Tonight at The Montague from 8pm (7:15 for performers), it’s Out of the Bedroom with The Ferny Brackens. They’re an eclectic quartet with an eclectic repertoire. And it’s FREE! Be there. 🙂

Also, i am going to just mention the excellent bulletin from James of Secret CDs, which he sent out a few days ago. Check out the information below for upcoming and regular gigs you might be interested in.

Take care, and have a good weekend!

Calum Carlyle
Out of the Bedroom

Hi there,

If this is your first time reading the OOTB newsletter, then hello and welcome. If not then welcome back! 🙂 If you’re reading this somewhere else than your email inbox, and you’d like to join our mailing list, then you can do so at www.outofthebedroom.co.uk.

This week the featured act is Stephen Harrison. He’s really good. We wouldn’t have booked him otherwise. ALSO there are a lot of OPEN SLOTS. They’re not just beginners fiddling around with half baked songs, these slots are usually full of QUALITY PERFORMERS perhaps trying out new songs, or just lifting the tone with their musicianly mien. ANYway, you too could hear these luminaries in action, and if you’re of a mind (and if you’ve written your OWN SONGS) then you too could sign up for one of the open slots, just turn up by about 7:15-7:30pm tomorrow (Saturday 9th of June) at The Montague Bar on St Leonards Street!

One or two other things you might be interested in:

Well, as usual the Ale House open mic is running tonight (Friday) from 9:30pm, search for their page on facebook if you’d like to book a slot in advance, otherwise why not just pop in? It’s a great atmosphere and there’s live music all night.

And on Sunday, it’s the Caro Bridges EP launch! that’s on 10th June at 2.30-5pm in the Meadow Bar, support will be by Kaley Ukulele, playing some songs, and Tom Watton, doing some storytelling. Sounds awesome!

Then in the evening on Sunday, The Last of Barrett’s Privateers are playing the featured act set at The Listening Room, in The Blue Blazer on Spittal/Bread Streets, and that starts at 8pm.

And ALL the stuff i just told you about is FREE!

See you there!

Out of the Bedroom Needs YOU!

I can’t believe i forgot to mention this, but Out of the Bedroom seriously needs your assistance. We urgently need more people who can act as the compere, or the sound person. If YOU could fill this role, then please let us know.

It’s completely voluntary, but can be very rewarding too. Out of the Bedroom is in its eleventh year because of the involvement of volunteers, and now we’re looking for the next generation of volunteers.

“How can i sign up?” i can hear you clamouring! Well, it’s as simple as replying to this email (or if you are reading this online, the address is reviews@outofthebedroom.co.uk), or better still, leave a comment on our Facebook page.

Let us know whether you’d like to host a night or do the sound, and we’ll fit you into our rigorous training schedule and get back to you. 🙂

And there’s more…

And while i’m at it, a couple more events to mention to you as well. The first is the Ale House Songwriters Night, which is on at… yes, you guessed it, the Ale House, on Tuesdays from 9:30pm. It’s been really good so i hear, so that’s on Tuesday.

Then on Wednesday it’s a gig you can’t miss, in fact make sure all your friends know about it too, because it’s also a gig THEY can’t miss, and that’s Edinburgh Unlimited at The Third Door on Wednesday 13 June starting at 8pm. This month the performers are Darren Hendrie appearing with his band for their debut performance, as well as the incredibly talented Lake Montgomery, and the equally excellent Aaron Wright, and ALL THIS for only £3. Don’t miss it.

Okay, i think that really is it this time…

See you all out there in Musicland!

Calum Carlyle
Out of the Bedroom

This week at OOTB it’s Pol Arida doing the featured act slot. He’s got a bunch of huge and impressive songs, and he manages to play them solo, with his own guitar/amp setup and his trademark fingertip guitar playing style. come along and enjoy the melodic onslaught of Pol Arida! 8pm start, 7:30pm for performers, it’s free, and it’s on Tuesday at the Montague Bar on St Leonards Street.

The other thing i wanted to tell you about this week is that we’re running extra special Saturday events all throughout August in a not-actually-connected-but-doing-it-because-of-because-of-the-Festival sort of way. We’re calling them Out Of The Ordinary, and they’ll be in the Montague Bar, same place, same time, but on Saturdays. The format is going to be THREE featured acts every Saturday (and they’re all stoaters, though our Events Officer’s been keeping his cards close to his chest on the exact lineup), as well as a shorter, and therefore probably packed and dynamic, open mic session every Saturday too.

BUT don’t forget we’re also running on the Tuesdays as usual at The Montague Bar, during the Festival AS WELL as Saturdays! Check out our website for details of upcoming featured acts. A quick look down the list reveals the next few Tuesdays feature: Holly Shepherdson, Calypso, The Last Of Barrett’s Privateers, Paul Gilbody, Caro Bridges, Ben Young (yes, he’s back from outer space!), and Lost Telegrams (phew!). Also all the open slots tend to get filled up with an array of incredible performers as well, so get out of your slippers and get down to OOTB on Tuesdays. If you don’t, you’re missing it. 🙂

By the way, Lost Telegrams (while we’re talking about them) were awesome at Edinburgh Unplugged on Wednesday last, as were Edward And The Itch (and as usual my hat’s off to Susanna Mulvihill and Sir Tom Watton for joining me as Calum Carlyle and the Mixed Reactions, i loved playing the gig with them, as i always do). Kirkcaldy band “Little Buddha” never showed up (and have ignored my attempt to contact them subsequently, obviously they don’t take their music, or other people for that matter, all that seriously) but despite their unexpected non-attendance we all had a fantastic time. The photos are on Facebook, courtesy of imagemeister extraordinaire Malcolm Mclean.

Oh yeah, tons of songs are getting written as part of the 50/90 challenge, click the link to listen. Some of our favourite Edinburgh songwriters are doing this this year, have fun listening to all the new songs. Remember, everything on that site has been written since 4 July!

I haven’t even got to other events. The place is heaving with them though, i’m struggling to keep up. I think i’m going to keep it mainly to OOTB, Secret CDs, Ed Unplugged and Out Of the Ordinary listings for the next month or two, as far as this email is concerned, unless people have specific gigs they want me to mention (in which case, just reply to this email letting me know, and i’ll list them too).

Oh i might just briefly mention that there’s a 7-9pm event happening from now till at least the end of the Festival on Sundays, and going to be Thursdays at The Black Rose Tavern on Rose Street, i’ll probably include those too, since there are so many performers from OOTB and the McEwans Ale House extended network playing at them. I may mention the odd Red Dog Music Sunday too, for the same reason. Just warning you. 🙂

Okay, see you all out there in musicland!

Calum Carlyle
Out of the Bedroom

Hello again everybody.

Okay, Out of the Bedroom is an open mic night, but it isn’t JUST an open mic night. It’s a community. It’s a community that’s been changing and growing for over ten years, and it’s a community that includes a wide diversity of performers past, present, and hopefully future, that are creating stuff, and putting it in front of people that appreciate it.

But like any community it is constantly in danger of being taken for granted, and like any community, it’s often “use it or lose it” time. I’m writing to warn you that that time could be sooner than you think. We need you. It’s as simple as that. If you enjoy music, then we need you to come along to Out of the Bedroom, this week if you can, but also in the future. We try to make it a great show every single week, and whenever i go along (which is a lot), i enjoy the evening throughout, and i think you will too. So come along, not just this week, but whenever you feel like some live music in a relaxed environment. ALSO we very much need you to tell your music loving friends about OOTB. This is a capital city. There must be literally thousands of people that would love Out of the Bedroom, and we don’t have a marketing department to get the word out. This is why it’s up to you, as part of the community, to make this happen. It doesn’t have to be much, just tell your friends about it. Take them along in person if they’ve never been before, make an evening of it. You’ll enjoy it. Use it as an excuse to see friends you’ve not seen for a while, perhaps friends who might sign up and play a couple of songs, but who need a bit of encouragement.

This week at Out of the Bedroom we haven’t booked a featured act and this gives performers more of a chance to sign up and perform their material, so there’s more of an incentive for performers to come along as well, and also more of a variety for those of you who’ve come along to listen.

I think you know where i’m going with this, basically we put on a weekly open mic night, for songwriters only, and we believe it attracts a high standard of performer, which lovers of good live music will usually enjoy. But this won’t continue indefinitely if our audience numbers start to wane. When that happens the whole community starts to unravel.

We ALSO need people to volunteer, either to do compering or work the sound desk. If you would like to get involved on that front, you can let us know through our Facebook page, or send an email to reviews@outofthebedroom.co.uk – from experience i can tell you it’s very rewarding and enjoyable, but we do need a few more people doing it. Many hands make light work, after all.

So that’s it, support your local music community, because it’s well worth it.

Out of the Bedroom happens EVERY WEEK at the Montague Bar on the corner of Montague and St Leonards Streets in Edinburgh. The music starts at 8pm, and performers should arrive by 7:15/7:30pm or so to sign up for an open slot. Slots are allocated on a first come/first served basis.

See you all out there in Musicland!

Calum Carlyle
Out of the Bedroom

POST SCRIPT…

Hi everybody, well, in all the excitement of yesterday’s rallying call by email, i forgot to give you this week’s events listings.

Also, some of you may have tried to reply to yesterday’s OOTB email and been unsuccessful, due to our inbox being too full to receive emails for a few hours. This should now be fixed, please feel free to reply to this email (or email to: reviews@outofthemedroom.co.uk) if you want to get involved in Out of the Bedroom, either by hosting, running the sound desk, or promoting OOTB in the wider world.

And events-wise, Out of the Bedroom is still on every Saturday at The Montague Bar on St Leonards Street at 8pm (7:15-7:30pm performers sign up), tonight there’s NO featured act so it will be wall to wall open slots, full of Edinburgh’s most eclectic selection of performers no doubt.

Tomorrow evening at The Listening Room the featured act is Dog On A Swing, who you will have heard a taster of if you were at The Listening Room last week. And that’s in The Blue Blazer on Bread Street at 8pm on Sunday.

Plus the Leith Festival’s currently going on, so check out some of those live and exclusive events if you can.

And to finish with here are a couple of excellent looking events that i’ve been asked to make you aware of, enrich your life, check it out:

—-

Rude Bookings and WishingWell Production present Ruth Katerelos in ‘What’s Love Got To Do With It?’ with Monique Kenny on guitar.

In her cabaret debut, Australian actor/singer/songwriter Ruth Katerelos explores the power of love (and fear), leading her audience on a musical journey through various states of love; lost love, unrequited love, falling in love when you’re already involved …. and much more. Katerelos’ “crystalline voice” expresses every emotional nuance of her stylistically diverse songs, which are woven together with personal stories and observations of life, love and the whole damn thing, with humour and pathos. Ruth presents a memorable cabaret, beautifully supported by the dulcet tones of Monique Kenny on guitar.

“A truly compelling show.” Cabaret Confessional – Adelaide Feast

“Ruth took us on a moving journey and her very attentive audience thoroughly enjoyed the night, with a couple even flying specifically to Melbourne from Adelaide to see this friendly performer.” Theatre Press, Melbourne.

www.ruthkaterelos.com
www.rudebookings.com

More info at: http://www.facebook.com/events/264907813597067/

—-

Saturday 23rd June, 2pm, The Scottish Poetry Library, Free

Simon Jackson/Torpedo Buoy poetry book and album launch of Fragile Cargo by Jackson, winner of eight national and international awards for poetry, and Tomorrow when I awake as god’  the majestic mongrel of an album by his musical alter-ego, (a once often appearance at OOTB before children and proper job) Torpedo Buoy.

“A joyously eclectic experience… T.S. Eliot sound-tracked by a ramshackled, Latino, gypsy orchestra,” Manchester Evening News

Poetry, live music, booze and biscuits all provided.

—-

See you all out there in Musicland!

Calum Carlyle
Out of the Bedroom

Plenty of things for you this week… I’ll do them in chronological order… Firstly, tonight (Tuesday 6th April) it’s Acoustic Edinburgh at Medina (on Lothian Street). It’s free to get in, and the headline act is Stephanie Lambring, from Nashville, Tenessee. Also featured this month at Acoustic Edinburgh are the Stu Goodall Band, Calum Carlyle, James Ross and Paul Gilbody, many of whom are Out of the Bedroom favourites.

Speaking of OOTB favourites, Neoviolet are featured this month at Blue Wednesday, which is on Wednesday 7th April (tomorrow), beginning at 8pm or shortly thereafter. Usually hosted by Roger Emmerson, The Bluesfather, this month it’ll be guest hosted by Calum Carlyle, and admission is, of course, free.

Also tomorrow (7th April), it’s Secret CDs! Another stoater this month, by the looks of it, with four incredible acts, any of whom would be worth seeing on their own. They are Lorraine Macauley, Susanna MacDonald, Miyagi and Mark Corbett. Admission is £2, and worth every penny.

On Thursday, of course, it’s Out of the Bedroom, in the basement bar of The Tron in Hunter Square. Open mic slots are available as usual, and this week’s featured act is the intriguingly named offbalance, so make sure you’re there for that, it’s free admission as usual.

One more thing, just a quick reminder to check out the OOTB Colorado website, run by the invincible Darren Thornberry, there are one or two videos on there of OOTBers from the other side of the globe, doing their thing. Most enjoyable.

…And just before we sign off, if you are an OOTB performer with a gig you want mentioned in the OOTB newsletter, please do let us know, and we’ll endeavour to include it in the OOTB mailout. Just send details of your gig to reviews@outofthebedroom.co.uk and, while we can’t guarantee we’ll include it, we’ll try our best. The deadline is 9am on Tuesday morning, if you want to be included in that week’s mailout.

We at Out of the Bedroom hope you have been enjoying the summer – what we have had of it – and we are just about ready to return to Woodland Creatures. Before we return with our fortnightly open mic night on Thursday 21st September, we have a special one-off event OOTB Legends on Wednesday 6th September from 7.30 – 11.00pm. All acts have been chosen for their legendary contribution to OOTB over the years.

We warmly welcome, all the way from Glasgow, The Mighty Sparrahawk “Swirling through Sequences of Time and space Classic Urban Folk-Rock-Funk-Jazz-Americana-Spoken word-Prog Singing Sensations The Mighty Sparrahawk here in the place to be…Your Headspace….” All the way from South Queensferry, Norman Lamont and The Heaven Sent “a timeless, classic singer-songwriter, as much at home in echoey electronics as in intimate acoustic settings. His songs are always melodic and memorable, but his subject matter ranges from the surreal and spiritual to quirky humour. ” All the way from Fife, via Ireland, Roisin Russell “songs about personal experiences… when [Roisin] first started the vocals I thought I heard Sinéad O’Connor.” All the way from… a Mutant Lodge, Nyk Stoddart “Been writing songs since i was 9(ish) – i tend to write a lot, and have very many strange ideas! I have a short attention span so many of my songs have lots and lots of chord and melodic changes in them, and i try not to repeat…repeat…repeat myself!”

See you at Woodland Creatures,

OOTB ?

And hello once again, one and all. I hope this update finds you well, and ready to party because THIS WEEK Out of the Bedroom is ten years old. To celebrate, we’re having a covers night (ironically!) at The Montague Bar on St Leonards Street, and that’s tomorrow night (Tuesday 1 Nov) at 8pm (with a suggested time of 7:30pm to sign up for a slot, first come first served). This week, for one week only, we’re allowing cover versions, but we particularly want to hear your covers of other OOTB performers’ songs, so you’ve got ONE DAY to learn something if you haven’t already. 🙂 And that’s free admission, tell all your mates, it’ll be a party.

Then on Wednesday 2 Nov at The Voodoo Rooms it’s Secret CDs, featuring Freeloadin’ Frank, Jill Hepburn, Norman Lamont and the Invisible Helpers, and Gordon Ballboy. Definitely a must-see, and it’s only £3 admission! And that’s at 8pm on Wednesday.

Then on Friday 4 Nov we’re having our big OOTB celebration party at Cab Vol on Blair Street, and the performers on Friday will be Fraser Drummond, Ross Galloway, James Whyte, and Caro Bridges. Only £5 admission for that one, but it’s a prompt 7pm start (6:30pm doors) and we won’t be running late because we’ve got a 10pm curfew. Plenty of other stuff will be happening at this event too, by the way, we’ve got one or two surprise floorspots lined up and of course the silver bag o’ dreams!

Huge thanks should go to James Igoe for the Wednesday and Friday events, he really pulled together a whole lot of people from OOTB times past and present and it’s going to be a very satisfying evening as a result I think. Here’s to another ten years!

That’s it for the listings this week, obviously the Ale House open mic is also on on Friday, and the Listening Room at the Blue Blazer on Sunday, and plenty of other things all over Edinburgh, but I can’t list everything here. One thing I will mention again though, is a very nice chap who’s promoting local music on his podcast, here are the details:
Steve Boniface – Labelled Independent, the New Music Podcast. Episode #6 Out Now!
Subscribe to the podcast
Listen to individual episodes
Find links to all our featured Labels, Artists & Events
Donate to the podcast, and win prizes!

And one last thing, for the second week running, we’ve got a review of OOTB! This could become a tradition! So without further ado, I’ll sign off and I’ll leave you in the capable hands of Daniel Davis, our chairman, and reviewer for last week.

Calum Carlyle
Out of the Bedroom

OOTB 447 Tuesday 25/10/2011 The Montague
Performers: Roisin Russell, Jill Hepburn, Sam Porter, Tau Boo, Jimi Lee, Richard Bale, Dale Radley, Damian Casey-Boyce, Jamie Hey, Ross Galloway, Paul Chilver

As I arrive at The Montague, the room is packed, which is always a good sign. Not only that but many old-timers have crawled out of the woodwork tonight. Indeed I’m thinking that the woodwork must be pretty empty tonight.

Roisin Russell
I arrive just as Roisin is finishing her set; don’t berate me, I’m not on the rota to review I just fancied writing one on the spur of the moment. All I can say about Roisin is that she is a great songwriter with the voice of an angel.

Jill Hepburn
Jill goes back to the early days of OOTB and was one of the nominations for performing at the 10^th anniversary next week. The friendly twang-buzz of a banjo is always a nice change and always puts a smile on my face. Jill’s set is an exercise in relaxed competence, both in playing and vocal delivery. It is a treat to hear her excellent if infrequently heard talents.

Sam Porter
Its the first time I’ve seen Sam – so welcome if it is your debut. Sparkly finger-picking underpins his first number. His first lines however have me mentally reaching for the EQ. He has a brassy tone that says whiney american (although the song is not) – think teenage dirtbag and you’ll be in the ball-park. You need to open your throat. However as he sings more gently it warms up and improves. Although I’ve not seen him perform before he is obviously experienced and full of confidence. His second song reveals a really sweet falsetto that should feature in more songs. His last is a stompy bluesy 4-chord affair and is more of a character piece with incredibly rhythimic delivery possibly with a carribean/jack johnson influence. Nice set.

Tau Boo
The newly behatted Craig now comes with chorus and delay pedals, just in case you hadn’t already been pulled into his hypnotic tones it just got more atmospheric. His deep velvet diaphonous delivery of intensely personal songs washes over and through you. If there’s an album of this material it may well replace your current 3am album of choice. Lose yourself in the timewarping beauty of ‘Reverie’.

Jimi Lee
Jimi plays something that frankly looks like a game-boy and sounds little more sophisticated than Super Mario Brothers. He is accompanied by random tambourine from a stranger. There are no lyrics so its hard to comment on the songwriting, and I can’t really tell whether its all programmed or whether there is a performance aspect to it. The tunes are fine-enough examples of that genre if one of the least everyday experiences at a songwriter’s night. That’s for sure. If you want an audience it will need more than a guy sitting down with a game-boy – so have a think about this if live performance is your market. If lo-fi dance and dubstep are your thing he is looking for people to collaborate – so get in touch.

Richard Bale
This appears to be his first time at OOTB and possibly his first time playing in public. It’s a little scrappy and nervous, but this is what OOTB is all about and we’re very glad that you brought your songs out of the bedroom and into public performance. Keep coming and you’ll be surprised how quickly you improve. His first song is about a girl he has been obsessing over – we’ve all been there.

Dale Radley (Featured Act)
Dale has recently finished her studies and it’s great to see her playing in public again. She has brought with her an all-star band of some of the finest musicians inEdinburgh. There’s Fraser Drummond on sax and whistles improvising hooks and solos like there’s no tomorrow. John Farrell adds all those chords and flourishes that rest of us can’t reach on guitars, Ross Galloway on conga, and Stuart Clark supplying his trademark lazy-grooves on cajon. The set is a rip through Dale’s greatest hits and despite the group never having rehearsed together it just works in the way that quality musicians can communicate. In my book one of the finest featured slots of the year.

Damian Casey-Boyce
His first is an improvised song all about OOTB, The Montague and JY. We’re flattered – you can come back.
Damian is definitely the most rock ‘n’ roll performer of the night. Sharp, grooving and confident. We like.

Jamie Hay
Jamie is one of the success stories of OOTB this year. When he first came along some months back, he visibly shook with nerves and struggled to get his songs across. Each time he performs he just gets better, and more confident; last night there were no signs of nerves at all. Well done sir! Oh, and Calum covets your guitar.

Ross Galloway
I can never quite put my finger on why his songs work. They are not over-complicated and nor is his playing, but it is simply beautiful. Tonight it’s just a short set from Ross, but he’s one of the performers at the 10^th anniversary celebrations next week so come along and get your fill there.

Paul Chilver
He’s waited all night to perform, and Paul finishes off the night admirably. He’s relatively new to OOTB, having come to us via The Listening Room, and he’s certainly developing. Looking forward to hearing Paul’s future appearances at OOTB.

Compere: Calum Carlyle
Sound: Malcom McLean
Review: Daniel Davis

Okay, good afternoon and welcome to this week’s OOTB email, this week it’s a big week for us, because tomorrow (Tuesday 18 Jan) is the long awaited Out of the Bedroom number 407! We’ve been off the radar for several months but now we’re back, at the Montague Bar on the corner of St Leonards and Montague Street, from 8pm every Tuesday night (or 7:30pm if you want to perform).

FAWM 2011!

This week we’ve opted to have no featured act, so we can fit in as many performers as possible, so come along, and bring all your friends, it’ll be a party atmosphere, hosted by the charismatic Cameron Robinson, what more could you want?

Speaking of featured acts though, we’ve got a ton of them lined up over the next couple of months, check out our website for the full list, and get them stuck in your diary. Remember the website also has a guide to some upcoming gigs you might be interested in on our Events Calendar.

Speaking of upcoming gigs there are a couple of others happening next week that i was going to mention, both of them on Saturday 22nd January. They’re nice and conveniently timed so that they don’t overlap at all. First of all it’s the first ever Café DIablo Acoustic Schowcase, featuring no other than Caro Bridges and the River, Hannah Werdmuller and Sophie Cooke. This is actually free, and it’s happening at Café Diablo at 12 West Preston Street at 6pm on Saturday.

Then at 9pm the same night, at Nobles bar in Leith, there’s a free Bainbridge Presents gig, starring Hokum Jam and Emelle, two excellent Edinburgh blues/folk/indie bands.Click the links to find out what all these bands sound like if you’ve not yet heard them.

One other thing, thanks to everyone who came to the first Edinburgh Unplugged on Wednesday, it was great to see the Royal Oak so full, hope to see you all back there next month.

That’s it for this week, see you all on Tuesday night!

Calum Carlyle
Out of the Bedroom

Hi folks!

So i’m back from outer space, hope you’re all enjoying the Ed Fest. Hope you enjoyed Paul Gilbody‘s set on Tuesday, and The Last Of Barrett’s Privateers, Graeme Mearns and Hannah O’Reilly et al last week. Having performers like that at OOTB, with no admission charge, is one of the things OOTB is proud to keep up.

Anyway, here are the juicy details for the rest of August once again, i’ve got one or two other pieces of news for you but they’ll wait till nearer the end of the Festival.These OOTB events look really good though, and i’m looking forward to all of them.

Sat 20 Aug – Out of the Ordinary featuring The Marvellous Mrs Mulvihill, and Calum Carlyle

Tue 23 Aug – OOTB featuring Caro Bridges and the River

Sat 27 Aug – Out of the Ordinary featuring Liza Day, John Watton, and Holly Shep

Tue 30 Aug – OOTB featuring Ben Young

So it’s all go. I’ll start including gig listings again in next week’s email i think, it’s just been really busy gigwise, far too much stuff going on at the moment to properly list it all. I’ve even got some solo gigs myself (in fact i’m playing at The Ship in Glasgow tonight, if you happen to be around, it’s free, and it’s at 8:30pm), so it’s busy busy busy for everyone concerned.

Right, see you all out there, i’ll probably do one more email this month and then it’s back to normal in time for September.