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I passed my viva (doctoral thesis defence) and became Dr. Dickson today. That's pretty fucking ace-ic. I then had two £35 whiskies paid for. Ace-motherfucking-ic.

I got to know Steve really well during my time working at Drummonds. There was a peak period there when it seemed like we were one big happy family. I'm not sure how appropriate it is to express condolences on a forum like this but if there is a thread for it I feel like I should contribute. One thing I noticed over the years of Steve doing sound was that when he was at the desk there was never a single complaint. He took his job seriously and was fucking good at it - made shit bands sound good and good bands sound great. Not only that but he was crazy talented. Turning 13 were and always will be one of the best bands in Aberdeen and I remember the first time I saw him on stage - it was like he became a different person, his cheeky chappy personality morphing into this intense and raw talent that genuinely blew me away. He was always at the top of my list of people to see when I went back to Aberdeen and I was looking forward to asking him out for a game of golf next summer when I'm next home because I knew he had gotten into it a lot recently. There are a lot of people closer to him than I was of course and on saturday I had a strange sense of guilt feeling so sad when I heard the news... as if I didn't have the right to grieve because I hadn't kept in contact with him as much I wanted to in the past 2 or so years but thinking about it, he really did have a big impact on my life. I was 16 when I first met him and the people you surround yourself with at that age, particularly older folk you look up to, shape who you become later in life. Here was this dude who skated during the day, did sound at night, played in an ace band and had loads of mates... that was one cool fucker I thought and as I got to know him more and realized he was a nice guy to boot it made me want to be cool and nice too, and that's not a bad goal to have in life.

Hopefully the fucker will download a book about how not to be a dick.

I have had several direct e-mails asking what Prince Charles and I talked about so I’ve decided to reveal all. The conversation went something like this: PC: I recognise you from that Aberdeen Music site. Until I saw your details one thought that one was the oldest member but you are older than me. Lucky Rathen has kindly hidden my real identity on AB-MUSIC. I am supposed to be from Poland but one can assure you that wherever I am in the World one always checks in to Aberdeen Music on my i-thingy. The site is so real, its too real to be real. GK: I thought you would be reading The Times and The Telegraph. PC: These papers are OK but Aberdeen Music is such fun and I’ve learned so much from it. When I have people kneeling in front one before one dubs them with a sword and one says say arise Sir ….. I always thought they were kneeling on the dub step but that DJ, Krazzy Martin has taught me a whole new meaning to dubstep. I must drop in on one of his nights at Snafu. I often have to shake a real tail feather when one is on a foreign trip. Sometimes I pretend I am doing the Ubangi Stomp. Dubstep should be easy. GK: What else do you like on Aberdeen Music? PC: I love the Stalking Thread. That reminds me - I saw that Dubya last Friday night in main street in Banchory and I forgot to post it. He was surrounded by young girls – seems to have a way with the ladies just like one did when one was his age. GK: Your off to Australia next week. PC: Yes but I hope to be back in time for the Marionettes show on November 9th. Camilla has a marvellous publicity picture of them that was taken in front of the Women’s Institute Headquarters. She keeps it in the downstairs loo. Camilla just loves their singer Paddy and the way his trousers keep falling down – she wants him to play a solo gig at Balmoral next time I am away. GK: Are you going to any other shows when you get back from Oz? PC: I really like The Malpaso Gang and I was planning on disguising myself as a pirate and going to the Moorings on December 14th. Do you think a lot of the Aberdeen Music members will be there? I believe Teabags often puts on a show there and maybe you could introduce me to that Jake – he seems to be quite a lad too. I find all human life is there on the Aberdeen Music and one loves Stroopy’s posts the most – they are so real and so stimulating. See You Later Alligator as Aunty Margaret once said. CU at the Moorings - tell Flash I want a free go on pin-table.

Woah, you're half way there.

This car crash of a thread keeps getting worse and worse. I think some of the author's posts are fueled quite heavily by alcohol, drugs, and confusion; which makes him appear highly incoherent and bitter, and renders the thread almost entirely pointless. Aberdeen artists very rarely go on to national acclaim or "cultural significance" (what a shit term) for the same reason that bands from Leicester, Norwich, Inverness, Carlisle, Derby, Shrewsbury, Stirling, Swansea, Southampton, Portsmouth rarely do. These places do not really have a cultural infrastructure which lends itself to the performing arts. Aberdeen based artists therefore have to go out of their way to gain attention from media, gig promoters, radio show producers, press agencies, record labels, blog writers, tour booking agents, and all of the things required for a band to achieve national attention. Sure, gig promoters, radio shows, blog writers, and record labels do exist in Aberdeen, but these are all at a very localised hobby level. So if the infrastructure is at hobby level, why on earth would the actual art surpass that? It is not a myth that artists require huge assistance from other parties in order to get to a level where it becomes a full-time vocation. There are one or two small exceptions to this rule historically, but these exceptions are generally not from the UK and the people involved were usually quite extraordinary individuals. In the central belt there is a palpabale infrastructure in terms of digital and printed media, booking agents, venues with forward-thinking in-house bookers, press agencies, music bloggers, full-time record labels (not to mention a plethora of incredible small-scale hobby labels), national radio shows, record shops, and gig promoters. None of these exponents have any need or desire to glance in the direction of Aberdeen because there is so much going on on their own doorstep; Aberdeen artists have to make their presence known in the central belt (and other musically plentiful places), and very few Aberdeen artists really make the effort to impress themselves on the central belt. A few self-organised gigs in Glasgow or Edinburgh here and there will not really suffice, but that is the extent to which most Aberdeen based artists pursue things. I think the fact that the latest piece of excitement in the Aberdeen music scene is called a "Battle of the Bands" and it is arranged by the primary local label (in terms of prolonged local reputation) sums up Aberdeen quite wonderfully. This is a label with a good local reputation, yet it has to arrange a Battle of the Bands in order to find it's next "signing". In other more musically fruitful areas, this just doesn't happen. The labels are fully aware of the bands already due to the artist's presence and also the coverage they get from the local media and press. This is not a criticism, just an observation. But I think the bottom line is, if a band's aim is to simply have fun and they acheive that, then they have definitely not failed. Regardless of how "culturally significant" or nationally-acknowledged they become during that period.

So, er, going to Oslo on Tuesday to take part in the Polar Festival celebrating the opening of the new building at the Fram museum after they backed my kickstarter. They asked me to write a new track for the occassion and I'll be doing a set as part of the festival in the evening. Prior to that there's a civic reception where i'll be doing a short set as a warm up and then collaborating with an inuit drum dancer in a special performance for the King of Norway. The Prime Minister will be there too. Apparently this is because it will look great for the TV cameras. I'm not making any of this up.

My daughter was born early on Saturday morning. I'm now a very chuffed Dad

I'm getting married tomorrow. That's pretty fucking ace-ic from my point of view!

Motherfucking SHOPPING ARRIVED.

One thing I noticed during the Hull/United game, doesn't Alex Bruce look an awful lot like Lucky Rathen?

I can't believe she has the audacity to not want to receive rape-threats. I mean, what a disgusting fucking left-wing agenda for Lauren Mayberry to have. How dare she highlight the sort of behaviour that leads to the horrific victim-blaming, sexual assault and rape culture that we currently live in. She should just shut the hell up and let the people claiming they're going to anally rape her because they know where she lives win. What a fucking attention seeker. Women, eh? Who does she think she is? I bet she voted Lib Dem too.

So has milner up untill now apparently

Or eat it cold, rather than being a massive gaylord

Just wondering if there are other people who like to draw/paint/sculpt? post pictures of some of your art in here. I'm working on this perspective futuristic city ink drawing.

Perhaps the guy who owns the tandoori sacked YoungA because he sensed he was unreliable or even malicious. You could say, he could sense a little rogue in Joss.

Nefarious C?

I'm going to be a Dad.

Perhaps people should just let people drink whisky how they want to and not explode their vadges every time some one mentions water.

Half of the fun and challenge of putting on shows is undoubtedly finding ways to reach new audiences...and then discovering that your targeted audience is actually responding to your promo. One of the things I did that so many promoters in Aberdeen seem to neglect, is to actually go out flyering and engage with people. I would flyer the queues to Exodus, or go to the venue my shows were at and leave flyers for all my forthcoming shows on the bar and on the tables (I wouldn't recommend cross-promoting between venues). The key area, I found, was to actually flyer student unions, university/college campuses, and student accommodation. Students love gigs, but unless they are already music nerds, they are not going to know about your gig. Tell them about it, and they'll possibly attend. Do not purely rely on digital promotion; that is folly. Do not assume everyone finds out about gigs by going on Facebook. I, for one, do not. And I fucking love live music. One thing I found useful, too, was to create a "brand". By this, I simply mean an identifiable aesthetic theme running throughout all promotional material. Similar posters, use of fonts/typefaces etc, so that people recognise that it's your show. Repeat attendees were always very important to me. Start a mailing list at your first gig and mail all the attendees about future shows. They came to one show afterall, they may come to more. I'd also recommend trying to get a spot on local student radio to talk about your gigs, what your intentions are, and what forthcoming shows you have. In fact, don't stop at local student radio - try Northsound as well. Basically, there's a fucking shitload of leg-work involved in putting on a single show. The vast majority of promoters, in my opinion and experience, are incapable or unwilling to do the leg-work. If you fall into that category, your gigs are going to consist of nothing but pals of the bands you have booked. But remember above all: if you book a band to play, gaurantee them a basic fee, and do not waver that fee at all. Regardless of whether nobody turned up to the show. Pay the bands. Good luck with your endeavours, and I hope my post ignites some ideas about how to promote your concerts without coming across too preachy! Have a good time. All the time.

...or Beadle?

Yesterday: Got married Today: Having a nice relaxing day with my wife Tomorrow: Head off to Bellagio on Lake Como in Italy for our Honeymoon

She's pregnant and not letting the kid see the dad? How was she intending on doing that? Can she do the splits? Or does she have a womb with a view?

Sounds like you got a tattoo of a one eyed monster touching up a child. Nice one mate.

SHAME THERE ARE NONE IN ABERDEEN, LOL.

There are definitely rules when there's a girl in the band, because it's a completely different situation and totally different chemistry to when there isn't a girl in the band. For example, I massively crush on all the men in the bands that I'm in, because they're all dreamy rock studs and as a girl, I have no concept of self control. We've set out the rule that if we play well, I get to pick one of them to go home with for the night. But only if we all play really well. It's important to establish boundaries and to have an incentive to actually practice.

35 runners have 70 legs?

It seems like everyone involved in Rangers is one of those mouthy Scottish Delboys/David Wicks types you see posturing in weatherspoons or low end wine bars. Business man who isn't ever 100% clear what their 'business' is, drives an audi, has a house in marbella, wears suits and those shoes that click when he walks, still talks about 'nutting' people despite being a fully grown adult, has money and let's you know that fact but isn't super rich, probably has a kid called Jordan or Tyler and an orange/blonde wife called Sheena who runs a mail order knockoff handbag operation from their chrome-and-glass-clad 'penthouse' in Cambuslang. Instead of settling a dispute by civilized legal means, they threaten and intimidate like they would on the estate they grew up on. Common muck basically. Maybe i'm taking it too far.

I once kept up an act to a friend for about a year where i would constantly pretend i was eating and drinking things i had found in the street. "check it out!" i would say "i just found this can of Vimto sitting on the street outside, barely any of it has be en consumed" Or "I found these crisps on the ground next to the bus stop, someone must have put them down and forgotten about them" I would purposefully buy food and drinks that were a bit odd, to further strengthen my claim that they were random items i had happened across on the pavement. After a while, and due mainly to the persistence of maintaining the facade of constantly eating street food, i managed to convince him that it was cool to just pick up and eat things lying in the street. The sad thing is, when he finally drank a quite rancid looking bottle of booze he found in the street, i felt nothing at all. I am not sure what i was expecting really. I digress. This thread reminds me of that year.

I was featured today in The Guardian's 'New Band Of The Day' feature. http://soundcloud.com/lockah/sets/lockah Read more here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2013/feb/13/new-band-day-lockah

Got a wee promotion at work today with extra responsibilities, a not insignificant salary rise, and an invitation to join our professional whisky tasting team. I'm also going to Dalmore House, Whye & Mackay's HQ in Glasgow, to visit the Master Blender's lab and taste some delectable single malts aged 40, 50 and 60 years! One year to the day after starting there. Back of the fucking onion sack.

Saturday: Getting married

Non-drinker trying to jump in on hangover chat? Seriously? What an utter fucking try-hard.

How about giving her one of the 42 amps that you have for sale? Cheers, Jan

After five games without a goal the fans of German side FC Magdeburg remind their players where the goal is:

It looks like the missus and I have just bought our first flat together, hooray! It's going to have a music room and everything. Delighted.

The weather was ace in Aberdeen yesterday so we took the TV outside and watched hockey and had a BBQ. It was ace.