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NEW MUSIC
album. Prevention is the sound of a band who have skipped two and three and gone straight to album four — more mature. more distinctive. and a lot more vital to the landscape. (Rodge Glass) DeRosa launch Prevention in a venue TBC, Glasgow, Sat 21 Mar; Sneaky Pete’s, Edinburgh, Sat 28 Mar. See page 63 for album review.
The Second Hand Marching Band liairytale welder-come-stripper flick Flashdance is responsible for many things. all of them marvellous: cheese-ball airborne romance Top (Jun; the enduring prevalence of legwarmers; the caterwauling strains of ‘What A Feeling‘ in karaoke bars the world over; and now this — ‘A Dance to Half Death' -— the ace title track from the debut lil’ from dulcet pop infantry The Second Hand Marching Band.
A swooning. multitudinous indie-folk troupe that amassed via MySpace and word of mouth. the SHMB counts members of Dananananaykroyd and liagleowl among its 2()—odd strong legion — a number that's soon to be further augmented by Teenage Fanclub/ Macrocosmica saviour Brendan ()’ Hare. They released their inaugural grab-bag of thrills on estimable Wishaw imprint (‘haffinch (Lucky Luke. King Creosote) last month.
With affiliates hailing from Glasgow. lidinburgh. Stirling. Ayr. liife. (‘umbernaultL Airdrie. and Canada — and an instrumental arsenal including violins. tnelodicas. ukuleles. llutes. guitars. saxophones. marching drums and accordions — the SHMB‘s euphoric acoustic anthems boast duly variegated reference points: (ilasgow post-rock. folk traditions. Tchaikovsky. school bands. La Blogotheque. ‘Oh yeah. and the title track was inspired by the start of Hashdance.~ adds chief songwriter Peter Liddle. ‘But only a wee bit!’ He laughs. abashed.
So what next for the Second Hand Marching Band'.’ ‘Well. we have a lot of new songs — I'd like to record something new.‘ he muses. ‘Hopefully I‘ll buy some nicer microphones and spend much. much longer on the singing parts next time.‘
Such is the magnitude of the SHMB that they‘re often pressed to rehearse in car parks or fields: any live surprises in the pipeline? ‘Well. we've been threatening to do some outdoor gigs soon. but we really need to get organising.‘ ushers Liddle. ‘Some of the band are quite apprehensive about being arrested for playing outside. but I‘m pretty sure any police in the area would be charmed into submission . . .’ (Nicola Meighan)
The Second Hand Marching Band play the Flying Duck, Glasgow, Thu 12 Mar.
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22 THE LIST 19 Feb—5 Mar 2009
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The audaity of hype
Justin Hawkins (segond from left) knows the perils of hype
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Camilla Pia and Mark Robertson look at the dangers of hype and ask if we are setting new artists up for a fall
t’s not a shock to see a write-up for a new
band. barely a handful of singles old.
lauded as the best new band this century. But for every Arctic Monkeys there’s scores of Menswears. Towers of Londons and Mumm- Ras. Bands are expected to show up fully formed with little opportunity to make mistakes before being cast aside.
While The List has nothing against whipping punters into a frenzy about genuinely deserving new music. the phenomenon of building ‘em up to knock ‘em down is becoming increasingly tiresome. and it is precisely at this time of year. bombarded by a plethora of musical tips for the year, that we feel it most.
Sure. these endless lists make for entertaining reading. but take them as gospel and you will be sorely disappointed. This year we are implored to put our faith in Florence and the Machine, White Lies and Little Boots (LB makes her Scottish debut this issue. see page 31). as artists who might just blow our minds in 2009. That may be the case but they‘re far from ‘new discoveries‘; more likely. they are pretty much dead certs who have been in development at record companies for some time with massive marketing budgets and strategies in place waiting to kick in once the ‘underground buzz’ has subsided. Hype in contagious and. by its very nature. a self- fulfilling prophecy. The hyperbole starts based on reputation rather than actual evidence.
Little Boots comes to us this month a truly fascinating spectre. gracing covers without a release to her name. a clutch of tunes floating around the intemet, a few choice mix tapes and handful of live shows under her belt. She might be the saviour of music in 2009 but we really don’t have the material to judge yet.
Take a look back at 2007, when we were told to watch out for The Twang, or last year when Joe Lean and the Jing Jang long were
supposedly set to change the face of music. Both stuttered. stopped. then scurried back to the drawing board for a re-think.
Justin Hawkins (previously of The Darkness and now Hot Leg frontman) knows all about this whole prcoess. His old outfit were heavily praised for debut Permission to Land but by the time its follow-up One Way Ticket to Hell . . . and Back was released two years on. the knives were out. ‘You can tell that you are becoming a press phenomenon when people ask you the same question over and over again’. Hawkins chortles. ‘and we started off being excited about the hype. Now I realise that you can‘t please everyone all the time.‘
Rebecca Nicholson. scribe for The Guardian and The Lipster’s co-editor. believes that something has got to give. ‘There‘s excitement and then there’s mania. Pop culture is so accelerated at the moment that bands are being called the best thing in twenty years after just one single. How can they possibly live up to that‘." So who is to blame'.’ ‘I think. as writers. we need to be careful to keep things in perspective. We could be heading for a state of affairs similar to the Oscars. where all the good films are timed to come out for the Oscar buzz. What about that band that released their first single in March? Is it over for them because they didn’t make the Sound of 2009 list‘.”
These are fast. furious and fickle times indeed, so keep your head. and remember it’s fans who ultimately make or break musicians. ‘The only way to tackle hype is to simply listen to the music and see what you think yourself.’ agrees Leonie Cooper (The Guardian and NME). ‘Hype gets someone in the public eye. but whether or not you choose to listen to them and go to their gigs is still your call.’
Hot Leg play Cabaret Voltaire, Edinburgh, Thu 5 Mar.