OOTB 330 – 17th February 2009

OOTB 330 – 17th February 2009
review by Lindsay Sugden and Nyk Stoddart:

Out of the Bedroom home-coming to The Tron!

Yes, after a whole load of years and immersing ourselves in
2 different venues, Out of the Bedroom returns to what might be our spiritual
home in the basement of the Tron….  And
fittingly it was a packed night with just about every ootb performer ever
showing up to get a bit of the atmosphere.
Rob SC finely hosted the evening and set us off in style
with his newest song… The one about seeing stars with lots of delicious
falsetto in true Rob style.  And nice plinky
plonky guitar.  Mmm.
He was followed by James who began his set with a
groan-inducing story about being on a blind date… er, an actual blind,
non-seeing, brown squishy fruit.   Have
to take my hat off to him (if i was wearing one), telling jokes on stage is
something i doubt I will ever master. He pulled it off with class. Anyways, he
took us through 2 masterpieces which launched images first of some
Mediterranean island and then a beautiful Japanese sunset. Or something. I
enjoyed very much.
It’s great to see Paul Gladwell back as it’s been a while
since i caught him live. Worth the wait it was too. He started with a
percussive number, thrashing at the muted strings and getting rid of that
pent-up aggression. “Don’t like a woman who has never been disgraced”.. its all
pretty dark and mysterious with some clever lyrical twists.  Next he wallows in a
bit of misery about
always being number 3. Is it a song about being stuck on the shelf? I don’t
know, but it’s sweet and lovable.
It’s been many days since i waited for Many Days Waiting to
take to the stage… this duo featuring virtuoso guitar and girl/boy harmonies
is a pleasure to watch. They are perfectly together and the harmonies blend
into a lovely, emotional web … the lyrics are intriguing, especially in the
second song about, um, flying space objects and crazy stuff.  Well cool.  It’s
impossible to watch without wanting to hum along.
Calum Carlyle sings honourably and openly about the end of
a relationship, in such a sweet but melancholic way it gets the tears
a-jerking.  Bless him.  It sounds so profound.  Next he very bravely goes a capella
with a
Scottish musical poetic rant about the state of the world – “The more things
change (The more they stay the same).  I
think the whole room agrees with everything he says as he reveals all the
ridiculous political pantomimes of late… well said that man.
Him be-known as The Weather Underground takes to the stage
with the frenzied strumming of “I think”. Something of Lou Reed in there
somewhere, in lyrical style and half-spoken delivery.  It’s sometimes crazy and
bright, sometimes
dark underground American indie.  The
Weather underground is stormy i think… “It’s a crying shame., we’ve only got
ourselves to blame”…
Then we have a guy who sure knows how to perform, and
dressed in a fine waist coat and scarf, Nick “Splinter” Smith takes to the
dimly lit stage with a sparkle in his eye and a spring in his step as he looks
out on the audience and fairly-lighted backdrop.  He launched in to a couple of classic
foot-stomping Nick masterpieces . Scar Tissue (a fave of mine) and a song
“about prohibition, racism and legislation”.  Heavy stuff!  As well as having
one of the most character-full voices of the evening, he;s a damned fine
guitarist too.
Broken Tooth has lost his faith in love.  A bad time for it, being just after the
dreaded valentine’s day. You can tell the Tooth really means it though, and his
bed of roses is no more, replaced by a load of nasty nails.  I think it’s a feeling
everyone has been
through, yup, so we’re all with you man, don’t give in! It will find you!  He’s
still got the voice, which never fails
to impress.  The power that lies there-in
defies the look of him as a young spring chicken of a chap – he should be an
old blues-boy with that power.
A bit of a special intro for Jim “the legs” Igoe, a founding
member of the original OOTB, and no less a regular attendee at the former
Songwriters’ Showcase at the Tron.  So
its good to have him back, on the stage.  He treats us to a rare performance of one
of his – and the audiences who
remember – old faves, “Braveheart Beggar”.  His voice is perfect for this
beautifully melodical song, where he is
someone a bit less fortunate, sitting on the street, and imagining himself in
some situation where he saves the day, gets the girl, and earns loads of
respect… “ I could be like William Wallace…”.  A poignant song.
Machar Granite… or just Eddie as it is today, looks to the
future with some new songs. Thats what it’s all about, exposing new stuff.  Eddie is
great at conjuring up imagery of
nature and wilderness, and this song is no exception.  He exclaims he;s “Out on a
limb, i’m like a
tree in winter”.  Hannah O joins in on
some gorgeous floaty high harmonies on the next song, mmmm.  I am completely biased,
but i love Eddie’s
songs, and its great to hear his dulcet tones augmented in the higher ranges
with the vocal virtuoso Hannah.  Yup,
great stuff.
Dave has come all teh way from Dundee, wayhay!  And we’re glad he has, he treats us
to
something a bit edgier and rockier… and he;s got the total rocker look too,
which always helps.  Nice gravelly vocal
style and crazy strumming, you can almost hear the crashing percussion in your
mind.  He’;s got some anger there, and
its a damned fine way to get rid of it.  He also possesses a very rare lovely
falsetto, which i didn’t
expect.  Great stuff, come back please J
Colin Milne, well here we go, i am biased again, but i have
never seen him do a set i haven’t completely loved. He has a way with words and
music.  We’re all loving it at my table
tonight. A new song has crawled out of the bedroom and down to the tron “Black
valentine”.  It has been Nature’s trick
to light a fire inside dedicated to a particular special lady, apparently, and
i guess nature wasn’t so kind in the end. Bless.  We love you, Colin!
Hannah O Reilly steps up for a scary first attempt at a
performance using keyboard!!  Wow well
done, I’m impressed how well she keeps the nerves under control. This song
might have been called “Storyville”, and time stood still in 1915… It’a full
of imagery of days of old, and some very impressive piano accompaniment- even
if slightly hesitant at times, it totally worked.  She is being quite forgetful with
words and
things tonight, even back on the old familiar guitar. It makes it all the more
loveable though.  I wish i could sing
through giggles.
Nyk Stoddart is on top form tonoight and lapping up this
audience,… and they’re lapping it up back. He does one of his trademark
random medleys of his ‘hits’, with all the bits we know and love from ”fake
jazz”, the one about mutant zombies from the planet x, and the rest.  All teh
classics, he;s a pretty fine
guitarist actually, which is sometimes over-looked because of his powerful vocal
character and stage antics!! Tonight he is rolling on the floor as he outros.
Its a sight to see.

Nyk’s bit…………………………………………………………………………………………………..

I seem to have landed in the mellow and reflective ending of a spectacular showcase
of local music – proving that there is much more to contemporary music than
mainstream audiences appreciate. As evidenced by the following superb acts…

Cloudland Blue Quartet
The one man band that is David Reilly plays just a guitar this time, and lays bare
how well-crafted his songs really are –
“100” he asks the audience (no, he’s not on the 10 grand question!) to pick a no.
from 99 to 100…
“Let me put my arms around you…let me carry you away” he states within the
boundaries of his tightly focused introverted-pop and it’s difficult not to be taken

away by it.
Another no. this time and its…
“3” – this appears to be about emptiness within a relationship, lost ghosts of it
lingering whilst he laments “if only i’d say goodbye”. Don’t we all feel that way
sometimes ?
It’s good to see David grace the hallowed ground that is the Tron – it’s always a

good sign when such good performers keep returning to us…

Jim Bryce
I’ve got an alligator called Alan BTW – just thought i’d mention that – well it
ain’t true, but i thought i’d go for the cheap laugh…unlike this fellow who is
genuinely witty !
His song “Waiting for the man” – which he states is about waiting for that person to
solve all your problems, whilst sonically it sounds like drone-like seashore dreams
skyline…i know that’s an oblique way of putting it but, can’t think of a better
way of describing it…except as undescrible!
“Piscatorial Song” – geniuinly surreal and funny – it seems to be a song sung by a
fish at the point of death…throw into the mix a sozzled cat, no.10s letter box
devouring fish and David Cameron – and you have a very mellow-funny song which was
much loved by the audience.

Lindsay Sugden
Fresh from playing at the Royal Concert Hall for the Prestigious “Celtic Connections”
festival it must have seemed that the audience had shrunk – but it
wasn’t long before she weaved her magic on a smaller audience…
I’ve found myself whistling the tune of the catchy chorus of “Promises” – with it’s
fantabulous descending notes for a while now, and it was good to hear it played
tonight…this song seems to be an evolution from her previous modal(?) style into a
more folky mix…”Promises fade in the moonlight…” Lindsay sings. So true!
“One Wasted Year”
Lindsay describes this as a “work in progress” – which, like most of her output, will
probably evolve the more she plays it – a sort of organic process…so expect this
number to become more focused and mesmeric over time. Her lyrics seem more direct
recently, for example, Lindsay sings “Don’t even notice things i do…always
thinking of you” – well, we’ve all been there…
Lindsay’s set pindropped the audience tonight with her astute, distinctive
and melancholic, wistful enchantment.

Stuart Mclellan
“The Winter song” has mellow folky vibes that makes use of lines such as
“Help me forget…won’t you stay awhile…sunshine on my rainy day…”. The singing
is good too – captivating the audience.
It goes to prove that even in the depths of winter…life goes on…and before too
long spring will appear…keep coming back Stuart and remind us of spring!

Gerry
I don’t think i’ve heard this chap before, so please forgive the lack of insight
into his material! – for some reason, i seemed to have picked up on his lyrics –
which in his song “week in paradise” has interesting lyrics such as “…Walks into
the room with a smile on his face…got holes in her shoes…nothing left to
love…just to see you smile”
“Dogs come running” reminds me of “All along the watchtower” for some reason – maybe
in the dark chordings he is using. Overall, this was a competent and pleasing set,
which hopefully he’ll repeat again soon!

After the “Silver bag of dreams” which i prefer to call the “Black bag of
nightmares”…we end this translusent, and ecsatic night of many talents with…

Julien Pearly
Although, he’ll probably hate me for saying this, he seems to me to be like a French
Thom Yorke (?!) – but he also proves that there is nothing more sublime than a
broken-hearted frenchman playing guitar… after remarking that being back in
Edinburgh “feels like home again” he plays “The golden lady” with lines like
“Sunrise – it is a blue…cigarette…this addiction…remember me…going through
my mind…”. Sounds to me like the soundtrack to some rainy sunday afternoon…
“My little princess” is a tender song that finishes an evocative and introspective
set – closing a most triumphant night for performers and audience.