Hog The Stage have been running a competition to find an unsigned band to win a slot at the world-famous Edinburgh Hogmanay party. The entries are now all in – these are our favourites.
Edinburgh’s Hogmanay used to be a gloriously anarchic affair, especially considering it was (and still is) a globally famous affair. Time was, the other side of 100,000 utterly drunken goons would cram themselves, poorly clothed and ticketless, into Princes Street and the surrounds, shuffle around madly, catch a band, gawp and the fireworks and try and snog a member of the constrabulary. All these things still happen of course, but there’s tickets, and safety and stuff now, which I think makes it a bit more sterile. Happily, Hog The Stage (brought to you by the lovely folk at leithrecords.com) seems to be trying to rectify this a little, by arranging for a slot on the Hogmanay stage to be given to an unsigned band. This is a great idea – the less corporately-funded nonsense on show, the better, I say. So, if only because it’s also a convenient way of skimming through a load of local unsigned bands, I thought I might submit my own favourites from the entrants.
The judges have just released their shortlist apparently, and I got three out of five, with Pooch, Kitty The Lion and Come On Gang! making the cut, along with The Stagger Rats and Jakil. The gig will take place on the 21st Nov at the Picture House in Edinburgh, it’s only a fiver, and you get to pick the winner. See you there.The Hog The Stage judges will release their shortlist soon, and they’ll all get showcased at a gig at the HMV Picture House at the end of November, where YOU, the lucky punter, will get to vote on who gets the gig.
The speed with which every single local jumped on The Last Battle was almost impolite in its haste and fervour, especially given that they’re not exactly loud. They are, however, roughly hewn, windswept, craggy and downright bloody marvellous. They’d be headlining the whole fucking thing if I had my way.
Predictably, Hog The Stage’s entrants included more than a few (ie a whole wagonload) of Biffy clones, all staccato rhythms and super-sharp guitars. Happily, Tinylittlerobots tread the slightly less polished route, Superchunk with a brogue. I’d not heard of this lot before, but I’m glad I stumbled over their joyful rumpus.
I don’t normally go for this sort of thing, that arch, hyper-fashionable electronica thing, if only because I’m pig-ignorant about all of it, so feel a bit daft and bumpkin-like in its company. But this is great stuff, I really like it, in the same way I like spaceships and physics and foreign literature. I’m just not able to tell you why in any sort of well-informed way.
Kitty The Lion are new to me, but it’s instantly obvious they’ve got a really solid set of songwriting heads in there. Admittedly, there’s a litle niggle in the back of my head screaming ‘secretly, they’re just like KT Tunstall, run awaay!’, but I really enjoyed digging around their tracks. Good stuff though, charming.
Yes, yes, yes, I know, I harp on about them too much. But seriously, take a listen through all those entries and tell me they’re not top five. Try and tell me that once you’re stuffed full of cheap liquor, sated by fireworks and want to kick off properly, this won’t do the job. Go on, I fucking dare you.