Feast Records | Feast Music Blog

Let Love Rule Q&A

Currently rehearsing for their headlining show at Sneaky Pete’s this Sunday (22nd Dec), I caught up with Edinburgh band Let Love Rule.

How long have you been making music together?

We formed earlier this year and have been gigging since June.

Is there a story behind the name?

Yes, it’s actually the name of Lenny Kravitz’s first album! It’s also represents a kind of attitude about letting your passions determine your ambitions.

Who are your musical influences?

Jeff Buckley, Karnivool, Deftones, John Martyn, Jamie Woon, Palms, Sigur Ros. Also a lot can be said for more local acts and friends who share similar ideals.

What process goes into the way you write songs?

I write the chords and vocals, and a have a general outline of where the song needs to go. And then I’ll take it into rehearsal and the guys are so creative in their own right they always add so many more dimensions and take it to another level.

What can people expect from your live shows?

We are still refining our sound, so we cover a few different elements. We always try to create a big atmosphere though by building to climaxes in some songs, but always having them rooted in layered, spacey melodies. Our next one is going to be the best yet!

Funniest thing that’s ever happened at a gig?

Our gigs are usually very sombre affairs. Handkerchiefs, tubs of Haagen-Dazs, and communal tear jugs are a regular feature. We are working on this though, and have a slapstick routine lined up for the next one! 😉

What can we expect to see/hear from you in the future?

We are going to be recording early next year and will have a single out by spring, with an EP coming out in time for summer. We are also in discussions with some summer festivals and are hoping to get plenty of gigs up and down the UK around the same time.

Let Love Rule play at Sneaky Pete’s in Edinburgh on Sunday 22nd December, 7pm.

Posted by Paul.

Live Review – STRFKR at The Electric Circus, Edinburgh

Artist: STRFKR
Support: Miracle Strip
Rating: Despite their relatively unknown status in the UK, STRFKR performed to a near capacity venue and gave everyone in the room a reason to just let themselves go.

STRFKR are no strangers to touring but you could say that they are strangers to our side of the ocean. Embarking on their first ever full UK tour, the band started at London’s Hoxton Plaza and ended with a date at the Bodega Social Club in Nottingham. Wedged in the middle of the five British dates, the Portland four piece played in Edinburgh’s very own Electric Circus to an energetic crowd, and they showed exactly why their live shows are so well liked.

Scottish band, Miracle Strip, were the one and only support band for the night and, from the couple of songs that I managed to catch*, I just…got them. Sometimes you see support bands and you wonder why on earth they’re supporting certain acts, but these local lads fit the bill just wonderfully. They were able to warm up the crowd just right for the headliners, and I definitely expect to see more from them.

After just a short break, STRFKR took the stage and own it they did. Playing songs such as Atlantis and While I’m Alive, as well as their own cover of Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, they gave the crowd a perfect reason to just forget everything and everyone around them. Looking around, the entire room was moving from people full on dancing by themselves to others bobbing along with every single word that came out of the singer’s mouth.

This show saw singer, Josh Hodges, and drummer, Keil Corcoran, swap places for a couple of songs, and this threw in a little more magic to the mix. With the venue having a strict curfew of 10pm, the band finished their set but found it difficult to ignore the Edinburgh chants of “one more tune!” over and over again. They threw caution to the wind and ignored any shouts that they may have received, playing that ‘one more tune’ for attendees and fulfilling everyone’s wish like asked.

Their one final push, including them joining the crowd and sending everyone crazy, left everyone in the room more than satisfied and gave everybody a night that they’re sure to remember. They proved that they don’t particularly need the theatrics of their other shows and are more than able to give an amazing live show no matter the venue, the crowd size or whatever country they happen to be in. Big things are coming for them and, personally, I can’t wait to have them back on Scottish soil.

(*I was lucky enough to sit down with Josh (vocals) and Patrick (guitar) for an interview just before their set. Look out for that pretty soon!)

Posted by: Hayley Isara

(Originally posted on: (RE)DISCOVER http://sowerediscover.tumblr.com

Live Review Pere Ubu at Mono, Glasgow

35 years ago Pere Ubu released a truly great album, The Modern Dance and were hailed as one of the leading art rock bands. 2013 sees the release of their 17th studio album, The Lady from Shanghai and the UK tour to promote the album brings the band and FEAST to Mono in Glasgow. Bandleader David Thomas is in playful mood tonight entertaining the audience with a monologue of the bands extensive touring plans which includes ’17 nights at Wembley Arena’!
Half the set tonight is taken from the latest album which Thomas has described as “dance music, fixed.” Indeed there is a four-to-the-floor feel to some of the tracks such as “Thanks” which takes off from Anita Ward’s “Ring My Bell” and “Free White”. The set kicks off in a similar manner with “Love Love Love” from arguably one of their best albums, Cloudland. The band have always subverted and played around with the concepts of rock’n’roll and this is evident tonight in the half dozen songs they play from their back catalogue including great renditions of “The Modern Dance” and “Misery Goats”.
Thomas’ unique charisma and satiric wit are intact and he is in rare form throughout, just sounding like he’s having a great old time and it’s good to witness the band again, still magical, cogent and coherent .

POST launch debut album

POST are a band we’ve been following for a while and having heard their contribution to the Mao Disney compilation from label We Can Still Picnic and a great session on 6music’s Marc Riley show, it’s good to be able to mention the launch of their debut album at Nice n Sleazy’s on Friday April 26th. Looking forward to this.

Join the Library (#2)

THE FALL – DRAGNET

This is the second in a series about how my local libraries (Baillieston and Shettleston) afforded me a wonderful musical adventure and the huge impact they made on me. I joined them as a 16 year old because I couldn’t afford albums and borrowing from them appeared to me to be the perfect solution…which it most certainly was.

In my 5th year at high school one of the novels my English teacher selected was The Fall by Albert Camus. This was the only reason I picked up a copy of Dragnet, which had been released a few months earlier. Everything about the album was challenging but also exhilarating and liberating and, like me I’m sure it lead others to form their own groups free from restrictive ideas about song structure and musicianship.

The line-up included Mark E Smith (vocals), Marc Riley (guitar), Craig Scanlon (guitar), Steve Hanley (bass), Mike Leigh (drums). Leigh was replaced by Paul Hanley shortly after and this became as I’ve come to think, the second classic line-up of the band. It is a band discovering their sound, lo-fi and angular which I found hard to listen to at first, especially the second side but it was the wild and weird garage-like pop of tracks such as Printhead with the wiity opening line “Hey badges tinkle T-shirts mingle
Hey you horror-face!” and Dice Man that won me over to the bands radical approach.

Of all The Fall albums I’ve listened to, over time this is my favourite. It’s rough and I found out later that it was recorded in 3 or 4 days, but for me it demonstrates the essence of The Fall, raucous and uncompromising determined to mine their own musical path. My excitement about the album lead me to see the band at the Tech when they came to Glasgow in tow with another great band The Cramps which is one of the best gigs I’ve ever been to.

The next time I saw the band was at The Plaza in Glasgow, this time supported by brilliant Edinburgh band The Scars. By this time I was well and truly one of The Fallen!

Live Review GoNorth – The Machine Room at The Room, Inverness

This is the second time Feast has seen The Machine Room and they just get better. Tonight they introduce their new drummer who does a brilliant job given this is his first show with the band. Their song structures demands a lot from the rhythm section upon which are layered synths, guitar and keyboards.

Amongst the songs they play tonight are the tracks which make up their great ‘Love from a Distance’ EP which you can get via their Facebook page. Their electronic dream-pop is so catchy and songs such as ‘Your Head on the Floor Next Door’ and ‘Camino De Soda’ deserve to be playlisted on our airwaves all summer long. They are amongst the freshest electro new wave bands to come around which also includes Kitsune signings Juveniles and Citizens. Their sound is big and expansive but remains highly emotive and subtle and they are extremely groovy…

They are due to play T in the Park and Wickerman this Summer…so you know who to see if you find yourself at these festivals.

Live Review – Honeyblood, Secret Gig, Edinburgh

This is bizarre gig number 2 following on from our first bizarre venue outing to Mrs. Fitzherberts in Brighton at The Great Escape Festival. We went through a black door and up a spiral staircase to find the ‘lounge’. The next room was the bar and down the corridor was the room where Honeyblood would play. The low ceiling meant that being 5ft 11inches in height I found myself for the first time ever at a live show, sitting on the floor – rather hippyish I thought.
Given how precarious the live music venue situation is in Edinburgh at the moment, this is a great little hideout so look out for more shows coming from 39 Niddry Street.

Honeyblood however are not ‘hippyish’ but describe themselves as ‘two girls who play some songs about stuff’. Although the sound is muddied their songs still hold a huge appeal. The songs swagger like the best garage rock/pop. The good thing about them is that they’re something new. Too many new bands are so retro, harking back to the 1980’s Glasgow, Edinburgh and Manchester bands and in reverence to C86. Honeyblood lyrically can be wise, ferocious, bitter and hopeful and can musically evoke high emotion all within one song and I think this is the exciting thing about them that they can convey this with only a voice, a guitar and a drum kit, they just have a way musically of being able to get under your skin.

At least three songs in their set sent shivers down my spine, which few groups seem capable of doing these days. Slightly raucous but gutsy as hell with songs as good as No Spare Key, Bud and Super Rat. They also do imaginative re-interpretations as on the cover they do tonight by Boston band Doctors and Lawyers. Honeyblood proved that they have the songs, the style and the guts to be the best. You can get their first release from http://honeyblood.bandcamp.com/

They played their first shows in Glasgow and Edinburgh only recently so hope and expect to see them round your way soon starting with this Sunday (3rd June) at Henry’s Cellar Bar where they share the bill with Plastic Animals. Enough said, they’re great and they’re on your doorstep, so see them.

The Great Escape Festival – Juveniles at Komedia, Brighton

The French electronic/indie label Kitsune has been releasing good new music recently, especially the Citizens! debut album produced by Alex Kapranos of Franz Ferdinand and a couple of EP’s by three musicians from Rennes who call themselves Juveniles.

Juveniles are the first band Feast see today – a busy lunchtime show downstairs at Komedia and they turn out to be a brilliant start to the day. This French trio were a real find and I suppose this is what makes The Great Escape so alluring as a festival. I knew nothing about them except that they had recently signed to Kitsune. They announce that their next EP “One O Six” is due to be released in June.

Their sound combines guitars, drums, synths and programming which is inventive and energetic mixing electronica, punk rock and pop into an eclectic genre of music.
They stand apart in terms of electronic music the way that Daft Punk and Air did on their initial releases and are just as enthralling. The festival only schedules thirty minute live sets but Juveniles could have happily flexed and spread their sounds for a lot longer given the reception and encouragement they received from the crowd.

Live Review – This Is Music 6th Birthday feat. The Machine Room, Honeyblood and Magic Eye at Sneaky Pete’s, Edinburgh

Happy birthday This Is Music, you certainly know how to celebrate in style. We went along to join in the celebrations. Appearing tonight was an Edinburgh band and two Glasgow bands supporting Sub Pop favourites Still Corners. Being based in Edinburgh we’d heard good things about The Machine Room but didn’t know much about either of the Glasgow bands, Honeyblood and Magic Eye.

Magic Eye have just released an EP on cassette tape which you can get via their tumblr site at magiceyemusic.com and tonight’s show coincides with their tour to promote it. They create tender melodic songs which are like sonic dreamscapes which wouldn’t be out of place in David Lynch’s Twin Peaks. Heavily reverbed guitars swirl around dreamy vocals grounded by a solid electro drum beat. They’re back in Edinburgh with Honeyblood on Tuesday 29th May.

Honeyblood announce they only have six tapes left and wonder if anyone is going to go through to Glasgow the following day to see them at The Stag and Dagger Festival. I love it when you see a band you don’t know anything about and you get it and they’re great. This quite simply sums up Honeyblood. They term themselves a ‘garage rock-crunch pop’ band. Lyrically eloquent, they don’t pull their punches, as on Super Rat about a former relationship, “I will hate you forever, scum bag sleaze slimeball grease”. Single ‘No Spare Key’ is a standout as is their electrifying cover of The Innocence Mission’s ‘The Girl On My Left’. Probably no tapes left but visit their site anyway yumhoneyblood.tumblr.com. Got to be THE show of the week when they play with Magic Eye next Tuesday (29th May ) at Door 39, Niddrie Street.

The Machine Room come on stage all very unassuming; plug in, smile, and in an instant hit the audience with a brilliant electro-esque wall of sound which is made up of tracks from their recent ‘Love From A Distance’ EP. Each of their songs creates a lasting impression, highly emotive, full of synth stabs and echoing vocals and the crowd are obviously well aware of the qualities of this band when they cheer from the vocals which opens standout track “Camino de Soda”. All of their songs intrigues, building layer upon layer of sound into a catchy and very individual approach to creating haunting and beautiful music. See them at the end of term Edinburgh Art School revel on Friday June 1st.

No Spare Key by Honeyblood

Flamin’ Teenage by MAGIC EYE

Live Review – TheTrembling Bells with Bonnie Prince Billy at The Queens Hall, Edinburgh

The Queens Hall staged the opening night of The Trembling Bells with Bonnie Prince Billy (Will Oldham) Tour to promote the collaborative album ‘The Marble Downs’. The opener “I Made A Date (With An Open Vein)” builds to a crescendo of drums, guitar and vocal harmonies that leads to a set comprising originals and covers including a wonderful version of Scott Walker’s “Duchess” which drummer and songwriter Alex Neilson dedicates to his mother for her 60th birthday.

Lavinia Blackwall’s commanding voice acts as a perfect foil to Bonnie Prince Billy’s gentler tones and as with all great male/female duets there is a sensual tension to their duelling. The humorous bawdy traditional song “My Husbands Got No Courage In Him” is one of the highlights of the set as is the Gram Parsons inspired Every Time I Close My Eyes (We’re Back There).

There was a rawness about the performance and none of the songs felt over-rehearsed which made the show loose and enjoyable. The band also were able, perhaps because of the collaborative aspect of the performance, to branch out into areas probably not associated with the traditional folk reflection of The Tremblimg Bells such as country and western, psych-rock and murder balladry…..