girl anachronism

I think this is the comment that strikes closest to the mark, I don't think there's a definitive answer to the debate, but I think the perpetuation of gender stereotyping is probably one of the biggest factors. As innocent as the comments about wanting a female drummer and "girls sulking around shopping centre entrances, that's how it was done" may be, reading this sort of thing just makes me cringe. I'd say I'm pretty active in the scene, I play in two bands, am involved in promotion and go to gigs on almost a weekly basis. With regard to the female drummer statement above, my opinion is that I just want to play in a band with like-minded people who I feel at ease with and who want to work to improve the band, whether that's males or females doesn't really make much of a difference to me. It can't be ignored that there is definitely a skew though, I quite often notice at local gigs that I'm one of very few females in attendance, and whilst it doesn't bother me and I just enjoy the bands, I can see why other girls might find it quite daunting. As far as playing in the local scene goes, I definitely feel comfortable, however I've had experiences with playing in slightly larger and unfamiliar venues where there's maybe been a more boorish crowd, and that's made me feel a little uneasy. On the flipside though, looking at the wider musical community and industry in general, there are a lot of larger gigs that have closer to a 50/50 split, or where girls outnumber boys, it just doesn't seem to happen at the smaller, "alternative" scene level. Interstingly, I first took up guitar at an early age and had group lessons in which there were three girls and one guy and the majority of people in my standard grade music class and the school bands were girls. I spent most of my lunchtimes in the music room, playing music with my friends, again, mostly girls. However, I did notice that as time went on, those girls became less interested in playing and I soon found myself in bands with guys. I guess I was lucky in that I was so into music and keen to be in a band that I found it easy to approach guys about jamming and felt I could keep up with conversations and actually contribute something to shape the direction of a band, rather than being viewed as a gimmick, perhaps it's not so easy for other girls and most of the girls I played music with during and after school years now either don't play at all or play in wedding bands. I think Martin's post above is very sensible and definitely makes a lot of sense- particularly the second paragraph. It's definitely true that it's rare for me to come across anyone, male or female, who like the same sort of music I like, certainly not on a day-to-day basis anyway.

Looking forward to this.

Personally, I thought all the drummers had excellent chops. The vests were great, as was the kaftan.

SATURDAY! Come party! http://galoshins.bandcamp.com/album/ep1

Cannot wait!

Also, I just can't get enough of this. http://littleanchors.bandcamp.com/

SOON. Also, I just saw the below, Phil. I NEVER have that problem.

Cheers for listening, guys. We'll have a CD or two left around I'm sure. Nah, it cost us nothing to record and was something we just did for fun. We'd rather folk make donations to ANCHOR if they like it, thanks though.

Nope, just the head I'm afraid. The cab and the cat are keepers.

Hi folks, here's some ambient improv we've been meaning to stick up for a while now. Myself, Jan and Dave (Free Tibet) had a big jamming session in June last year and recorded some sounds. We recorded a lot of material and following Dave's passing in September, we never got round to working our way through it. In January and February of this year, Alan Cynic worked his magic and with some excellent editing and mixing, managed to turn our jam into two five-track "sides", with each side comprising a different mix of the material he selected. We've had physical copies with us at Laika Come Home shows, but it's now on bandcamp for streaming/download. The album can be downloaded free of charge, but there's also a link to Friends of ANCHOR's donations site on the page if you do fancy making a wee donation in exchange for a download. Hopefully some of you will dig it. Enjoy :-) http://tapeintapeout.bandcamp.com/

Bump! If anyone would like to try out the amp, let me know. Both items still available. Pedalboard is in very good condition.

Aye, when are you free? Are you going to Craig's tomorrow night? Want to nip by our practice space beforehand?

Gigs in Aberdeen fucking miss you!

Hello! Laika Come Home returns to Cellar 35 on Saturday the 3rd of August for the fifth (already, can you believe it?!) instalment of our bi-monthly live music/cake/beer-fest and we're pretty damn excited about the lineup again! Come along for what should be an exceptionally rad and eclectic evening! GALOSHINS Glasgow's Galoshins return the Granite City with their chaotic, highly entertaining, frantically energetic, off-kilter mix of somewhat difficult to categorise keys-driven psych-rock? Art-pop? Garage? Post punk? Fuck genres. What you do need to know is that Galoshins are excellent. If you dig the punk-tinged garage dirge of The Cramps, the frenetic vocal stylings of The Fall and the psych freakout of 13th Floor Elevators, you'll LOVE Galoshins. Seriously, you will. With two stellar EPs released through Armellodie Records in February (the catchily titled EP1 and EP2) and another in the pipeline, Galoshins are an extremely exciting outfit to watch and we can't wait to have them in Cellar. http://galoshins.bandcamp.com/ https://www.facebook.com/galoshins CARSON WELLS Aberdonian Wonderkids bring their luciously tech, intelligent math-rock to the party. Inventive guitar lines,spoken vox, lush and fluid bass and watertight drums. The trio switch between visceral, dischordant screamo and the reprieve of slower mathy passages with razor-sharp precision, creating one of the most exciting and dynamic local live experiences. Their debut LP "Wonderkid" was released late last year to widespread acclain (if you've not heard it yet, why not?) and remains one of the finest recordings to emerge from the grey north in recent times. For fans of Charlottefield, Blakfish and Meet Me In St Louis. http://carsonwells.bandcamp.com/ https://www.facebook.com/wearecarsonwells?fref=ts PINACT Two-piece, noisy punky pop from Glasgow and Aberdeen. Pinact make fast, ferocious and fun pop anthems. These guys have explosive energy live with an assault of fuzzy guitars and primal drums. 2013's going to be a big year for them. Awesome LOUD pop for fans of No Age and PAWS. Boyz just wanna have fun. http://pinact.bandcamp.com/ https://www.facebook.com/Pinact?fref=ts YOUNG PHILADELPHIA We've yet to see this Glaswegian noise rock duo live, but have been digging their EP "RESI" released in September last year for quite some time. A whirlwind of riffs, glitchy fuzz and pounding drums, these guys are making some serious waves in Glasgow and we've heard that their live shows are quite the force to be reckoned with. http://youngphiladelphia.bandcamp.com/ https://www.facebook.com/youngphiladelphia?fref=ts LITTLE ANCHORS We're delighted to have Dundonian Little Anchors in the lineup. "A Searing Analysis of Pretty Much Everything" is anthemic, soaring, heartfelt and one of the best things we've heard this year. Fantastic melodic emo from Ross Middlemiss formerly of Pensioner that falls somewhere between Kozelek and Kinsella. http://littleanchors.bandcamp.com/ https://www.facebook.com/littleanchorsmusic

Thanks to everyone for the feedback. We're still fairly new to the promoting lark, but we're learning! Agree with Mike that it was a very nice touch for James to have given David a mention. Throughout their set I kept finding myself thinking how much David would have loved it. Nice to see so much appreciation for HNIC too, well deserved!

Looks excellent fun. I got sent to Weybridge for a training course last minute so had to miss out, boo. Hope the tour goes well!

Yeah, they were great, really thoroughly lovely folks too. They got horribly lost in Aberdeen, had dead phones and their synth player had fallen out a window (or something) the previous night, so was touch and go for a bit. Still played for an hour though, finished just in the nick of time (the manager just came through the door and shot us a "sort it out, guys!" look at 20 past 1). Couldn't have been happier with their set, they played amazingly and the crowd was great too. Edit: I enjoyed the synth, I was right at the front though.

Been listening to this loads since picking it up at the weekend and it really is excellent!

Glad folk enjoyed it! The Cosmic Dead had a great time and are very eager to come back, so hopefully that can happen sometime soon. Haha, cheers, I was having a bit of a mare, lost strings during the [ ] cover and I've never broken strings live, seems it was too punx for my setup! Muddled through though!

I already bought us one! Unless you think we should have two?

New Teepee! 7 tracks on the theme of "getting lost". Ace stuff! http://notateepee.bandcamp.com/album/getting-lost