offramp Posted February 28, 2011 Report Share Posted February 28, 2011 interesting music promotions presentLONE PIGEON + THE PICTISH TRAILFriday, 15 April 2011The Blue Lamp, 121 Gallowgate, Aberdeen, AB25 1BU. Phone (01224) 647472Doors 8pmTickets 8+bf in adv / 10 on doorAvailable from One-Up Records, Belmont Street, Aberdeen. Phone (01224) 642662 or Welcome to TicketWeb!interesting music promotions | Free Music, Tour Dates, Photos, VideosLONE PIGEON, aka the elusive and enigmatic Gordon Anderson, landed sometime in 1996. A prolific multi-instrumentalist songwriter, LP has two albums released on Fence CDR and so far one worldwide critically acclaimed release. Alongside these releases he has amassed a multitude of homemade recordings, at one stage a reputed 300 tracks in one month. The LP played an integral role in the recording of the mythical five track demo which resulted in the signing to Regal / EMI of one of the most influential bands of recent times, The Beta Band. Following their demise, Gordon resurfaced in 2005 as frontman of The Aliens with ex-Betas John Maclean and Robin Jones, releasing two albums to date on EMI imprint Pet Rock Records.Just before Christmas 2010, Domino quietly released Time Capsule, a massive 7 album box set which contains pretty much everything the man has ever made. Packaged in beautiful mini card LP sleeves with dizzyingly colourful artwork that looks like the inside of a childs distorted imagination has exploded into reality, Time Capsule, which will receive a wider release in April, contains tracks which may (or may not) have been released on CDr in the past, and provides a fascinating insight into the mind of an artist who has remained impossible to pin down.Time Capsule also comes with some illuminating sleeve notes from King Creosote, who happens to be Lone Pigeons brother, and who readily admits he finds his brother to be as much of a puzzle as the rest of us. He seems to sum things up best in fittingly cryptic terms when he calls his brother, a wanderer, a pilgrim, a messianic jew, a dervish, a vandal, a prophet, but mainly a lost soul. Make of that what you will, but it makes a strange kind of sense to us, and probably will for anyone else who immerses themselves in this almost indescribable collection of songs.The LP cuts an enigmatic figure, whilst his musical eccentricities funnily enough refuse to allow his style to be pigeonholed. Reviews name check familiar artists but in every essence they are wholly Pigeon. Beguiling, fragile and bereft of ego, vanity or spin LP crouches almost alone in a popular culture in which he has no interest and little understanding. Outside of his hometown, the LP live is a very rare bird, but in full flight there really is nothing more spellbinding as anyone lucky to have witnessed can attest. An artist, poet, musician, traveler and believer, the LP is a complicated character but with his music he creates sublime melodies that can elicit the simplest emotions; tunes that will make you smile with joy or alternately weep in shared sorrow. You would have to be wooden not to care.Domino | Artists | Lone PigeonLone Pigeon (lonepigeon ) on MyspaceThe Aliens - Welcome to 'The Aliens' WebsiteTHE PICTISH TRAIL is the nom de plume of 28-yr-old singer-songwriter Johnny Lynch, who alongside Kenny Anderson (aka King Creosote) runs micro-indie DIY-folk collective Fence Records, in a remote fishing village in Fife, Scotland. His music is a sonorous mixture of acoustic-driven balladry and lo-fi synthesised pop, that has been described as a post-summer trove of sun-warped electro, anamorphic folk (Plan B Magazine).Over the past 7 years hes recorded various mini-albums, EPs and singles of his own material for the Fence label working with a number of artists such as King Creosote, KT Tunstall, James Yorkston, The Red Well and The Earlies along the way, amongst a legion of others. The Pictish Trails debut full-length album, Secret Soundz Vol.1, was released in 2008, to glowing reviews: Glorious, 4 STARS MOJO // 4 STARS Metro // Compulsory listening, 4 STARS The Observer // Limitless imagination NME. In 2009, Johnny embarked on an extensive tour of the album playing shows across the UK, mainland Europe and America. Last year, he released an album of brand new material an electronic-pop collaboration with multi-instrumentalist Adem, under the name SILVER COLUMNS on the Moshi Moshi label.On tour with comedian Josie Long throughout the Autumn of 2010, Johnny has been promoting the release of a new Pictish Trail EP, In Rooms, which contains 50 songs each 30 seconds in length! The EP was born out of the 100 Days Project that Josie started at the end of 2009 Johnnys project was to write and record a new 30-second song every day. The result is a collection of sper-concentrated pop, ranging from the plaintive to the playful. Expect live performances to be intimate, funny, endearing and maybe a wee bit haphazard too! The Pictish TrailPictish Trail | Free Music, Tour Dates, Photos, VideosFence Records Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
offramp Posted February 28, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 28, 2011 Will advise when tickets are on sale.Oh, and can a mod change the date for me please - obviously it is 2011 not 2010. Duh. Same in the Calendar section, ta.x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milners Posted February 28, 2011 Report Share Posted February 28, 2011 Haven't really heard much of Lone Pigeon but going with what i've read about Gordon Anderson he has written a couple of my fav tunes - Dry the Rain and Dog's Got a Bone. The Three EP's the beta band released before there first album is just stunning. Might pop along to this. Although i presume he had left the beta band by then there gig at the lemon tree was one of the best gigs i've ever been to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graeme Posted February 28, 2011 Report Share Posted February 28, 2011 Is it time to start mentioning the legendary Dr. Drakes gig? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Jack Posted March 1, 2011 Report Share Posted March 1, 2011 Is it time to start mentioning the legendary Dr. Drakes gig? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
offramp Posted March 1, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 1, 2011 Haven't really heard much of Lone Pigeon but going with what i've read about Gordon Anderson he has written a couple of my fav tunes - Dry the Rain and Dog's Got a Bone. The Three EP's the beta band released before there first album is just stunning. Might pop along to this. Although i presume he had left the beta band by then there gig at the lemon tree was one of the best gigs i've ever been to.Aye, he left before the band took off but co-wrote most of the early stuff.Tickets on sale now, from the link in my signature below... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
offramp Posted March 2, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 2, 2011 Facebook it, yeah?imp present: Lone Pigeon + The Pictish Trail | Facebook Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
offramp Posted March 5, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 5, 2011 Tickets now in One Up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
offramp Posted March 15, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 15, 2011 Some perspective...Johnny Sharp interviews Gordon Anderson | Music | The GuardianOut of the woodsTwelve years ago, Gordon Anderson was in hotly-tipped group the Beta Band. Then mental illness (or demonic possession) intervened. He tells Johnny Sharp how Jesus, and his new band the Aliens, saved him"So once I'd plotted every single point on a perfect replica of The Great Pyramid, I started to see this giant pharaoh type thing looming above me." Gordon Anderson, singer of the Aliens and founding member of the Beta Band, is recalling a "weird story" from his past. "I started crouching down, because at that point I was in the mindset of a little sphinx. And then the sphinx became this little Egyptian boy who could run really quickly. And then this pharaoh rose up like this - phwooosh! - and it has the face of Christ on the cross. I was visualising Jerusalem in front of me. Then all this water came shooting in a beam out of my pupils, into a pool on the floor..."Well, I suppose such wild hallucinations are not uncommon in a psychiatric institution."No, I was still in the Beta Band at that point."Right. Did his bandmates at the time not find this behaviour unusual?"Not really," admits his fellow Beta Band veteran and Aliens' keyboard player John Maclean. "We were all doing quite a lot of drugs at the time." Lovably eccentric rock musician though he is, Gordon Anderson's story is more like The Shining than Spinal Tap. But at least it has a happy ending, in the shape of the band the Aliens. Their debut album Astronomy For Dogs is a fantastically frazzled advert for Anderson's revitalised songwriting talent, from the delirious romp of The Happy Song and the upbeat, vintage organ pop of Setting Sun to the melancholic yearning of Glover and She Don't Love Me No More.For Gordon, it's been a long, hard and harrowing road to this point. Sitting in a Glasgow cafe taking a break from working on a side project with his brother Kenny Anderson (aka King Creosote), he and John Maclean (Aliens drummer Robin Jones is absent with a bad back - and since this interview, Gordon has broken his clavicle while climbing a tree) take up the story from the mid 1990s, when Gordon and school friends John and Robin joined fellow songwriter Steve Mason to form the Beta Band. Gordon worked with the band on their debut EP Champion Versions, co-writing tracks such as Dry The Rain and Dog's Got A Bone. But he was also caning for Scotland."I was doing a lot of mushrooms, LSD, dope. I did 40 mushrooms every night for two months. Just writing songs and getting hammered on mushrooms - great fun!"Then the fun ended abruptly."My illness took over," he says. "I'd just be putting some milk back in the fridge or something, and I'd feel this presence growing inside me. Completely evil, demonic, worse than you can imagine. At first it was in my legs, then it was climbing up my insides. I'd try and do paintings to bring out what was inside - pictures with flames coming out of me. But it just got worse. I felt there was something dwelling behind my soul, in the back of my head, creeping up on me. So I'd be hunched up, fearful and scared of everybody. I couldn't eat, I couldn't sleep. I was like a zombie. It took five months for this thing to completely overtake me."It became obvious that Gordon couldn't continue with the band, so he returned home to Scotland for psychiatric treatment. Scary what a few mushrooms can do..."It wasn't the mushrooms," insists Gordon. "I feel it was a classic case of demonic possession. You read about these things, but you don't think it actually happens to people. I became a different character - something that wasn't me possessed me. It sat inside me, controlling everything. It was saying 'Murrrrdur! Murrrdur!' It got to the point where a voice in my head was telling me to kill my twin brother, Ian. I'd be with him and the voice would be hissing at me, 'Kill him. Kill him now. Kill him now. Kill. Him. Now.' They were spirit voices. You couldn't see them, but you could hear them sitting in the corner of the room. I had conversations with them."Thankfully, "Murrrrdur" did not ensue. More bad craziness did."The horrible thing is the spirits know your thoughts before you're going to think of them. I would see this horrible evil old man when I looked in the mirror, so I got rid of all the mirrors in my house. And I'm just about to think of this when some weird thing says to me 'Ha! You took down all those mirrors! You took down all those mirrors didn't you?' And then it starts singing it over and over. Really fucking frightening." Gordon spent eight years in a mental institution near his home town of St Andrews, Fife, where he was diagnosed as suffering from schizophrenia. Even now, he begs to differ."I don't believe in schizophrenia. I was never in a different mind from my own, my mind was there, but it was trapped inside me. Medical people don't believe in the spiritual side of things, so they pump you full of drugs! I had 144 electric shocks to the head, and countless drugs. And they did nothing for me."Gordon didn't write songs during his illness ("It's a bit too much focus on within. I felt better painting."), but he says he was too consumed by his own personal hell to feel anything so trivial as envy as the Beta Band released three albums and toured the world. Gordon's erstwhile bandmates kept in touch, and his brother Kenny put out some of Gordon's solo recordings as Lone Pigeon. However, when John visited Gordon's new home, he wasn't too impressed by the way his old friend was being treated."We'd have a laugh about the ridiculousness of the whole thing. Humour seemed to have a better effect on him than the seriousness of the nurses and the doctors, who talked to him like he was an idiot."Of course some poor souls are admitted to such institutions and never come out again. But Gordon was saved - by Jesus. "These two christians came along and said they'd take me to stay with them in their house, they said 'We'll pray for you, and talk, work out what your problems are'. And they did, and within three months I was fine. They taught me that the first step is to believe you're not mentally ill. It reinforced my belief in Jesus. If you have the kind of experience I had and Jesus got you through it, you can't suddenly deny that."Gordon's brother Kenny got him a flat in St Andrews, and he wasted no time in throwing himself back into slightly less godly pursuits. "We'd go out drinking a lot, and talking to girls, which you might think wasn't the best thing for me, but I'd spent a decade in a cupboard, man, I had a lot of living to do!"Around the same time, in late 2004, the Beta Band split. John and Robin had heard that Gordon was back in business, and the trio decided to work together on some of his new songs. The new album, Astronomy For Dogs, is the result. Some of the songs - particularly The Happy Song - seem to ooze with the joy of a new lease of life."That song does," says Gordon, "and when I play that song it does make me happy. But some of the other songs are quite sad." Oh well, sounds like he's back in the same mildly unsatisfactory world as the rest of us then."I was just in the toilet before the interview, and it was such a nice, white toilet. And I'm thinking 'My God I'm so well, my mind is so clear. I'm doing the band, I'm working with my brother Kenny again, I can't believe it.'"As he's talking, he draws a cross in the froth on his coffee."Something dragged me through the darkness for a long time, and now something's taken me back out the other end. All I can say is thanks a lot." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
offramp Posted March 24, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 24, 2011 Cracking review of the Lone Pigeon box set (Domino)Record Collector | Lone Pigeon - Lone Pigeon Time Capsule | Album ReviewLone Pigeon - Lone Pigeon Time CapsuleBuried treasure aplentyFor those whove had their ear to the ground over the past decade-and-a-half or so, Fife has been one of the more consistent and unlikely of musical hotspots. This is largely due to the close-knit community record label Fence, helmed by Kenny Anderson (aka King Creosote) and Johnny Lynch (of Silver Columns and The Pictish Trail). From humble beginnings, selling home-recorded albums in local independent record shops, the label has gone from strength to strength while maintaining the sense of bonhomie that birthed it.Anybody involved with Fence will maintain that Lone Pigeon (aka Gordon Anderson; pseudonyms are a must with this bunch) most embodies what the label stands for. Anderson first came to prominence as a founder member of The Beta Band and, though he was only on the scene for their earliest days, penned some of their most enduring material. Personal problems saw Anderson retreat from the spotlight and, despite reuniting with members of his old outfit The Aliens and releasing two solo albums, has not had the success that many initially predicted.Until now the majority of Lone Pigeons vast output has been a well-kept secret, either traded among Fence aficionados or thrust upon enthusiasts by the man himself. As numerous CD-R compilations with varying combinations of songs have done the rounds, word of his unique appeal has spread. Now Domino push the boat out with Time Capsule, a collection of seven full-length collections, five of which are previously officially unreleased, and the other two (Moses and 28 Secret Tracks) long out-of-print Fence releases. Its remarkable that a label would attempt to release such a luxurious offering these days or at least it seems that way, until the myriad delights it has to offer worm their way into the subconscious.Brother King Creosotes sleevenotes describe Anderson as a wanderer, a pilgrim, a messianic Jew, a dervish, a vandal, a prophet, but mainly a lost soul. From the evidence of Time Capsule, its hard to fault his judgement. At times Anderson sounds as if hes been locked in an attic with nothing but The Beatles Esher demos, a guitar and a clapped-out keyboard with a broken beatbox. Elsewhere, on the likes of Unknown Yesterdays and much of the Baby Piano disc, he produces tender, fragile balladry that recalls the likes of Big Stars Third/Sister Lovers, Dennis Wilson or Neil Young. In fact, over Time Capsules 159 tracks, theres little musical ground left uncovered, from ambient interludes to sci-fi soundclashes, gorgeous wordless harmonising and slightly demented imaginary cartoon theme tunes. If that sounds like difficult listening, dont be discouraged. Anderson has an intuitive pop suss and humour that makes visiting his world an absolute pleasure.The fragmentary nature of a lot of these discs may leave some listeners unsatisfied and bemoaning Andersons seemingly unfinished material, but that would be missing the point. These sketches are somehow so self-contained and pure that to try and smarten them up would be to lose their essence. Time Capsule is a perfect document of a stunningly gifted, witty and sometimes frustrating artist. Ultimately, the only way to really understand it is by listening describing it is like trying to bottle moonlight.Domino | REWIGCD 77 X (7-CD)Reviewed by Jamie Atkins Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
offramp Posted April 6, 2011 Author Report Share Posted April 6, 2011 Opening the show, we are delighted to confirm, will be Lomond 'Ziggy' Campbell of the band FOUND. Updated poster below... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chilli Posted April 7, 2011 Report Share Posted April 7, 2011 Opening the show, we are delighted to confirm, will be Lomond 'Ziggy' Campbell of the band FOUND. Updated poster below...absolutely cracking line-up now in place. The many that have bought their tickets already are in for an absolute treat... still time to save some dosh by buying in advance Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zippy Posted April 7, 2011 Report Share Posted April 7, 2011 Wish I could make it to this but I'll be in Dundee. Have a good one! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Kiosque Posted April 11, 2011 Report Share Posted April 11, 2011 absolutely cracking line-up now in place. The many that have bought their tickets already are in for an absolute treat... still time to save some dosh by buying in advance...or save even more dosh by winning a pair of tickets here:The Kiosque Aberdeen Music/Competition: Lone Pigeon, The Pictish Trail, Lomond Campbell Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
french_disko Posted April 11, 2011 Report Share Posted April 11, 2011 Pictish Trail has pulled out - Hi everyone.I'm in America at the moment - my folks live over here, in Connecticut. On Tuesday evening, April 5th, my Mum passed away at home. She had been battling pancreatic cancer for just over a year. She has always been a huge supporter of everything i've done - there's no way i'd be doing what i'm doing now without her guidance. Whilst obviously devastated, the whole family are relieved that her pain is over.It feels a bit weird/crass announcing all this on Facebook - but I wanted folk to know about the situation because i was due to play a few shows over the next week, which people have bought tickets for and i don't like pulling out of shows with no explanation. So, aye - I won't be playing the Karail show tomorrow, and i'm going to have to pull out of the Aberdeen show (15th) and the Newcastle show (16th). I will be at the Edinburgh show, though (14th), and will be doing Reading / London / Manchester as planned, too.I don't really know what else to say other than thanks to everyone who's sent me a message in the past few days.love,johnny pictish x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Kiosque Posted April 11, 2011 Report Share Posted April 11, 2011 Pictish Trail has pulled out -Yeah, was notified of this about 10 minutes after I put the post up.Condolences to Johnny & family... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FOX Posted April 12, 2011 Report Share Posted April 12, 2011 Ack, gutted. Sorry to hear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
offramp Posted April 12, 2011 Author Report Share Posted April 12, 2011 Yeah. Unfortunately Johnny has had to pull out for the reasons stated above. Was going to wait until we had a replacement before mentioning it, but hey ho. Working on it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milners Posted April 12, 2011 Report Share Posted April 12, 2011 Looking forward to the gig - shame about Pictish Trail. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
offramp Posted April 12, 2011 Author Report Share Posted April 12, 2011 A wee bit about Ziggy...LOMOND CAMPBELL, as christened recently by King Creosote, is the lo-fi solo guise of FOUND frontman Ziggy Campbell. Seeing as FOUND have previously played 4 imp shows, with Ziggy also having performed solo sets, he really needs no introduction.Ach well do it anyway.FOUND is the brainchild of art college buddies: Ziggy Campbell (lead vocals, guitar), Tommy Perman (bass guitar, synth) and Kev Sim (electronics, percussion). The band create an unusual mix of garage rock, melodic pop and glitchy electronica, which has just lead to them signing a publishing deal with the highly respected Domino Records and record deal with Chemikal Underground, who released the bands third long player factorycraft in March.Well let Chemikal take up the story.'A psychedelic explosion in the factory', explains FOUND frontman Ziggy Campbell when asked to explain the unifying theory that binds 'factorycraft' together and who are we to argue? It's been over two years since FOUND released an album's worth of material (in January 2009 they brought out 'Snarebrained', essentially a fund raising exercise to finance their impending trip to SXSW), so the anticipation for this, their third album - and first for Chemikal - has been slowly reaching boiling point.??At the risk of blatantly pilfering the tagline for a famous drink brand, it has been worth the wait though. 'factorycraft' (don't you dare capitalise the 'f') is a schizophrenic, kaleidoscopically inventive piece of work, flipping breathlessly from urgent, programmed drum machines to languid Joe Meek inspired 'space-pop' in the space of a few bars, nevermind a few tracks.??Having worked in a factory in the Borders, singer Ziggy observed that "the most exotic ideas are often FOUND lying amongst the swarf of the factory floor. We liked the idea of turning manual labour in to fine art, hence 'factorycraft'." Recorded at (you guessed it) Chem19 studios with Paul Savage manning the controls, 'factorycraft' is FOUND's first full-blown 'studio' album and manages to capture all the eccentricities and musical invention that set FOUND apart from many of their contemporaries. While the songs repeatedly reference industry and the process of manufacturing, you'd be wrong to think this was the limit of Ziggy's lyrical reach, as his bandmates point out: Typically he'll write about his provincial, low-life up bringing in the Scottish Borders or the extremes of relationships. Sometimes though, he'll write about gangs of giant seagull queens or wrestling granite saints in order to gain access to heaven.??OK then.http://foundtheband.comhttp://www.chemikal.co.uk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
offramp Posted April 15, 2011 Author Report Share Posted April 15, 2011 This is tonight!One ticket left in One Up.Cash sales on door.Yas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
offramp Posted April 15, 2011 Author Report Share Posted April 15, 2011 One Up now sold out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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