Logan's Close Live at LimbicTV CD

I don’t reckon I’ll forget this September

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Sadly there was no gold

September has been quite balmy in Edinburgh, great for some late afternoon brambling in the park; well, just for idling in the park generally, making the most of the end of summer. I haven’t picked as many brambles as last year, but then I’m not going to make any wine this time, just lots of jam! Time for a terrible segue, Jed Potts was the guest host at the Handsome House Jam at Stramash on the first Sunday of the month, a fine evening of the blues. It was the second time seeing him that weekend as he and Nicole Smit were doing their thing in the Jazz Bar early Saturday evening, an interesting change from Binkies!

The next HHJ is this Sunday evening, I haven’t seen who the guest host will be; but I do know the Scat Rats are playing after that at ten o’clock, yay! That’s the only music noted on my calendar now until the end of the month – unless something pops up soon. I had toyed with the idea of a wee Highland trip up around Inverness to coincide with Carl Marah‘s gig at the Market Bar (this Saturday), but by the time I thought about it again everywhere cheaper than very expensive was gone, Inverness is obviously going to be very busy this weekend!

Ho hum, shouldn’t grumble, last week was ridiculously great fun; Glasgow on Wednesday for some blues harmonica, the Scat Rats twice on Thursday night (early in Stramash, midnight in Whistlebinkies), they were back in Binkies on the Saturday afternoon, mid-evening spot was Louis Crosland plus two, he was back in Binkies Sunday midnight with two others, that was after he’d played the ten o’clock slot in Stramash with the Moanin‘ Bones; and I didn’t miss a thing (apart from a few opening numbers, as per usual).

Saturday night
Sunday midnight

Friday evening I was in Peebles for Show Don’t Tell, an evening of five short films from the Tweed Valley, by rural filmmakers, with live music afterwards. Okay, so the live music was a short set by Logan’s Close, they also starred in one of the short films, of course I went along! It was held in the Eastgate Theatre, an arts centre in a converted church. Wow, what a great place they’ve created! The auditorium is the actual church (there’s a studio area and cafe too) with well tiered seating (with plenty of leg room!) that can all be retracted back leaving the floor cleared, stairs on both sides up to the three-sided balcony. After the films were shown there was a long break while the band set up and the seating was just taken back a few rows, so that there was room for standing and sitting. I mean, what an amazing use of space! I would definitely go back.

Logan’s Close: Live at Maryhill was up first, quite a gothic feel to it, the lads performing in an old empty theatre, flouncy shirts, and a freaky, disturbing side storyline involving Scott and a surgeon (I would tell you more about it, but it was just really odd, okay?) The songs in it were Costume Changes, Chillz and Dans Le Jardin, beautifully shot in a slightly disorientating way. It was directed by Aidan Duckworth, our host for the evening and also director of GIMP the last film shown (his party, so why not two?). The others were Antlers, Cover-up and Cernunnos; short films, they throw you in at the deep end and expect you to survive confusion, gore, drama, BDSM, old gods and antlers (not just in Antlers!). Fun, but I definitely needed a drink afterwards!

I took a stroll down the main street to the Bridge Inn, a real ale pub that I visited some years ago, yay, they had a Stewart’s ale in. Just a half for me seeing as I was driving, then the stroll back to the theatre took me to almost time to head back into the auditorium and some music. Due to the first part of the evening lasting longer than expected, it was a shorter set than planned just five songs, opening with Babestation on to Costume Changes, Hot Blondes, very new one Cuck Chair, then with the crowd yelling for one more, the lads got the nod to go ahead, so they went out with the bloody magnificent Mock Marble Linoleum, yay! Needless to say, my soundtrack for the drive back to Edinburgh was my Logan’s Close Live at LimbicTV cd. All in all, a damn fine evening!

Ha, since I started this, then paused a while for my tea, I’ve discovered that Louis Crosland (and whoever!) is playing the half nine slot at Whistlebinkies on Saturday, yay. Ha, a Binkies usual, a band was listed as playing that slot on the month’s list poster and the website, and then this week it was TBC on social media – but hey, that’s me happy! There was also confusion over last Sunday’s midnight slot; towards the end of the Scat Rats Saturday afternoon set Carl announced they’d be back the following night, a back and forth ensued between the Rats and George on sound as he was down to play bass with Louis then, I piped up that he was right, erm, they ended up playing Rock, Paper, Scissors for it, hahaha. All friendly banter, the Rats were having a great afternoon, a good, appreciative audience, they never sounded better (in part, thanks to George, he really knows his stuff), Funnel of Love was particularly exquisite 💛 Oh, and we even got an encore of two extra songs over time, sweet!

And on that note I shall bid you goodnight, bonne nuit, gute Nacht, buonanotte!

A prelude to a wondrous thing

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

“A polished studio album will surely be a wondrous thing” and how right I was! I wrote those words back in February last year in If you don’t ask …… (clicking on the title should take you to the post, should) just after getting my mitts on the Logan’s Close Live at LimbicTV CD. Checking back on that one, led to looking back at my other posts on the LimbicTV recording and on to playing the CD; then playing Babestation and Mock Marble Linoleum back-to-back with the new album versions (well, back and forth, forth and back, a few times – I was having fun).

Nine days and a trip down to Yorkshireland later, I wrote Driving with Elsie appraising the CD. Reading it again I noticed that Mock Marble Linoleum was now “pretty special” – back when I saw it performed on LimbicTV it was “fine but nothing special” (from my blog post So Close so fine). Well, I’d had a 400 mile return car trip to get into it! Now on Heart-Shaped Jacuzzi, it’s been buffed up, not quite so heavy, but richer; a perfect progression.

Babestation grabbed me from the very first – beautiful desolation, Carl’s lead vocals, then Scott’s velvet backing, blimey Charlie! Totally blown away! Much as I love the whole LimbicTV CD, this track stands apart (still), so how happy was I when I heard it would be on the new album (as Larry, Moe and Curly). Back in April 2021 I’d written “definitely put out this track, please, please, like this, nothing added nothing taken away”, well, in some ways they have. The soul and mood are the same, but OMG, the production takes it so much further (Dennis Rux really has the magic touch).

Lucky me, The Scat Rats regularly play an acoustic version of Babestation that sends me every time I hear it. Though mainly covers, the Rats always played a few LC songs, and now there’s the album to promote, oh yay, they spoil us! There’s clips in my Instagram reels, as much for my own keepsakes as sharing their brilliance with the world.

FYI, in case you’re brand new to my blog, The Scat Rats are Carl Marah and Scott Rough, the two founder members of Logan’s Close, and right now their album Heart-Shaped Jacuzzi has been out on sale for a week; it is on Spotify too, check it out do. The Logan’s Close Live at LimbicTV CD is not on Spotify but you can still watch the original on YouTube (it’s about two hours long – there’s plenty banter as well as music!) and the CD (just over an hour of music) is available on the band’s website.

Next post will be my attempt at reviewing Heart-Shaped Jacuzzi haha, it’s chuffing brilliant! Toodle pip!

Is it a compliment?

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I reckon so, see what you think. I was told this a few days ago by a friend, we were having a long catch-up conversation on the phone.

My friend picked up his mum so she could do a big supermarket shop (she doesn’t drive). Some way down the road he thought to turn the music down as it was quite loud, apologising to his mum for not turning it down sooner, but to his surprise she was fine with it, actually rather enjoying it. Indeed, as they drove along she began tapping her feet, her fingers caught the rhythms too. Apparently, the music fair took her back to the beat clubs she loved to go to in the early ’60s.

She couldn’t figure out who the band were, but they were awfully good! Oh, they’re not an old band, my friend explained, they’re a current band but with 60s sensibilities. A search on YouTube was called for, once back home (hmmm, I never asked if they watched Babestation), still impressed, so reminiscent of the bands back in her day.

Yes, the band was Logan’s Close, the CD playing was their LimbicTV session. My friend didn’t think that praise from an octogenarian, well, could it really count as a compliment?! Let’s see, the lady in question went to lots of clubs, saw lots of bands, the Stones, the Beatles, Jerry Lee Lewis, included (sounds like she was my type of gal!) What a time that was to be young!

Yep, I’d say such praise from one who was there, is a true compliment, and it surely indicates how just good Live at LimbicTV really is!

Passionfruit buns and other highlights

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There’s a mutton tagine and pork cheeks slow cooking in my oven. No, not in the same dish, that would be too weird. I prepared the pork cheeks first and put them in for an hour on a low heat (long and low for melt-in-the-mouth tenderness). In that hour I started my mutton tagine on the hob, and had time to make some bun mixture for my latest experiment in baking….

Buns with passionfruit pulp inside! A good dollop of bun mixture slightly hollowed out, some passionfruit innards dropped in, another dollop of bun mix on top. Popped in the oven along with the tagine (cheeks taken out, temperature raised), once the buns were nicely baked they came out, temperature lowered and the cheeks went back in. I tried one immediately, well, I had to be sure they were cooked right through, it was and bloody yummy too – a success!

Oo, that’s reminded me, literally just this second, the pear sponges I made last summer, they were so good! But where did I find the passionfruit and mango coulis to drizzle on top? The combination was quite a highlight of my culinary year, and speaking of highlights – any more from 2022? Well, The Scat Rats as mentioned in my last blog post; rewatching all my vid clips as I attempted to prune my collection recently, my god, the lads are sooo brilliant now, a recorded live set would be awesome!

Just the amount of time spent seeing great local bands last year was amazing, late nights in Stramash and Whistlebinkies, sunny afternoons watching The Kennedy’s Project playing on Waverley Bridge; the Miracle Glass Company in the Old Royal High. Of course, a particular highlight of 2022 for me was seeing local favourites Logan’s Close a few hundred miles away in Nottingham! The whole day was such fun trawling round some great little boozers with an old friend before heading to the Running Horse and seeing the new line-up for the first time (yeah, and the rest of it!)

The Edinburgh Fringe Festival was back almost to old normalcy, shame how they screwed up with the Half Price Hut and no app, but apart from those hiccups it was rather good. I did write about my highlights shortly afterwards, but now with some months gone by, what are the bits that still really stand out in my head?

Crybabies: Bagbeard immediately springs to mind (err, possibly assisted by the fact I follow them on Instagram), clever, fun, stylish and utterly charming; Mr Sullivan Brown in red shirt and shorts in Grubby Little Mitts a darkly bonkers sketch show with partner-in-comedy Rosie Nicholls (and lots of eyeballs); The Man Who Thought He Knew Too Much, sharp, stylish physical theatre and a wide-brimmed red hat; Blueswater playing The Wizard by Black Sabbath, truly astounding!! A rat-arsed Rat performing in Binkies after two in the morning; and lastly, but by no means least, a guy with show that is so much what the Fringe is all about, Accordion Ryan’s Pop Bangers.

Back with Elsie, there was the triumphant gig at the Voodoo Rooms on their return from southern parts in March. Like, wow, brilliant, but, for me, then topped by two awesome gigs in Sneaky Pete’s in December, the perfect way for Logan’s Close to end such a great year! But, still not my top highlight….

That plaudit goes to the CD of 2021’s top highlight, Logan’s Close on LimbicTV (Live from Aluhpasonics), an hour of raw, exuberant energy in the time of Covid. I’ve been listening to it for just over a year now, still love it to bits. And you too can grab a copy of Logan’s Close Live at LimbicTV by going to their website, just £10 GBP (+postage). No doubt their album Heart-shaped Jacuzzi will be a highlight this year.

It’s late, yes, I remembered to turn the oven off. I may edit in a couple of pics later, I need my bed just now but if you check out my Instagram I’ll put up a lovely, sweet moment from Stramash in August, the two dancing are the other two original members of the Close 🧡

Spuds and Saints

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October already! Ah, but September ended on a couple of fine notes! First off, last Tuesday evening Fur were back in town, yay! This time at The Mash House, not a place I’ve seen a band at before, Fringe shows yes, in different rooms there. A friend said they weren’t keen on it as a music venue and having now been, I kinda get what they meant; not that there’s anything particularly bad about it, it’s just got no appeal. I will say that the bar there is quite nice and reasonably priced.

Fur were as brilliant as ever and the crowd were really up for it. I spotted Mr Rough across the room, so I moseyed over to say hi, and as there was a bit of breeze from a nearby air conditioning vent (very warm venue) I stayed on that side; there were also fewer giants in front of me there. It was a very fine gig but the announced last song was indeed the last song, no encores, no Can’t Help Falling in Love, the band were all there ready come back on except Murray, no one seemed to know where he’d gone! No sign of him, so the lights came up and that was that, an odd end (I gather he was not feeling well). Shame.

Friday I was all set for more music, even if I had to go over to Glasgow for it. It must be at least fifteen years or so since I last went through to Glasgow to see a band, I don’t know Glasgow at all – this was gonna be interesting. The venue was St Luke’s & The Winged Ox, the band The Strange Blue Dreams with support from Logan’s Close, yeah okay, so, it looked easy to get to and LC said they’d put me on their guest list, yay. I had a wee printed out map and the return bus times, knew how long it should take me to get back to Buchanan Street bus station (to be double checked with how long it took me to find St Luke’s). It turns out that St Luke’s & The Winged Ox is just past the Barrowlands, funny how many bits looked familiar as I went by; heading back afterwards I stuck to the same route, but had a strong recall of a drunken discussion between two friends I was with after a Barrowlands gig, about which was the best way back ( I just tailed along behind them praying we’d make it in time otherwise it was an hour til the next one).

Oh, I do like St Luke’s, it’s an old church that’s been converted into a space for live entertainment and other events, one with a three quarters round balcony and the old organ pipes are a magnificent backdrop for the stage. There’s still the old pulpit at the side of the stage which became a booth for DJs Anna and Holly to spin some fine pieces of vinyl, some seriously good taste there! The Winged Ox part of the name is the bar adjacent to the venue room, a good sized bar with a kitchen, so a convenient place to eat before a show; reasonable bar prices too, and a very nice IPA! (there is a little bar with limited choice in the venue, best to head to the full bar)

Now, the evening itself, wow, The Strange Blue Dreams, yep definitely on the strange side, haunting, intense, infectious, so many retro sounds going on, hints of forgotten tunes, glimpses of older times, smoky dance halls. The band are all dapperly dressed in keeping with their stylish sound; a sound and look perfect for a David Lynch film.

The gig was to celebrate the release of their second album Simple Machine, well reader, I was so impressed with their brand of rock’n’roll I just had to buy it (on cd), oh, and a copy of their first album too. If you’re on Spotify you can check them out.

Yes, now I’m getting round to Logan’s Close , so good to finally see the full band again. I noticed Scott went and changed into his stage attire, no scruffy Rat for this gig! Head attire for the evening was his heart-shaped sunglasses (Scott always has something on his head). Eleonora was first choice and they were off!

It was a short and sweet half hour set of deliciousness. Naturally they mentioned the album-in-waiting Heart-shaped Jacuzzi and played the title track; Dans Le Jardin was in there too. A couple or so escape me, but I do remember they played the now very familiar to me Gouching On The 33 and, of course, Babe Station, Hot Blondes In Your Area Tonight rounded off an excellent set.

I would have included a shot of Sean Keys, but as usual he was in a darker spot and the guy is never still for a second! My crappy phone camera is incapable of taking a decent photo of him. The drummer in the back was previous sticksman Alex, filling in for the evening as Gavin was away.

It was a great evening, even my trek back to the bus station was well-timed with just a few minutes to spare. After their set Carl was on merch stall duties, apparently because he was driving, so Scott was taking the opportunity to get bevied, no surprise there! I noticed the Live At Limbic TV CDs were getting some interest, as they should, an hour of juicy goodness for only a tenner? Bargain!

Not sure what they were up to when I took this!?

It’s very late, I’ll leave this here I think.

Toodle pip!

Five long gloriously juicy years

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Next month It’ll be five years since I stumbled upon Logan’s Close, towards the end of this month the new line-up will take to the road with their mini tour of the UK before heading off to Germany; what will the next five years have in store? But before they headed off to their future would they have time to chat about their past to an old moose? They did ….. in the Waverley late Tuesday night before they played the midnight set at Whistlebinkies. Yup, The Scat Rats, aka Carl Marah and Scott Rough, agreed to meet me there (a favourite pub of theirs) well, they are two lovely amiable chaps, funny, smart, easy-going; as delightful offstage as on. Unfortunately we were drinking, and still drinking at Binkies ’til after two, so I’ve had to sift through an alcohol-induced blurriness to recall anything from the conversation.

Rough and Marah have been best buds since they met playing football at eight years old, so going on twenty years. Both started playing guitar around the same time, Carl was self-learning, Scott was going to a guitar class and told Carl about it; and so the seeds were planted. By 2014, in their late teens the two had been joined by friend Mike on drums and they took the name of a lane in their hometown, Dunbar, as their moniker Logan’s Close. This bit’s hazy, finding a bass player who fitted in took a while, I think Olly was the third one and he was a perfect fit. Now they were a tidy foursome, things started progressing nicely.

I first became aware of them at the end of April 2017 when Facebook suggested I might like their video Listen To Your Mother. Oh, I did, it was cracking and I still reckon it’s a great watch, do check it out! The following month they were the support for a touring band playing Sneaky Pete’s in the Cowgate so I went along and was totally blown away by their energy and sound, yup, one taste and I was hooked! I saw them three times more that year, the final time in November was for the launch of their latest single Girl, at the Caves just off the Cowgate.

Logan’s Close at Sneaky Pete’s Wednesday 31st January 2018

As good as this line-up and sound were, Rough and Marah were after one more piece to complete the puzzle – a keyboard-player, but where to look for someone to match their sound? The gods were happy to oblige them and dropped one into their laps, late one night after a gig in Stockbridge, a chance meeting in a small supermarket. He sent them a demo and Sean Keys was part of the LC sound; as I suspected, it was Scott who christened him Sean Keys, no his surname is not Keys! That was in March 2019 and now those keyboards are very much an integral part of the Logan’s Close soundscape.

Logan’s Close at the Voodoo Rooms supporting Black Cat Bone in April 2019
Mike of the sideburns, taken April 2018; Sean Keys, April 2019; Voodoo Rooms

Alas, in July 2019 the band said a sad farewell to Mike. Since then they’ve had various drummers, but drummers seem to be flighty things, LC wanted one who’d settle down and go steady with them. Mind, it’s been an interesting time, Alex (as seen on the Fantastic Man lockdown vid and the LimbicTV gig) was great and Simon Gibb (currently playing with The Buccaneers amongst other things) has picked up the sticks for them on occasion. They have a new drummer, yet to be seen out at play with the band and also a new bass player since Ollie left for Italy last year, interesting to ponder how this change in the rhythm section will affect the band.

Messrs Rough and Marah have been very busy coming up with a whole stack of new tunes since the lockdowns. That must have been grand, finally getting back together, bouncing ideas off each other, getting the old chemistry sparking again. I had intended to ask a bit about the process of their particular alchemy on Tuesday night, hey ho, maybe another time if I’m lucky.

There’s been a shift in their style, the lads have gradually moved away from their initial early Beatles and Sixties sound, looking back Give It To Me (released July 2019) was a clear signal of this change. Oh, there’s still the sixties sensibilites in there in the weave but much more subtly. There’s so many new songs, and what with new band members, much of the old repertoire has been consigned to the band’s history, but there’s the odd one or two that’ll be kept around. Playing as The Scat Rats some LC tunes can pop up, I presume their particular favourites (some of mine too). A couple of songs from the LimbicTV session last year will be on the new album, I’m rather excited to hear how both will have evolved since then, and with the full studio treatment too! Yes, I know which two – not telling!

Sadly Eleanora isn’t one of them, shame. Oh, I did ask where Eleanora came from – Carl having his fortune told high up on a mountain in Italy (Apparently the fortune teller only spoke Italian, so he recorded it and got it translated later). Hey, at least it’s available on the Logan’s Close Live at LimbicTV CD now on sale as a limited edition vinyl-style CD on the band’s website for a mere £10 GBP (exc. shipping). I’d like to think I had a small part in their decision to put the CD out there, you may thank me later.

That’s it from what I’ve retrieved from my sozzled memory of Tuesday night. It was a fun night, there weren’t many in Binkies but we had plenty of enthusiasm and yes, I was up dancing again! So that’s the first five years of my acquaintance with the Close, can’t wait for the next five and beyond. Whatever Marah and Rough get up to next, it promises to a whole barrel of juicy fun.

Let’s finish this with a pic of the divinely talented, exquisitely in-sync Scott Rough and Carl Marah ❤

late night in Binkies

NEWSFLASH!!! Just announced on Facebook, the Close’s debut album Heart-Shaped Jacuzzi will be recorded in Hamburg in April. Well, newsflash to you, I already knew.