamping my hand. My mood would have been two points better if she hadn't kept me standing outside in the cold.

Inside I've missed To Arms Etc. I keep missing them. At the Twee As Fuck Alldayer, during Esiotrot I was feeling sad and lonely, a guy from To Arms Etc. started chatting to me and raised my spirits. I promised I'd go an see his band, but still haven't quite made it. This weighs heavy on my mind. The tracks on their myspace are great.

The first band I actually see this evening are Smokers Die Younger, a five or six piece playing stark, stabby shouty music. At times sounding like Idlewild underlings Turn, but every so often with Art School Bricolage harmonies.


Smokers Die Younger

In the crowd I see members of The Give It Ups and to my right folk from Electrophonvintage.

What do they make of Smokers Die Younger? Who knows, they clap politely between songs.

A girl with pink hair steps in front of me to take photies of the band on stage, she leans back, occluding my view by about 90%, she's so close I am able to wipe my nose on her pigtails.

Amusement as the singing girl on stage takes apart the singer's mic stand mid-song, it falls to the floor and she has to scrabble around swapping mics.

I had a moment of introspection the other day, wondering what would have happened if I never got to London, if my flight from Glasgow was never instigated last year. Since records began the plan had always been to move to London, see The Loves. I did it 18 months ago and still get a warm fuzzy feeling in my tummy when I stand at the edge of the Buffalo Bar watching The Loves on stage. No matter what else is happening in my life, I know that just here, things are going to plan.


The Loves

The sound's not so good at the edge of the bar, too close to the guitar amps, not enough vocals, so I wonder about to find a sweet spot.

The line-up's changed over the years, 30 members according to the internet. Has it really een a decade since I was at the Roadhouse in Manchester with Nos telling me about them? They have a new rhythm guitarist, Jerome, leather jacket, easy chords, drummer from Pocketbooks, and I don't recognise the keyboard player.


The Loves

They play a lot of newish songs from their new album Three, out on Fortuna Pop in January, and even a song from the next album after that Jenna sings, a soul club number, which requires more subdued lighting and the smoking ban lifted.

Their set finishes with a seque into their evergreen classic Little Girl Blues, sounding as fresh as it did in the Peel session days.


Shrag

Not sure about the headline act Shrag, it could be my natural bias away from headline acts or its too late in the evening and I'm having internet withdrawl. Cutesy girl vocals, like in the Deirdres sometimes. Mostly droney throbbing guitars, but occasionally early Idlewild chopping. Very abrupt drums. Cute girls, I like the one on the right, but I don't seem to remember this mob at all from Indietracks.

Moustache Of Insanity, The Understudies and Help Stamp Out Loneliness - The Wilmington Arms

Its been a while since I went to a gig on my own. But here I am, somewhat late in the evening.

The location was poorly remembered, so after I'd parked my car there was some degree of wandrin' and soul-searching, trying to remember the name of the venue.
When I wandered in the last band were on stage. They sounded a bt like Lucky Soul, but the shiny singing girl has a distinctive voice, very deep, it sounds familiar. Have I see these people before?

I recognise the guitarist and bass chap, they were in Language of Flowers, I think they were on the same bill as me and the mighty Flyers when I played my London debut gig in '04.

Sometimes I feel like Sam Beckett in Quantum Leap, with that swiss cheese memory thing. I arrive at a gig, without Zippy or Al to tell me why I'm there, just a vague memory of having clicked on this show in Last.fm or Facebook, but still trying to figure out why.

I don't remember the name of the band on stage, or any ones I've missed.

I spot Trevor Lost Music and he waves, stood near is the chap from The Understudies, aw man, I've still never reviewed them. Its been three or four times I've seen them play, but never quite got round to typing up my notes.

I was stood lurking in shadows, jabbing at my mobile phone to look like I was doing something. I was skipping through old draft text messages, from when I thought I could text in gig reviews here. It was just notes, but I remember texting that The Understudies sound a bit like Kingmaker, and that I really ought to review them properly instead of going on about never having written about them.

I spot Will Harrison and Elizabeth Darling, from 'Allo Darlin', who I last saw on the platform at Indietracks. I don't see their bongo player.

Were they playing tonight and I missed them? No, they played Brixton the other day, and I remember missing that. Swiss cheese memory.

On the internet later:-

Moustache Of Insanity (Will Harrison's mob) - MP3s here
The Understudies
Help Stamp Out Loneliness (the band with folk from Language of Flowers)

Bowlie Alldayer 2008: The Gresham Flyers, Wintergreen, The Pete Green Corporate Juggernaut, The Deirdres, The Hermit Crabs - Jamm

The Gresham Flyers


Wintergreen


The Pete Green Corporate Juggernaut


The Deirdres


The Hermit Crabs

Other photies
acb
Your Funny Uncle
Ms-Bexy
Sunshine Pop

Last Night From Glasgow - Indietracks

By the time you read this, you might have seen the wee black and white video I put together of the festival, there's a scene a third of the way through with people playing acoustic sets on a train platform, surrounded by adoring fans. Some reports say it was spontaneous, I disagree, it was carefully calculated and planned.

Well, this is my back story to it.

Earlier in the week Lets Whisper played in London, aw man, I still haven't written up any kind of review of that show. Lets Whisper are like a two piece featuring two members of The Smittens, Colin Clary and Dana Kaplan. I broadly assumed that, well, it was just the same songs as The Smittens play, but cut down. It was nice, twee, heartwarming stuff with cheesy choruses and wide-eyed nodding at the wonders of the world.

Days later the rest of the Smittens arrived and played a show in Glasgow, The Just Joans were support and friends were in the crowd. So after the gig I was online chatting to my friend Robbie who'd been very impressed by The Smittens, chatting to them after the show, they'd heard of this website. After skipping round the room doing dances of self-validation, I returned to my computer to find Robbie talking about how Colin Clary was dancing to The Just Joans. That would be a great music legend to catch on film, and use for cynical promotion and music videos. I decided I would use the Indietracks festival to take such footage.

The last band had played on Saturday, and there was a disco in the diesel shed, Bubblegum Killer DJs were playing, the tunes were good, but I wasn't in the mood for dancing. It takes very specific atmospheric and emotional conditions for me to dance, on Saturday it wasn't happening. Just outside the diesel shed, I found Camila from WeePop chatting to folk, Lets Whisper and Allo Darlin, The Just joans are nearby too. She collars me and asks if I have my guitar with me, aye safely locked up in my car just a wee stroll away. So yeah, we're going to get Colin to play.

I'm away like the wind to pick up my guitar and arrive back at the standing around in a flash. We just need somewhere to play, somewhere quiet and away from the various discos going on. I've been here before, last year, IoMoPS, played a wee set on the platform whilst waiting for a train, I think we roped in Pete Green too, but that was last year. On this warm Saturday night, I lead a small crowd to the station platform, we ousted some young lovers sharing an intimate moment, and we set up.

I pass my guitar to Colin who tunes it, I think there's a ukelele kicking about as well, the really cute bongo player from Allo Darlin has a bag of percussiony instruments and Will Harrison is hanging about too. I quickly drift away from the musical instrument holders lest I get asked to play in front of other people.

And then it kicks off.

Its quiet, people crowd round in silence, the crowd grows, folk sit cross legged. The camera crew who've been following the Just joans all day set up and start recording, people call requests. A strict three song limit is placed on each band, so we get Lets Whisper, Allo Darlin', Will Harrison. Pete Green shuffled in and a set was demanded of him, his Doctor Beeching song about the closure of the railways, particularly appreciated by the passing train drivers.

Lurking at the back of the crowd were The Just Joans, we'd run out of musicy folk at the front of the crowd to force to play, and it was The Just Joans that people wanted to hear. They had no choice in the matter, bashful or no, people were chanting for them, demanding it.

Just three of them, Katie, David and Rowan, the singers, harmonies and guitar. Hey Boy, you're oh so sensitive, What Do We Do Now and I hear you're the man now John. And there if happened, I got my footage of Colin Clary right at the front, bobbing up and down and clapping for The Just Joans. All around are my friends, the bands I love, folk off of the internet, all enjoying, relishing this scene that we built.

I grin and skip, and marvell, absolutely brimming with joy.

I don't want to be a full time promoter or a musician or a writer. I just want to, occasionally, make these little bubbles of magic pop.

Other photies
Obo-Bobo
Favourite Dress
Sunshine Pop
Kronky
WeePop
Kersy83
Will Erskine

The Wedding Present - Indietracks

Its late in the day, on the Main Stage - The Wedding Present are in fine form. The audience are rocking out, almost overwealming the security chap who tries to deal with folk climing onto the stage. Also almost total disregard for the posters banning photography, as the crowd is awash with folk holding up mobile phones and digital cameras. Not me though, I would't publish any photies if the sign says no.

Anyhoo, I don't recognise many of the songs, I'm a little drunk, I slip to the side of the room, leaning on the wall, and drift into the late nineties.

I'd finally bitten the bullet in summer '99 and gotten into doing the student newspaper at university. I'd made friends with the music editor at T in the Park and come freshers week we were inundated with free tickets and press credentials for touring bands. Cinerama were playing the 13th Note and there was a traffic light disco at the students union. I was dispatched to interview David Gedge.

It was my first actual proper bit of music journalistic goodness, interviewing someone from a real band.

I knew nothing of Cinerama, very little of the Wedding Present, nothing about interviewing and nothing about David Gedge, other than he got into a fight with Courtney Love five years previously.

The interview was a shambles, no tape recorder, just pretending to scribble notes in the pitch black basement of the 13th Note whilst the rest of the band sound-checked. No prepared questions, no insights, just a waste of Mr Gedge's time.

During the show I think I left a few songs into Cinerama, that traffic light disco sounded like fun.

Months later I bought the Wedding Present singles collection. It was all right, I like that Brassneck song and the theme from Cheers, but I think I missed the boat.

Other photies
BMX Rejects
Super Lekker
Favorite Dress
Sunshine Pop
Trev Lost
Liz Love
Sweeping the Nation 08

Videos
I'm not always so stupid
Palisades
Suck

Punk TV - Indietracks

Punk TV on the Outdoor Stage. Sould call them the Russian Chemical Brothers. Indie dance would be a better description. By the time I arrived back on site I think they were only playing instrumentals. It was nice background music.

If you were in a mid-nineties independent movie involving driving round a city at night, something to do with drugs, a girl and a gun, Punk TV would be right there on the soundtrack album.

Other Photies
Sweeping the Nation 08

The George Inn - Indietracks

Robbie and me head out to try to find a pub to get a carry out. We get to The George Inn in Butterly, its nice, the beer is cool and on stage is some mob of gentlemen playing AC/DC and Led Zepplin covers to a crowd of locals and youths.

Ooh, three minute harmonica solo. Is it wrong to enjoy this more than The Kabeedies, they're too young and exciting for me. The folk playing are old enough to be my dad when he was my age, and the crowd love them to bits.

Aw man, Sunshine of Your Love, how can this not be the best thing ever for a summer's day?

I'm racked with guilt and misgivings, rather than having existential crisises last week I should have done a run down preview of what bands at Indietracks you should see and which to avoid, with MP3s and videos. Instead I was moaning about whether I can review bands I know, which in the great scheme of things is of no use to anyone.

I'm sorry, its not you, its me.

What I need is someone to give me a slap, tell me to pull myself together and stop being so silly.

Ah well.

The next band playing in The George Inn start with a popular cover version, some song about being able to predict riots. Time to leave the pub I think.

Pocketbooks - Indietracks

Pocketbooks on the main stage in full effect, the place is packed, and folk in the crowd are dancing dancing.

Its the biggest stage I've seen them play on and they fill it perfectly with their summery sunshine songs, looking comfortable in their element. You can understand why folk call them the new young Belle and Sebastian. olly singing with banter, jokes, cultural references and lyrics changed to reflect rail travel in the Midlands.

Icing on the cheesecake for these guys is when they invite folk from the audience up on stage to dance, its like your favourite indie club night in the sun in the middle of the day.

Other photies
Trev Lost
Craig Boney
Nat Alice
Light-o