Fresh Meat Monday - Kevin Harper

Would you care to introduce yourself?   

My name is Kevin Harper, the Q is silent. I was once the singer in vivamelodica, and then I was the singer in Little Eskimos. And now I'm the singer in Kevin Harper.     


How would you describe the music you make?   

Hmm. I tell taxi drivers I play covers because I hate this question, but since it's you, I'll keep it simple. I define pop music as 'happy music with sad lyrics' so I'd describe it as pop music.   



How did you start out making music?   

 In the early 90's a combination of Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, Dinosaur Jr, Screaming Trees,  Pavement, and Buffalo Tom led me to the guitar, but Bowie, Dylan and The Beatles made me realise I still had to learn chords. I was devastated at the time, but they also taught me how to write songs,     


What process goes into the way you write songs?   

Usually some from of trial separation followed  by an egregious and litigious divorce. Seriously, though it's different every time. Sometimes a song can come out, fully formed, all you need to do is fix a line or two and boom! Done. Money in the bank. These are usually the best songs as well, which sucks. Other times, you have to extract it from yourself forcibly, which is what happens in 95% of cases.  


What can people expect from your live shows?   

Well, at the moment, I'm working on a solo set-up wherein I use a looper on my guitar, voice and other instruments,. Check out my 'Monkey Gone to Heaven' cover on my youtube channel to see what I mean. For a full band setup you can expect a high energy rock and roll set, but I need to find a drummer first HINT   


What are you all listening to at the moment?   

I'll be honest, Hall and Oates are always on in my head. As far as new stuff, I'm loving Father Sculptor  and Sparrow and the Workshop right now, both great bands. Siobhan Wilson might well be the most talented musician I've heard since Prince, she's amazing. And my buddies Miniature Dinosaurs' forthcoming album promises to be brilliant. Well they promised ME it would be brilliant, anyway.  Mostly Hall and Oates though.    


What can we expect to see/hear from you in the future?  

Well for this album I'm working on my live set up, I'm also planning videos and hopefully a tour by the end of the year. Whatever form that will take I don't yet know. As for after that, I plan on very quickly (well quicker then 6 years) making another album. When I gain a respectable amount of indie cred, I plan to host Big Brother's Little brother and a year after that I plan to be an A-list celebrity complete with clothing line, the first of many prematurely ghost-written autobiographies, a similarly desperate for attention A-list celebrity girlfriend, and a high profile drug problem.   

I'm joking of course, all of those things are terrible.



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Fresh Meat Monday - Book Group

 Would you care to introduce yourself?  


Hello my name is Andrew and I play drums in Book Group. 

Hello I'm Graeme I play some guitar a bit of keys and sing. 

Hello I'm Michael: I bring the noise. 

I'm Scott. I play bass and I wear glasses sometimes.   


How would you describe the music you make?   

A: Personally I make a full on racket. Those guys add layers of tunefulness & harmonies on top. I think they make a good job of it. 

 G: Angry pop sums us up. We like to make as much noise as possible with the hope that the melody is still sneaking through but our sound is definitely more guitar driven filled out with some serious drums and bass action. 

M: Angry pop. Though a review called it 'axe pop' which I quite like too. 

S: Noisy bum rock peppered with melody.   


How did you start out making music?   

A: In an unsuccessful attempt to get girls at high school.  

 G: My early music adventures involved playing the clarinet but after getting a guitar as a birthday present that kicked things. That and a love of INXS! 

 M: Like most families, we used to take turns singing grace around the table before dinner, so naturally I joined a choir. This didn't work out, so I first turned to grunge, then punk, then pop, then eventually Graeme.  

 S: Graeme forced me to play bass for him for one gig. He then tricked Michael and Andrew and we all still have a lot of wool over our eyes.  


What process goes into the way you write songs?   
 
A: What Graeme said. 

G: Most the songs are from a personal point of view about everyday observations of places and relationships. Our debut EP is titled 'Homeward Sound' and all four tracks are based on a love/hate relationship of home. Most of the lyrics have been written in random cafe shops with borrowed pens and on napkins. Normally i bring a wee idea and the other guys take it to a new level. Kind of like a grumble to an angry shout! 

M: Graeme starts the process and we all slowly bastardise his lovely wee acoustic song into submission. It's pretty collaborative though; quite often it's the other guys coming up with guitar ideas for me to try out. Even then, a 'finished song' usually goes through a few round of changes before we're happy with it.  

 S: One of us will have a hook and hope for the best. Another of us will bring in an almost fully formed song and we each try to make it louder/quieter/funkier (not quieter).  


What can people expect from your live shows?   

A: I will sweat 42% of my body weight away whilst simultaneously replacing it with generic lager.  

G: Four smiley guys + Loud noises = Happiness 

M: Ups and downs. We try and put quite a lot into a gig though and (partially due to our limited recorded output) are delighted that folks seem to see us as quite a good live band.  

S: To go home and analyse their lives as the very foundation of the way they live their lives will have been shattered by the awesomeness of the book group experience. 


What are you all listening to at the moment?   

A: Pronto mama - one of the best bands I've seen live in ages. 

G: Grant Lee Phillips - absolutely love Grant Lee Buffalo and seem to listen to an album or two of his stuff every week. eagleowl, Local Natives, Kid Canaveral and Lionel Ritchie have also been on in the car recently.  

M: Plastic Animals, Perfume Genius, Sweet Baboo, Youth Lagoon, Wu Lyf, Pictish Trail. 

S: Cheatahs, wild nothing, local natives, howler. 


What can we expect to see/hear from you in the future?  

A: We can't reveal to much about that at the moment other than to say it will be very very good.  

G: 'Homeward Sound' EP is out on Sat 18th May so get along to the launch folk  and buy your self a copy (only 100 available). After that we're going to get back to record some more stuff and are eyeing up a few more gigs out of Edinburgh. We gotta spread the angry word! 

M: The EP really is coming out on 18 May, we're not shitting this time. There'll be gigs after the launch and then we'll morph this plan into the next one - which is, for now, a secret. 

S:You can expect to see Graeme wearing a stripy t-shirt and hear Andrew hitting drums like they hit on his sister.




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Fresh Meat Monday - Fake Major

Would you care to introduce yourself?  

Hello. We are a band from Glasgow called Fake Major. There are two of us. Me (Richard Ferguson) and him (David McGinty).  


How would you describe the music you make?  

We make interesting pop music with lots of dual vocals and harmonies.  


How did you start out making music?  

We have been writing/ playing music together since we met at high school. We played in a now extinct band for a good while, but decided to start something new for 2013, and now we are here!


What process goes into the way you write songs?  

We usually start with an idea from one of us, maybe a good chorus or vocal melody, then sit down together and try to flesh out that idea. Most of our songs develop over at least a few weeks of writing and recording demos then lyrics come at the very end.  


What can people expect from your live shows?  

As there are only two of us, people can expect something a bit different from our live shows to what the hear on record from us. There are still lots of dual vocals, but with some pretty lo-fi, stripped back accompaniment. Having said that, we are in the process of putting a live band together to play some special shows and festivals over the summer, so watch this space…  


What are you all listening to at the moment?  

The National. Keaton Henson. Big Star. Frank Ocean. Neil Diamond.  


What can we expect to see/hear from you in the future?  

Our first EP (‘Have Plenty of Fun’) is out NOW! We are currently recording another EP, so you can expect to hear that later in the year. We are looking forward to playing some festivals this summer, and after that… we will be having plenty of fun. HA HA HA.


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Fake Major - Little Researcher from Comets And Cartwheels on Vimeo.

Ardentjohn - Waiting for the Season

Album Review: Ardentjohn - Waiting for the Season (self-released)

Waiting for the Season is the second album from Edinburgh/London-based Ardentjohn. The indie-folk collective are no strangers to Peenko having featured as the site's inaugural Scots Wah-Hay way back in February 2010. Now the fine folks in Ardentjohn have sent over their second album for scrutiny.

The album open with the title track and immediately the rich, crisp guitar grabs your attention. The depth to the overall sound is impressive, with some distant harmonies fading in and out, while a steady beat comes in. Another guitar and bass come in as the song builds. It's quite breathtaking and uplifting, feeling yourself lifted by the music as it literally sparkles. The vocals add yet another dimension, being sparse in terms of lyrics but rich in their delivery. It's a cracking opener and bodes well for what is yet to come. 'In The Morning' starts with lovely strings and guitar. The tempo is nice and steady and again the music is just stunning. The tone is pitched just right. Strings add a note of melancholy, before the rhythm section kicks the pace up notch and lifts the song to a new plateau. 

'I Hear You' starts in quite a sunny mood. The guitar is again quite refreshing, while the second guitar stretches out it's notes, giving some depth. The vocal is emphasised more on this track and is simply stunning. It's powerful and fragile at the same time and rightly allowed centre stage in this beautiful song. Some subtle harmonies come in a serve to accentuate that feeling. The drums come to the fore on 'Don't Let Me Lose Your Hand'. Aided by the bass, they get the track off to a good start before strings and guitar add some depth. The song gets a nice change of pace on the chorus and tucked away in there is a really great guitar line. Vocally it's again very strong. Slightly different vocally from the previous track, it just serves to highlight how good a singer Keiron Mason really is. 'Apart (Don't Dream Me Bad)' slows things down again. Drums are more undertsated and there's even an accordion in there. The guitar again stands out. Although picking out notes and appearing to be fairly simple in it's delivery it really does add a lovely dimension to the sound.

'Sky Is Opening' begins with a really nice vocal that wouldn't go amiss on a Fleet Foxes song. Delivered acapella for the first thirty seconds or so, the song builds slowly behind it with some meaty drums and a very nice guitar. It settles into it's groove and skips along at a nice pace, with the drums sounding nice and solid thrroughout. I did expect it to build and burst into an explosion of sound but the control is maintained and in a weird way reminded me of some of Paul Weller's really great b-sides back when he was at his peak (in my opinion). It's a song to stick on loud and just close your eyes for six minutes or so and go on a journey. Loved it. 'Lady of the Wood' is more folk than anything and opens with a great tempo. Led by strings and guitar, ably accompanied by the rhythm section, my toes were tapping immediately. Again Keiron Mason's vocals sound wonderful. He has a rich voice that can convey different emotions and convey ideas and his voice demands your attention. Meanwhile, he and the band weave a wonderful tapestry of fantastic music that you can lose yourself in.

'Blizzard' opens with some lovely guitar and a steady rhythm section. Slower in tempo than previous songs, it was incredibly uplifting. When the vocal comes in, there's almost an echo. I couldn't quite decide it was a backing vocal, or if the lead vocal was overdubbed (hey, I'm no sounds engineer!). Regardless of which, it sounded great. Sprinkled throughout the song are lots of little subtle moments that add up to a song that fairly sparkles. There seemed to be a fuzzy edge to the production that further added to the overall sound. 'Now' builds on a really nice acoustic guitar line which rises out of the darkness. There are some electronic sprinkles in the background that flit in and out, before the electric guitar comes in to assist. It's a good, stedy tempo. When the vocal comes in, it really stands out. Slow, steady and rich. A touch louder than the guitars, it really resonates. It really draws you in and holds your attention. Musically, there's lots of nice touches flitting back and forth but it's the vocal that steals the show. 

Final track 'Sleeping Soldier' begins with a bell chiming, before a nice bass kicks in. Underneath are drums and guitars. Slow and steady is the order of the day here, with a slide guitar stretching out notes which wash across the track. The othe guitar dances around, creating texture as that bass pounds out the tempo. Again, it's a varied and full sound being created by the band. This track, as with every other on the album is a finely crafted piece of music. Under the surface od each song beats a complex heart. Layer upon layer of nuance fit together like a fantastic aural jigsaw. Each song washes over you and you can find yourself getting lost in the music and that doesn't happen to me nearly as much as I'd like it to. Here, every song seemed to do that. There's really no aspect of it that didn't thrill me. It's a truly wonderful album and deserves a wide audience.

Waiting for the Season is out now on CD and download and can be picked up from the band's official website on CD, or iTunes and Amazon as a download.

Fresh Meat Monday - The Deep Red Sky

Would you care to introduce yourself? 

Hi, my names Jamie and I am the lead singer from The Deep Red Sky. We are from Scotland, currently based in Edinburgh, and are releasing our debut album, Plans, on May the 13th. We have already released the single Zombies (Things Don't Stay The Same) which is available to download free from our bandcamp page. 


How would you describe the music you make?  

We make alternative/ indie rock and have been likened to Frightened Rabbit and Twilight Sad.  


How did you start out making music?  

Well, I met Scott our bassist in school so we have been playing tunes for years. We met John at Uni and played as part of The Breech whilst we were there. The singer moved away, so that band fizzled out. We wanted to keep making music together, so we created The Deep Red Sky.  Scott took a break from the band to garden in America (that is about as rock' n roll as you can get) and Jos joined us to cover. When Scott came back, Jos had these big puppy dog eyes so we couldn't kick him out, especially since it was raining, so he became a permanent part of the band.  Jesse then joined us, which really opened up the sound in the band. We have always felt we have a big spacious sound in our music, and Jesse's voice has really helped add to this.     


What process goes into the way you write songs?  

I usually come up with the words and the melodies but I then throw it to the lions. The rest of the band can really do what they want with it. It is very open from this point on.  We will all throw ideas around and jam the tunes out until we are happy with them. This usually takes quite a bit of time!  


What can people expect from your live shows?  

Loud noises. Loud, loud noises. We really enjoy playing live and hopefully the audiences can see this. We put our all in to every one of our shows. Personally, I get really nervous before playing live, but this helps me give my best when I am playing. People usually comment on how much energy comes from us during a show.  


What are you all listening to at the moment?  

King Creosote  


What can we expect to see/hear from you in the future?  

We are doing a tour of Britain in late March/ early April so, people can catch us at one of these dates which are on our official website. We will also be releasing the second single Look On Your Face on the 24th of April and of course the album on the 13th of May.



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His Name Is Codeine - The Only Truth Is Music

Album Review: His Name is Codeine - The Only Truth Is Music (Dead Book Records)

I've lost count of the times I've heard that guitar music is over. It's a mantra repeated whenever each successive generation of young musicians discovers the white-hot technology of their era, and decides that the old ways just won't cut it anymore. But for every revolution there is a resistance movement - skulking in garages, doing time in dark club basements and trawling for dog-eared copies of old, revered records. With a lineage harking back to New York punk, West Coast psyche-rock and good old fashioned noisy Scottish pop music - along with a name stolen from a Townes Van Zandt track dripping with bitter misery - His Name Is Codeine are way too focused on making a beautiful noise to be concerned about the prevailing trends. And so, maybe we can't write the obituary for guitar music just yet?

There is something almost meteorological about His Name Is Codeine as typified on opener "My Tragic End" where the band stand, placid and stoic in the centre of a growing storm. As the pressure waves of churning guitar begin to increase in intensity, Lyn Ralphs's low growl of a vocal never varies from its strangely calm, alluring path. I first heard of His Name Is Codeine via the sprawling minutes of tension and menace which make up "Before The Apple Fell", where crashing waves of noise are accompanied by howls of rage, thunderous percussion and the sudden dips and swoons of a glorious chorus leading to a spiralling, dizzy coda. This is visceral, searing noisy pop which fuses an impressive pallete of influences and reference points - from whirling prog rock organs to shattered blasts of guitar which hark back to punk - all delivered with a confidence and assurance which belies this band's relatively recent formation. But on "Shoot To Kill" the influences land somewhat closer to their Elgin home as later period Jesus and Mary Chain is reworked to sound far more relevant and turbulently noisy than the Reid brothers have managed in a while. An insistent beat supports a sprawl of caterwauling Sonic Youth guitars while male and female vocals play out a sullen, gloomy duet.

By the time "Not A Number" reaches its climax via a Renderers style, country-pop flecked shudder through the swamps, you'd be forgiven for thinking there were two distinct bands at work here. This is a dense howling take on Americana which typifies the bolder, grander ambition the band manages to maintain alongside it's more accessibly poppy moments such as "Replica Gun" - where apocalyptic themes are explored in unnervingly gentle, naive vocals. This mode switch feels sometimes a little deliberate, and they don't always dovetail completely - which sometimes makes for wonderful dynamics, but at other times feels a little haphazard and jagged. But perhaps this always going to be a tricky aspect of sequencing an album built around several epic longer tracks? The next of these is "Magdalena" - a woozy, circular madrigal set against frequent flashes of razor sharp guitar noise. Throughout, a solid chug of ominous bass anchors the song to planet earth - but perhaps only just, as its wah-wah heavy conclusion seems intent on breaking loose and causing serious damage.

There's an almost Rolling Stones like air to the opening of "The Measure of Your Misery" with its swoon of organ and ringing bluesy guitars. The laconic pace and drawling vocal is mere preparation though, for the sonic onslaught that follows. Explosions of guitar suddenly intrude, and never quite leave as the vocals and noise vie for dominance. Things threaten to disintegrate entirely, but remarkably the swaggering melody returns and the band take to switching effortlessly between these poles. There are similar tricks at work too on the closing track "Medal" which begins with the band in a Velvet Underground like daze, where Lyn Ralph plays Maureen Tucker when she took her rare turns in front of the microphone. Swishes of slide guitar echo in the distance while the vocals shimmer and twist around them, an oddly childlike stream of conciousness emerging as a prelude to a repeated, ear-splitting swirl of noise and voices.

"The Only Truth Is Music" seems a brash declaration for the title of a band's debut album. But in this case though it fits perfectly. His Name Is Codeine have produced a complex, dynamic and ambitious record which is just as comfortable trawling the sleazy gutters as it is shooting for celestial highs. When they strike the right balance, this is searing, angry and intense music which often betrays something of the frustration of small-town living besides it's loftier preoccupations. Staying true to the ancient pillars of rock and roll - even when it's not quite the done thing - but doing it just how they think it should be done... Perhaps the only truth really is music after all?

His Name Is Codeine release "The Only Truth Is Music" on 30th May via Dead Book Records. In the meantime, you can pick up their debut recording "Before The Apple Fell" from Bandcamp. 

Current live dates to support the album release are: May 4th in Peterhead, May 11th in Aberdeen (with Delta Mainline and The Carousels) and on June 1st (with Seas, Starry), June 14th in Edinburgh (with Delta Mainline and Exit Calm) and Glasgow Psych Fest on June 21st-23rd.

Fresh Meat Monday - It Girl

Would you care to introduce yourself? 

Hello, We are It Girl from Glasgow.   


How would you describe the music you make? 

Shit, straight in with the heavy stuff... Well, there's a lot of bass hooks, a lot of guitar, a lot of reverb on the vocals. There's definitely post-punk foundations in there somewhere and recent comparisons to the likes of Interpol and Bloc Party may not be a million miles away from what to expect from our sound   

How did you start out making music? 

Adam, Dean and Andy know each other from school and have always played music together in one form or another. The singer Scott was incorporated through a speed-dating website and we found our drummer Martin standing in Boots shouting at vitamins one day and knew he was the one.   


What process goes into the way you write songs? 

Most tracks from our first EP would typically begin with Dean and a bass hook he'd been working with and we'd build tracks from there up with whatever came naturally for each player. There's no real formula: if it sounds good and you enjoy playing it then it stays. We rehearse relentlessly, write constantly and probably forget a lot in the wake. Not the most efficient song writing regime, but it beats sitting at home watching telly. With this next batch of songs, everyone's having a go at coming in with new material and we're excited to see how this comes across on the recordings.   


What can people expect from your live shows? 

Five guys trying to sound like ten   What are you all listening to at the moment? New Beach Fossils album is good. Let Glasgow Perish by hard cunts No Island is a terrifying EP. Future Islands are fantastic. There's a lot of coastal related band names here... Should probably mention the new Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds album also.   


What can we expect to see/hear from you in the future? 

We plan to keep busy as ever. We begin recording our next EP down at Chem19 studios with the big boys next week so that'll be good. Playing Cafe Drummond's in Aberdeen 2/5/13 and Dirty Weekender down in Kilmarnock 31/5/13 which should be a great wee festival.




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