Orkney Bands

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. - #