Right well the festival’s properly started now!

We had a great time on Tuesday and on Saturday at The Montague, you should have been there (oh you were? well i hope you enjoyed it then!)

Anyway, this Tuesday it’s The Last Of Barrett’s Privateers as the featured act, and on Saturday it will be Graeme Mearns and Hannah O’Reilly who are our two featured acts. It’s still FREE admission and there are still open slots at both nights (both 8pm start, 7:30pm artist sign up).

Also, it being the Festival we get an even higher chance of interesting and impressive open mic performers, so if you can make it at all, i’d suggest making OOTB at the Montague your regular hangout on Tuesdays and Saturdays (and the Ale House on Fridays and the Blue Blazer on Sundays of course!)

I was going to do a huge list of all the OOTB related performers and links to all their pages listing their gigs, but you can do this yourself, it’s a mammoth task for me! 🙂

Oh yes! I’m hosting the penultimate OOTB open couch session today (Sunday!) as well at 3pm, in Red Dog Music in the Grassmarket, bring an instrument and join in the jam session!

Actually i might have to go and get ready for that. Keep in touch, friend us on facebook, come to the gigs, get involved! You’re only alive once! 🙂

See you out there in festival land!

Calum Carlyle
Out of the Bedroom

Is it a surreal moment in your life? Who knows, but it’s Out Of The Bedroom number 435! It’s at The Montague Bar, it starts at 8pm (7:30pm for performers), and it’s on Tuesday. And the featured act is Calypso Brown, she’s got personality, talent, and a great singing voice. Don’t miss her. If you’ve heard her already, you know why you should come along, and if you haven’t heard her already, now’s your chance. I’m serious. This is your chance. 🙂

And the other purpose of this email is to let you know about all of our Out of the Bedroom events over the month of August at The Montague Bar. There will be open slots at all of these events as well as the featured acts listed. They’re all free admission. Here’s the list:

Tue 2 Aug – OOTB featuring Calypso Brown

Sat 6 Aug  – Out of the Ordinary featuring Texas Breakfast, and Sir Tom Watton

Tue 9 Aug – OOTB featuring The Last Of Barrett’s Privateers

Sat 13 Aug – Out of the Ordinary featuring Graeme Mearns, and Hannah O’Reilly

tue 16 Aug – OOTB featuring Paul Gilbody

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 Lisa Day, John Watton, and Holly Shep

Tue 30 Aug – OOTB featuring Ben Young

Every one a gem. I guarantee the ones you haven’t heard of (whichever ones they may be) will be at least as riveting as the ones you have. And this information is also on the OOTB Website.

PLUS many of our performers are doing something in the Edinburgh Festival, so please go and talk to them or google them to find out where and when they’re playing. There’s a lot of great music out there, plan your month, and don’t miss out on the best stuff. At this level a lot of performances are one-off specials, and especially at this time of the year, it’s often not an option to say “i’ll go and see them next time” – anyway, with that thought in mind, i’ll take my leave…

See you in Musicland!

Calum Carlyle
Out of the Bedroom

OOTB Presents… Holly Shepherdson!

I have somehow managed to not hear Holly Shepherdson‘s music yet, despite her having played at least twice recently at OOTB. Nevertheless, several people who’s musical judgment i trust say she’s great, so i’m definitely going to make it along this Tuesday to OOTB to hear her featured act performance.

That’s at The Montague Bar on St Leonards Street, 8pm start (7:30pm to sign up for one of the open slots), and it’s on Tuesday 26 July. I don’t like to name names but the open slots will probably be heaving with excellent performers too, so don’t miss out.

Then on Wednesday 27 July, for only £2 it’s Edinburgh Unplugged number 8. This time round, the acts are: Caro Bridges And The River, Andy Paul, Julien Pearly and Gavin Taylor.  Any one of those would be worth the admission price, i think. Anyway, get there promptly, last Edinburgh Unplugged was totally rammed. People were queueing up just to be put on a waiting list for a seat! This is our last Ed Unplugged until 14 September (which is seven weeks away!). It’s downstairs in The Royal Oak on Infirmary Street and it starts at 8pm.

On Thursday, well, you’ve got to have a night off. Let’s hope it’s sunny! 🙂 Actually, there is that open mic night at Nobles on Constitution Street in Leith. It’s at 9pm on Thursdays and it’s hosted by Hailey Beavis. I haven’t been along to the open mic yet but have been meaning to go along. In fact why not spend your night off at Nobles?

Friday‘s Ale House Open Mic day, as you all know. It’s opposite the old Odeon, it starts at 9:30pm and it’s run by Dave Law and all the friendly faces will no doubt be there. I popped in for five minutes on Friday just past and all the performers on the list were excellent and everybody was really friendly. It was really difficult wrenching myself away actually. They’re lovely. 🙂

Then on Saturday, again there are probably a ton of things for you to do, but you’ll need to get your gig guides out to find out what they are. The following Saturday however, we’re having the first or our super secret (apparently) Out Of The Ordinary Extravaganzas. It’ll be on each Saturday of August in The Montague Bar. I have heard rumours of who some of the performers will be, and they are well worth seeing, and definitely worth seeing during the Festival, so stick that in your diary.

Then on Sunday it’s Blue Blazer/Listening Room time again. At 8pm in The Blue Blazer on Spittal Street. It’s an open mic from 8-9pm and a featured act from 9-10pm. By the way check out the new flashy Listening Room website! The best feature is this, click “calendar” on the right hand sidebar of their site and you can see the forthcoming list of featured acts, just like you can do on the OOTB site! This week’s featured act at The Listening Room is The Hermitage.

And that’s it for the final week before the festival. See you out there!

Calum Carlyle
Out of the Bedroom

Hi everyone, i’m just going to be quick this week, i managed to do my shoulder in last week and it’s thrown me for six as far as doing stuff.

Our featured act at OOTB this Tuesday (12 July) (8pm at the Montague Bar) is Roger Emmerson the Bluesfather himself. He’s fully guaranteed to play some great acoustic music, so get yourself along and enjoy the evening. Plenty of open slots too, and i am sure they’ll be filled with a pot pourri of Edinburgh’s finest singer/songwriters as usual. Plus it’s free!

On Wednesday 13 July, downstairs in the Royal Oak on Infirmary Street, it’s the seventh Edinburgh Unplugged, for ONLY £2 you get four bands, performing in an intimate acoustic setting. This time, the bands are: Little Buddha, Lost Telegrams, Edward And The Itch, and Calum Carlyle and the Mixed Reactions. 8pm on Wednesday downstairs in the Royal Oak.

Neoviolet are playing on Friday 15 July at Noble’s in Leith, we’re on about 9:30pm or 10pm or so, I’m sorry i’m so vague about this, but i thought i’d better mention it at least! 🙂 I think it’s even free.  There are other bands too, i’m sure they’ll be awesome. Noble’s is great, did you know they have an open mic there on Thursdays actually? I’m planning to start going to that one fairly regularly too.

Anyway, right, the place is oozing with music, that’s just a small selection, so get yourself out of the house and i’ll see you out there in the mosh pit.

Calum Carlyle
Out of the Bedroom

Hi everyone,

Right, this week at OOTB the featured act is Julien Pearly. I think he may bring one or two mystery accompanists with him as well, definitely it’ll be entertaining. Plus, all the usual open slots (and this means plenty of Edinburgh’s performers and bands will be giving us fifteen minutes of their best).The other thing i need to mention is that the Montague Bar is great in summer. If you are thinking of OOTB in previous years in our dingy basements while the sun is out, then think again. We’ve got ceiling height windows at OOTB now, it’s glorious! 8pm (7:30pm for performers) at the Montague Bar on St Leonards street on Tuesday.

Secret CDs is this week on Wednesday too, here’s the blurb:

• 10.00 THE SUNDANCER [www.reverbnation.com/thesundancer]
  The Sundancer is the brainchild of the outrageously talented Paul Brunton, who writes uplifting and powerful songs that feed your soul and make you want to dance.  Check out the band’s classic video for `The Alarm Clock Song` (on the Bandcamp site).
• 9.15 LISA RIGBY [www.myspace.com/lisa_rigby]
  Townhouse singer, multi-instrumentalist, Burnsong songwriting winner 2007 and 2009 and one of the finest female singers in Edinburgh.  Lisa releases her new CD this evening – miss this and you know you’ll regret it.
• 8.30 FRANK BURKITT [www.frankburkitt.co.uk]
  Born and raised in the Scottish Highlands, Frank is a humourous raconteur as well as a very fine songwriter and folk artist, and will be playing songs from his new CD ‘Valley of Gold’.  Frank is co-presenter of The Garden Sessions.
• 7.45 JONNY DOWNIE [www.facebook.com/jonnydowniemusic]
  A mere 21, Jonny has been building up a repertoire of songs since he was 15 and has just released his first EP “Out of the Dark”.  Jonny is influenced by artists such as U2, Bob Dylan and Ryan Adams.

And that’s Secret CDs at The Voodoo Rooms on Wednesday at 8pm, and it’s only three pounds to get in.

Today’s the first day of 50/90, the fifty songs in ninety days challenge, and basically if you are a songwriter and you haven’t signed up yet, you’re really doing yourself a disservice. I’m not going to try and cajole you any further, but here’s the link, hope to see you there. 🙂

that’s it, enjoy the summer, while it lasts, hope to see you out there sometime in musicland.

Calum Carlyle
Out of the Bedroom

This Tuesday, the featured act at OOTB is Stewart Maclennan, the evening starts at 8pm (but get there before 7:30pm if you’d like to sign up as a performer). Stewart will be performing a half hour set, and there will be plenty of open slots too, and it’s at the Montague Bar on St Leonards Street.

The other thing i wanted to tell you about is the free mp3s. You already know about them if you’ve been reading these emails, but basically this is your last chance. These free mp3s will be off the internet in a few days (by the beginning of July). So download now, and then buy buy buy the CDs of the artistes you like most.

The other thing i want to tell you about this week is the soon-to-start 5090 challenge. It’s an open invitation to any songwriter to try and write 50 songs in 90 days, beginning on 4 July. You might think this sounds unlikely, but who cares? If you write one song, it’s better than having written no songs, plus they have a thriving online forums and chat, plus you get the overwhelming opportunity to collaborate with literally hundreds of songwriters the world over, for a period of ninety days. Sign up on the site, get active, stay active. I’m not going to moan at you to sign up and all that, if you don’t then you’re the one who loses out. Not to mention the fact that even if all you do is listen, the 5090 website is your heaven as well, because literally thousands of songs will be written over the next three months and you can listen to most of them for free on the site.

And that’s it from me, i have a feeling i am hosting another open couch session in Red Dog Music in the Grassmarket on Sunday (2nd July). It’s free, it starts at 3pm, so bring your instruments along and we’ll all have some jolly good musical fun.

Calum Carlyle

Out of the Bedroom

OOTB Presents…

These weekly emails go out later and later each week, don’t they? Well, Hannah Werdmuller put on a stoater of a final gig last night at the Listening Room/Blue Blazer. I did try and convince her to come along to OOTB on Tuesday but given she’s flying to California (for good) on Wednesday i’m not sure she’ll make it.

However, we do have something interesting for you on Tuesday (7 June), and it’s Patrick Rody (click the link, hear the music), a touring musician from Canada. He has played at OOTB before, but anyway, he’s based in Canada so come along on Tuesday because this is the only chance you’ll get to hear this great performer in Edinburgh for the foreseeable future. It’s at The Montague Bar as usual on the corner of Montague/St Leonards Street. 7:30pm to sign up for an open slot, 8pm kick-off, and it’s free.

I just wanted to mention something to you about Dave Robertson from Perth, but this time it’s Dave Robertson from Perth, Western Australia. Dave was the person who first told me about OOTB many years ago (Dave and I had previously met at the Edinburgh Songwriters’ Showcase, long story), anyway, Dave Robertson is writing a song a week at the moment and he wants your feedback! Go and listen to his songs for free, and then tell him what you think of them please, here’s the link: daverobertsonau.wordpress.com

Just a quick rattle through the other various events this week now, Lindsay and The Storm asked me to mention that they’re playing at Acoustic Edinburgh this month (also Tuesday 7 June, controversially), but bear in mind that we have them as our OOTB featured act next week. Other performers at this month’s Acoustic Edinburgh are The Dead Man’s Waltz, K-Lab, and Jason Kyrone (who you will have heard playing the featured set at OOTB a couple of weeks ago). And that’s at Medina on Lothian street, probably 8pm start if i recall correctly.

On Wednesday 8 June it’s Edinburgh Unplugged at The Royal Oak on Infirmary Street (downstairs). This month it’s only £2 for: Kat McKenzie, Chris Rodger, The Marvellous Mrs Mulvihill, and Lipsync For A Lullaby. 8pm start, i think it would be advisable to be prompt, considering the level of seating availability in the room.

On Friday it’s the Ale House open mic night of course, from 9:30pm run by Dave Law and his phalanx of familiar friendly faces. Fifteen minute slots for performers, always a bunch of excellent and interesting stuff (including the spontaneous collaborations that the Ale House is now famous for)

On Sunday remember to go to the Listening Room, they always keep you on your toes about who the featured act is, but the open slots are at 8pm in the Blue Blazer on Spittal Street, and the featured act will be on at 9pm.

Next Monday (13 June) the Leith Festival will have started and our very own Tom Watton is organising an excellent sounding gig at The Village, starring Matt Norris and the Moon, and one of the support acts is Calum Carlyle and the Mixed Reactions, possibly the only Edinburgh appearance of this lineup of the band. It’s £4/5 to get in and it’s a 7:30pm start, at The Village on South Fort Street in Leith.

The Monday after that Welcome Home are having another event in the Fort Community Centre on North Fort Street in Leith, it’s free, and they will have international food, international music and various other multicultural attractions. I went to the last one and Lorraine McCauley and her band were playing, as well as Lisa Rigby and several other excellent performers. Well worth it. This time it’s on Monday 20 June, from 5:30pm to 9pm, but it’s a drop-in thing, you don’t need to be there at any particular time.

One thing though, they are still looking for one or two performers for the open stage part of the event, preferably non-music acts to balance it out a bit, but anyway if you want to perform, contact Katherine Botterill at welcomehomenight@gmail.com for more details. But do go along anyway, it’s going to be good. That’s two weeks from today though, so before we get even further ahead of ourselves let me wrap it up for this week and say, see you on Tuesday.

Keep your eyes open for next week’s email though, it will contain the last of our limited run of free MP3s, and then for one week only the following week, i’ll give you all the download links in one go for your ease and listening satisfaction.

Calum Carlyle
Out of the Bedroom

Hi everybody, this week’s featured artist is Mister Aaron Shanley, all the way from Ireland. Come along, you’ll not get many chances to hear him performing in Edinburgh and this is the only time he’ll be playing a gig that’s free to get into i suspect. OOTB on Tuesday 31 May, 8pm, The Montague Bar on St Leonard’s Street, you all know it by now. 🙂

Okay, tons of events this week. Here we go…..

By the way i go to as many of the events i list as i can, and i always thoroughly enjoy them. If you spend your evenings at home, seriously you should think about checking these gigs out. It’s well worth it, they usually turn out to be rollicking evenings of musical entertainment for sweetie money. It’s yourself you’re cheating by staying at home. 🙂

Tonight (Monday 30 May) it’s Christine Collister supported by Supermarionation, and if you send an email or tweet (@smnwail4u) to Supermarionation, you can get on the guestlist. It’s at Sneaky Pete’s at 7pm.

Tomorrow (Tuesday 31 May) it’s OOTB 426 featuring Aaron Shanley of course, 8pm start, 7:30pm to sign up as a performer, and it’s free!

On Wednesday 1 June Secret CDs is happening in the Voodoo Rooms, and this week for a measly £3 you get to experience Tom McConnell, Aaron Shanley, Paul Gilbody and Arran Arctic. There are tons of good reasons to go to this gig, not the least of which is that Tom McConnell’s leaving for the states after this gig, and Aaron Shanley’s off on the rest of his tour, so if you want to hear these performers, now’s your chance! And that’s at 7:30pm for 8pm.

On Thursday 2 June you can hear Trapped in Kansas, Plastic Animals, and Letters at Sneaky Pete’s starting from 7:30pm, not sure of the admission cost? £4? £5? Not knowing keeps life interesting though, don’t you think?

Also on Thursday 2 June, at The Forest Cafe, it’s the annual Rock Against The Work Ethic, featuring Freeloadin’ Frank and his many friends. It’s free, of course, though you will no doubt be encouraged to contribute to the Save The Forest fund. Gone are the days when “free performance venue” meant “free” (Heavens forbid the performers might actually make any money, after all!) but i suppose every ideology comes up against reality sooner or later, and it’s all for a good cause, as they say.

On Friday 3 June there are a couple of things on, firstly, at The Blind Poet, Mutant Lodge otherwise known as Nyk Stoddart is performing, it’s a 10pm start, and free!

And also on Friday 3 June, for a fiver, it’s The Industry, Edward and the Itch, Lost Weekend and Jack Hinks, all of them performing at The Store on Guthrie Street, at 7pm. All proceeds go to Strangetown Youth Theatre.

On Saturday 4 June at The Blind Poet it’s Hannah Werdmuller, and rumours have been flying around that it’s a 10pm start, though make your own mind up about that. It’s Hannah’s final UK gig ever though, so don’t miss it.

That’s not even mentioning Friday‘s open mic night at The Ale House on Clerk Street (a 9:30pm start) and the Listening Room at the Blue Blazer (8pm on Sundays, with a featured act every week). Whew! It’s all going on!

Oh yeah! I completely forgot to mention we’re having another jam session in Red Dog Music in the Grassmarket on Sunday 5 June at 3pm. Come along! Bring your instruments, or just come to listen. it’ll be fun!

So yeah, a good musical start to the month of June. There’s lots more coming up too, we’ve got Lindsay and the Storm as well as Neoviolet playing featured act sets at OOTB over the next couple of weeks, and next week’s Edinburgh Unplugged has a couple of fairly unmissable acts too. Anyway, see you all out there…

Calum Carlyle
Out of the Bedroom

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