Saturday 12 May 2007

Aereogramme Split Up ...

Maybe its something I said earlier ???!!!

Anyone going to see Biffy Clyro should make sure they get along early to see Aereogramme's final shows ... see what you've missed !!!

From nme.com:

Aereogramme split up

The Scots post-rockers call it a dayScottish rockers Aereogramme have split up, citing "the never-ending financial struggle coupled with an almost superhuman ability to dodge the zeitgeist" as their reasons.

The band, signed to Glasgow's influential Chemikal Underground label (sometime home of Mogwai and The Delgados), had only just returned to the public eye in January of this year after a four-year absence with their fourth album 'My Heart Has A Wish That You Would Not Go', which received largely positive reviews.

In a statement posted on their MySpace site last Friday (May 9), the band said:

"It is with heavy hearts that we tell you all that Aereogramme have decided to split up. Reasons are multiple and complex. It is however fair to say that the never-ending financial struggle coupled with an almost superhuman ability to dodge the zeitgeist have taken their toll, ensuring that we just don't have any fight left in us. We are immensely proud of the four albums that we made over the past seven years. We hope that they continue to grow in your hearts. We plan to honour and celebrate the beautiful friendships we have made along the way with (our) final shows over the summer.

"We would like you all to consider our headline show at the QMU in Glasgow to be our farewell UK show and to view the Connect Festival in Inverary as a damn fine opportunity for everyone to see The Jesus And Mary Chain. Finally we want to thank you all for listening to our music and coming to our shows over the years. You have given us a glimpse of something truly special. Aereogramme. x."

Aereogramme's final shows are:

Aberdeen Music Hall (May 30)
Edinburgh Potterow (31)
Glasgow Barrowlands (June 1)
Glasgow QMU (16)
Scheesel Hurricane Festival (23)
Neuhausen Southside Festival (24)
Grossefehn Omas Teich Festival (July 27)
Inverary Connect Festival (August 31)

Thursday 10 May 2007

Gig Review: The Lemonheads @ The Lemon Tree, Aberdeen - Wednesday 9 May 2007

It takes a brave band, or Evan Dando, to let a stormin' support act go on before you ... Evan allowed The Icarus Line to play before The Lemonheads on Wednesday and some tube reporter from the Evening Express had the audacity to print that they over-shadowed Evan et al ... mate, yer maw !!! 

Those who consider Evan a god .. just me then ???? ... expected some blaze of glory entrance on the night but we got some shy, retiring gadgie in a hat wandering on stage with the acoustic while the warm up tape was still playing ... "hey, I'm .. eh ... good to be here" is not the opening words that were expected !!! 

A solo, acoustic offering of "Hard Drive" from his solo album opened the night and we felt that a quiet set was to come ... nope, the rest of the band joined after that and we were promised a set of "country, rock 'n' roll, emo & punk rock ... " and that's what we got ... after some impromptu George Bush piss taking !! 

The set was mainly taken from "Its a Shame About Ray", "Come on Feel ... " and the new, stunning, eponymous album .. there was some stuff from "Car Button, Cloth" too but the less said about that the better ("The Outdoor Type" aside). 

The band trooped off around 11:45 and left Evan to run through some acoustic stuff that included a genius, instant reaction to a crowd request for "Big Gay Heart" ... at around 11:55 he announced that he was being pulled and that "there must be some disco going on or something ... ", no Evan, its Wednesday, midnight and the crowd all need their bed coz their 30 something professionals, not the wide eyed, drug fuelled indie kids of the late 80's your used to !!! 

The band came back on for a quick blast of "Rudderless" and then it was over ... brilliant it was, utterly brilliant ... and no "Mrs Robinson" ... thank Christ for credibility maintenance :-)

Wednesday 9 May 2007

Its Lemonheads Day !!!

Once in a while Aberdeen gets to host bands of legend status ...

2007 has already seen The Fall at The Tunnels for two nights in a row.

Tonight, we get to see The Lemonheads at, you've guesssed it, The Lemon Tree !!! ... once more for the cheap seats ... ITS THE LEMONHEADS @ THE LEMON TREE !!!

I'll no doubt write a dodgy review later tonight / tomorrow ...

Saturday 5 May 2007

Gig Review: Aereogramme @ The Tunnels, Aberdeen - Friday 4 May 2007

Just got into Aereogramme in the last few months and realised they were playing Aberdeen soon ... that flies in the face of my usual experiences of just getting into a band the week after they play a gig I can actually get to !!!

I had two great fears for this gig:

1) that no-one would come with me !! and

2) they might actually be shite live !!!!

Thank's to Eric's willingness to take a risk (and the fact that Sarah was probably actually already booked to go out that night !!! ... he came along to address fear 1).

Fear 2) was also blown away thanks to a storming set.

The usual "why are these guys not massive?" question was easily answered on this occasion when they took the stage ... they are NOT an MTV friendly band in that they are predominantly large hairy blokes ... but they are a shit hot band.

Post set, I harangued one of the band to let me know who left the answer phone message at the end of the recorded version of "A Simple Process of Elimination" and why they hadn't played it live ... I also tried to get him to confirm they were playing the Connect festival in August and I think he said they were just to get rid of me !!! I did buy a T-shirt though !!!

The evening was rounded off with too many beers and falling asleep in the taxi on the way home !!!