Town Hall gig reviewed in Orkney Today. at Orkney Bands

Town Hall gig reviewed in Orkney Today.

Published by Clazz April 13th, 2006 in Reviews.

Young band set to go on record after successful fundraiser gig.
By Clarissa Linnit. Orkney Today, Thursday, 13th April, 2006.
[click thumbnail image to enlarge]

BLINDSPOT are the latest young local musicians to head into the studio and record an EP of self-written songs. The CD is being funded partially by an event held by the band last Friday night at the Town Hall.

Josh McGregor ran onto the stage playing the intro of Muses Plug In Baby, indicating the beginning of Blindspots set. The band are due to record an EP soon, consisting of about 8 tracks, six of which they performed on the night. They played a mix of acoustic tracks such as Way Back Home and heavier songs like Blinds Eye, which they dedicated to Vague Inspiration, as well as two Coldplay covers. They ended with a fan and band favourite, Hold On, which was written by singer/guitarist Josh McGregor and guitarist Darren Tait.
Despite some onstage troubles such as guitar straps coming off in the middle of solos and microphone stands falling over, Blindspot managed to pull off a great set to end the night.
Afterwards, Josh expressed his surprise at the success of the evening, which he organised with his brother, Matthias, who also DJed between the bands. When asked how he felt about how the night went, Josh told us, It was more successful than we expected. We were hoping for 100 people, but over 130 turned up.
He added, The other two bands were really good. Vague Inspiration surprised me. Their recordings sound nothing like them, and theyve started off really strong. Blindspot head into the studio soon to record a collection of indie rock and acoustic songs. You can preview mp3s of live tracks on http://www.orkneybands.com.

3 Responses to “Town Hall gig reviewed in Orkney Today.”

Feed for this Entry Trackback Address

1 Ian Apr 25th, 2006 at 6:36 pm

What I thought was the best review from the 2, good post. Once again, a great night and loved it.

Side Column

Finding New Music Online
The Hype Machine is an audio blog aggregator that tracks songs posted on music blogs and lets you listen to them all from within the site. It often has a bit more of a varied selection than you find on Myspace, and is alot less annoying. Basically you just go there and type in the name of an artist and it'll search through hundreds of sites for all audio files. It also shows you related music videos on Youtube. It's especially useful when you hear a new track on the radio and want to listen to it again and find a few more tracks by the same band. For example, a quick search for Klaxons yields a plethora of tracks from the band, including remixes and live tracks. Go try it out with you favourites and let us know what you find. - #

Imaginative Fundraiser
"Relay for life" was a fundraising event staged at Picky sports track on August 12th by Macmillan cancer care, who raised the astonishing sum of £50,000. Live music was provided aboard an open sided truck to spur the runners on. Sadly, I missed local blues band "Mean Business", but next up were two of the members of Blindspot - Josh McGregor and Darren Tait. The boys played electro & acoustic guitars and sang in harmony, providing a wide range of tones and textures. The songs penned by themselves were particularly striking - "White Spark" mirroring the drive and optimism of the crowd, and "Hold On" displaying Darren's masterful control of his instrument. Jeff Buckley's "Hallelujah" was a fitting song to choose for the finale, and the boys gave a tender performance of this difficult number with it's high vocals and irregular tuning. - #

Matt Willis (Busted) Interview
By Clarissa Linnet. He might not be to everyone's tastes, but former bassist of Busted, now solo singer Matt Willis was recently interviewed by Orkney-based magazine Musicadian. Here, you can watch the exclusive video, where we discuss what we can expect from his forthcoming debut album and why he preferred being in a band... Click here to watch. - #

Darkness dropped?
Gossip-by-email rag Popbitch reported today (without any explanation) that "The Darkness have been dropped". This seems a bit suss to me as you would have expected them to have had more than a 2-album deal when they signed with Atlantic. Still, after a disappointing second album the label may have got out on a contractual obligations clause. Lead singer Justin (of the mtv: "go away your teeth are wonky" fame) has just checked into the Priory, where he will be joined by Pete Doherty later today for a court-appointed stay. Rock n' Rehab baby! - #

Mars Patrol didn't make it up
Sadly The Mars Patrol ran into boat trouble and Wednesday's gig had to be cancelled. We had arranged an interview, so hopefully the gig will be rescheduled soon and we can catch up with them. - #

Orkney Bands