GOLOMB, SNEAKY PETE'S, EDINBURGH, AUGUST 25 2026

Foreigners in Edinburgh in August, and NOT PART OF THE FESTIVAL!

Line-up:

SCARRED LIP: Local indie veterans, ding what they do and doing it very well. A sneaky preview of some new songs, too, more of which will be revealed in October.

VODEO:   https://youtu.be/tVIhIE-ogpM   https://www.instagram.com/scarredlipband/

GOLOMB: Ohio indie/psych kids, who have been around longer than their youthful appearance would suggest. Their first time in Edinburgh. Very, very good. Hopefully they'll be back.

VIDEO HERE:   https://youtu.be/UFImXmPF5eY   https://www.instagram.com/golombgolombgolomb

ORA COGAN, SNEAKY PETE'S, EDINBURGH, MARCH 24 2026

 Something a bit different. Definitely not metal.

Sneaky Pete's is STILL excessively smokey, though. I don't know why they feel it necessary to pump so much smoke into the room. There's no need for it.

Line-up:

ATTICUS MERCREDI: Canadian/native American singer/songwriter and percussionist in ORA COGAN's band, going solo with songs exploring his childhood and Native American roots. He's never done this before, so maybe that would explain why he seems a little nervous.

VIDEO:    https://youtu.be/yrk8GMHLSFQ  https://www.facebook.com/jeffrey.mercredi

ORA COGAN: Hard to pin down, this. Part country, part folk, part Americana, part psychedelic and part goth. But not as goth as I expected, to be honest, apart from her bat-winged boots. Also Canadian.

She seems a little bemused by the tiny stage in Sneaky Pete's, and is prone to frequent fits of giggling.

VIDEO:   https://youtu.be/cR7hMtlOkO8     https://www.facebook.com/oracoganmusic

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

YOWL, SNEAKY PETE'S, EDINBURGH, JANUARY 20 2026

2026 continues to be a year of bands I've never seen before, have never heard of, and have no clue about.  Here's another three. The only thing I know about these bands is how to spell their names.

Please excuse the appalling pics, but the smoke machine was working overtime and the bands were barely visible much of the time.

Line-up:

SAVE FACE: Gentle indie-pop. With a trumpet. At the merch desk they have many t-shirts for sale, but no recorded music. Nice stuff, though, even if it's very hard to see them at times, due to the ridiculously thick smoke on stage.

VIDEO:  https://youtu.be/bk1RsMVg3Zg   https://www.instagram.com/savefaceband/

3P SLOT MACHINE: Psychedelic alt-folk oddness featuring lap-steel guitar, something which might be a djembe, and slacker-esque vocals. And a very tall bass player. They have an EP available, but they don't play any of the songs from it, for... reasons. Great fun.

VIDEO:  https://youtu.be/LqfJxmAxmyE   https://www.instagram.com/3pslotmachine/

YOWL: Robust indie/post-punk balladeers based in, but not actually from, London, not unlike a rougher DAY SLEEPER. They go down well with the crowd, and quite rightly so.

VIDEO:  https://youtu.be/vO-qglILw1k  https://www.facebook.com/yowlmusic

VOLKA, SNEAKY PETE'S, EDINBURGH, JANUARY 9 2026

 All right 2026, let's be having you!

It's not been, relatively speaking, a long winter hiatus this time. Only 3 weeks since the last thing, and already gigs are piling up for 2026. Back in Sneaky's for Gig 1.

Line-up:

HEMLOCK: There's two of them, they're from Glasgow, and they do, apparently, desert rock.

And, indeed, there ARE two of them and they do, indeed, play some kind of desert rock. Like Queens of the Stone Age blended with a grungy variety of Stereophonics, if that makes any sense. They're very good. AND they finish with a sturdy cover of QOTSA's 'Song for the Dead'.

VIDEO:   https://youtu.be/7CcajAtj7E0   https://www.instagram.com/hemlock_official_

BRASSER: There's two of them, they're from Glasgow, and they do, apparently, post-punky alt-rock. Actually, I HAVE seen these lads a couple of times before, and have absolutely no objection to seeing them again. Which I don't, because they have some kind of family emergency and can't play.

VOLKA: Noisy alt-rock from nearby Livingston. Never seen them before, no idea what they sound like. What can possibly go wrong?

Nothing, as it happens. Despite this being their first gig in about 14 months. Are they rusty? How the fuck should I know? But they sound fine - rousing emo-ish alt-rock songs with big sing-along choruses. It's easy to forgive them for coming from Livingston.

VIDEO:  https://youtu.be/jYiYCvNn9QQ   https://www.facebook.com/volkaband

DR. SALAD, SNEAKY PETE'S, EDINBURGH, DECEMBER 16 2025

OK, so the HAMMER gig wasn't the last gig of the year after all. A last minute invitation brings me this. I have no idea who these people are. Or what they do.

LINE-UP:

SCARRED LIP: Last minute replacements for THE RAEBURN BROTHERS. You should know who they are by now. Cinematic, alt-country, grunge, indie, alt-rock - all of these and more. I'm only here because their man Matthew asked me along. 

VIDEO:  https://youtu.be/kbam7MD3Gxc   https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100093419917600    https://www.instagram.com/scarredlipband/

THE RAEBURN BROTHERS: Unable to play, Replaced at the last minute by them up there. So I still have no idea what they do.

DR. SALAD: Having seen them in action, I STILL have no idea what these guys do. They call themselves 'Heavy Romance', which is as good a descriptor as any, I suppose. 'Jangly, melodic, salady, spicy, saucy, sultry, sxc, stringy strong, succulent, seductive, saoochay, smoky, silly, silky...' in their own words. All of that, I guess. They're actually very entertaining, definitely silly, but smart and very skilled musicians. They remind me of a Cambridge Footlights version of indie-pop. Featuring the skankiest Strat I think I've ever seen. Looks like it's been used to remove somebody's burst appendix before digging a hole to bury it in.

                                       

VIDEO:   https://youtu.be/uayUQZAsGXY   https://www.facebook.com/DrSaladBoys