Gouching On The 33

Deep in a cave in Edinburgh…

bruceonthefringe 2023, Logan's Close, Music in Edinburgh, Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Well, that was rather excellent on Thursday night! Most definitely if I had a time machine I’d go back and enjoy it a few times more! Support band the Cumbiatones certainly warmed up the crowd with their South American grooves, bodies relaxed and loosened, gyrating to the band’s compulsive rhythms – warmed up and chilled out!

Scott’s green Gretsch was sat waiting centre stage, it truly is a magnificent creature!

The last time Logan’s Close played The Caves was back in February 2020, to launch the new single Lost In You, played as the final number that night. Quite fitting then to open with it – the crowd went wild with approval, the LC roller-coaster had begun, everyone was onboard, time for some fun!

Naturally, most of the setlist was from the upcoming album Heart-shaped Jacuzzi (and part of the set too – recognise the telly?) with a few classics thrown in the mix. Funny, that, Listen To Your Mother is now an old LC number, most definitely a classic though. I first saw them perform it in Sneaky Pete’s six years ago (exactly six years ago on the 23rd); it’s been the end number, an encore number, now its settled within the set. Party bangers, introspective moods, tales from the Close, they were all there, changing the pace, leading us on.

The crowd were putty in their hands, gleefully bouncy to Eleonara, strung out by Give It To Me (or is that one just me?), punctuating every start and end with rapturous noise. The latest single Gouching On The 33 popped up about midway, bloody great it was! We were pulled sharply from the laguidity of Gouching by a cracking drum solo by Gavin, and how good was that ease into the start of Babestation? Oh, it was good, so succulent a transition.

From possibly the classic from current LC, to their first classic LTYM, on to the heavy stuff, Mock Marble Linoleum is a wondrous creation with it’s heavy guitar sounds, swirly keyboards and Scott’s velvety narrative. After a wander over Curious Terrain it was time for another LC classic, I’m so so glad it’s still in there, I Want You, always a stunner, if it doesn’t give you chills, well.

Swirly keyboards in mind, I was kinda wondering why SeanKeys was seated, he’s usually jumping around! Was he injured? I caught up with him after the gig, nah, he was fine, he’d been told to sit there and although he missed bouncing about, he admitted that his playing was probably better for it. I actually quite liked the little scene with the lamp, SeanKeys isn’t always very visible off to the side, not tonight!

Fantastic Man was on the setlist too, but the lads were running out of time (there’s a very strict ten o’clock finish in this venue); they made a quick dive off the stage to be cheered back on for encores. I’ll just say here that Dans Le Jardin will forever now have a subtitle Sorry Mum for me (you had to be there). Go out with a bang, they say, Hot Blondes In Your Area Tonight did that with bells on.

What a belter of a gig! Again, please! The lads had James Gilhooly of Dislexic Film onstage with them, filming the whole thing (never play Twister against that guy, he’s very flexible). I wonder what they’re planning to do with the results – should be great viewing! And if I were to pick a favourite from the night? Oo, tough choice, Merry-Go-Round.

Toodle pip!

It’s come round again

bruceonthefringe 2023, Eurovision 2023, Live bands in Edinburgh, Logan's Close Tags: , , , , , , , Leave a comment

‘Twas the night before Eurovision, and I have a magnificent rack of spare ribs defrosting in the fridge, gonna marinade them first thing in the morning. I’m thinking half in a barbecue sauce and half in a Chinese type of thing – I’ll just be ad-libbing both with what I can find, that’s how I roll. Still to get a bottle of prosecco and some pear juice (makes the perfect Eurovision drink); hopefully the stall that sells baba ghanosh will be at the Farmers Market in the morning, a very tasty dip with flat bread!

I’ve watched both semi-finals so know what to expect in the Final. All but two of the songs I picked for the final have gone through – there are more songs I wished had not made it through! Romania and Azerbaijan are the unlucky two; and while Portugal’s beautiful song is through, apparently no song sung second in the Final has ever come first, shame.

There’s no song that really stands out, but there are a few I really don’t want to see win. A quick glance through my scrawlings, I want Armenia, Austria, Australia, Czechia and Portugal to do well, Moldova too. Who can tell? Oo, and there’s a new Rest of the World public vote added in this year; I’m not sure how it’ll work but it could mix things up a bit.

Tonight I’ve had the telly box on BBC4 for all things Eurovision, yes, a whole evening of various programmes on one topic. Do other countries have such full-on Eurovision nostalgia every year, I wonder? Hey, I got to indulge my moose crush on Måns Zelmerlöw, I’m happy. He’s on my Spotify Europop playlist that I’ll have on tomorrow as I tidy round.

I may have a break from the madness in the afternoon – Jed Potts and the Hillman Hunters are playing Whistlebinkies at four o’clock (for those not into Eurovision, he’ll be at B Bar in the evening). I’ll possibly pop back there late on to check out the midnight band, Steepwater Canyon, call me intrigued.

Oh, The Scat Rats went down brilliantly last Tuesday midnight at Binkies. The place was busy when I got in just before the lads began, too busy for me to get a good view, but as is often the case late on, many left after the first set (well, that is around one o’clock) so I scooted forward some. It all looked fairly empty when Carl started Runaway with his usual flourish, that pulls them in, by the end of it, that part of the pub was busy again!

Everyone was having a great time, the Rats were on fine form, enjoying raucous applause after every song, the crowd joined in plenty (check out my Instagram reels), it was one of those nights. Little Green Bag is now a regular on the setlist, an excellent addition.

Another excellent addition is the latest single from Marah and Rough’s other, Logan’s Close. Gouching On The 33 came out on the midnight between me arriving back in Edinburgh and heading to Yorkshireland the following morning, I just had to have a quick listen before I headed off! Oh boy, gorgeous! It’s been a semi-regular inclusion for the Rats, I really can’t call it yet which way I like best, the acoustic duet or the studio LC sound. There’s a video out too, filmed in Carl’s mum’s cafe, it’s on YouTube do check it out!

Must go, it’s very late, I need my beauty sleep. Toodle pip!

It’s good to be back

bruceonthefringe 2022, Bands, Live bands in Edinburgh, Logan's Close, Music in Edinburgh, Uncategorized, Yorkshire Tags: , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

……said Messrs Marah and Rough at least a dozen times each last night. Yes, those Scat Rats were back on the seven o’clock slot at Stramash on Friday evening, yay! It’s been a whole five weeks since the last time – some of us were having withdrawal symptoms. “Good” doesn’t really cover how great it was to see them again!

It was the usual mix of covers and their own stuff, one cover they do divinely is Tonight The Streets Are Ours by Richard Hawley (I had to look that up). It’s a shivers down the back, bittersweet, honey of a song; I really should check out more of Hawley’s stuff, I think. They don’t often play it, so it’s a treat when they do as their harmonies really shine on it. Another rarely performed treat was Bob Dylan’s The Man In Me, was I the only one who immediately thought of The Big Lebowski? Probably not. Carl’s guitar work was beaut here, the Scat Rats really were glad to be back and it showed.

As usual now Babe Station was in there, Hot Blondes In Your Area Tonight and Gouching On The 33 from the upcoming Logan’s Close album also got a look-in. And if you want to check out the acoustic versions of these three gems you can! When LC went back to Germany earlier this month they performed them live during a radio interview, Logan’s Close Interview & Liveset on Chocolate Soup radio station, available to watch on Facebook. I’ve gotta mention the neat little segue in the Rats final song last night; You Can’t Judge A Book as usual had a crowd up on the floor when a large bunch started doing an odd dancey walk thing round in a circle, our boys responded by breaking in a quick bit of Walk Like An Egyptian, nice one!

The evening was still young so I had another pint and hung around for the next band, The Moanin Bones. I’ve not seen them before even though they play Stramash and Whistlebinkies fairly regularly, the singer/guitarist Chris Buckley often does the sound for bands at Binkies, not really sure why I’ve never checked them out. They’re rather good, yup, I’ll go see them again; and I could be wrong but the bass player also plays with the Kennedy’s Project, he was very spruced up in a rather cool shirt last night but I think it was the same guy.

the Moanin Bones

In case you’re wondering why it’s taken me so long to post, I had to save the day down in Deepest Darkest Yorkshire, I was very busy. I may have taken the odd one or two pics whilst out pooch walking, I’ll leave you with a wee selection. Toodle pip!

I have no idea what the flowers are, sorry.

plenty of wild garlic flowering on the riverbank
Yorkshire, nuf said.