ldlewild’s Roddy Woomble doubles up at the thought of winking waiters but delights at Burns.
' The end of one year and the beginning of a new one is always an unsettled. strange time. All mistakes made throughout the past year and the mistakes to be made in the upcoming one falling neatly under the redemptive banner of ‘Hogmanay'. My new year felt almost like a purge of sorts. with me spending it groaning on a bathroom floor and throwing up in a toilet while the rest of my friends sipped Champagne and burled to Jimmy Shand in the living room. I blame it on some godawful food I‘d eaten that afternoon. Never trust a man who winks when he hands over your sandwich. This should have been my new year's resolution. Instead it was patience. and to visit the Arctic Circle.
January also means Burns Day. which is always a treat for me. Surely were one of the only countries in the world that devotes a day of traditional celebration over to a poet. America might have Walt Whitman. but we have Robert Burns. in all his rosy cheeked glory. I'm also pretty sure he's the only poet who has a couple of million people celebrating his birthday each year by dancing around in kilts, loading up on whisky and giving their plate of food a traditional address complete with bagpipes (especially considering it's haggis). This year we're playing a show on the 25th. so something suitably Burns-esque will be attempted no doubt. hopefully not in the presence of any Burns scholars. 'We dare na weel say't. but we ken wha's to blame‘ indeed.
.' Idlewi/d play Glasgow '3 RSAMD on Sat 27 Jan.
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G2, Glasgow. Sun 23 Jan; Venue, Edinburgh, Mon 24 Jan
It’s not easy being one of Scotland’s best-kept rock secrets. While others leapfrog you in terms of publicity, you‘re still plugging away doing tour supports for unsuitable bands in front of ignorant skate kids.
‘We’ve played in front of a lot of bad emo crowds,’ says Aereogramme’s frontman Craig 8 with a wee chuckle. ‘To be told by somebody who hasn’t actually grown pubes yet that you‘re the worst band they’ve ever heard is slightly disheartening.’
He would do well to ignore the stupid wee shites, for the Glasgow foursome are one of this country’s most majestic, epic rock outfits with three awesome albums under their belts and an uncanny way with a darkly beautiful anthem.
Their lack of fame can be put down to an unwillingness to compromise musically and the fact that they are totally out of step with the expensive haircuts and vacuous riffs of the current rock scene. Instead Aereogramme create beautifully layered,
Blazin’ Fiddles
Reader, Currie and Maclntyre
intricate rock shapes, like Biffy Clyro trying to knock the shit out of the Mogwai back catalogue.
Having recently split amicably from label Chemikal Underground, the band went on to record their third album themselves at home, for a grand total of £50. That record, Sec/usion, was a leap forward, delving into even murkier emotional waters than their previous materials.
‘Everybody says that, but we thought it was getting happier, which is a bit scary in itself,’ says Craig 8. ‘But then we’ve always dealt with the darker side of life; the happy side doesn‘t interest me. It’s always been other bands that talk about the darker stuff that interest me, anything from Nick Cave to Neurosis, so it doesn’t surprise me that this is the darkest yet.’
All of which adds up to a band that major labels won’t touch, which is their loss because Aereogramme could be huge given the chance.
‘We’re a bit of a freaky band, so until somebody is crazy enough to take us on, I think we’ll be hiding in our own little corner of the music industry for a while yet.’
It’s a corner we should all be squeezing into.
(Doug Johnstone)