Gigs in Glasgow

So we’ve heard from Malcolm Middleton. Now the other half of the Arab Strap partnership, frontman Aidan Moffat, tells us about reviving lyrics he wrote twenty years ago and what we can expect from this weekend’s gigs. “There’s a full set and hopefully we’ll find some requests. We’re going to have a wee box where you can post them…

Cult heroes Arab Strap have reformed ten years after they first split in order to celebrate their 20th birthday. An eponymous compilation of their singles, plus “secret hits and rarities” is out now on Chemikal UndergroundRecords, the esteemed Glasgow label who signed them in 1996 on the strength of a demo tape. The duo – Aidan Moffat on vocals and…

We are huge fans of C Duncan here at Glasgow Music City Tours. The classically trained chamber pop composer known as Chris to his chums arrived fully formed from his west end bedroom “studio” last year with his gorgeous debut album, Architect, which was recorded for a princely £50 and ended up being nominated for both…

On Thursday 6 October Peter Hook, one of the founding members of Joy Division and New Order, talks about his new book Substance: Inside New Order, as part of the continuing Aye Write! Presents season.  To mark the event, we are running a fab competition. We have a pair of tickets for the talk, a copy of the book…

This weekend, KT Tunstall performs at Proms in the Park on Glasgow Green, backed by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. Tunstall has toured with Jools Holland’s Rhythm & Blues Orchestra before, but this is the first time she has ever been backed by a classical orchestra.“It’s well posh, it just feels so fancy,” she says with her customary enthusiasm. That infectious enthusiasm has been tested over the past couple of years. Her return to pop music with new album KIN was by no means assured when Tunstall found herself exhausted by the death of her father, the end of her marriage and a disillusionment with the pop industry. But a life-changing move to California rejuvenated her mojo and ultimately set her back on the pop path. We met up with KT recently in Glasgow, when she returned to play the BBC Quay Sessions and found her ready and willing…

It’s a year since we embarked on our first walking tours, and we’d like to thank everyone who has helped make them possible including; The Britannia Panopticon, CCA, The Clutha & Victoria Bar, Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, King Tut’s, Mono, Nice’N’Sleazy, The Scotia Bar and The Scottish Music Centre. Thanks to everyone who has guest-blogged for us, the musicians who agreed to be filmed for…

This Wednesday 10th August*, Lloyd Cole and Justin Currie, two titans of Glasgow pop return to their west end stomping ground to co-headline at Kelvingrove Bandstand. Although in Currie’s case, he never went away. Cole, on the other hand, has lived in the US since 1990. Their respective bands, Lloyd Cole & the Commotions and Del Amitri, emerged from the city around the same time at the turn of the 80s – a period Currie describes as “the gold rush” – and played together on many occasions over the years, so we sat the pair down together and got them reminiscing about Glasgow’s post-punk glory days, starting with their memories of the Bandstand back in the day. Lloyd: I remember walking by it but I don’t remember ever seeing anyone there. Justin: I’ve been there since it re-opened and I…

Glasgow is a great place for music. But don’t take our word for it – listen to what some of the city’s musicians have to say on the subject… Today we’re releasing the second in a series of (very) short films we’ve put together, featuring Glasgow musicians talking about making music and going to gigs in town. In the hotseat this time, we’re beyond delighted to have Frances McKee, one half of the continuing legend that is The Vaselines. Are you sitting comfortably…? Huge thanks once again to Sir Scott Paterson, director, interviewer and general man behind the camera for all of these films. We’ll be putting up another little video soon…watch this space! Meanwhile, you can check out our other clips here including the first film in this series, with Teenage Fanclub’s Francis Macdonald.

Rachel Lightbody is a young vocalist based in Glasgow. Growing up in Chicago she was immersed in  American song — from Billie Holiday to James Taylor, the family home was always filled with music which sparked her early interest in performance. Rachel studied Applied Music at Strathclyde University  and graduated with first class honours, focusing on…

Helena Kay started playing alto saxophone when she was 11 years old and was introduced to jazz when her first teacher gave her a Charlie Parker CD. It was when she joined the Fife Youth Jazz Orchestra that her love of jazz grew, and she progressed to the National Youth Jazz Orchestra of Scotland when she was 16. A…