MAKING A NOISE

SquareOne Features

by Lou Hardless

Edinburgh Music Studio and Rehearsal Suites


Verden Studio is situated on the site that once belonged to Scottish Power in the east side of the city. What initially looks like a collection of run down, semi derelict buildings from the front, takes on a whole new meaning when visited from the side entrance at Fishwives Causeway. The buildings walls are adorned with colourful graffiti artwork and the inside is equally as vibrant.

Since May 2004, this well established studio has built up its reputation in providing secure, reasonably priced and flexible premises with ready to use equipment. It has gone from offering one to six sound proofed practice rooms and opening times that suit a variety of schedules, from 12 midday through to 12 midnight, most week days and weekends.

This place seems to offers a host of options for budding music ‘stars’ . Its manager Fiona Raggatt, talked SquareOne through what was on offer; practice rooms, a multi track digital recording suit, gift vouchers for studio time – Verden Studio has everything for those ambitious enough to create and record their very own musical masterpiece.

The facility is used by both locals and those living further a field. It’s seen established and amateur musicians, theatre performers, and even hen parties - out to try something new and innovative in the form of producing their very own song. Verdan Studios say they are committed to providing Scottish musicians with a facility that genuinely seeks to offer what they want, and that is certainly what it appears to do.

www.verdenstudio.co.uk

EDINBURGH MEADOWS FESTIVAL RETURNS

SquareOne News

by Pere Fornes

SquareOne can reveal that, following a two year absence, the popular Meadows Festival will return this summer.

The event, which ran for 30 consecutive years until 2005, will see a variety of stalls, activities and performances run on the weekend of 7 and 8 June, and for the first time will be run by the Meadows Festival Association.

The charity takes over responsibility for the event after the bank account and official documentation for the festival were formally accepted during its AGM in November. At a recent meeting, Linda Hendry, chair of the association said: "The Meadows Festival was run for 20 years by a family that decided to quit in 2005. There was a two-year gap and some people tried to organise it but this couldn’t be done until after November."

There will be different attractions at this year's festival, like stalls selling crafts, second-hand clothing and jewellery. Food will be available and local school children will participate in a football competition. There will also be performances, such as African dancers and a kids' area will offer face painting and story telling sessions.

This year the festival plans to be more environmentally friendly with a power pod being used for the first time to generate electricity.

Community councillors from the surrounding area are involved in the organisation of the event and are looking for volunteers to act as stewards, distribute programs or pick up litter.

A volunteer form can be found at http://meadowsfestival.blogspot.com/ or you can sign up at the Pavilion Cafe on the Meadows.

Applicants for stalls should send a stamped addressed envelope to PO Box 12758, EH8 9YP.

Photo by Daveybot

ALBUM OF THE WEEK: MATTHEW RYAN

by Chris Hammond

SquareOne Entertainment

Matthew Ryan VS The Silver State (One Little Indian)

Pitching up with his latest effort singer songwriter Matthew Ryan looks to have put together the album which will see him break through to the big time.

Having consistently constructed some of the most well crafted, clever folk-rock songs of the past decade, Ryan has still somehow managed to fly in under the radar at every opportunity here in the UK. And it would be a travesty if things were to repeat themselves and someone with this level of talent was to remain largely unrecognised by press and public alike.

So what’s the deal?

The best way of describing Matthew Ryan’s general style would be to think of Nebraska era Bruce Springsteen (only better) crossed with the best work of Ryan Adams (only better) with a little bit of The Waterboys circa Fishermans Blues thrown in for good measure (only better).

So with this in mind you’ll be expecting an album crammed with impressive tuneage from start to finish. You won’t be disappointed. From the husky grandeur of American Dirt to the poignantly profound It Could’ve Been Worse there is not a second of filler on this lyrically rich, emotionally charged, musically superior eleven track masterpiece.

It’s brilliant. Absolutely, euphorically, unbelievable brilliant and it deserves to be heard by every single man women and child on the planet. Album of the week? Might even be album of the year, or the past two years or even the last five. I don’t know yet, but the more I listen to it the more I am convinced this is a true work of musical genius.

Right that’s me off for a cold shower and a lie down . . .

CANNONBALL FUN

The Breeders, Glasgow ABC 8/4/08

by Kate Smail

SquareOne Entertainment

Girls with guitars get a bad press. Unfairly shunned by men who think they don't rock hard enough, and often side-lined by women who prefer a lead singer worth throwing their underwear at.

However, judging by the packed audience at the ABC in Glasgow last night, The Breeders are band that transcend stereotypes. Men and women in equal numbers crowded in to see the legendary rock outfit fronted by the inimitable Kim Deal, of Pixies fame, and her merry cast of oddballs.

Deal took to the stage wearing a man's jumper and no make-up, looking a lot like a wholesome mother earth type. That is, until she opened her mouth and a gravelly stream of expletives rolled out followed by a raucous, infectious laugh.

The set consisted mainly of tracks from their first new album in six years, Mountain Battles and keen not to disappoint, a few tracks from their most famous offering, Last Splash, were thrown in for good measure.

The crowd were a little restrained for the first few songs, especially by Glasgow standards, until the first few chords of No Aloha rang out. The mood changed, and a healthy exchange of banter between Deal and the audience ensued. It's not easy to win over a Glasgow crowd with wit, but Kim and her sister Kelly had the audience lapping it up with their dry humour and sharp one liners.

By the time Cannonball arrived their work was done. The venue was rocking, despite the fact that it was full of professionals in their thirties and forties, clearly reliving their misspent youth.

My only bugbear with an otherwise flawless set? Their new material is so much softer than The Breeders of yesteryear. Why is it as bands age that they feel the need to experiment with folk and country influences? Some of us still want to rock out. Even if we are old enough to know better.

ALBUM OF THE WEEK: COUNTING CROWS

Counting Crows

Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings


by Christopher Mackie


SquareOne Entertainment


For a man that has squired Courtney Cox AND Jennifer Aniston, Counting Crows' be-dreadlocked warbler Adam Duritz can be a miserable sod at times. His melancholic outlook has informed much of the Crows' output since their acclaimed 1994 debut, August And Everything After.

After four studio albums the arrival of their last effort (2002's Hard Candy) seemed to signal a new cheerfulness. It was an unashamedly sunny affair, full of melodic, commercial pop-rock numbers and even managed to survive the inclusion of a frightful cover of Joni Mitchell's Big Yellow Taxi. Thankfully, Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings sees Counting Crows back on familiar darker territory and playing to their downbeat strengths.

Six years in the making and at 14 tracks a near double album, its their best since 1996's Recovering the Satellites. The songs are split into two distinct sections, mirroring the titular night and morning theme. The saturday batch is loud, brash and occasionally angry, typified by album opener 1492 which sets things off in rousing fashion. Things blast breezily through the gleeful stomp of Hanging Tree and come to rest after the urgency of Cowboys which is probably the highlight of the set.

The sunday morning section is more introspective, wistful and in places really rather beautiful. Washington Square in particular, with its mandolin and stonking harmonica solo is the equal of any of the Crows' earlier acoustic work.

No doubt the music press at large will criticise their distinctly unfashionable influences (take your pick from any number of seventies rock acts), but to do so overlooks the fact that in Adam Duritz America has one of its most talented songwriters, and in Counting Crows one of its most gifted and enduring bands.


Look out for Counting Crows on tour and at festivals later in the year. More information to be found here: - www.countingcrows.com

You can check out the video for You Can't Count On Me here: - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2lfD2XpnvM

AND the raucous album opener 1492 here: - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CG8veGmU2r8

ALBUM OF THE WEEK: LOWGOLD

by Chris Hammond

SquareOne Entertainment

Lowgold – Promise Lands (Cooking Vinyl)

Ah, the UK indie scene! There’s the monolithic mediocrity of Coldplay, the unbelievably past-it Oasis, the literally vile Razorlight and the walking get-out-of-jail-free card known as Peter Doherty. But wait, it seems that the perennially overlooked Lowgold could be set to mount a takeover.

Excited yet? Well you would be if you heard Promise Lands stand-out track Just Like A Sin because its gobsmackingly tasty. Principally, this is because Lowgold sound nothing like their yawnsome, skinny jeaned, anti-war, fruit-loving indie peers and elders.

Mixing forlorn anthems with low-fi slow burners might not be a musical eureka moment, but the band do it so well you’ll be hard pushed not to utilise the repeat button on your CD players remote for the best part of a week. Promise Land comes highly recommended.

MARILLION: COOLER THAN YOU THINK

by Christopher Mackie

SquareOne Entertainment

Mark Kelly Interview

For a band that has worked so hard to shed the Genesis comparisons over the past 25 years, Marillion were in real danger of heading back to square one in August. One month after Phil Collins’ prog-rock behemoths took to the stage at a sold-out Twickenham Stadium, the classic Marillion line up, including bellicose front man Fish, briefly reunited in Aylesbury for an unrehearsed stomp through their first single Market Square Heroes exactly 25 years after its release.

The event was significant enough to make the BBC news, but keyboardist Mark Kelly diplomatically fends off suggestions of a Genesis-style reunion tour: “We are not planning to reform. Things have moved on. To reform would mean doing some sort of nostalgia tour and we have always tried to avoid that. We did it for fun, and there was nothing intended by it”.

In fact, unlike the recent Genesis and Police reunions, the return of the classic Marillion line up was met with something approaching warm indifference by the group’s devoted followers. Most are so happy with the bands current output with vocalist Steve Hogarth that they are willing to pay for an album that isn’t even finished yet and is not expected to be delivered until June. In September, Marillion announced that their 15th studio album was to be financed by the fan base via up-front payment for the finished work.

As a reward for their loyalty and (crucially) cash, fans can expect a name-check in the album sleeve notes and a chance to win various competition prizes: “We are taking people’s money six months to a year ahead of when they are going to receive the goods” Kelly explains “so to try and make it different, to make it more fun, and as a reward for people who pre-order (the album), we have offered various prizes”.

Selling directly to their audience is not unfamiliar to Marillion. In 1997, fans raised $60,000 via an online whip-round to help the band tour the USA. Spotting the potential of the internet to eliminate the need for record company support, 2001’s Anoraknophobia was financed entirely by orders placed before recording had begun, and in 2004 the group raised enough to record, distribute and market Marbles via an internet campaign that also spawned two top ten singles.

Given the demands placed on your typical Marillion fan, it’s perhaps surprising that the band have chosen to ask for yet more money up front: “Well, the last album (Somewhere Else) was more of a standard release for us because we thought people would have had enough pre-orders”, says Kelly, “but the feedback we received was overwhelmingly in favour of another.
The fans like to be informed of what’s going on, they like to have the involvement”.

And involved they are. With a constant stream of updates from the studio via blogs and e-mails, coupled with frank interaction from the band’s manager on the marillion.com web forum, Marillion are beginning to get the credit they deserve from a previously harsh media. Kelly agrees: “I think that there is definitely a respect for the band that there didn’t used to be ten years ago”, he says.

“The fact that we have been around for so long does make people take another look and think that maybe we are doing something worthwhile. That’s mainly because people are looking at Marillion as innovators and we are cited as internet pioneers. I think there is more respect for the band from within the industry and from the media”.

You can pre-preorder the album and get further information from here - http://www.marillion.com/