CELEBRANT, SNEAKY PETE'S, EDINBURGH, MARCH 5 2026

Something gentle, for a change. Here's hoping that Sneaky's can be restrained with the smoke machine...

And are they? No. They are not.

Line-up

BELL LUNGS: Singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist soundscaper CEYLAN HAY. Although, to be fair, there's not much evidence of the singer/songwriter bit in tonight's performance. Instead we get a mesmerising ambient/drone piece featuring looped violin, accordion, all kinds of bells and whistles, squeaky things and rattly things and some wordless vocals that sound more like gulls than anything human. If you think that all sounds horrible, then you are wrong. It's the sound of lonely open spaces, big skies and high Scottish moors.

No pics, because it was too dark and smoky. Standard Sneaky's. So you get a strange murky video instead. Sounds good, though.

VIDEO:  https://youtu.be/t1cSQSmfqnM   https://www.facebook.com/bell.lungs

GAZE IS GHOST: Northern Irish born singer/songwriter/school-teacher LAURA McGARRIGLE. The only name on tonight's bill that I have seen before, and more than happy to see her again.

Delicate piano ballads, folk-tinged and a bit gloomy, a voice for which the word 'ethereal' was invented, she only plays a short set of five songs. I manage to record the one song she plays on guitar, but she's not happy with the performance and asks me not to use it. 

CELEBRANT(feat. HAVER QUARTET): I'm not entirely sure what genre this multi-national outfit fits into. I think I'll settle for 'indie-folk chamber-pop', accompanied as they are by a string quartet. They're here tonight promoting their new single 'Feral Gods' The chap with the guitar  - Tom Irvine - used to be in Glasgow's URVANOVIC, as did Seonaid Stevenson, who joins in on vocals for the last few songs of the set. By way of an encore, Irvine, Stevenson, singer Laura Zoschg and one of the violinists - who probably does have a name -  jump down from the stage and give us one final, unplugged, song, and it's lovely.

VIDEO: https://youtu.be/LQbDlYqzzoQ   https://www.facebook.com/celebrantsongs

INCENDIARY BATS, BANSHEE LABYRINTH, EDINBURGH, FEBRUARY 28 2026

 Closing out the month with...

Line-up:

THE OMEGA CORRIDOR: Local indie/post-punks, been around, on and off, for aaaaages. Haven't seen them since 2015, I think. The classic three-piece of Bass, Guitar and Phone. Very much influenced, I think, by Joy Division. This gig tonight is the first time Stephen and Andy have played together for eleven years. Coincidentally, I reckon that was the last time I saw them...

VIDEO:  https://youtu.be/DI9qRbw8Hg0    https://www.facebook.com/omegacorridor

INCENDIARY BATS: Named after a bizarre American WW2 project which proposed dropping bombs loaded with live bats, affixed with incendiary grenades, over Japanese cities. These were to roost in wooden buildings where they would be detonated, causing huge fires and general mayhem. The project was abandoned, and the Americans went with the much more sensible atomic bomb instead. And now they're a local indie punk band.

Four-piece, what one might call 'mature', but still more than capable of raising a racket. Sound vaguely like the Dead Kennedys at times, I reckon. But I'm no expert.

VIDEO:  https://youtu.be/A-sRwAMuiAg   https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61561062116240

SCOTT McCLOUD, LEITH DEPOT, EDINBURGH, FEBRUARY 27 2026

Ex GIRLS AGAINST BOYS chap going solo in Edinburgh. Sold out gig, which means it's going to be hot.

 Line-up:

MAIN PRIMATE: Local post-punk quartet, featuring grizzled veterans of many, many bands. Bassman Robert Fairfoull did his back in the other day doing something really hard, like standing up, so he may be a little stiff tonight. We shall see.

Doesn't seem to hold him back. to be fair.

VIDEO:  https://youtu.be/gQqCvPhaAK8    https://www.facebook.com/MPrimate20

PILOTCAN: Veteran shoe-gazey indie/post-punk slackers, back out again after losing founder member Joe Herbert to cancer last December. This could be emotional.

Appearing tonight with, I think, a new drummer, a cellist, and backing singer EFFIE. We get a mix of old stuff, recent stuff and brand new stuff. What do they sound like, you ask? A bit of Brit-pop, a bit of Dinosaur Jr, a bit of Talking Heads, a bit of Beatles. Maybe.

VIDEO:  https://youtu.be/zQFVECTKwHo     https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100030982436920

SCOTT McCLOUD: I know nothing of Mr. McCloud, other that that he was in GIRLS AGAINST BOYS, about whom I know equally little.(Seems they were a New York based post-hardcore unit. Quite popular)

So, here he is. Doing a bunch of his own songs, acoustic versions of GVSB songs, and a couple of covers. Have to say, old punk songs done on acoustic guitar are... 'interesting'. I particularly like The Stooges' 'Search and Destroy'. There's a fair bit of chat about the old days in GVSB, his childhood, his life in Vienna, and his girlfriend thinking, oddly, that it would have been cool if he'd have died in 1996.

VIDEO:  https://youtu.be/Rkn5dAffFR4   https://www.facebook.com/scott.mccloud.92

DREICH, BANSHEE LABYRINTH, EDINBURGH, FEBRUARY 21 2026

METAL MAYHEM, Vol. 7: IN ETREMIS. Apparently.

It's good to see a metal show featuring a wide range of humans - male, female, non-binary, trans, etc - on stage and in the crowd with NOBODY being a dick about it. We need more of this.

Line-up:

THE BLEACHED: Blackened death from Dundee, not to be confused with other bands/artists of the same name. That singer will be back later.

VIDEO:  https://youtu.be/Rny87fZkPDY  https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61574675222812

MARAIGH: Blackened crusty gothy alt-metal from (mostly) Glasgow. Playing tonight with JENNY, sitting in on drums at short notice.

VIDEO:   https://youtu.be/PvNL-DQH07E             https://www.facebook.com/Maraighband

MISOPHONIA: Glaswegian progressive melodeath metal. Last time I saw these folks they were having a really bad time. They were missing a guitarist, they hated the venue and they were having endless tech issues. Tonight, they are in a much happier place, although the gremlins are not entirely absent.

VIDEO:   https://youtu.be/4bfWohFAG1Y  https://www.facebook.com/Misophoniauk

DREKAVAC: Black metal, masked and leathery, from 'the cold north of the UK', AKA Scotland. Impractical teeth on that lad with the guitar.

VIDEO:  https://youtu.be/7GSSDxhhTjY    https://www.facebook.com/Drekavacmusic

DREICH: I have seen DREICH before, but I'm not convinced that that's the same singer. This one seems smaller, and has less beard. Still quality atmospheric black metal, still from Aberdeen. Joined for a song by the lad from THE BLEACHED, as you will be able to see from the video below. 

VIDEO:   https://youtu.be/HGAWnqtWXzU   https://www.facebook.com/dreich.doom