Lost City Lights:

Scott – Vocals/Piano/Acoustic Guitar/Songwriter

What instrumentalists influenced and inspired you?

‘Freddie Mercury,Rob Thomas of Matchbox Twenty, Jimmy Eat World and Dallas Green/Alexisonfire have been my biggest musical influences when it came to writing the Lost City Lights songs.’

What did you love about the sounds?

‘I loved Freddie and Rob Thomas’ pop song writing sensibilities and Jimmy Eat World especially the futures album have had a massive affect on the way I write and I love how dallas’ voice soars over the the guitar melodies and the distorted chords.’

How if at all did it affect your own styles?

‘All 4 have affected the way i approach song writing, the way i approach my vocal melodies and most importantly my lyrics. Freddie is the biggest influence on my stage performance and the way I carry myself. He was a great performer and I can only hope to be half the performer he was.’

Mark – Lead Guitar/Occasional Co-Writer
What instrumentalists influenced and inspired you?
 
‘Stevie Ray Vaughan, Joe Walsh, Angus Young, Slash, Izzy Stradlin, John
Frusciante, Eric Clapton, Eddie Van Halen, Tom Morello, Phil X, Jimi
Hendrix, Brian May, Pete Townshend, Jimmy Page, Keith Richards, The
Edge, Jeff Beck, Randy Rhodes.’
 
What did you love about the sounds?
 
‘Loud Loud Loud Loud Loud.’
 
How if at all did it affect your own styles?
 
‘I don’t think it so much had an effect on my style, more so my attitude towards making music.  The point of being in a band is taking everything you love about music personally, and crafting it into something that is your ideal take on the music that you listen to and the stuff that inspires you. So ideally, you should be your own
favourite band. Because if you've got the chance to take all these different influences, everything you love about music and mould it into something that you think is your perfect blend of material, then Bob's your Uncle.’

Paul – Bass Guitar

What instrumentalists influenced and inspired you?
 
‘Matt Freeman is the biggest influence of mine. He was the reason I started playing bass and although my musical tastes have changed over the years since starting to play his influence still remains a big part of my writing process. Other influences include Paul Simonon, Bruce Foxton and Nick Harmer.’

What did you love about the sounds?

‘I have always been prone to listening out for more unusual bass lines,
contrasting rhythms and the use of notes which complement the guitarist rather
than blending in, which is a common trait amongst bass players.’

How if at all did it affect your own styles?

‘I try to be more of an active musician when possible. It can be inappropriate
for bass players to use a lot of decoration in songs all the time, on the other
hand it can be the easy way out to simply play the bass notes of rhythm
guitarist. I try to find a happy medium when writing bass line.’

Make Sparks:

Craig – Guitar and Lead Vox

‘When I was a wee kid it was my Dad teaching me the basic chords and some blues riffs. When I was 12 I heard Definitely Maybe and it changed my life. For some reason its not cool to admit to it anymore but I was a massive Oasis fan and idolized Noel Gallagher until I was about 17. Then I heard Biffy Clyro…’

What did you love about the sounds?

‘I had only heard my Dads old music before then (Alice Cooper, Gary Moore, Slade) and although I still like some of them, nothing had hit me like Oasis did. The songs just sort of knocked me on my ass and made me want to learn every single one of them on my guitar that had been gathering dust for a couple of years. Then I got it out and learned how to really rock an open G and Am It was more than the guitars in Oasis though, I really did love the band. I don’t enjoy any of their work anymore but I still enjoy going back to the old stuff and all of the B-sides.’

How if at all did it affect your own styles?

‘It affected our songwriting more than anything. We don’t have any similar sounds or styles to them anymore (and Adam never liked them anyway!) but we do always try for unifying, uplifting choruses and sing along hooks which is a real Oasis trait I think!’

 

The Silent Forest:

Drummers/guitarists/singers

What instrumentalists influenced and inspired you?

‘I can remember being very young, me and my sister Lesley (who plays in the band) sitting in the living room at home with dads headphones on, huge things they were and listening to Queen LP’s.  We would sing out the Melodies and strut up and down the living room like Freddy Mercury and Air guitar like Brain May, deny it all you want Queen were so massive because they wrote hit after hit after hit, it was the sense of big sound and big melody which I try to continue, lyrically too quite amazing when you read in between the lines, its always a sound of a good song when every time you listen to it you discover something new about it.’

‘We listened to lots of “dad rock” growing up, that might explain the way I sing, but we were also exposed to the classical greats, I own more soundtracks than I do Albums by bands, music on its own particulary the giant classical tracks carry a different weight, you can’t describe a sunset with words, we’ll leave that to Mozart, Beethoven and Greig.’

‘Lately I have returned to listening to powerful lyrical music, which I had almost ignored as for the last year and a half the music and the melody has taken presidence.  But one artist at the moment who affects how I right Lyrics is a rather unknown man called David Ford (fromerly Easyworld), that man makes me smile all day.

What did you love about the sounds?

‘I think I speak for the whole band when I say that we have no defined musical tastes.  Music has to do that thing where a grin slowly emerges across your face.  Like the first time I heard Sigur Ros through headphones, I bought the album Takk and sat and listened to the whole thing right through while watching stars on a freezing cold night.  I wasn’t bored or tired, the music just caught me and held me.  I think this comes from listening to classical music as children and just appreciating the mix of beautiful harmony and mixed instruments.  Like lots of strings and long held guitar notes along with the singers high pitched singing.  

The same goes for all the massive rock / pop songs I’m in love with.  They all have something in them that holds you.  The first album from the Guillemots, the opening song is much like a Sigur Ros song its called “little bear” and they is massive held strings and this simple piano line and vocal melody.  Then the album has songs like “Annie lets not wait” which is an amazing pop song with banjos and paino’s and even some school choir singing, but the same sounds like all the greats have, that interesting mix of melody which makes you listen on and smile endless throughout.

It doesn’t just have to be the poppy songs that do that, I used to be into Slayer and things like that (not anymore) but the great heavy metal songs have great melody, melody and balls right enough but still the same passion which comes through. One band that does this for me at the moment is 65 Days of Static, no singing right enough but the songs are loud and quiet but drive themselves.’

How if at all did it affect your own styles?

‘Our style is affected in various ways  I know that when I write the basic tunes out on my own I keep it simple (mainly because of lack of skill) and stick to the guitar and vocals usually with Lesley in the room on her violin and somewhere with the two of us playing the same thing over and over the song ideas take shape.  Once I have a melody which changes and has a bit of passion to it (just like the Queen and all rock and pop greats) I start to work on the lyrics.  These take the longest amount of time.  I’m re-writing lyrics almost 9 months after I’ve finished the melody I can’t leave a lyric sounding like it fits or Rhymes, I think this is because of listening to David Ford and Pearl Jam, Eddie Vedder writes great things, which are not just about how he feels about a women but a mixture of things affecting his life.  I think Queen and Bruce Springsteen get this balance of great lyrics about life with perfect melodies.

Then its time to take the skeleton song to the band.  Where Jamie adds the classical element to it.  He thinks about the layers and walls of sound which accompany the melody.  His guitar lines act as hooks.  I do like to ask him for something but usually he gets it with out me saying too much.  Iain the drummer, just loves to drum he likes to use his kit as an instrument and not as a method of just keeping time.  Drumming can change a whole song, like Wake Up by Arcade Fire, such a simply song but the drumming changes how you think of the song.  I don’t set out with drums in mind and very often I need to ask what I want (which is never observed, but he knows best).

The end result ares influenced by big pop classics, yet with the mind set of making people listen harder, you don’t want to give them what they want.  Classical instrumental arrangements mixed into a good song structure using Pads and loops of noise and strings influenced by classical, rock ballads and Lyrically singer songwriter music form the ingredients of our music.  Depending on the gig we are playing you can see all these elements shinning through. I can take on the guise of a singer songwriter and play on my own or just an acoustic and a violin or cello.  We can play faster and with more balls when just in 4 piece form, we have even gone the full Sigur Ros way (which would be amazing to do all the time) and played with an orchestra.’

 

Answers from ambulances:

Scott – Vocals/guitar,

‘Genesis P-Orridge was a big inspiration, I liked him since I was 15 and he turned me onto writers, artists and musicians that I never knew existed.’
 
Sara – Singer

‘My inspirartions are Kate Bush and Elizabeth Fraser. They both have a beautiful and unique voice, which has inspired me to create my own beautiful and unique vocal style.’
 
Chris – vocals/guitar

 ‘Michael Angelo Batio has always been an inspiration to me. I think it's fair to say that when it comes to playing guitar, the ability to get as many notes played in a minute is much more important than feel or anything boring like that. Batio's style, both in terms of his hair and shredding technique, have pretty much been implemented into my own stage craft. Although I must add that, when playing with Ambulances, I've had to abandon the Dean Double Guitar as it's too heavy for me to carry these days. My motto is, "More is more". Vocally I try to set the bar high, and so recently I've been trying to emanate the classics. I have so much respect for Cliff Richard.’
 
Big Al – Drums

‘I've forgotten more than Cozy Powell ever knew.’

 

What The Heroes Say

What instrumentalists influenced and inspired you ?

John – Singer

‘Elvis Presley, The Beatles, Frank Sinatra,The Doors, Ian Brown, Noel Gallagher’

John -Guitar

‘John Lennon, Keith Richards, Martin Luther the king’

Sean – Keyboards

‘Jerry Lee Lewis, Buddy Holly and Pete Townsend’

John – Bass

‘Paul Weller, John Paul Jones, John Bonham, Robert Plant, James Brown, Bon Scott
Des-drums – my older brother bashed the kit in the house and I followed suit!’

What did you love about the Sounds?

John-singer

‘Their voices, their melodies, their style….goose bump stuff’

John-guitar

‘John Lennon – I loved his crunchy Rickenbacker sound from the Beatles early days,
Keith Richards – love the style of his Telecaster riffs and solos and Martin luther the king – “I have a dream” loved that bit!’

Sean – Keyboards

‘Completely original and authentic, their music sounded honest to me.’

John – Bass

‘The passion and aggression that each artist showed when performing and the communication between each person in the band to create the sound which inspires me to be in a band today.’

Des – Drums

‘I loved the different sounds of the drum kit and how powerful it all sounded.’

How if at all did it affect your own style ?

John – Singer

‘Hasn’t really because you can’t copy these guys. They are one offs, totally original. All I try to do is sing well and write songs that people will remember and perform them with passion. If any comparisons are made I’ll take them.’

Sean – keyboards

‘I’ve never been totally affected but other artists but if anything it made me wants to write my own songs and work with others to create “a sound”’

John – Bass

‘Image, attitude towards music and wanting to be successful at what I enjoy doing the most, playing live.’

Des – Drums

‘It didn’t really, I soon developed my own unique style!’

What instrumentalists/singers influenced your own styles when growing up ?

John – Singer

‘Elvis and Frank, my mum played their records day and night, The Beatles, The Doors, The Who, The Small Faces, Northern Soul, The Jam, Stone Roses, Oasis, U2’

John – Guitar

‘Noel Gallagher, Ryan Adams,The Beatles,The Rolling Stones, The Stereophonics (When they were half decent like!), Neil Finn, Bon Scott, Bonnie Tyler
Sean-keyboards- Beatles, The Who, Buddy Holly, Johnny Cash, Oasis’

John – Bass

‘Elvis Presley, Lennon/McCartney, Paul Weller.’

Des – Drums

‘Ringo Star, Keith Moon, Charlie Watts and Larry Mullen Jnr’

 

First Charge of The Light Brigade

What instrumentalists influenced and inspired you?

‘To name but a few,Ennio Moricone, Robert Smith(The Cure), Tom Waits, Randy Newman,George Harrison, CSN, Neil Young, Ry Cooder, Johnny Marr, Neil Finn, Levon Helm, Robbie Robertson, Richard Manuel, and loads of new artists.’

What did you love about the sounds?

‘Everything!! Simple sounds are hard to create, having your mood changed by a great unique other worldly sound, and the ability of music to bookmark an era of your life
How if at all did it affect your own styles? We are constantly inspired by new music and recording techniques while also try to listen to as much music from all decades and trying to head off in one set direction.’

 

TSM Radio

Drummers/guitarists/singers

What instrumentalists influenced and inspired you?

I was inspired by Fleetwood Mac, Tracy Chapman and Christina Aguilera.

What did you love about the sounds?

I love many different things from each.  Christina Aguilera’s voice to me is one of the best, her range, the emotion she can bring to a song, was and still is a huge inspiration to me.  The melodies and instrumentation in Fleetwood Mac’s album “Rumours” is simply stunning, and lyrically I love Tracy Chapman.

How if at all did it affect your own styles?

I would say my style has definitely been affected by these artists as they have played a great part in my growth as a musician and writer.  I have studied and watched each and tried to take in as much as I can.  Listening to their albums helped me decide what kind of artist I would like to be and what quality of music I wish to achieve.

SINGING ALL THE RIGHT NOTES.
Faced with a load of boring questions, most bands would probably scream: ‘Let the music do the talking.’ So this month we thought we’d try just that.

Instead of a tired journo reeling off the same stale pap, we’ve taken the six notes that make up many a great guitar riff and used them to give some of the hottest up-and-coming bands a voice. Each note – E, A, D, G, B, E – represents a question and allows each act to have their views and opinions heard by the people that matter most, the fans.

What did this month’s groups think of our new material? Find out below:

3RD DEC

Whisky Works

Ethos of your music?
Currently unsigned and do everything ourselves. A lot of our collective influences share a similar ethos such as: Fugazi, Husker Du and more currently the Big Scary Monsters record label.
I think with the current state of the music industry, it's getting more and more important for bands to be self sufficient and self aware. Although the record industry may be in decline, there are better opportunities for bands at our level to do things by ourselves and the way we want to.

That's not to say we are immune to help! If the right people came along and cared about our sound, we are all ears! We pride ourselves on our live performance, if we don't come off completely shattered and covered in sweat then we haven't done it right.
    
Ambitions for 2010?
Too tour…Lot's. To let as many people as possible hear our Mini Album which is released officially next year. We are also planning a single/video launch early next year. Around summertime we will be starting to think about our first full length record too, really busy!

Do’s and don’ts of touring?
Do bring multiple changes of clothes! Tour with lovely, honest people! Plan everything way in advance! Keep clean and resist the temptation to have fast food every day! Be careful in Dundee.

Don't tour in a Ford Focus. Have four guitars across everyone's lap in the backseat. Play with promoters you don't trust. Join a random band line up.

Greatest band playing today? & why?
Most of our favourite bands have split up. Couldn't possibly name the greatest as that's an impossible question. My personal favourite at the moment has to be The Fall Of Troy but collectively we all adore At The Drive In!

Biggest tune? & why?
'Pattern Against User' is vintage At The Drive In. Its so full of energy! Alternatively, our own biggest tune has to be 'Electric' as huge is the only word you could use to describe the chorus!
Songs of the last 20 years you just can't ignore though, include 'Just Like Heaven' by The Cure, one of the greatest love songs ever written. Our drummer would have you believe it is 'Time After Time' by Cyndi Lauper but he is wrong….

Eurythmics or Human league or neither – if neither, why?
Eurythmics every time. I don't feel guilty about having 'Thorn In My Side' on my I Tunes playlist!
 

3RD DEC
Trapped in Kansas

Ethos of your music?
We try to write songs that will engage the listener, challenge their perception of music by offering jazzy time-signatures and tempo changes, as well as interesting guitar work, whilst making sure they can still sing along! We really just try to challenge ourselves most of the time though, just to try and keep things interesting!

Ambitions for 2010?
Do as well as we did in '09! Try and get round the festivals we missed like Wickerman, Belladrum etc. We definitely aim to get a proper physical release out sometime early next year too!

Do’s and don’ts of touring?
From experience…
DO:      sort out accommodation (car boots aren't  comfy)  Overestimate how much money you'll spend, you'll still exceed expectations through the blissful medium of fast food.

DON'T:   Steal things from your drummer Stay in university halls and expect to leave with everything intact. i.e eyebrows, limbs etc.

Greatest band playing today? & why?
For me it has to be either Frightened Rabbit or Biffy Clyro! I really feel, in both cases, that everything they do is incredible, they both gig frequently and are both constantly releasing, which keeps me happy! Thye music is easy to relate to for me too, as being a fellow Scot makes it easy to identify both bands' authenticity, which is really important. If a Scottish band sing in American accents it isn't authentic and vice versa, it's just good that the accent is coming through more and more these days and both Frabbit and Biffy seem to be leading the way!

Biggest tune? & why?
I would say our biggest tune is Tower Block. It hasn't been recorded as of yet but it has such a catchy chorus that everytime we play it, people are always singing it hours later. When it does finally get recorded, I really think it will be huge for us!

Eurythmics or Human league or neither – if neither, why?
I am going to say neither, for the sole reason that they're both pretty dated now and innovation is key to good new music! 
The Mill Edinburgh

10TH DEC

Homework

Ethos of your music?
To make something memorable, inventive and original and to carry on the making albums. Not just releasing MP3s. If people leave your gig and have at least one of your tunes stuck in their head you know that tunes a keeper.

Ambitions for 2010?
We have just finished writing the album so the first half of the year will be spent getting it all recorded and the second half promoting its release. A manager and a label interested in releasing the album would also be high on the list.

Do’s and don’ts of touring?
Do play outside of the normal circuit; Do get everyone’s email address; Do try and get paid for your gigs; Do it with another band; Do take photos

Don’t share certain photos

Greatest band playing today? & why?
The Flaming Lips – Because they do what they want. Amazing live show. Inventive production.
Daft Punk – Peerless, well maybe apart from Chemical Brothers.
Wilco – Have you heard A Ghost is Born?
Radiohead – Everybody says Radiohead and In Rainbows just blew everything else out of the water when it came out.

Biggest tune? & why?
Changes from week to week, month to month, year to year.

Eurythmics or Human league or neither – if neither, why?
Take Depeche Mode, Gary Numan and Kraftwerk before either of them.  They were always on the darker side of the synth.

10TH DEC

Kid Canaveral

Ethos of your music?
We want people to have fun and dance like idiots. We're anti the Mayor in Footloose. Go Kevin Bacon.
    
Ambitions for 2010?
Release our album. Tour our album. Let as many people as possible hear our album. Choose Life.
   
Do’s and don’ts of touring?
Do eat plenty of fruit and vegetables when the opportunity presents itself. Service station's breakfasts will shorten your life expectancy. Shower whenever possible.

Greatest band playing today? & why?
Spinal Tap. There is no why.
 
Biggest tune? & why?
At the moment we are all loving Brow Beaten by the "mysterious and elusive" Silver Columns. It's a real floor filler.    

Eurythmics or Human league or neither – if neither, why?
Surely the answer is both. Love Action, Thorn In My Side, Fascination, Don't You Want Me, Who's That Girl, There Must Be An Angel…. we could go on…

17TH DEC

Sparrow & The Workshop

Ethos of your music?
3 people can make a big sound

Ambitions for 2010?
Well, 2009 was a busy year for us; 2 releases, 3 tours, 90+ gigs and a whole round at the festivals – glastonbury, end of the road, belladrum, kendal calling… So hopefully 2010 will be that plus more -  we'll be releasing our full-length Album, so hopefully that will be a good incentive to tour our hearts out around the land – and fingers crossed further a field!

Do’s and don’ts of touring?
Get Directions! – We've turned up to a Gypsy camp at 1am, looking for our hotel. And bumped into Timmy Mallet down a backstreet in Newcastle when lost!

Eat! – it's the one thing we forget to do, or we end up eating right before we go on stage, and spend the entire gig avoiding burping into the mics!

Chin-Up and take a punch-bag! – when you rock up to a town and despite driving 7 hours to get there, the promoter's an ass, you're broke and there's only 2 people in the audience.. you'll want to hit something.

Greatest band playing today? & why?
Flaming Lips certainly put on the best show on earth, saw them at the O2 and it was mind blowing!

Biggest tune? & why? 
Right now I've got the Flaming Lips 'She don't use jelly' in my head – we were lucky enough to get taken to the  stage wings for that song at their gig at the O2.. seeing the guys backstage loading the confetti canons and blowing up balloons!!

Eurythmics or Human league or neither – if neither, why?
I'd be inclined to say neither, but you got to give it to Dave Stewart, purely on the grounds of sticking with that beard 20 years on. 
The Mill Glasgow

17TH DEC
Invisible Republic

Ethos of your music?
To create music which is both classic and contemporary, which gives a nod to the past but with an eye on the future.

Ambitions for 2010?
In 2010 our ambitions are to get signed to a record label, record our album and to do a tour of Britain and beyond.

Do’s and don’ts of touring?
Having not yet toured to any degree, we have yet to be exposed to the highs, lows, opportunities and pitfalls of life on the open road.

Greatest band playing today? & why?
Wilco – They are both traditional and experimental and are not afraid to take risks. A fact borne out by them being dropped by their record label on delivery of their ‘Yankee Hotel Foxtrot’ album. They combine great songwriting with experimental production values.

Biggest tune? & why?
Either Way’ from their ‘Sky Blue Sky’ album for it’s arrangement and sound. A fantastic song with a sparse, ambient arrangement and some virtuoso guitar work.

Eurythmics or Human league or neither – if neither, why?
The Eurythmics. ‘Cause sweet dreams are made of this. Keep your head up. Movin’on.'

Interview with Keren McKean – manager of The Mill and head of our influential, sharp-eyed A&R team.

Ok, let’s start with a big question. What’s your proudest moment to date?
My first platinum disc. I have 3 now. All quite special, but the first was the best. And that my name is the very first credit on Final Straw by Snow Patrol.

Yep, that’s pretty impressive. So what was the first record you bought?
I’m fortunate enough to have had quite a cool dad who liked his music, so both my first record and first gig are not too embarrassing. Thanks to him my first record was Blondie and my first gig was Adam & The Ants.

And right now, what song’s in your head?
I have got Untitled by The Ads absolutely stuck in my head!

Great track. So who’s your favourite band?
My constant few are Love, Television, Patti Smith, This Mortal Coil, dEUS, and obviously Snow Patrol and Aerials Up (formerly known as The Ads). I can get really into one song by an artist – my ringtones change fairly frequently. Alec Downie, a friend and part of the Scottish music industry, regularly posts brilliant YouTube videos on Facebook of old songs that always remind me of something I love. I currently have  “Since Yesterday” by Strawberry Switchblade on. Sometimes I don’t want to answer the phone as I like listening to the song too much.

So, when did you realise that the music industry was for you?
I was about 16. I was friendly with Teenage Fanclub and the BMX Bandits. Duglas Stewart used to make up the most amazing compilation tapes for me. While I was at Uni, I managed my first band, State of Flux, who were signed to T&B (Twitch from Optimo’s first label).

And how did you get in to A&R?
First as a promoter. My dad died from leukaemia when I was 17. Teenage Fanclub helped me put on a charity gig in aid of leukaemia when I was 18. We did 2 nights at King Tut’s that were totally sold out. Geoff Ellis was the booker. He ended up offering me a job at DF where I worked in a variety of roles.

Then where did you go?
I applied for a job with Big Life in 2000. Jazz Summers (responsible for the success The Verve, The Orb, Badly Drawn Boy, Killing Joke and more) found my passion for Scotland and Scottish bands a worthwhile investment. I am still there. I co manage with Jazz and Tim Parry and do A&R for the publishing arm, where I signed Snow Patrol. I have actually offered two publishing deals to The Mill artists recently.

Got any advice for anyone wanting to get on in the music industry?
Most people that ask me about the music industry want to get into management – it’s a good place to start. It generally gives people an idea of all the different roles needed to break a band. With things the way they are in the music industry, a good manager is someone who is creative, has loads of ideas about how to market their band and is very pro active. No one is sure what business models are working and which ones will fail, so you need to have confidence to experiment with your ideas. Just because no one else has done it before, it could work brilliantly so it’s important to have that belief in your band and yourself.

So, how has your time with The Mill been so far?
Busy! It always has been, from day one, but I like that. There is such a big team on The Mill, so many people behind the scenes making everything happen.

What do you think about what Miller Genuine Draft are doing?
What I loved about The Mill most at the beginning was the way Miller Genuine Draft listened to my ideas, understood what the bands needed and acted on it. Looking at the number of bands asking for a slot at The Mill, I know we are getting it right. It’s a fantastic opportunity for any emerging band to be associated with our line-ups and also to receive all the assets for free. Loads of bands don’t realise that they get to keep the rights, even though Miller Genuine Draft pays for the recordings. Many bands can’t afford to work with Tony Doogan, so that is always a huge selling point. Production Co Pilot that make all the videos have also developed loads since working on The Mill – everyone comments on how good the quality of the videos is when they see them.

Any of The Mill bands you can see going the distance?
The obvious ones are Frightened Rabbit, Broken Records, We Were Promised Jetpacks and Twin Atlantic but I also see huge potential in Found, Aerials Up (formerly known as The Ads), OK Social Club, Pearl & The Puppets, Sparrow & The Workshop, and a few others coming through that you will see confirmed shortly.

At the moment, what’s your favourite downloadable The Mill track?
Other than The Ads, I like all of OK Social Club’s tracks.

Finally, predictions for 2010?
It will be interesting to see how the music industry goes. I hope to see Found and Aerials Up breaking through.

We received an email on Saturday afternoon informing us that The Red Well will not be playing The Mill Edinburgh this Thursday. It would seem that they have split up……

Fortunately there were a number of bands ready to fill their slot and to receive all the assets The Mill offers. We decided to try to stick to a similar genre and as we had a few options, we went with The Stantons.They describe themselves as country but with an edge, but not quite alt country – make of that what you will. It's an interesting line up! They should be an fascinating match for Meursault. We'll have their info up on the website as soon as we can but in the meantime you can check out their myspace. You can still get tickets under the date – 15th Oct, or you can text in for tickets. The code is MILL14K  - text it to 82500.

 

While looking for a band to replace The Red Well, I came across loads more ideas for Edinburgh which resulted in a bit of  a booking frenzy again, so it ended up working out well. At least The Stantons will be able to make use of the video and audio recordings we give them to promote themselves –  not much use to a band splitting up. We are now confirmed up until the end of the year and most of January, but we do have some slots left in February and March just now. Our database is fairly massive now so we'll be looking through that, but if you are particularly looking to play in that period, flag it up to us now. Leave comments on here.

 

As usual, you can download all the assets a few weeks after the gig. Loads more audio and video assets have just gone live so make sure you keep coming back to see what new music we have added.  

  

n

Finally got home to write the blog after a very long, but great day. We celebrated a Year At The Mill at The Mill Glasgow tonight, and it was a brilliant celebration!

The Mill crew worked so hard to pull off such a good night, and it helped that the bands were amazing too. Tony Doogan brought his whole studio set up into the venue and we recorded the whole gig. Tony and his colleague, Gregor, then hid in a wee back room, mixing a few tracks by each band and by the end of the night we had them all duplicated to give away to the audience by the end of the night. It was an impressive task, but we managed it.

Sparrow & The Workshop had to pull out at the last minute which was unfortunate – their singer lost her voice, which made performing pretty hard but although they were sadly missed, the other 3 bands were excellent. A big thanks to Some Young Pedro, We Were Promised Jetpacks and Broken Records!

If you have tickets for next week's celebrations at The Mill Edinbrugh, you're in for a treat when Found, The Ads, OK Social Club and Come In Tokyo all play and Tony will be working his magic once again.

Make sure you get a drinks token too – you'll understand why when you see them. They're excellent!

 

see you there! 

 

 

It's been a year!! Really, it has. The time just seems to have flown by but we have loved every minute of it. Over the last year The Mill has played host to a veritable array of emerging bands. A couple of months ago, a few of the A&R team and I did an interview for the Sunday Herald about how Scotland's music industry thrives in a recession. It was fascinating to hear the journalist's research which demonstrated that Scots tend to pick up a guitar when they don't have a job, rather than get depressed. Ok, so they may express their depression sometimes in their music, but the amount of creativity in Scotland cannot be argued with. It has meant that we have had an amazing choice of bands to be able to book this last year, and we are looking forward to booking just as many creative people in the coming months. We're already booked up til December and demand is high for places, but we still want to look back at the bands that have progressed to the next level of their career since they played. That's what The Mill is all about.

It was hard to choose our headliners, and it is hard to decide which bands we should book weekly. We could only book everyone that wants to play if we were open every night of the week now, so you can imagine how hard it gets. We did manage to decide eventually though, and it seems we got it right as all tickets for both events were gone in 12 hours.

If you haven't managed to get your paws on any tickets,  you can still enjoy some of the music. All four of our headliners were asked what emerging bands they would like to bring with them to play at our gigs celebrating a Year At The Mill. We figured nobody knows best than the musicians themselves. A great example of how this works for bands is with our headliners We Were Promised Jetpacks – they were signed to Fat Cat Records after fans of the band, Frightened Rabbit, suggested them to their label, Fat Cat. Jetpacks and the Rabbits also played a stunning sell out show together at The Mill last year – you can check out the audio recordings produced by Tony Doogan and the videos online on our website. Unfortunately you won't be able to get your ears around Jetpacks latest recordings unless you have tickets for this Thursday's gig. We are recording all the bands live, as usual, Tony is producing and mixing them as usual, but the difference is that we are doing it all as it happens, and making it available only to all the guests on the night – as they leave they will be given a free exclusive CD of the gig they have just seen.

Our emerging bands audio and video recordings will all be available on our website so you can check out Some Young Pedro, chosen by We Were Promised Jetpacks, and Sparrow & The Workshop, chosen by Broken Records, this Thursday. I highly recommend checking them out if you haven't managed to grab a ticket because they may be our headliners next time.

For those of you that have managed to obtain tickets, you are in for a treat. A plethora of great bands, playing great songs with Jim Gellatly on DJ duties, it's going to be an aural pleasure for everyone. Not only that, you will get an exclusive memento of the evening in the form of the live CD and posters were have for you. 

Doors are at 7pm, and as we need to squeeze 4 bands into the night, bands will be starting fairly early on so make sure you get down in time to catch everyone. Be aware that the emerging bands will play directly before the headliner that brought them, so the running order for Thursday is Some Young Pedro, followed by their headliner We Were Promised Jetpacks, then Sparrow & The Workshop, followed by our other headliner Broken Records. Don't be late!! You'll regret it!  

 

We've had a manic couple of weeks, so apologies for not posting on here earlier, but we had to get all the acts confirmed for our annual event before I could announce them to you.

It's all been worthwhile though. – we are now happy to announce that we have invited back 4 great headliners who have previously played at The Mill in the last year, but we have also given them the chance to bring some of the bands that they think deserve a chance to play at The Mill too. Demand has been huge for slots at The Mill -we have now had requests from over 600 bands who are asking for a gig. Unfortunately we only have 100 slots available in  a year, so obviously not everyone is going to get the chance to play but we thought these bands would know who deserves it. Our headliners are We Were Promised Jetpacks who are bringing Some Young Pedro, Broken Records who are bringing Sparrow & The Workshop, Found who are bringing Come On Tokyo and The Ads who are bringing OK Social Club.

Tickets are available now and are already flying out the door so make sure you get your texts or emails in for your free tickets now.

 

This Thursday at The Mill Glasgow is also looking like a busy one – and we are really looking forward to it too. Ming Ming & The Ching Chings are launching their single and sharing the stage with Big Ned to celebrate it. Ming Ming's single "Show Off" has already had thousands of plays on myspace, but you really need to see it live to get the real energy about it.  Big Ned are fast becoming one of our favourites at The Mill too. See you there!

Today I had the pleasure of hearing some of the best audio equipment on the market. My old school friend runs Linn Records and invited me up to see what they do – I love that place!! You should hear all their different systems and how amazing the quality is. I have been planning to replace my turntable soon and now I can't wait. I felt like a kid in a toy shop, and it doesn't hurt that the setting is beautiful and that the building is amazing. I have been buzzing so much about music in the last few weeks, there's loads of great bands and brilliant songwriters in Scotland just now, but it's even better to hear it all through those systems. 

looking forward to even more good music at The Mill Glasgow tomorrow. Bronto Skylift and Gap Year Riot promise to put on an amazing show, well worth catching. Tickets have been flying out the door so make sure you nab your freebies quickly. It's going to be interesting to hear what Tony Doogan does with both bands – I have no doubt it will be up to his normal fantastic standard though, so make sure you come and get your free downloads in a week or two. 

It seems loads of you are discovering new bands on here and downloading all the new tracks – feel free to keep building your library! Let us know which ones you like and who has impressed you or surprised you. I'm always finding something new I really like. ID Parade has been in my head quite a bit, but I also revisited Endor and Be A Familiar this week – both brilliant bands!  

Today is one of those days that I am just loving searching through all my music and playing random things that I keep meaning to get round to listening to. I always find some wee gems. Listening to quite a few Mill bands – and I am particularly impressed with Found's new invention, Cybraphon. It's absolutely brilliant. It's a robot band that reacts to praise and criticism online. www.cybraphon.com  Loads of other Mill bands have been busy too. Manda Rin is off to Tokyo where she has a great fanbase, Juno happily DON'T have swine flu and are working on a few interesting projects. The Gillyflowers are getting ready to play at The Rowchester Music festival next month, The Ads are playing a crazy gig in the planetarium at the Science Centre, Colin Train launched his new material at Buchanan Underground Station. The Mill took over Buchanan Street Underground too, prompting a texting frenzy when loads of bands found images of themselves plastered all over it. The Mill cinema ad has had exactly the same response. Hope you've all had a chance to see it now! Bronto Skylift took on proper management, Donnie Little from Paolo Nutini's band and Endrick Brothers has been writing new material with Yorick McCormack from Endrick Brothers. Little Buddha are touring America – still! Suspire have just finished some dates in France and have just confirmed for a Mill show in November, as did Washington Irving. The scottish music industry is definitely buzzing right now!