We are back at Mad Hatters, Inverness on Friday 26th April for our 10th Takeover featuring Dingus Khan, The Broken Ravens and The Last September.
It’s our 6th year as Netsounds Unsigned and it’s our 10th Takeover. Surely a time for celebration and rejoice? We’ve not organised the jelly and ice cream for our 6th birthday party yet but let’s have a few raised glasses for Takeover #10!
Better still let’s have 3 outstanding live bands.
Dingus Khan
We are delighted to have the Essex band back up to Inverness for our 10th Takeover. They perform as an eight piece, with at last count three drummers, three bass players and an electric ukulele just for good measure. They make full use all eight members producing an amazing sound that burst with energy that has been witnessed at Latitude and Reading and Leeds festivals as well as a previous stop over at Hootananny in Inverness last year. Expect wonderful chaos and rock ‘n’ roll madness.
The Broken Ravens
We are genuinely excited to have The Broken Ravens on the line up. We played the band on a recent podcast and can’t get enough of their recent demo EP. With diverse influences ranging from Howlin Wolf to Slayer the foursome brought these influences together and banged heads to create their own “headbanging, foot stomping, rip roaring, fireball of fuzz” sound. They will take tour buddies Dingus Khan over to their native Stornoway on Saturday 27th April for another feats of rock at the Jager Rooms.
The Last September
Completing the line up is an impressive indie-folk- rock Edinburgh based band who’s recent second album that drew some very worthy 4 star reviews. Led by front man and chief songwriter Pete Deane, they reformed in 2011 following an extended 7 year break and are currently working on their third album.
Takeover #10 is on Friday 26th April 2013 at Mad Hatters in Inverness. Doors are at 9:30pm and it’s FREE entry.
Takeover #10 goes into the wee small hours (3am) with what we can promise to be a blindingly good indie/alternative/rock/pop/electro/funk/soul/hip-hop Netsounds DJ set.
This Easter weekend Netsounds Unsigned and Mad Hatters present 3 nights of top quality acts at Mad Hatters and Hootananny in Inverness.
Our Easter Takeover starts in Mad Hatters on Friday 29th March with Highland alternative inde-rock band KOBI who are launching their debut single, ‘All The Way’. They will be joined on the night by Glasgow indie rock band Cherri Fosphate who kick started the New Year with a sell out show at Glasgow’s King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut. Completing the line up will be Glasgow energetic funk-rockers The Upbeat Beatdown.
On Saturday 30th March Glasgow rock ‘n’ roll band The Imagineersheadline Mad Hatters. As well as numerous festival appearances and critically acclaimed singles the Glasgow 4-piece also appeared on ‘The Late Late Show’ on the CBS network on American TV last year exposing them to an estimated audience of 10 million.
They are joined at the Easter Takeover by Caithness indie-pop band The Maginot Bandand Moray bandBe Like Pablowho are performing an acoustic set.
Both nights start from 10pm and are free entry with DJ sets until 3am
On Sunday 31st March the setting changes to Hootananny where the live phenomenon of Woodenbox brings this Easter extravaganza to a close. The band who have previously played T in The Park, Rockness, Belladrum and Wickerman are set to release their second album in May. Showtime on Sunday 31st March is 8pm and is also free entry.
Glasgow based So Many Animal Calls have been making waves in the UK music scene through a string of supports, tours and festival appearances which has saw them share the stage with bands such as Fatherson, Friendly Fires, Little Comets, and Biffy Clyro, to name a few.
So Many Animal Calls. Photo By Emily Wylde
Forming in early 2010, So Many Animal Calls hit the ground running, rehearsing and writing relentlessly and releasing a 3 track demo EP and their debut single, Traps, in 2012 on Overlook Records.
In the summer of 2012 they secured a slot on the Main Stage at Rockness festival where they impressed me with a now well worn band t shirt and a belter of a set that won over a new army of fans.
On the eve of their Highland date at Mad Hatters in Inverness (Saturday 16th March) we caught up with the band to find out how they have been spending their time since we last met at Rockness.
Hi guys, we’ve not see you since Rockness last year, are you all keeping well?
[Ross S] We’re all very good! We have it on good authority that Ross Coll is only just recovering from his Rockness mini Whisky induced hangover.
Tell us how did So Many Animal Calls come to be?
[Ross S] So Many Animal Calls basically started as an experiment to marry a member of 3 different dead/dying bands together. The plan was to spend one week writing and recording an EP at home, we spent most of this time completely revamping the ideas that we originally had into these abrasive pop songs and it all kind of started from there. Along the way, we recruited Ross Coll into the band to play bass and thicken out the sound which allowed us to fully realise the level of technicality and detail we wanted to put into the structure and sound of our music.
Sean from So Many Animal Calls at Rockness
So Many Animal Calls and THAT t shirt
So Many Animal Calls .Photo By Emily Wylde
You describe yourselves as Failpop, who came up with that one and what’s it about?
[Sean] It came about after a few rehearsals as a three piece. As soon as we introduced drums into the equation the songs just became a lot louder, a lot more driven than the demos Ross and I had recorded. I guess it just stemmed from the fact that we’d set out to write pop songs ala The Cure during their Wish era and they’d came out a lot more brash. We’re glad that happened though.
What have you been doing since last summer? [Sean] We’ve played a sold out show in London, recorded a single (She Was Speaking From The Bottom Of The Sea), played around Scotland, cried and cancelled shows due to shingles, said goodbye to the faithful Ford Ka that ferried us around Scotland, welcomed a Volvo to do the same job, recorded another single and played to a busy King Tuts. That interspersed with writing has kept us content.
You’ve recorded 2 singles now, when can we expect that much anticipated EP to drop? [Sean] It SHOULD be later this year. It’s really just an issue of taking our time with it to make sure it’s a strong set of songs that we’re all proud of. I think we have enough written for an EP just now but it’s whether the songs make sense as a collection and whether we think they’re good enough or not. I’m quite harsh when it comes to writing songs and constantly scrap and re-arrange things. Let’s set the date as 2016 and then when it comes out earlier we’ll seem punctual Smanimals.
What can we expect from the new songs and what influenced them?
[Ross S] We’ve purposely taken our time putting this EP together, it’s been a pretty painful process of being extremely self critical and probably over analysing everything but I think it’s worked out quite well and we have a good set of songs that we feel represents us quite well where we are at the moment. We’re just writing and writing to find the right balance.
What are your plans for world domination or even just for the rest of 2013?
[Ross S] We got a nice taste for festivals last year when we got to play Rockness, so some festival appearances would be quite ideal! Other than that, we’re really pushing to get this EP finished and out, it’s pretty much our main priority right now.
Without using the word failpop pick 2 words that best describe So Many Animal Call right now? [Sean] Weakerthan Antlers. Or Barbacoa Burrito
Thanks guys, what’s everyone drinking? [Sean] Currently, a de-caffeinated coffee. It’s 10.47 at night, it would be madness to be drinking anything else.
So Many Animal Calls play Mad Hatters, Inverness on Saturday 16th March and more dates to be announced soon.
Netsounds. Signed? Yes that’s what we thought. However we are pleased to announce a new venture with Hootannay/Mad Hatters to showcase acts who are signed but perhaps still under the radar.
We don’t really having a forward plan for this new venture (flying by the seat of our pants I think it’s called) we are just seeing where it takes us for now. We thought about different branding too but nothing beats a bold marker pen and a bit of photoshopping.
This maybe be our first, or our last.
One of the reasons we eagerly agreed to this was when we were asked to be involved in supporting the forthcoming Rick Redbeard gig at Mad Hattersin Inverness. We said yes.
Rick Redbeard may not be a household name and you are probably more familiar with him as The Phantom Band’s vocalist-in-chief Rick Anthony.
His alter ego Rick Redbeard released his debut album ‘No Selfish Heart’ back in January via Chemikal Underground. Originally conceived as an outlet for Anthony’s quieter, more introspective material and eight years in the making. Some of the material pre-dates The Phantom Band’s debut.
Don’t expect any punchy sounds on the album or in a live setting. Instead you will be treated to a set of darkly poignant but beautifully understated collection of acoustic numbers.
Recorded at his parents’ house in rural Aberdeen-shire and the flat he calls home in the West End of Glasgow, ‘No Selfish Heart’ has an intimate, homely feel to it which only adds to the album’s sense of timelessness.
Matchstick Maker (Duncan Overmeer) is a beautiful bearded song-smith from the Westside of the Highlands. He is currently putting the finishing touches to his debut solo album “Rumour Mill” due for release in April.
The Whisky River Band released their debut album “The Taming of Me” last year. They ended a successful 2012 playing the Red Hot Highland Fling Hogmanay party in Inverness along with Big Country and brought in the New Year at Bogbain Farm, Inverness, the venue of their album launch.
Rick Redbeard live dates
In addition to the Inverness date, you can catch Rick at the following venues across the UK:
12/03/13 Edinburgh Electric Circus
15/03/13 Aberdeen Peacocks
16/03/13 Inverness Hootenanny’s
17/03/13 Glasgow CCA Glasgow
18/03/13 Brighton Komedia
19/03/13 London Slaughtered Lamb
20/03/13 Winchester The Railway Inn
21/03/13 York Basement
We are delighted to have the frantic indie sound of Marionettes join our lucky seventh Takeover.
Takeover #7 takes place at Mad Hatters, Inverness on Saturday 23rd February with the energetic rock-pop quartet The Winter Tradition who we featured in our previous article here.
