The Scat Rats

Lights, music, camera – action

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Oops, it’s thirteen days since my last post, and this is gonna be a very short and sweet catch-up as it’s very late and I need to be up early in the morning. I say I need to be up early, I intend to be, really I do.

Well Everything Everywhere All At Once did brilliantly at the Oscars, just as I thought it deserved. Yes, the most bonkers film of the decade won big time, Best Original Screenplay, Best Film Editing, Best Director, Best Picture, along with Oscars for Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan and Jamie Lee Curtis. So so happy the ladies were recognised for being bloody awesome in it.

And in other awards news, The Jolly Judge has just been named as Branch Pub of the Year 2023 by CAMRA Edinburgh & South East Scotland. An excellent choice! One of my favourite Edinburgh pubs to be found in James Court off the Lawnmarket (near the top of the Royal Mile); a cosy wee place, friendly bar staff and always a good selection of real ciders and real ales (also dog-friendly).

Since I returned from a wee trip away I’ve caught The Scat Rats twice and The Buccaneers, yay. No keyboards again, I noticed; I also noticed the sound and lighting guy was having a lot of fun with The Buccaneers set – check out the reel I’ve put on Instagram of Simon Gibb’s drum solo on Black Magic Woman! Hmm, on Tuesday evening in Whistlebinkies the Rats got blasted with the smoke machine, engineers getting sassy!

Ah, it’s just after midnight so it’s now two weeks since the lads released their latest single Babestation from their upcoming album Heart-shaped Jacuzzi (I’ve just now noticed that it’s one word not two, I have some editing to do). It’s had nearly 2,500 streams on Spotify so far, I highly recommend you check it out! Besides being part of the Logan’s Close library of sound, Babestation has been added to Scotify a playlist of the best new alternative music from Scotland.

And sometime in the next 24 hours the video is being released, yes, a video for Babestation!! LC have put out a tiny wee bit to tantalise us. I won’t say anything about what I’ve seen so far, apart from, it’s not a video you’ll forget you’ve seen, apparently the band came up with the concept for it whilst in Hamburg (it figures).

Anyhoo, I must away to my bed. Toodle pip!

G’bye Ken, hi babe

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What a day! A new single from Logan’s Close and a sad farewell to Ken Bruce on Radio 2. Old Ken is going over to Greatest Hits Radio and he’s taking Pop Master with him, so good luck Radio 2 finding something to replace that ten thirty fix! I suspect a great many will be retuning their radios. Reading about the move, Ken will be playing music from the 70s, 80s and 90s on his new show which is fine but I think I would get a tad bored. I do like hearing newer stuff in the mix; different tastes and flavours enhancing the platter of sounds.

A neat segue to the juicy spiciness that is Logan’s Close! I can think of a number of LC tunes easily playable on a classic tunes radio show that would have folk wondering how they’d missed hearing it at the time! So many throwback sounds teasing misgotten memories. That evil joker of a friend could easily get you to remember that night, you know, that night, the brunette wearing The Who t-shirt, this was playing – god, yes, yes it was!

Just after midnight another succulent dish was added to the Spotify menu from those master chefs of musical morsels. I feel weird calling it new – I first heard it almost two years ago on the LimbicTV performance and for the last year it’s been a staple of The Scat Rats sets. The song? Babestation, a word that makes certain ears prick up, there’s always a few looks of acknowledgement every time and yes, the song is about what has sprung to those minds. Call me naive, I’d never heard of it, but Mr Marah’s words paint a very vivid picture for the uninitiated.

Babestation is inspired by a late night live adult tv channel, yup, porn. The song oozes with heavy sensuality and sleaze. Carl Marah always sounds beautifully plaintive singing this, but with added the studio production, oh my heartses, the hollow bleakness shattered me to pieces! I loved this song from the off, so was a teensy bit anxious how the studio version would sound, ha, no worries, the Close picked the right midwife to help deliver their baby – Dennis Rux at Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Studios (midwife or obstetrician? Hmmm).

Frisky rhythms from the bass and drums drive the song along, like keeping the babe upbeat to get through it all. Plenty sparseness of guitars and keyboards, a musical nonchalance to the scene (Oo, just saw the lads as a seedy wedding band playing unnoticed in the corner of her room). The verses each build from an almost introspective view from the babe, to looking out at her audience, to the hard coldness of it all, then Showtime, folks! I like the drop downs to quieter moments and the usual slight creepiness to the keyboards at times. The Scat Rats swirl Babestation down so well, but with the rest of LC added in, the result is intoxicating, love the hollow echoiness of Scott’s cries and the drum beat still jauntily going on.

Do check it out on Spotify and I’ve put a reel of The Scat Rats in Whistlebinkies on Instagram, enjoy. Now I must go eat, the Rats are due on at Stramash shortly. Toodle pip!

Messrs Marah and Rough blending

Rhythms, blues ‘n’ balls

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The end of another Six Nations Rugby weekend, the end of Scotland’s winning streak. If only they’d bucked up sooner in the second half, for a short time there it looked like they could possibly catch up, but no. Ah well, at least England beat Wales, not a consolation to my Scottish friends but I’m happy with that. Ireland beating Italy was pretty much presumed, at least Italy had a valiant try. They face Wales in the next round, mind, the Welsh won’t want to lose yet again!

No Six Nations next weekend but plenty of good music, on Friday 3rd there’s The Scat Rats in the seven o’clock (or half past six, or going on for eight o’clock) slot and The Moanin Bones in the after midnight slot at Stramash. Also, if my memory is correct I’m sure Logan’s Close mentioned on Instagram that the new single is available to play on the 3rd, alas it was on their storyline so gone now, I could have dreamt it!

Saturday 4th sees Nicole and the Back-up Crew in the ten o’clock slot at Stramash, yay. I had the pleasure of catching Nicole and Jed Potts playing an awesome second set at Whistlebinkies Tuesday gone. I was quite annoyed with myself for turning up so late – what delights did I miss? They really were on excellent form, riding on a country vibe for much of the set, yes, I should have just left the washing-up!

Actually, thinking about it, the line-up for last Tuesday at Whistlebinkies was very confused, the Edinburgh Gig Guide, Binkies own website and Facebook posts were all saying different things, Jed Potts was also publicising a time which was right by one account but wrong with another! Ah ha, yes, it hard to tell what was happening up until quite late on. So far in March Whistlebinkies have The Scat Rats playing twice, I may check that with Mr Marah closer to the dates.

The second weekend in March (the next round of the Six Nations Rugby) has a Carl Marah double on the Sunday night in Stramash with The Scat Rats at seven and The Buccaneers after midnight. Also, the later bands listed for Whistlebinkies look interesting – a possibility for some of the time between nine and half past midnight.

I’ll not see the Saturday matches but I may catch the second half of Scotland v Ireland on the Sunday afternoon if I’m back in time. I’m off on a wee jaunt! No, not to the mother ship, I’ll be heading there the following weekend for Mothering Sunday, but it is down to Yorkshireland (and lots of real cider, oh yay!)

Oh, that rant I mentioned last post has subsided to a grumble, I’ll tell you about it next time. For now I’ll leave you with a couple of pics taken in Dr Neil’s Garden this week. Toodle pip!

Cherry pink……
…. and apple blossom white

Some salad with my blues, please!

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Last week was Independent Venue Week here in the UK, I don’t know much about it except that it champions small independently-owned venues and helps organise events across the country to increase awareness of how important these small venues are to live music. Living where I do, I’m spoilt with the number of music venues around me, you may have noticed from my scribblings!

As part of Independent Venue Week Whistlebinkies focused on bands playing their own original music; in a whole week something was bound to take my fancy! Thursday night saw me going along to witness the spicy, saucy, sultry, stringy, succulent uniqueness of Dr Salad; genre? they call it bad romance (which actually makes some kind of sense when you see them). Dr Salad are a lot of fun, with deep, heavy, infectious rhythms, guitars wandering their own mysterious ways and the words, they’re the saucy, sultry bit! Oh, and there’s some Velvet Rough in the mix helping the medicine go down.

Scotty boy was back out again on Friday evening with his fellow Scat Rat in Stramash, but huh? they were billed as Logan’s Close, well, yes, they are LC as well, but as a duo they’re usually the Scat Rats certainly on early Friday evenings. Last Friday evening was a ticketed event at Stramash, I had my ticket booked for The Black Diamond Express, a local band who play blues with celtic strains and an Americana twang. It was an unexpected bonus to later read that the lads would be on as support, just a short sweet set of delights.

Definitely in Logan’s Close mode – both were looking very smart (Carl always likes to look smart, but, well, Scotty goes for a much more relaxed look as a Rat), and Carl had his electric guitar for that LC sound. All their own songs apart from the usual finale You Can’t Judge a Book… ; including the latest two singles Dans Le Jardin and Heart-shaped Jacuzzi, sweet. The lads went down well with the crowd, as only to be expected, and had Stramash nicely warmed up for the main attraction.

The Black Diamond Express, are a band of many, the stage looked packed out after the sparseness of LC. With that many musicians about, there had to be one I’d seen elsewhere – yes, the bassist, Ewan Gibson. He’s a Buccaneer, one of Nicole’s Back-up Crew, a Blueswaterman, and that’s just the ones I’m aware of, probably a few more, I’m sure.

When The Black Diamond Express came on the place was buzzing and there was soon some jigging about going on in the crowd. For me the fiddle-playing really enhanced the mood of the music and sounded great against the singer (great voice there). Oh, it was all great, I just like a touch of fiddle to add a little pathos and melancholy.

Back in Whistlebinkies on Saturday evening Jed Potts and the Hillman Hunters were playing some of their originals, always a pleasure! Binkies was buzzing, well, Scotland had just beaten England in this year’s Six Nations Rugby Championship, I’m guessing quite a few folk were a few pints in already!

No, I didn’t go to the Handsome House Jam on Sunday evening, I stayed in with the telly. Mind, the video is out and the setlist looks very interesting, I shall have a watch at some point. It was a good night for telly, last episodes of His Dark Materials (god, I’d forgotten how sad the end is) and the utterly brilliant Happy Valley which, happily, finished perfectly! All the coffee shops and cafés in Hebden Bridge will be looking forward to another influx of tourists on the back of it.

The sun’s beckoning me, must head out. There’ll be clips of the bands up on my Instagram later, please do check them out. Cheerio!

The Black Diamond Express

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 🧡

Cheesecake with blues

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As weekends go, that was quite a good one. More frozen turkey bits from the Farmers Market (two wings this time, bloody big they are!); also treated myself to some baba ganoush from a relatively new stall which turned out to be seriously yummy. On my way home from the Market, the shop I popped in for a newspaper had Hagan Das Strawberry Cheesecake ice-cream on offer at £3.50!! Oh yes, another treat for my tum.

Plenty of musical delights as well (as previously anticipated) Bones, Rats and a Jam, a veritable cornucopia of rhythm and blues. The double helping of The Scat Rats was great, both in the early evening too, nice. It has occurred to me that the Rats were quite a highlight of last year for me; since their continental jaunts in the first half of the year Messrs Marah and Rough have played Stramash and Whistlebinkies plenty times in their Scat Rats guise – two voices, two guitars, great rhythm’n’blues, love’em!

Sunday evening saw the 100th Handsome House Jam at Stramash with host Tim Elliott, invited along as it was he who hosted the very first Handsome House Jam, nice touch. There were a few guest musicians joining the band on stage, including one of my favourites, Jed Potts. It was a cool, laidback evening, helped along by a couple of pints of Pentland IPA from Stewart’s, the current guest ale; it’s rather nice. I’ll put a couple of clips on my Instagram, for pics check out Waysted Photography on Facebook, he gets amazing shots at gigs around town; last night’s are up on Facebook now.

I’ll leave you with a still of Scott Rough clocking me filming The Scat Rats on Friday evening ….

A quiet weekend….

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No Rats, Bones, Buccaneers or mild-mannered janitors this weekend, suppose I’ll just get on and write to you guys. I have a chicken leg roasting in the oven (along with tatties, carrots, red onion, garlic and rosemary, all sloshed with olive oil), so fifty minutes to spare! At least I think none of my favourites are playing nearby, some website calendars have gaps in them and others, well, are not necessarily right by the night (if you read this blog much then you’ll know which local hostelry I’m referring to here).

Next weekend’s better, I believe the Scat Rats are at Stramash on the Friday early evening slot (well, Mr Marah thinks they are), then at midnight the Moanin Bones are rattlin’ and rollin’ at Whistlebinkies. Saturday sees the Scat Rats at Binkies at seven o’clock, a fine way to start a Saturday evening, folks. And it’s the Handsome House Band’s 100th gig at Stramash next Sunday! It’ll be featuring Tim Elliott (Blues’n’Trouble frontman, harmonica and vocals) and hopefully more unannounced guests. Come on, the 100th has to see a few “previously featured” getting up there for a jam!

Earlier this week I went to see Empire of Light at the cinema, there’s been mixed reviews but I loved it. Olivia Coleman is always great to watch, and with Toby Jones, Colin Firth and Micheal Ward in there too – well, it ticked plenty boxes. What a cinema it’s set in! Apparently it’s the Dreamland Cinema in Margate (first opened in 1935 with a very chequered past, like many old cinemas), almost another character in itself. The story takes place in the early 1980s, a time I remember, the good and the bad, I thought Empire of Light portrayed it well.

In other news, show registration for Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2023 is now open. I don’t know about anyone else but I do know Accordion Ryan has registered, yay! So that’s one show on my list to see, sweet.

Well, my tomato timer has ticked round to almost zero, I’d best go check on my chicken.

Toodle pips!

I feel better, thanks for asking

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Finally I feel moose again! That lurgy was a real mean one, I hope you haven’t had the misfortune to start your year with such as I had. I’ve been battling mine with turkey curry! January is a great time for buying turkey carcases and frozen turkey legs from Brewsters Smalling at Edinburgh Farmers Market. Hurrah for folk who just want turkey crowns for Christmas lunch, that leaves extra legs and wings for later. A turkey carcass I bought last weekend made a splendid broth; a long, slow simmer allowed all the meat to be stripped from the bones. I left out the leg I bought yesterday morning to defrost and roasted it in the evening, oh my, it was really hard to stop after a little taste!

With my health just about restored, I finally caught up with The Scat Rats at Whistlebinkies on Friday evening, yay. It was fairly quiet – dry January? Personally I prefer to support my local drinking establishments, someone has to when so many abstain for a month, it was my duty! The Moanin Bones played the late night shift at a packed Stramash (the students were well up for a party before the next term gets under way), I had a quick peek in on my way home.

Oo, other news from Friday, Logan’s Close released another single Dans Le Jardin, do check it out! There’s clips of Messrs Marah & Rough looking very come-hither in Dr Neil’s Garden to help promote it on Instagram and Facebook; I’m not sure about the beret, though (why?! well, see for yourself do). I felt inspired to take a walk round there for myself. The garden used to be closed during the winter months, it’s good to be able to visit all year round now.

Dans le jardin du Brucie

Earlier in the week I was delighted to see that Michelle Yeoh and Ke Huy Quan both won Golden Globes for Everything Everywhere All At Once (Jamie Lee Curtis was nominated but sadly didn’t win), the weirdest film of 2022, probably the decade too. The Banshees of Inisherin did well too, picking up three awards and Austin Butler won one for playing Elvis (though Bill Nighy would have been equally deserving for his brilliant performance in Living). Not that I need my film choices to win awards to feel vindicated or anything, but it’s nice when they do.

Anyway, there’s a cooked turkey leg in my kitchen calling out to have a few slices removed and placed between two chunks of bread. Toodle oo!

Ridiculously Sublime

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I may have been putting off writing this post, yeah, I have – what can I say about Monday and Tuesday evenings?! I thought leaving it a day might help, give time for my mind to form something. Nah, it’s still just a swirl, a very giddy, exhilarating swirl, I can give you single words, snippets, the set list. No, I can do slightly better than that.

It was sooo good to see Logan’s Close playing together again, and in Sneaky Pete’s, the first time there for the new line-up. I also clocked another new line-up within LC, Carl, Scott and Stu all have Gretschs, there’s a sweep across clip of the start of I Want You that I’ve stuck on Instagram. Yes, one of my favourite older numbers was included, very happy about that! Worked A Treat and Give It To Me made it in too, and, of course, Listen To Your Mother finished things off (ah, the first night Treat had the honour, due to time miscalculations).

Of course, some numbers I’m more used to hearing the stripped down Scat Rats versions, but don’t ask me which I prefer! Every version is perfect in its own sweet way; thinking about it, I’d love to hear a Rats version of Merry-go-round (pretty please?!), it’s a great song but there’s something it really reminds me of, something just out of reach in my head, argh! Oo, possibly a Monkees song, maybe.

Sneaky’s was packed out, bouncing along, it really is a great venue if a tad warm, as the lads always comment, but there’s a new marker as to how hot it’s getting – when Stu throws off his hat. SeanKeys was brilliant as ever, I reckon the second night he positioned his keyboard slightly differently to have more space to jump around.

Two nights of awesomeness, truly they were. Christmas come early! Scott’s voice just keeps getting better and better, and the harmonies, achingly good. Logan’s Close are so in sync with each other, so tight, yet loose, the combined energy, well, it grabs me to my core. The words, the music, the performance, ridiculously sublime! Okay, so I have always had huge, huge love for music that moves me (yes, I know it’s a tad odd, that’s just how I’m made), but nothing has ever grabbed me like the LC sound. Can’t wait for the album! Oh, my heartses!

Well, must go, need to eat and Potts & Smit will be starting in Whistlebinkies shortly. Coming up next time, a christmas shopping jaunt up to Bruntsfield and the odd snowman. I’ll leave you with a pic of Mr Rough from the end of Tuesday night ❤️

I’m just a tad excited

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It’s finally here!! Logan’s Close are back in Sneaky Pete’s tonight! Yay! And what a build-up to it over the weekend, couldn’t move without bumping into good music! Friday was the Scat Rats in Binkies, plenty folk were in after office parties, so plenty dancing, myself included.

Saturday evening was back to Binkies for The Moanin Bones on excellent form. After their first set I headed down to Stramash for Black Cat Bone, they were fine but I just wasn’t feeling it so back to Whistlebinkies I headed to catch more of the Bones. As if that wasn’t enough of the talented Mr Buckley, I caught his second set in Stramash the following evening, solo this time. There’s a clip of a rather fine bit of California Dreamin’ on Instagram.

After he was done I nipped over the road to Bannermans for Jed Potts and Nicole Smit playing in the front bar. Yay, another pub with Stewart’s ales and they had Kilted Kiwi on, sweet! (much preferable to Stewart’s festive offering this year). Bannermans is not a place I go in much, I’ve seen the odd band there and if you like your’s metal it’s definitely worth a visit. It was quite a cosy setting on Sunday evening, not metal instead blues and honky tonk, marvellous.

Sometime after ten I trotted back over to Stramash for The Buccaneers, see it pays to keep a watchful eye on social media for who’s playing where. I noted Mr Marah had a new shirt on, apparently he found it in Armstrong’s an emporium of vintage clothing, well-known in Edinburgh for the place to look for something with style.

Well, it’s time to have a nibble or two before I head along to Sneaky’s. Do check out my Instagram @bruceonthefringe for clips of my favourite Edinburgh bands. I’ll leave you with the lovely Nicole and Jed….