Hello to all you sweet tasty suckable dragees out there, snugly wrapped in light coloured waxy paper denoting what flavour you might be to tingle our rough tongues.

This week’s featured act has become a very popular and regular performer with his distinct style of song-crafting. Ed Ritchie is a much respected and long time contributor to the Edinburgh music scene, with his catchy rhythmic songs about love and social anxiety. He will be playing with his four-piece acoustic band a few songs from ‘On Love’, as well as material from the EP he is currently working on.

In his own words:
“My name is Ed and I play music under the name of Dog On A Swing. It’s a cross between a solo project and a band, named after one particular GIF of a dog in a tyre swing. The first studio EP, On Love, was released in 2013. You can stream it (and buy hand-numbered CDs) by visiting dogonaswing.co.uk . I’m currently looking to play as many gigs with as many people as far as I can go!”

Open slots this Saturday are there for the taking. Sign up time is around 7:15pm-7:30pm and then OOTB unzips the zip at 8pm for an evening of live original performances. It would be therefore considered by those of high standing in this land to be ‘oh so silly’ to miss this one.

Check out The Listening Room for an update on their new venue.

Be there or be a bee becoming a beastly bumble bear…

OOTB 😀

Hello. Blah blah blah…open slots…blah blah blah…fifteen minutes…blah blah blah…original material only…blah blah blah…hard tension red nylon g-strings…blah blah blah…beautiful curvaceous bodies…blah blah blah…free entry…blah blah blah…no featured act…blah blah blah…more open slots available…blah blah blah…black contoured knobs…blah blah blah…unpolished finger-stained brass nuts…blah blah blah.

Sign up time is 7:15pm-7:30pm and then OOTB starts the musical blurb at the carefully timed timely time of 8pm.

And now for the main stories again…

The Listening Room after a short departure from hosting one of Edinburgh’s best known open mic events is restarting at a new venue on Sunday 11th May. After many years at the Blue Blazer bar, TLR will be hosting weekly open sessions at the White Horse bar on the Royal Mile. In fact just up the road from OOTB. More on that story later…

Be there or be equalising like Edward Woodward would in bath fart bubble air…

OOTB 😀

Hello. Another week and another featured act is booked in at OOTB this Saturday. Ross Neilson has been writing, recording and performing his songs over the last 10 years now. With influences ranging from Neil Young, Pavement, Tom Petty and Elliott Smith, Ross always manages to put his own stamp on his music. His new studio album entitled ‘Dark Side Of Morning’ will be officially released this Saturday and shows Ross as an emerging talent in Scotland. Copies of his new album will be available this Saturday evening at Kilderkin, so do yourself a favour and come on down for a great evening of home-grown music. Here’s a link to some of R. Neilson’s music: soundcloud.com/ross-neilson

Open slotties for all you musical hotties are available for picking up for a fifteen-minute date. Sign up time is 7:15pm-7:30pm and shortly after the tuneful fanfare of live music blasts off at 8pm. Original material only and free entry as always.

Be there or be forever trapped in a nightmare bathroom scene of foul toilet air…

OOTB 😀

Hello. It’s time to clear out the winter earwax with an audio-wave based spring-cleaning from this week’s featured act. This is a rare chance to hear one of Edinburgh’s most respected singer-songwriters.

Calum Carlyle is an Edinburgh based singer-songwriter from Orkney, and a long-time contributor to OOTB. His, always memorable and catchy, songs vary from the romantic to the experimental.

In Calum’s own words:

“I’ve become a full time father, so I haven’t been playing many (any!) live gigs.
BUT I will be leaving the house to play a couple of gigs quite soon though, and it’d be great to see you there, especially as I’m not planning to do any more for a wee while. Come along, I hope these gigs will turn out to be quite special.
I have a slew of fairly new songs you’ve probably not heard, and both of my gigs should be quite different in terms of what songs I am doing, so come to both if you can. Yes I know there’s lots of exquisite high end events on the same nights as my gigs, but come to one at least. Also, mine are free, surely that has to count for something! :^)”

Here’s a link to Calum’s website: calumsmusic.com

Open slots that only accept euros on Edinburgh Trams ticket machines are up for grabs. Sign up around 7:15pm-7:30pm for a fifteen-minute slot (ten-minutes if busy) and then OOTB starts the ding-ding at 8pm. Original material only and free entry as always.

Be there or be sent to hospital by Dr. Kildare…

OOTB 😀

Hello. Are all you musos out there trekking around the live music circuit type thing perhaps becoming a little tired of hearing cover versions all too often? Another pained rendition of a ballad currently being used in a corporate company’s TV advert bleating out public house doors and alerting any passing hungry foxes or slavouring wolves in the vicinity. Or how about a nice jolly rounded fluffy romantic song that was used some years ago in a popular chick-flick movie franchise creme fraiche type thing?

Well there’s none of that malarkey here at OOTB. Why not come down to the Kilderkin bar this Saturday to hear some top notch self-penned creations that are both thought provoking and refreshing. Then it’s back home in controlled orderly fashion to forward your timepieces by one hour necessary to conform with official British summertime. Can’t get better than that…..I think.

No featured act this week means more open slots are up for grabs. Sign up time is 7:15pm-7:30pm and OOTB struts the Strat at the start which just so happens to be 8pm by der way. Original material only and free entry as always.

Be there or be an evil baddie ultimately losing a formulaic plot-written fight with Dan Dare…

OOTB 😀

Hello. Featured act this week is Moray Jaundice. Moray’s distinct style of acoustic songs carry pop/rock elements with a dark side of life finding its way through his lyrics. He labels his music as ‘lo-fi’ and as ‘acoustic nature punk’. With song titles such as ‘Four Bloody Hands’ and ‘Less Skeleton Than Soul’ you get an idea where Moray’s music is coming from. Worth coming down to the Kilderkin bar for a listen.

Here’s a link to some of his music: soundcloud.com/morayjaundice

Slots of an open fifteen-minute nature are there to grab. Sign up time is 7:15pm-7:30pm and OOTB draws the stage curtain at 8pm. Original material only and free entry as always.

Be there or be stuck in the dry-mouthed old fluffy world of the care bear…

OOTB 😀

Hello. Edinburgh cannon shots at one ‘o’ clocks creates larger open slots on tourists’ blubbery bots where deep red blood-clots painfully form causing those fleshy bots to rots a lots at a rate of knots. Another week and another round of unclosed grooves to stick your needle in, right here at OOTB. No featured act means more gaping wounds need your musical attention to sooth the sores emanating from behind.

Sign up time is 7:15pm-7:30pm and then OOTB stokes up the coal-fueled ambulance siren for a full blast at 8pm.

Original material only and free entry as always.

Be there or be undaring if you dare…

OOTB 😀

Hello. Not going to make a song and dance about OOTB reaching five-hundred and fifty-five at all. Despite the fact that I’m drinking a carton of Five Alive citrus juice, wearing five gold rings, watching Channel 5 on telly, smoking a 555 brand cigarette and just after spending five hours fitting a 555 timer integrated circuit into my head so that one automatically ‘high-fives’ with five fingers five times every fifth day for the next fifty-five years.

Featured act this twenty-four hour period humans call ‘Saturday’ is the rather talented Annie Booth. Edinburgh songwriter Annie has a distinct soulful vocal that carries deep poetic lyrics taking you on an emotional journey through her acoustic pop style of music. Her songs can be uplifting and energetic, but also can be brooding ballads such as ‘Demons’ giving further depth to her repertoire. Annie’s debut EP ‘Spark’ was launched around a year and a half ago, and is well worth a listen.

Here’s a link to Annie’s website: anniebooth.bandcamp.com

Performance slots are there for the taking. Sign up time is 7:15pm-7:30pm and OOTB will be coming out to play at 8pm. It’s fifteen-minutes of stage-time and original material only.

Be there or be 111 worse off as the numbered beast with a permanent evil stare…

OOTB 😀

Hello. Lots of big robots with silver dots have gots the hots for electronic open slots to initiate a new month of forged metal love. Oily squeak-free musical intercourse spreads its pneumatic legs with a hiss of compressed air to reveal a triangle of open stage time measuring five-minutes on each of its three sides. No featured act this Saturday means yet even more of these chromatic shiny things are up for grabs.

Sign up time is 7:15pm-7:30pm and OOTB flicks the ‘on’ switch at 8pm for an evening of positively charged original performances. Will be great to see you there.

Be there or be an Escher-style impossible square…

OOTB 😀

Hello all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant. Featured act for this week is popular songwriter Cameron Phair. Cameron is a well known, experienced and confident performer out there in musicland, and is seen to host open mic events regularly around Edinburgh too. His songs are catchy and soulful with an indie folk/pop/rock flavour carrying influences such as Ron Sexsmith, Spiritualized, The Beatles, Fleetwood Mac, Bob Dylan, Oasis and Jeff Buckley. Get yourselves down to the Kilderkin this Saturday to witness an amazing set of songs from Cameron.

Here’s a link to some of his music: soundcloud.com/venus-as-a-boy

Let us hear some of your music, sign up time is 7:15pm-7:30pm and a little later OOTB starts the proceedings at 8pm. Original material only and free entry as always.

Be there or be a camera on a cloudy obscura which isn’t fair…

OOTB 😀