Limbo 065 - Thursday 26th March 2009
Limbo Home page
|
It's Come On Gang!'s homecoming show, fresh back from showcase gigs at industry hoe-down South By Southwest in Austin, right in the heart of the ol' US of A. With word now starting to spread properly about this terrific trio, we're confident 2009 will be a very special year indeed for them and expect them to come off the plane buzzing like the live-wires they all are from the thrill of their Texan adventure. Support comes from Aberdeen's Little Kicks, who we've been trying to get on at Limbo since the night began and Endor who equally come trailing a notable rep in their wake.
It’s auspicious for any debut when people are filling the bar early to check it out, and that’s exactly what happened for IRREGULAR’s blisteringly good launch. Each act had two short sets, so if you missed one the first time around, you were guaranteed to fall under their influence later on. Though, within all that stage-shifting one or two secret goldmines lay buried – a brand-new Nick Cave video and complementary tequila, anyone?
Tim Turnbull, a poet and writer in residence at HMP Edinburgh and many other institutions, played host. His standout piece was an ode to Lux Interior, where every rhyme and pause got people laughing in disbelief. How long can he keep it going?! Tim’s sharp suit and deep, intriguing voice cast a spell of mischief that was perfect for the other performances to come . . .
Namely, Joe Dunthorne, author of the novel Submarine (we at Canongate wanted to publish it, weren’t chosen, but pathetically we remain unconditional Dunthorne fans). Here’s a young man with the delivery of David Sedaris and literary sparkle of Salinger, who already knows how to get an audience to gasp and belly-laugh at his command. His deadpan recitations about bullies, the future of speed-dating and the rules of poetry are hilarious for their honesty. Hats off, Joe.
Dan Rhodes read to a crowd that was by now seated at his feet. Dan’s Anthropology is a collection of 101 stories about girlfriends, all 101 words long. ‘Now that’s a book I want to read,’ someone next to me shouted – and Dan took random audience calls as cues for which story in the sequence he should perform. My favourite was the one about one girlfriend’s three children (‘They were horrible.’) Or maybe the one about the girlfriend who named their daughter Lesbian. Isn’t it about time a new Dan Rhodes book came out?
The band for the evening was the stunning Black Diamond Express: with their gypsy aesthetic and hooks that could get the grinch to dance, this is primal roots rock ’n’ roll. It’s not often you see so many strings on stage – violin, blues harp and banjo, among others – and the songs are so ahead-of-the-pack good, lyrically, sonically and in terms of the amazing charisma these guys have, they are kept onstage as long as legally possible. Despite their traditional influences and innocent grins, The Express are clearly familiar with the dark side of life and art – making them the perfect partner for the other rock ’n’ roll moment of the evening.
myspace.com/theblackdiamondexpress
We've finally managed to nail down a date with Glasgow's mighty St Deluxe, the act Oasis svengali Alan McGee recently described as 'a Scottish Nirvana for the 21st Century'. They headline Limbo next week with support from exciting new bands Team Turnip and French Wives, who have more in common with each other than with St Deluxe, per se. But it's twists such as these that can make the Limbo experience so much more exciting than your average gig and there is a common thread of POP running through all three outfits, albeit more scuzzily for St Deluxe. With their celebrity fans multiplying fast, including Spacemen 3's Peter Kember, Teenage Fanclub's Norman Blake and Stuart Braithwaite from Mogwai, not to mention wide-spread acclaim in the media for their glorious debut album, we're expecting a fantastic gig, to say the very least.
|
MAILING LIST
MARINA & THE DIAMONDS 
One for the diary. Check her MySpace here FACEBOOK/MYSPACE Come and hang out on Facebook here or say hi to us over here at MySpace CHEAP DRINKS! 
Don't forget you can take advantage of £2 bottles from any of the Voodoo Rooms' three bars by showing your Limbo wrist-band to the bartender.
FOR SALE:
1 Peavey TK0115 bass amp VENUE INFO 
Limbo takes place at The Voodoo Rooms, West Register Street, Edinburgh.
Sponsored Links |
|||||||
Limbo Home page | Forthcoming bands
|
||||||||
COME ON GANG! are destined for great things. A guitarist (Mikey) from Galashiels, a bassist (Trev) from Dublin and a singer/drummer (Sarah) from Brighton, they are guaranteed to get everyone jumping to their high-octane, punky, indie-pop. They launched their debut single, Wheels, at Limbo last July (check the newsletter from that week for the video interview we did back then) and were last seen at Limbo in December, when they launched their second, split 7", single with Kid Canaveral. A little bit Belle And Sebastian, a little bit Yeah Yeah Yeahs and a little bit of something else that's quite simply Come On Gang!, if you're not feeling these tunes, you've either had your soul possessed or you need to see a shrink. Melodic, heartfelt and firing on all cylinders, Come On Gang! are a proverbial rocket-ship shooting for the moon and sure to be on particularly fine form for this, their homecoming show.
Come On Gang! are just getting super good, super quickly. They swoop and soar and rattle and fizz and it's all so exciting and young and bastard brilliant it's like injecting sherbert and vodka into a vein in your eyeball' (www.showburner.com, November 2008)
There are shades of Pulp, The Smiths, Radiohead and a slew of other fine bands in THE LITTLE KICKS' sound and with previous support slots for Foals, Maximo Park, Editors, The Kooks, The Mystery Jets, The Sunshine Underground, Brakes, Maccabees, Errors, Ed Harcourt, Electric Soft Parade, The Rakes, Lightspeed Champion and Jamie T, clearly we're not the only ones who think they're one of the best outfits in the Granite City.
We've been hearing good things about Endor for some time now, so we're looking forward to this, their Limbo debut.
St Deluxe make Glaswegian fuzz-pop with beautiful noise. Fans already include Alan McGee ("St. Deluxe are brilliant, a Scottish Nirvana for the 21st Century"), Teenage Fanclub's Norman Blake ("Scotland's Uber noise/pop merchants. I love 'em!") and Mogwai's Stuart Braithwaite ("Great guitar pop. They have a fine collection of guitar pedals and are not afraid to use them!"). Their self-titled UK debut, out on February 9th through Poppydisc, showcases 11 songs wrapped in dirty guitars, fuzz bass and off-kilter drums. Influenced by noise-oriented indie-rock troublemakers like Sonic Youth, MBV and Jesus and Mary Chain as well as the scuzz-pop of Pavement, Sebadoh and Dinosaur Jr, the visceral rock thrills are perfectly balanced by addictive melodies. 'St Deluxe' was recently released through Star Sign records in Japan to great acclaim and with distribution secured throughout Germany, subsequent tours in both countries are hotly anticipated. Further recordings feature guest producers like Calvin Johnson of K Records/Beat Happening and Stuart Braithwaite and the band have a healthy live reputation thanks to blistering shows across the UK, the recent enthusiastically received German tour and support slots with underground heroes Sonic Boom (Spectrum/Spacemen 3) and Monade (Stereolab).
French Wives formed little over a year ago and have already built up a name for themselves on the Glasgow scene. The talented 5 piece produce a unique mixture of instantly likeable pop and folk treats which take influence from acts such as Belle and Sebastian and Sufjan Stevens. The band's popularity, earned by producing well crafted songs combining musicality with powerful lyrics, led to them securing a slot at Connect music festival 2008 within months of their formation. The band continues to pride itself on its use of unusual instrumentation, whilst striving to create new and interesting pop.
Team Turnip play what they like to call 'sweetly sick sour-pop', dark tales on austere topics like suicide, self-abuse and stalking, cheerfully regaled in an exuberantly oxymoronic fashion. Team Turnip is Russell Kostulin, his sisters and a carousel of friends who help out with live performances.