Sky

Wow. X.Cowboy.x.Core.X! And you can still see his pained, intense expression, which obviously derives from the painfully honest, finely-crafted lyrics he's giving to the world! Is there no end to the miracles that this new fashion trend/musical tour-de-force offers us?!

Claire Hamilton will be supporting The Deviada's (Emma Forman's new band) at the Malt Mill on Sunday, 20th February. Also playing are Stayover, Element 106 and Within These Walls.

Doors open 8PM, and are free. Claire will be opening the gig at about 8.45PM.

MP3s are available on the Media page of Claire's website.

This gig is presented in assocation with Clear and Bright Records.

haha excuse me for giving my opinion.

No it doesnt have to be bright yellow just because our one is you complete tool.

and no the site is not well desinged IN MY OPINION!!!!! it bored the hell out of me therefor making me want to close the site and not pay any attention to the band or what is written' date=' the fact i also have to sit with my nose against the screen to even make out what the little writing says also puts me off, i dunno i like to keep my eyes is a reasonable condition.

if you dont want to hear something bad about it then dont ask next time.[/quote']

I never contested that you were merely stating an opinion, but your laundry list of complaints didn't actually have very much in the way of a constructive side. The only reasonably constructive suggestion I got from your post was to increase the size of the text and pictures.

Seeing as it's so dull, what would you suggest Tim BENCH do to improve it?

Agreed' date=' thought the same but wasn't sure if it was just because of my settings.[/quote']

Well, I'm on 1024x768which is standardand it's pretty tiny.

i dont like it after 10 seconds of looking at it i was bored' date=' the txt is far too small and to be honest the whole site is really dull. Theres nothing to it and the pics that come up are really small and almost not worth having you cant make out anything in them. The lack of tunes online as well i thinks a bit of a shame.[/quote']

Dull as in it's not bright yellow? The site is good, andwith the exception of the text-sizewell-designed. Just because it doesn't look like a pack of Smarties covered in glitter doesn't render it "dull". Bear in mind that the purpose of a site is to offer up information on the band for easy consumption, and if it was a far-out crazy wacky design, that would become more difficult, and thus defeat the purpose of the site in the first place.

I like it. The only real improvement would be a slight increase in the text size. On ridiculously high-res settings, it becomes nigh-on unreadably small.

Claire Hamilton will be playing at the Globe Inn on West North Silver Street, Aberdeen, on Thursday (the 3rd)a map to the venue can be found here. The acts performing are Claire Hamilton and friends and Turning 13, who will be playing an acoustic set.

Claire will be playing with the following line-up at the Globe:

The gig is free entry and doors open 9PM, but there will be a donation box; all proceeds of which will go to the hospice where Patricia Anne Hamilton died in 2004. Four MP3s of Claire's music can be found of the Media page of her website.

Care to name these backing musicians!?

Indeed I do. At the time of my original post' date=' I didn't have my list with me. The line-up will be:

[indent']Claire HamiltonVocals, Guitar;

George GilliesLead Guitar;

I hope you will be in attendence?

possibly some of the members from band from uncle.

... Claire imo really came into her own when she had a guy up playing guitar with her' date=' i'd love to see her fronting a band, I think that would work better than a solo set, as she seemed much more relaxed when away from the guitar.[/quote']

The guy in question is George Gillies, and he'll be playing with Claire again this Thursday (3rd March) at the Globe Inn along with a full backing band consisting of cello, drums and either acoustic or double bass. It's a charity gig with all proceeds/donations going to a hospice in Musselburgh where Claire's gran stayed. Turning 13 are supporting with an acoustic set. It starts about 9PM and doors are free.

As for the gig itself, I think it was excellent. Born Solo were probably the weakest act, and I think that their drummer was partly to blame for that; for an acoustic set, he was slightly too enthusiastic with his drum strokes. The Usuals were excellent, as was Emma and Claire.

I'd like to take the opportunity to tender sincere that from myself and Claire to the GFN? boys. They did an excellent job of organising the gig and we hope to work with them again in the near future.

On a related note, Claire's website is now up, and can be found at www.clairehamilton.co.uk, and she has two further demo tracks in MP3 on her Media page that weren't included on the White Demo which was distributed at the gig.

yeah id agree with up to a point. Yes opend mindness is obvioulsy good i for one have that but i dont have a problem with people who will only listen to metal or emo or whatever. I dont see it as a problem either rather the loss of the person who wont open their mind.

But surely if it's the "loss of a person"' date=' that would be something worrying? I don't advocate that everyone subscribe to a grab-bag of styles ideal when it comes to music, but I've had innumerable discussions with people along the lines of,

[indent']"You should listen to this band. They're fantastic."

"Are they [insert genre here]?"

"No..."

"Well then they can't be good/I won't like them/They must be shit then."

I consider it to be a very, very sad state of affairs when someone instantly dismisses a band/artist because they don't fit into that person's genre-defined idea of good music. It's the equivalent of stating you couldn't possibly like a cake because it hasn't got pink icing on top, or that you would hate a certain food because it wasn't Italian.

Having said that, I don't have a problem with people who take that stance, it just saddens me somewhat. I used to do much the same myself when I was sixteen, and I consider it part of the maturation process to be more open to differing ideas and the relative merits of thembe it in music, philosophy, politics or artwithout necessarily liking everything.

Regardless of taste in music, everyone should come along to this gig; I think everyone will be pleasantly surprised by the talent on show, and should find something to suit their tastes.

Seems a bit odd to worry about concensus when you're dealing with such a subjective matter. For example: Cliff Richard is the top selling singles artist of the past 50 years. That doesn't make him good. Just stinking rich. Fiend.

People should stop panicking about who's the best blah blah blah. How many people do you know who only own one artist's records and nothing else? There is room for everyone. It's about creating and enjoying at the end of the day.

You seem to have misunderstood my post: I wasn't arguing that consensus was in any way important' date=' rather that certain musicians/composers/songwriters are universally held up as "geniuses" because a consensus exists. Thus, consensus is an attempt to impose an absolute, objective judgement on a field of human endeavour that is entirely subjective. Whether the artist in question deserves said reputation, however, is entirely subjective from the viewpoint of any given individual. As I stated before, one man's trash is another man's treasure. This pattern is repeated throughout human society: fashion ("that shirt is so uncool"), morality, law, sexuality.

As for the question of how many people own only one artist's records, if you look at it from a slightly different angle, you get a rather worrying answerhow many people own only one [i']style of music? The answer to that question is, rather worryingly, a very high percentage. The question is fundamentally the same, having only a very slight shift in emphasis away from a single artist and towards an artist's style/genre.

But you're absolutely right at the end of your post: the gig is about coming along, letting people entertain you with their creativity and enjoying yourself.

it should be a fun night some great performers performing i cant wait' date=' i think everyone will more than hold their own and i hope everyone that comes will get a pleasant surprise from someone they didn't come primarily to see. [/quote']

Exactly. The two acts I'm familiar withClaire and Emmaare both very talented, and I predict a good night will be had by all.

This whole "who's gonna steal the show?" debate could rage endlessly, but it has no solution. Quality of music is an entirely subjective concept: in music, one man's trash is most definitely another man's treasure. As an example, I love Sunn O))) and NON, but my flatmates think they're "just fucking noise"but this percieved lack of quality on their parts renders them no less talented from my viewpoint.

As it stands, I consider Claire to be the best singer/songwriter in Aberdeen, andhaving listened to all of Emma's tracks available on Karmadownload.com, which I enjoyed very muchI still consider Claire to hold that accolade. But, as I said, this is entirely subjective, and will remain so because it's impossible to gain an "objective" viewpoint on a subject so totally dependent on opinion. Music is only considered objectively brilliant by consensus: Mozart's symphonies may be as unenjoyable to some as the noise-music of Earth, and his status as a musical genius is only secured because a consensus stating thus is held by a large majority.

As for Claire's demo, it was recorded some years ago, and the reverb on the vocals is an issue that I've raised with her on occasion. It transpires that it wasn't her ideathe reverb was added by the guy who recorded and mastered the songs, and, at the time, Claire was too inexperienced to realise that it wasn't needed. For proof of her considerable vocal talents, she's best seen live.

Maybe Claire will steal the show though.

Claire will absolutely steal the show. But of course, I would say that. Not to say that makes it any less true, though.

is she doing any more recroding anytime soon?

Claire will be recording several tracks over the course of the year for her upcoming EP, which will be released sometime in the second half of the year on Clear and Bright Records. More tracks will be posted on Claire's website when it launches.

Local singer/songwriters Emma Forman, Claire Hamilton and the bands Born Solo and The Usuals (with one further act TBC) will be playing an all-acoustic night in the Tunnels (just down from Fopp's old store) on Sunday, 27th February. Doors open at 8PM, and tickets (on sale at the door) cost 3.

Two of Claire's tracks can be downloaded in MP3 format from the following links:

All attendees will receive a free copy of Claire's four-track White Demofrom which the above two tracks are taken. Approximately 150 copies have already been distributed free around Aberdeen over the last few months. Those seeking more information on Claire can find a brief biography here. The gig marks the official launch of Claire's website and her first music video.

This gig is presented by Good for Nothing? Promotions in association with Clear and Bright Records.

I didn't just say he was a phenomenal guitarist' date=' he is a great producer and highly talented multi intsrumentalist. I know lots of great guitarists who aren't geniuses but he is someone that can create amazing soundscapes on his own right. A truly talented individual who is imho a genius. [/quote']

You've pretty much hit it on the head there: to my mind, John Squire is a better guitarist than Joe Satriani because, though definitely less technically proficient, he can actually write a bloody good song, whereas I don't think Satriani could write a song if his life depended on ithe's all style and no substance.

After the comment by Betamax on the previous threads I was interested as to who in Aberdeen in your opinions could be musical geniuses.

It would very much depend on your definition of "genius". If you mean Mozart-level geniusnamely' date=' real geniusthen I'd go out on (quite a safe) limb and say no-one; if you mean genius in a looser, less absolutely mind-blowingly fantastic levellike a kind of Massive Attack genius, or Trent Reznor/NIN-geniusthen I'm sure there would maybe be one or two people in Aberdeen like that.

He may not be a genius, but much-missed former Wastelander Stripey is rather good at downbeat-esque electronics. And AKA The Fox probably aren't geniuses by anything like traditional standards, but if genius is the ability to create an amazing atmosphere at a gig and get everyone dancing, then I'd hail them the most genius-level musicians in Aberdeen.

I REALLY dont have a problem or see why it should be a problem the fact that it says "design:wings unfold" at the bottom of every page.

Purely because' date=' as they were paid for their services, standard practise is that Wings: Unfold [i']don't put a link at the bottom of every page.

It's like paying someone designing and decorating your housethey don't add their tag at the bottom of every wall. If they did it for free, then, yeah, maybe; otherwise, it really shouldn't be there. Whenever I did design for money, I restricted myself to the links page, if even that.

I still think you should link directly to the EP.

Edit: P.S. I'm not trying to cause an argument.

It's a pretty good site, but I have a suggestion and a question:

(suggestion): Link directly to the EP in Fat Hippy's shop from the "Click here to purchase the CD" link, and have a more general link to Fat Hippy on your links page. It makes it much easier for anyone tempted to buy the EP because people behind keyboards have notoriously short attention spans (this one included);

(question): Why is there a "Design: Wings Unfold" graphic at the bottom of every page? If you paid for the site, that shouldn't be therethe most your should have is a link on your links page. If you didn't pay them to design your site, then fair play. But from looking at Wings Unfold's site, I get the impression that you probably did pay for it.

Otherwise, good work.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Trumpets and saxaphones are brass instruments - not woodwind' date=' you dummy.[/quote']

Oops. I don't know my woodwinds from my brass.

Still, they were good, and my ska-fear proved unfounded. I'm two-for-two.

After months and months of intending to go see AKA The Fox play, I finally managed to end up at their Snafu gig on Thursday totally by accident. I wasn't disappointedthey're fantastic live.

I'd had them recommended to me by a friend who has good music taste, but I wasn't really sure what to expect: they have a saxophonist, andwhilst I know trumpets are the woodwind of choiceI was worried that they'd be some silly-silly-ska-music type of outfit. Thankfully, they're not.

The play a sort of Kasabianesque dance-rock, with very funky, elastic bass and some fantastically urgent drumming; the guitarist seems to be slightly weaker on her instrument, but does apply some wonderfully metallic shards of guitar to the proceedings. They also have some very good, jazz-inflected slower tracks, where the saxophone takes centre stage.

I'm not usually this gushing (or unfocused) with my praise, but I strongly recommend that you go see them some time: they're very good.

A question to members of AKA The Fox: Do you have any plans to put out a single/album/EP any time soon?

ok' date=' you're starting to creep me out a little be you freaky stalker.... _

and by the by, taking pop shots at me does not make you cool. Look at Hobbes/tv tanned, he's been doing it for the past 2 years and he's still a loser.

ps. I was never ever known on these boards as The Game. I don't know where you're getting that info from but it's crap.[/b']

I would hardly call it stalking. I just happened to (briefly) be in orbit around one particular group that you tried to infiltrate in an attempt to gain "scene points", andas a result of the annoyance this caused one member in particular of that groupI was told at some length about your various "scenie" antics.

As for "taking pop shots" at you to look cool, you are sadly mistaken on this countlooking "cool" on the Wasteland couldn't mean less to me; the whole concept of hip-via-web is totally alien to me. And, for the record, I find it extremely amsuing that you would see yourself fit to label tv tanned a loser.

P.S. My information may be flawed. Though if this is the case, why didn't you highlight the innaccuracy when Dan Atom posted that quote in the first place?

Yes' date=' well done, you disparaging clown. I don't have over 500 posts on this site, so do you think I want to be part of the 'scene'?

Firstly, this thread was started in a largely jocular manner - it wasn't serious. It was light-hearted. Succinct, but light-hearted.

Secondly, your now common anti-'scene' stance is as pathetic as the whole 'scene' mentality itself.

And to satisfy people's inquisitiveness: working in either of those places would appeal to me because it'd be excellent to work in an environment in which I was tuned to. I love films and I love music.

Pretty fucking simple, really.[/quote']

Logan was infamous for his attempts to score scene points; be it his haircut, his music taste, the people he hangs out with or the girl he's chasing. He has a legendary record on the Wasteland as well, under various guises.

I draw attention to this classic quote from Dan Atom:

I remember a day when THE MOST RECENT 63 posts BAR NONE had "last post by The Game"

And' date=' yes I counted them.[/quote']

(Logan was formerly known as The Game.)

As for working in One-Up, I have to say that the idea does seem rather appealingthe atmosphere seems pretty relaxed, and I could indulge one of my main interests: expanding my tastes in music. The wages may be poor-to-average, but I think that the job would be much better than some McJob where you're treated like a number on that corporation's system.

As far as i recall' date=' the only person who seemed to have a personal problem with the members of mmw was Sky.[/quote']

Where did I say I had a personal problem with a member or members of the band? It was WalkingOnGlass who said that I was "still having a sulk over the fact that he used to have a crush on Ben's girlfriend, and she knocked him back." He stated I had a personal issue with Ben, not me.

To put this straight again: I am not currentlynor have I at any time in the pastbeen physically attracted to, or romantically interested in, Ben's girlfriend.

I may not have made myself clear on the issue of grudges, however: any and all grudges I hold are formed for valid, concrete reasons (usually mistreatment/abuse of someone important to me). I do not, and cannot ever foresee myself, forming grudges over insignificant events like being called names on the Wasteland or being "knocked back". Consequently, I have no grudges towards any member of MMw, and any impression I may have given of a grudge was entirely accidental.

I do, however, admit that I enjoy getting a rise out of people, and MMw are just such a tempting target...