Speakeasy

Friday Night, Saturday Afternoon

bruceonthefringe 2025, Bands, Gigs, Live bands, Pubs, Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Yay! Normal service has resumed on my telly! Well, I got a man in. New aerial and cable, apparently it’s a great view from the roof of my tenement block (not sure that will ever tempt me up there). I stayed inside and watched for the cable reel when he dropped it down the front of the building (in case there was anyone passing below!), the bit when he was more outside my window than in the flat, trying to put the cable neatly by the downpipe was unnerving, honestly, I had a strong urge to grab hold of his legs, convinced that he was going to tip right out! He didn’t.

I celebrated with a Strawberry Shortbread snacking bar I bought at the Farmers Market last Saturday from the wonderful Co Co Co. Oh, my goodness, Rob has come up with another masterpiece, they are divine! White chocolate, strawberry mallow and blondie shortbread with a dash of strawberry white chocolate for decoration. All those flavours and textures in every bite!! He’s a chocolate alchemist.

I thought I could do some clever twist there, something about music alchemists turning the same old notes, instruments and voices into a magical, awesome sound. Would you have gone with that or is it only me?! I googled alchemy in music for some validation of my thoughts, hmmm, yeah, no. So anyhoo, Awkward Family Portraits played the Speakeasy at the Voodoo Rooms a couple of weeks ago.

Pure gold, an enchanting, other world atmosphere! Their sound transports you on whims of fancy, a tour through a golden age Hollywood movie lot; there’s some soft shoe shuffle on one stage, a hoedown next door, a charleston, americano, every scene a gem with light and shade, wit and melancholy. The mixture of AFP‘s upright bass, violin and guitar along with Julen Santamaria’s very distinctive voice and the harmonies, all blended to perfection in the intimate setting of the Speakeasy. Oh, my heartses 💛

I floated out afterwards with a contented grin and a need to stroll in the Edinburgh night air. My meanderings took me by the Jolly Judge and through the Grassmarket, where bless my soul, if I wasn’t catching a faint strain of Babestation somewhere nearby! Ah yes, Mr Marah was in Maggie Dickson’s, I’ve never been in before, so obviously it was time I gave it the once over! Not really my style, but I liked it and the bar staff were great, and it’s always fun to hear Carl in pub singer mode. We had a wee chat in his break, then I headed home, er, via Whistlebinkies where The Full Kitkat were in full swing rocking the joint. Yes, one more for the road. Hey, as Friday nights go, it was up there.

The following afternoon I was back in Whistlebinkies to catch the Scat Rats but not until the around the start of the second set (it was a sunny day outside). Now I regularly turn up into the second or third song of the first Scat Rats set, which, by coincidence is often Babestation, a fact that had made Friday night’s encounter extra amusing to me; so imagine my complete surprise that I walked into Binkies and they were playing, yes, you’ve guessed it Babestation! They never play it in the second set, never. I was freaked, but not as much as them…

It being a lovely sunny Saturday afternoon, Binkies was dead, so the guys decided to have fun, mix things up, play whatever came to mind (wish I’d bloody turned up earlier now!) When I still hadn’t appeared by the second set, Carl jokingly suggested they play Babestation as it was a surefire way to conjure me up. Yes, they were more freaked than me when I sauntered in, hahaha!! I was treated to In The Morning (not played in ages), Give It To Me a Logan’s Close classic that I don’t think I’ve ever heard the Rats play before, and newby White Lies played at the last Logan’s Close gig ( I’ve put a reel on my Instagram with two very bad splices between the two versions).

I’ll leave you with one more picture taken on that Friday evening, the old Bank of Scotland building has never looked lovelier. Toodle pip!

Speak easy at the Voodoo Rooms

bruceonthefringe 2021, Bands, Live bands in Edinburgh, Music in Edinburgh, Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , , , , 1 Comment

Yes, I was back in the Voodoo Rooms again this week (and I’ll be there next week for Black Cat Bone). Not the big room this time, but the Speakeasy on the first floor, a very intimate venue. I didn’t think I’d ever been in there before, certainly never for a gig but the more I dwell on it, I reckon I may have seen a Fringe show in it years ago. There is bar at the back of the room but, as it was roasting in there, I trotted upstairs for a pint of Caesar Augustus for a bit of a cool down (there are two large air conditioning units on the ceiling but they didn’t seem to be doing much). On one of the side walls is a large mirror, a really large mirror. For aesthetics? To the make the room seem much bigger? Maybe to help shortarses like myself to get a good view of the bands! As usual for a music gig there was a substantial number of giants attending; my jigging around was only half inspired by the beats, the other half by trying to catch glimpses of the bands. Then I realised I got a much better view if I watched through the mirror, result!

I actually knew next to nothing about the bands playing; absolutely nothing about the two supports and only pictures of the headline band on a page I follow on Facebook. The pictures were super cool, oozed style and screamed 60’s vibe – if the band sounded half as good as the pictures that would still be bloody good. The bands?

Apologies to The Poppermost for my lack of organisation to get there earlier and see them, whilst waiting to get served at the bar I heard that I’d really missed a treat! Damn! My excuse? Rain, buckets and buckets of it! My usual mode of transport, Shanks’ pony is averse to the stuff. I’d hoped it might peter out, but by the back of 8 o’clock I had to come up with a plan c (to see the rain without it touching me).

I missed the very start of Les Bof! but I don’t think by much. Their bio on Facebook just says “UK premier French 60’s Garage Rock band!” Well, this moose likes French 60’s garage rock apparently, never knew that before! I love their style and sound, yes, very sixties and that dirty, gritty sound like early Dr Feelgood and the Animals. For the first time in a while the lack of cigarette smoke fog seemed slightly odd, definitely one of those gigs where once upon a time you could have cut through the smog with a knife! The singer Laurent Mombel sure likes to shake a tambourine, and being French he looks cool doing it. I have later discovered that the rest of the band are Scottish (an easy assumption to make that they were all French), well I reckon they’ve picked up a Gallic ambience from Mombel over time. I’ll be watching out for Les Bof! in future.

And then, The Courettes, like wow, talk about the passion, baby! I’m in love! Flavia Couri is a rare and beautiful creature, stylish and sultry, strong with a sweet mischievous smile, and by’eck, can she rock a guitar! Guys wanna be with her, girls wanna be in her gang. Alongside Flavia is husband Martin Couri on drums, and that’s the whole band, nothing else needed. They’re touring to promote their new album Back In Mono with a cover pic that describes their music perfectly, no words required. I would have bought the album that evening, but end of the month, you know.

If I had to describe their sound, I’d say, think of The Ronettes, trash it up, fuzz the guitar and add a wee snarl to the voice. One song has a line, “Look out! Look out! Look out!” which is a very obvious nod to The Shangri-Las’ Leader of the Pack, a classic in my book! The Courettes also have a new single out from the album, R.I.N.G.O. and yes, it’s a tribute to Ringo Starr. Ah, just twigged, it’s images of a seedy old funfair, fumblings in the dark, à la That’ll Be The Day that their music evokes for me (Ringo Starr starred in it). So many Courettes’ songs would be perfect for film soundtracks, someone call Tarantino!

I hope it’s not too long before The Courettes ride back into town. I need more ❤