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Rock Against Racism was founded by a collective of musicians and activists  to combat fascism and racism through music. Between 1976 and 1981, under the slogan Love Music, Hate Racism, the collective put on concerts with reggae and punk bands on the same stage. The gigs attracted large multicultural audiences. Although RAR didn’t have an official photographer, Syd Shelton managed…

This weekend, folk legend Shirley Collins will make her Celtic Connections debut. A lot of people are very excited about welcoming this esteemed singer to the festival for her first Scottish show in decades. Emerging from the British folk boom of the 1950s and 60s, Shirley has released some of the most influential albums in…

Like many musicians, Alice Marra is braced for a busy Celtic Connections. Firstly, she will be playing with her band, rootsy pop combo The Hazey Janes, in collaboration with the writer Liz Lochhead and saxophonist Steve Kettley. Their sold out show, The Light Comes Back, like their album of the same name, is a mix of spoken word and atmospheric, jazzy…

The redoubtable Rab Noakes, our favourite stylish veteran troubadour from the Kingdom of Fife, has already kindly blogged for us about his early gig-going experiences in Glasgow, and his stories were so good that we incorporated them in our Glasgow’s Music Mile tour (paying full credit to Rab, naturally). But as he prepares to celebrate his 70th birthday and fifty years…

Big Country were one of the biggest Scottish noises of the 1980s, renowned for their anthemic singles and the distinctive twin guitar attack of the late Stuart Adamson and Bruce Watson, which seemed to echo the skirl of the bagpipes. The current incarnation of the band, including Watson and his son Jamie, original drummer Mark Brzezicki,…

This weekend, Madchester veterans The Charlatans return to Edinburgh’s Hogmanay Street Party to headline the Waverley Stage. Earlier in the day, their frontman Tim Burgess appears in conversation with DJ Vic Galloway to discuss his two – count ’em – books to date. His memoir Telling Stories was published in 2012 and earlier this year he followed up with the puntastic Tim…

Next Thursday 22nd December Mono will host a benefit in aid of Glasgow Night Shelter. It’s free entry and donations are welcome. The Primevals, Dumb Instrument & Rulers of the Root perform and there will be guest DJs. Primevals frontman, Michael Rooney, has compiled a very fitting guest playlist for us. Thanks Michael.  

Just like the contradiction at the heart of their name, Glasgow/Edinburgh power duo Honeyblood are an amalgam of contrasting elements, teaming the sweetest tunes with the most visceral backing tracks to widespread acclaim over the past few years. We spoke to frontwoman Stina Tweedale ahead of their gig at Saint Luke’s this weekend about some…

We’ve selected a few of our favourite books this year for one bumper bundle for one lucky winner. To enter all you have to do is sign up for our newsletter: we promise not to bombard you with information.  A winner will be picked at random & the closing date is Sunday 11th December. Enter…

If you have ever wondered what it would be like to be at the birth of one of rock n roll’s bastard offspring then this book is for you. Martin St John was Primal Scream’s leather gloved flailing skeleton, bashing away on the tambourine in the 1960s obsessive, garage psyche, mid-eighties period. This Thursday 24th…

We’d like to say a very big THANK YOU to Olaf Furniss and his team for the very first Music Tourism conference in Glasgow. It was an honour to participate and we thoroughly enjoyed 2 days of events including guest speakers, an intimate gig at Tenement TV and a look behind the scenes at beautiful Saint Luke’s and the SSE Hydro. Best…

We’re really pleased to host a joint event with our friends at Monorail on Wednesday November 16th at 7pm to celebrate the launch of Psychocandy by Paula Mejia. Paula will be joined by Douglas Hart, we’d love to see you there. We have a guest blog from Paula and a brilliant Spotify playlist from Douglas featuring ten songs The…