Everyone in the world at this point already knows that Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple and the man who brought us the iPhone and iTunes has died of pancreatic cancer on October 5 2011.

People may be thinking: “What the hell does this have to do with music…? Have you forgotten which website you write for?!” but I do believe the guy deserves a mention. Steve Jobs totally revolutionised the way we listen to and share music. End of.

How many of you are sitting here reading this, while iTunes is downloading or playing something in the background or your iPod is dangling off your ears or blaring out of the dock across the room?

There has been a massive change since the first iPod, which is crazy considering it has only been out 10 years. No longer do you need to reinforce your pockets to keep it in (as awesome as it was, it was a bit big), now we have gigs of music at our very fingertips… on a device about the size of our fingertips.

None of this would have been possible with out Steve Jobs. The man took the way we listened to music, saw past the limitations of CD’s, threw it all into the blender and came out with the iPod and we’ve never looked back since.

Your grandparents, or even your parents would probably never in their wildest dreams have thought that they could carry around thousands of songs, videos, photos with them all day on a matchbook sized machine.

Now, I’m not the biggest Apple fan. I don’t like Macbooks, I don’t own an iPhone, I think the iPad looks a bit annoying (give me a keyboard any day) but the one thing I can’t deny is that I’d be utterly lost without my iPod. Whether I’m on the train going to uni, going for a run, skating, snowboard or just sitting around the house I need a soundtrack for my life and my iPod caters to my every need.

Steve Jobs was a pioneer, I could live without most Apple products but I couldn’t live without my iPod. It’s a constant accessory that goes with everything. It is a way to listen to music that is practical, looks good and is easy to function, what more could you ask for..?

All of this is why Steve Jobs deserves a little mention here today. For now he’s resting up on the iCloud and we’re all iSad (couldn’t resist, they are trending on Twitter after all).

RIP Steve Jobs, 1955-2011. iPod 1G Advert

A while a go I took a sunny trip to Edinburgh to interview Sean from Your First Mistake. Now I’ve been given a sneaky peak at the upcoming single Today is a Good Day to Bury Bad News.

I was a bit surprised when I first listened to the track, it was much quieter and softer than what I’ve come to expect from them. For the first half of the song it listens like the token ballad track that appears on most rock albums. I have to admit I’m a bit of a sucker for the slower tracks just for a bit of variety, so the guitar not being the forefront of everything going on in the song is a nice change for me. The drums definitely make this track in my eyes, the guitar takes a back seat until the breakdown half way through and it’s the drums that set the pace.

After the halfway point the track takes a definite turn and you’re hit with a wall of sound with the guitar coming into play with a pretty nice hook from the lead, a lot of screaming and cymbal crashing.

All in all a pretty good track from the lads of Your First Mistake, if I had to rate it I’d give it a 4/5. You can tell that the addition of another guitarist has helped the band evolve since the last time we’ve heard from them but you can make up your own mind about the track by listening to it!

Today Is A Good Day, To Bury Bad News

I took a tour of Edinburgh with Your First Mistake’s lead singer Sean to get the ins and outs of life in the band.

S: Me and Stewart were originally in a previous band together with two other guys, when we started taking it a bit more seriously and started to push on we then got my brother Sam in who’s the rhythm guitarist and second vocal because he was doing his own acoustic, singer/song writer stuff and he wanted to get involved. Obviously we knew what he could do already.

After that it was then a case of me, Stewart and Sam really wanted to take things forward with the band and the other members decided they had other things they wanted to do. So we got Matt and (our now former drummer) Ben who were in another band at school and they had just recently split up so it was an easy transition to get them in the band, ‘cause we already knew them and were good mates with them and knew what they could do.

Recently Ben left, because he’s decided he’s really into his extreme sports and he’s going to do a course with that. Another person we knew, Stevie, who’s now our current drummer was drumming for another couple of bands at the time but wasn’t really happy with the style of music and we knew he was a phenomenal drummer, so we got him in. It’s actually Ben on the recordings and Stevie now, so he’s yet to make his imprint of the airwaves but he’s looking forward to it. We’re all in the same boat now and we’re all looking to push on with it now.

ND: You’ve recently recorded and released “Wide Awake and Watching” is that the first EP?

S: Yeah it’s the first EP we’ve done. We had done a couple of demo recordings previously with the
old band members but they were shocking to say the least. You don’t want to hear them.

We done it in four hours in one day. In four hours we recorded four songs, so you can imagine. It
was kind of live recordings but with a wee bit of editing but you can imagine the quality. It was
enough to get us our first few gigs in Edinburgh and stuff and give us that wee start.

ND: What’s your favourite track off the EP and why?

S: Speaking for myself it would have to be Michael It Was Just an Illusion. Purely because I like the
tempo of it and it’s one I really enjoy playing on stage and I really get involved with. Also it’s one of
the songs I did a lot of the writing for so it’s got that wee bit of closeness to me. The end section
when we scream as well is really fun on stage.

ND: How does the song writing go with the band? Is it a solo effort or more of a group contribution?

S: It’s a group effort; we’ve not got a set structure for it. If someone’s got an idea then w try and run
with that and see what comes with it. If anyone’s got set ideas for how the song goes, they can tell
each other what they’re wanting from them and that’s how it goes. It’s always a band effort. Lyrics
are decided between me and Sam because obviously we need to sing the parts but we always run
them past the rest of the band as well because they’re representing the rest of the band. Usually
song titles are decided as a band together, that’s why some of the song titles seem close to the
songs and others are just like… Michael It Was Just an Illusion was decided five minutes before we
went on stage. We were playing at Classic Grand (Glasgow) and we said well we kinda need a name
for this song. Matt and Sam had just been watching Arrested Development for days on end and it
was Gob impressions all day long, “Illusions Michael!” so it came from there.

ND: Have there been any memorable experiences in gigging or recording the EP?

S: We also did a tour off the back of the release. We did Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Dundee.
Sleeping in the van during that was an experience, eight of us in a transit. That was quite an
experience; the whole tour was an experience. Your first tour, there’s just nothing like it. The best
part of the tour, not even the gigs, was us in the pool in Dundee and me nearly breaking my neck in
it. There was a chute about three foot up from the water and I was getting a wee bit too fancy
coming out the pipe, face planted and the rest of my body just went over and almost crippled
myself. I had to just like swim out of the pool like I was fine because my pride was hurt and I couldn’t
show I was physically hurt.

ND: What’s the strangest thing a fan has ever said or done to you, or anyone in the band?

S: I don’t know, I’m still trying to get my head round people asking me for photos after gigs and stuff.
It’s strange.

ND: Who has been your favourite band to play with?

S: There’s been quite a few, we’ve been quite lucky. Obviously a lot of our gigging has still been in
Edinburgh, we’re still waiting to make that step out but we’ve played with a lot of my favourite
bands in Edinburgh. We played with Young Guns, they were a really good band and it was a really
good gig in a really wee venue. That was really good; we played with Yashin as well, we’ve played
with Yashin a few times. We played with them one time and the lead guy, Mike, had just left Yashin
and the lead guys from Deaf Havana that did the vocals. That was kinda cool to see, it was two bands
merging into one, it was quite a cool experience. But probably the biggest one for me has to be
playing with Senses Fail because that’s one of the bands I’ve listened to for years and they’ve
influenced where I am just now, the type of music I listen to and the type of music I’m making. That
was a really big one for me and just the fact that we’re sitting backstage with them like normal guys.
Buddy asked me if I wanted a cigarette, I said “no I didn’t smoke”, but I really wish I did right now. I never thought I’d be as fanboy as I was right then but yeah, that was really cool; they were a band I
never thought I’d get to play with and the chance came up, it was unbelievable.

ND: If you could play with any band who would it be?

S: Ooh, any band… I could probably give you the answers for around the band too. Sam would be
Pearl Jam. Stewart would be Blink 182. Stevie would be A Day To Remember. Matt would either be,
probably Jimmy Eat World or, he’s got a really big fixation right now with The Dangerous Summer.
For me, it’s probably the hardest one… I don’t know whether to go big or… I’d probably say either
The Blackout or Paramore, just because Paramore would probably be the chance of a lifetime.

ND: What’s been your favourite venue to play?

S: I don’t know about picking one out, we played Classic Grand in Glasgow; that’s a really cool venue.
It’s deceptively big, the stage is deceptively big. When you look at it, it doesn’t look like that big a
stage but when you’re on it, it’s huge. We headlined at Cab Vol (The Cabaret Voltaire) as well, packed
the place out which was really good. Probably my favourite though would be Studio24, because we
played there quite a few times and the sound tech seems to get our music. The sound, clarity in
there is always top notch and it has perfect proportions for fitting our band. I’ve saw so many
brilliant gigs there as well, I’ve seen You Me At Six, Twin Atlantic and Fightstar and stuff there and
when we first came to play there that was when it first felt like we could do something here.

ND: So if you could play any venue or festival what would it be? The one that would make you think,
“We’ve made it”.

S: Festivals, the problem is you want to play as many festivals as possible; ones that suit our music. I
would love to play Download and I would love to play Leeds and Reading.  It has always been a dream of mine to play on the Vans Warped Tour though so I’d have to say that.

ND: Are there any bands or artists that you feel influence your performing and writing as a band?

S: We all kind of draw on separate influences. I’m a lot more inspired, more recently anyway (I’ll
basically listen to anything), I’m more inspired by A Day To Remember, The Blackout, Deaf Havana. I
quite like the singer/screamer kind of thing. I’ve been listening to a lot of heavier stuff recently as
well, like Architects and stuff like that. Whereas Stewart will listen to You Me At Six, the Welsh
Attack!Attack!, Paramore and Twin Atlantic; Stewart has really been influenced by Twin Atlantic. I’d
say within the band we can take influences from everywhere; Kerrang genre type things. Stevie is
into heavier stuff; you can even tell by some of his drum parts, his double bass is phenomenal. Sam
is a lot more classic with it. Sam always listens to Pearl Jam and stuff but his main one would
probably be Jeff Buckley, especially with him doing the singer/songwriter stuff. Earlier on he used to
be inspired by Damien Rice, a lot more indie than rock. Matt was massively inspired by Kings Of Leon
for quite a while but his main inspiration now is Jimmy Eat World and Paramore.

ND: So what’s in the future for Your First Mistake?

S: We are, at the moment, in the process of booking recording time for our next EP. I can’t drop any
names of who we’re speaking to in case they get disgruntled, but it looks like we’re going to be
working with some big names, people who have worked with various big artists –bands that we
really like and really influence us so it should be a brilliant thing for us to do. Also we’re also
recording a video for the first single of the EP, which we’ve already got Okayed for getting on music
channels and stuff.

We are also going to be embarking on our first ever UK tour in March which will be a very daunting and scary experience but one we will never forget. 2011 is going to be a busy year for Your First Mistake.

There you have it, some insight into what looks to be the next big Scottish band. I had a lot of fun wandering around the many venues of Edinburgh trying to find a half decent place to have a conversation, if anyone else finds themselves in that situation just do what we did. If all else fails, just go to the park.

Last night Edge Festival goers migrated towards the Liquid Room to see Edinburgh rockers, We Were Promised Jetpacks (WWPJ) in a home town show.

By the time we got in the place was packed, it’s not the biggest of venues and both the downstairs and balcony were at maximum capacity. It was enjoyable, even though it made me feel like a sardine, it wasn’t a gig were everyone is standing still the gig goers on the floor made the most of it, screaming and shouting and bouncing around.

The sound was good, it felt like you were listening to the album unlike some gigs where the clarity is dire and you feel it’s been a bit of a waste. We Were Promised Jetpacks themselves were awesome, you could tell that they really enjoyed the gig; I don’t think they put a foot wrong in the whole performance. All the guys were great but I’ve always said the drummer in WWPJ makes the band for me and it wasn’t any different last night. Without him their sound would not be complete, it adds another dimension to the sound and is the driving force behind the majority of the songs.

I would recommend seeing them if you ever have the chance, they were awesome live I’m just a bit sad I missed Sebastian Dangerfield and Endor as the support, however I did get a good pint so I can’t really complain.

It was the moment we had all been waiting for, Blink 182 were finally back and gracing the stage on a lovely tour and where was I… well about three rows from the front wedged between a fat, topless dude and a incredibly drunk, not-quite 18 year old.

Due to some slight band difficulties the first support act never actually played so the only support was Glasgow band Twin Atlantic. The majority of people having come to see Blink and Blink only, there was a bit of a quiet reception for the Glasgow boys. Only a small number interspersed throughout the crowd really got going for them. I’ve seen them a good few times and the sound was good and it was clear to everyone that they enjoyed themselves up on stage. Highlight of their set (for me) was when some pre-pubescent kid decided to heckle them just before the last song. Lead singer Sam then proceeded to call him a “Fuckin’ wee dick” and the whole of the crowd then went on to hurl abuse at the poor fellow- much to everyone’s amusement.

On to the main event now, Blink 182. First time I’ve seen them and I will say that they did not disappoint in anyway. I was crushed, bruised and soaking by the end of the set but I came out the gig with a face splitting grin.

They’re banter on stage had everyone laughing and the crowd seemed to get a little crazier with every song. The sound was surprisingly good for the SECC (personally I hate the place as a venue) and it felt like a more intimate gig than usual- possibly due to the fact that I was closer to several hundred strangers than I’d ever like to be again.

Tom said half way through the set that he’d messed up a note just before the chorus and decided to play it for us all, just so we can get every note’s worth out of the gig. I don’t think anyone who was there could say that they didn’t get everything out of it, they were outstanding live.

The big finale was the best bit for me, you can’t beat a trip to Barker-land for a Travis drum solo, add in a tilting platform and him going upside down without missing a beat and no-one can deny he is an awesome drummer who knows how to put on a show. Just as the crowd were going mental for Travis, they finish things off with an energetic performance of Dammit. We all go nuts and stagger out having bought too much overpriced beer and merch, we’re bruised and covered in other people’s sweat… but we go home incredibly satisfied!

That being said every song was catchy, I almost intuitively felt that I could dance and sing along with them even though I hadn’t the faintest idea what was coming next.

For me, personally, the standout track of the album was All That’s Left Between Us Is Hope. I liked everything about this song, as I write this I’m humming the chorus to myself. The melody was catchy, lyrically I enjoyed it and the vocals were a bit of not bad as well.

I can imagine all of the tracks from Wide Awake and Watching being played out over the PA in a bar or being played live, they’re all good songs that you wouldn’t have a problem screaming along to or jumping around like an absolute tosser.

All in all Your First Mistake get my seal of approval, if you like something energetic that you can nod your head to or if you want something that’ll stick in your head hours after it’s finished I do highly recommend them.

Wide Awake and Watching is available now from iTunes and all other major MP3 distributors, or if you fancy hearing any of these songs live Your First Mistake are playing Studio 24 in Edinburgh, Saturday 21^st August.

Run.From.Red are the latest in a string of cracking bands to come out of Glasgow.

I first heard this band many moons ago playing under the name The Usuals: they were okay back then. The lead singer Robert Woods had a sort of Kings of Leon lilt to his voice, there were some catchy guitar rhythms and a bit of melody that you could find yourself occasionally nodding your head along to but, to be honest, they weren’t going to set the world on fire.

I heard through the grapevine a few months ago that The Usuals had gained a few members as well as a name change and I didn’t really think much of it. Perhaps the grapevine should have been a bit more specific; not only did they gain a few members and a name change but a whole new attitude.

I listened to their debut single Jupiter Soulstar, released with Up Next Records, and it is fantastic. Run.From.Red are here and they are making some sweet, sweet sounding noise. The track is two and a half minutes of awesomeness that will make your ears bleed in the best way possible. Even better than just listening to the track, head on to Youtube and watch the video: you get all the benefits of Jupiter Soulstar as well as some acting and Glaswegian accents worthy of River City.

They may not have been world beaters as The Usuals but the new and much improved Run.From.Red are here and setting the music scene ablaze with radio coverage throughout the UK and America.

Run.From.Red – Jupiter Soulstar

MySpace | iTunes | Website

AC: My new album, “In Avanti” is slated for release in early April. It will be available at alexxcalise.com, and on iTunes, Amazon, CD Baby, and most major online music retailer websites.

ND: You recently toured through the US, what’s been your favourite place to play and why?

AC: There are actually 2 places in LA that I absolutely love to play, The Viper Room and The Cat Club. Both clubs have always been so good to us, and the sound has always been great (which is more than you could ever ask for).

ND: Is there any possibility of some UK tour dates in the near future?

AC: Yes, I’m in talks with some promoters out there about it. I’ll have some more concrete answers for you when the album is finished.

ND: If you were to come to the UK, where would you most like to play and why?

AC: I’m not entirely sure, but hopefully at a venue near you!

ND: Your debut album was out in 2007, how do you feel your music has progressed in the past 3 years?

AC: My music is definitely more mature and insightful now, and it is also a bit more electronic in sound (I’m a big fan of groups like Archive, Apollo 440, and Boards of Canada). I’ve grown exponentially as an artist and a human being in those 3 years as well, and I’ve really learned the importance (and advantages) of doing most everything yourself.

ND: Are there any bands/artists in particular that you feel influence your song writing?

AC: Well, I’m a huge fan of silverchair, Our Lady Peace, Stone Temple Pilots, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Johnny Lang, and Archive. I’ve always kind of marched to the beat of my own drum when it came to songwriting, but I think my chord choices and the themes I tend to write about could have been influenced by my grunge/blues roots.

ND: You’re in another band, Sound Of Cancer, is there an album release coming up for that?

AC: Yes. We will be releasing our debut album in the upcoming months. We’re currently in the mixing stages.

ND: What would you say makes your solo music different from that of Sound Of Cancer?

AC: It’s drastically different. My solo project is more rock/pop with an electronic edge. Sound of Cancer is much darker, and more haunting—lyrically and musically speaking.

ND: I’ve only heard good things about you, how does it feel to have so many rave reviews about your music? Did you ever think you would be this successful when starting out?

AC: It feels pretty awesome, and it’s very reassuring to know that so many people are grabbing on to it. It really makes it all worthwhile.
I’ve always known that I was going to be successful to answer your other question. However, it’s hasn’t been without struggle. It’s taken a lot of hard work and blood, sweat and tears to get where I am today.

ND: You live a pretty hectic lifestyle; writing, owning your own business, playing with Sound of Cancer and your solo project. How do you manage to do it all? Or are there hundreds of Alexx Calise clones running all over the place doing your bidding?

AC: Well, I don’t sleep a whole lot, that’s for sure! A lot of it is careful time management and prioritization. Every minute of every day is planned out; otherwise I’d be running around like a chicken with its head cut off. I dedicate a certain amount of hours to songwriting, another few to practicing, and another few to promoting. It’s the only way to do all the things you need to do in a day as an artist. The only thing I still need to fit into my schedule is relaxation. I haven’t quite figured that one out yet, haha…

ND: Do you think it’s difficult to be a woman in a pretty male dominated industry?

AC: Not particularly. In a lot of ways, I think it’s advantageous being a female in a male-dominated industry. Being of the fairer sex (haha), I find it’s far easier to be noticed and get things done.

ND: Let’s say you have magical powers. Your magical power is the power to create a super band with yourself and anyone else past and present. Who would you choose and why?

AC: Oh wow. That’s a tough one. I’d probably have to go with either Kenny Wayne Shepherd or Stevie Ray Vaughan on guitar, Les Claypool or Jaco Pastorius on bass and Dennis Morehouse on drums. Now that would be a sight to see.

ND: If you could give any advice to a musician trying to start out in the business, what would it be?

AC: I would say that you really just have to be in it for the love, because the fact of the matter is, you may never make any money, you may never get a “break”, or you may never reach the level of success you hope to reach. There are no guarantees in the entertainment business. If you’re okay with that, and you truly just love making music and that’s all you know how to do, then by all means, go for it! Reach for the stars!

There we have it, a quick chat with Alexx Calise who looks set to make it big in the US and hopefully come across the pond and play a few shows for us.

ND:  So are you excited about playing Glasgow tonight?

TC: Yeah, this is kind of like my favourite city to play in the UK, we have such a good time here. I just love it. The fans are so insane.

ND: Where else have you played in Glasgow?

TC: We’ve played a place called The Garage and one other place, I can’t remember. I’m tempted to say the Academy but everything over here is called the Academy…

ND: The Barrowlands or ABC…?

TC: Yeah that’s it ABC!

ND: It’s coincidentally the O2 ABC now; they’re taking over the world…

TC: Ahh, gotcha.

ND: You’ve toured with some pretty big bands, Boys Like Girls and now You Me At Six, who would you say has been your favourite so far?

TC: So far it’s definitely You Me At Six, they’re the nicest dudes in the world and I love touring with them.  They’re huge football fans and in the states we’re huge soccer fans. It makes sense for us to hang out. They party every single night; it’s almost way too much partying.

ND: So is that who you were playing football with (earlier, he’s still in a Scotland top)?

TC: Yeah! We were out there, there was a few of those guys, some guys from Forever The Sickest Kids then a bunch of fans.

ND: Was it a sort of Scotland England match, since you’re wearing the top?

TC: Yeah, I guess. We’re actually planning like a proper match tomorrow. We have the day off and Max from You Me At Six found a field and they’re going to let us come out and play with goals and everything. It’s like We The Kings versus You Me At Six. It’s going to be awesome.

ND: Did you win in the game earlier? Did you represent for Scotland?

TC: Eh, I scored a lot but it wasn’t like a proper game. It was just hanging out and having fun.

ND: Back to music, do you think headlining a UK tour will happen anytime soon?

TC: I hope so because you know, unfortunately, as supporting bands we only have 30 minutes to play. So hopefully we can come over here, we just released a new record and I want to play more songs from it. Maybe in like September.

ND: You should do September, that’s my birthday!

TC: Well I’ll try and schedule that then; we’ll call it The Natalie Tour.

ND: Any thoughts for a supporting act for this tour (The Natalie Tour), if you could pick any band?

TC: Anyone from here or the states? Anywhere? I dunno I’d love to do a tour with Out Of Sight, They’re awesome. I’d like to invite over Never Shout Never, he’s like a really good friend of mine.

ND:  The You Me At Six tour is pretty much half over, where’s been your favourite place to play so far?

TC:  It’ll probably be tonight out of the whole tour, but so far since we haven’t played here tonight, it’ll probably be Manchester. We played at I think the O2 Academy again, it held like 3400 people, it was massive! Maybe the Apollo? They sang so loud to everyone of our songs. I couldn’t believe it. It was a really good feeling, that’s the ultimate payoff to hear people sing your lyrics that you worked so hard to write.

ND: Do you feel you have a good reception in the UK?

TC: Yeah so far this has been the best reception we’ve had out of all 4 times we’ve played here.

ND: Supporting a few bands on the UK tours seems to have built you up quite a following then?

TC: Yeah I think it was a matter of continuing to come over and play and just work the fan base.

ND: You’ve played Glasgow before, how do you think tonight’s crowd will compare?

TC: I hope it’ll be the best or one of the best. It’s like 2800-3000 people coming tonight. It’s sold out. I’m expecting this to be the craziest night of the tour.

ND: Glasgow’s always the craziest night.

TC: Yeah, yeah! It breeds crazy people, so it’s awesome!

ND: It’s to do with the ginger hair.

TC: Well I’m a red head so there’s a tonne of ginger kids here. I have family here too so I get to see them after.

ND: After this you’re touring the states for quite a few months?

TC: Yeah, we’re doing a college tour, well it would be a university tour over here and then we’re going to South America. Then we’re out there till August then September we’ll hopefully be back over here.

ND: Pretty non-stop, did you ever think when you were starting out you’d be this successful?

TC: Never, I mean I always wanted to be in a famous band but I never thought it would really happen. We’re just so thankful to have like real fans who give a lot of support; it’s just been really awesome. I wouldn’t dream of doing anything else.

ND: How does it feel being able to go worldwide and hear people sing your songs?

TC: It’s just like the best feeling in the world. Even like the little things, like walking off the bus and hearing people scream, “Travis! Travis!” It’s just like I would never be in this position if it wasn’t for the band. It’s awesome.

ND: You’ve played in both UK and US, how do you think the music scene differs?

TC: I think the biggest thing is that we’re lucky if we can come over here twice a year. In the states if we play a city, we play 6-7 times a year. So they know if they miss a show one month they can come see us in 2 months. Here we play every 6 months, everybody comes out for the show, it really makes the dream more real.

ND: Your second album, Smile Kid, was out in December, how do you think it differs from your debut?

TC: It’s definitely a lot more dynamic, we have the songs that are on there that are kind of like Check Yes 2.0, Secret Valentine 2.0, Skyway Avenue 2.0. Then we have songs that we do a little differently and everything in between. It’s almost like you’re watching a movie, you can almost listen to the record without skipping through a track. I think it’s really cool.

ND: Is there anything in particular that influence the making of Smile Kid?

TC: Not really, it’s just that there’s a lot of sadness and hate in the world and things like that. But I just think that everything should be more peaceful and loving so when the words came out the big underlying message of the whole record was just like love, happiness and it’s just how the world should be.

ND: Your tour manager is hovering around looking to chuck me out, so you’re in Glasgow, have you tried Irn Bru and deep fried Mars bars yet?

TC: Yes! Only because even outside of Scotland everyone is like when you go to Glasgow you have to try Irn Bru or the deep fried Mars bars. So a bunch of people got us a tonne of them. They’re so good! I was just like, “Yeah, sure I’ll try it.” Every single city we’ve been to, like even in Wales they’re like when you get to Scotland you’ve got to try them. So I tried it and it’s definitely addictive.

Pretty soon after this I was shown the door and was out on my arse to wait in the massive queue for the gig, good times.

It’s the first time I’ve been to G2. It’s not bad inside; quite small and intimate but the acoustics leave a little to be desired. I’m not sure if it was just tonight but the sound didn’t really impress me all that much.

Onto the bands… The first band, The Auteur, were not bad. They had the usual power chords and screeching vocals that most power pop/punk bands have going on. The vocals kind of reminded me of the demo You Me At Six stuff, where you couldn’t really understand what the hell the guy was singing, but you liked it anyway. The songs were catchy and the leading man had enough stage presence to get the crowd going; which is all that’s really needed in a support band. They did do a quite enjoyable cover of Katy Perry’s ‘Waking Up In Vegas’, though I found that some of their own songs seemed a bit repetitive. A bit like Scouting For Girls, where you can listen to the whole album through and realise it’s the same chords with slightly different lyrics.

The next band, Out of Sight, didn’t really hit a chord with me. Don’t get me wrong, they were good performers; they bounced about the stage and tried to keep the crowd singing and dancing which is definitely a plus –there’s nothing worse than a static band on stage. It was just something about the whole set up that didn’t move me personally; it could have been the three different vocalists? They also snuck in a cheeky wee cover of Black Eyed Peas ‘I’ve Gotta Feeling’ which had the crowd screaming along.

Onwards to the main event: Boys Like Girls. Compared to other times I’ve seen them the vocals weren’t great, I think he had a cold or something, but no one in the world can deny that these guys know how to put on a show. The banter and interaction with the crowd was top notch. Whether it was just having a little conversation, grabbing a camera for some up close and personal video footage or the random desecration of some poor girl’s rainbow coloured (and now fingerless) gloves; the lads put on a good show. A nice mixture of some of the tunes from the new album and the older stuff that everyone in the place knew word for word equals a nice and excited crowd. Add to that some stage diving, hanging from the ceiling and an invite for the crowd to swarm the stage at the last song meant a lot of happy Boys Like Girls fans are heading home as I write.

All in all, I’d probably give the gig about a 7/10. The support bands did their job, even if they weren’t standouts, and even though the vocals weren’t amazing throughout, BLG put on a pretty awesome show to make up for it. The major downfalls of the night for me personally were the fact that no one that swarmed the stage jumped into the crowd and that there was a truly terrible pit, but all of these are little more than personal grievances.

www.myspace.com/outofsight

www.myspace.com/theauteuruk