Art for art’s sake

Edinburgh Evening News Thursday 18th May 2017 I hope in the coming months Edinburgh Council looks at its attitude to the arts and who is being reached. Very much as has happened in music where an awful lot of people have been lost somewhere between the banality of Ed Sheeran and the weird cool hipster […]

Albums stilll a worthy benchmark for bands

Edinburgh Evening News Thursday 11th May 2017 After last week’s nod to music nostalgia it seemed only fair to focus on the current crop of bands this week and of course by the end of the month we will know which artists have made the longlist for the Scottish Album of the Year award. Tactical […]

The Skids are alright after 40-year history

Edinburgh Evening News Thursday 4th May 2017 As the Skids embark on the first dates of their UK 40th anniversary tour this week, arriving in Edinburgh tomorrow, it is fitting that I have spent the last week speaking to an array of journalists, photographers, promoters and musicians in preparation for the History of Scottish Music […]

We must try to make gigs a real goer in Capital

Edinburgh Evening News Thursday 27th April 2017 I attended the meeting last Thursday morning at the Usher Hall to discuss whether Edinburgh needed a music champion. The general opinion was that while it was probably a good idea it would be too much for one person to take on and certainly it would need financial […]

When music was the only fun in town

Edinburgh Evening News Thursday 20th April 2017 It was great to finally get to see the much anticipated Big Gold Dream on Saturday when it received its first national showing on the BBC. Even at 90 minutes it was never going to be able to fit everything in from what is now known as post-punk […]

Record Store Day – clue is in the name

Edinburgh Evening News Thursday 13th April 2017 As a founder member of Record Store Day I remember well the initial hopes we all had for what it might achieve. It is important to remember exactly what the circumstances were ten years ago. Internet sales were really starting to kick in and it wasn’t just a […]

Throughout the arts the obsession is with funding

Edinburgh Evening News Thursday 6th April 2017 Much as I have recently banged the drum for popular music being taken seriously as part of the arts and receiving funding that acknowledges that I’ve had a couple of conversations of late with folk older and far wise than myself who made a very good case as […]

History of Scottish Music Centre @ Fruitmarket Gallery

  Very pleased to announce the History of Scottish Music Centre will have its own room at the Fruitmarket Gallery 16th -18th June as part of an exciting week they have planned. Very grateful to the gallery for the chance to show what can be done and there will be lots of events all during the week […]

Damage and joy divide shops, artists and labels

When downloads first became a factor the worry was not that album sales would be reduced just that physical sales would drop dramatically. Downloads were a great boon for record companies as they had no physical cost, there was no need to guess manufacturing numbers and there were no delivery costs. Soon the worry became […]

Don’t let Glasgow get a piece of Cake Shop

Edinburgh Evening News Thursday 30th March 2017 Edinburgh venues were certainly in the news last week as it was announced that cult New York venue Cake Shop was actively looking to open in Edinburgh in the same week Electric Circus was to close. I had, of course, mentioned in a previous column that with ties […]

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