The FudBlog: blues

Showing posts with label blues. Show all posts

Monday, June 1, 2026

HADDSTOCK, RAILWAY HOTEL, HADDINGTON, MAY 30 2026

Living in a wee village in East Lothian, I feel lucky to have three annual music/arts festivals within a ten minute driving radius. DUNBAR MUSIC FESTIVAL in the autumn, North Berwick's FRINGE BY THE SEA in the summer, and Haddington's HADDSTOCK in the spring. Haddington is only about 5 miles from Fud Towers, so it would be rude not to go have a look at what HADDSTOCK has to offer.

Being a mixed-arts kind of thing, it's a bit like North Berwick's FRINGE BY THE SEA, but not by the sea. Or in North Berwick. There's arty stuff, poetry stuff, buskery stuff, and all that, but it's the musicy stuff I'm after.

Being, as I am, somewhat parsimonious by nature, I ignore the main events in the Corn Exchange (which require financial outlay) and opt for the musical delights on offer at the RAILWAY HOTEL. Still, not being a total cheapskate, I DO chuck some money in the tin at the door.

Line-up:

THE WAXING QUARTER: The first live outing for indie/alt-rock new kids. Coldplay/Elbow/Travis adjacent. But better than Coldplay. To be fair, EVERYBODY is better than Coldplay.

Oddly, the biggest audience of the day. Clearly, they have lots of friends & family along to see their first gig. Goes well, though.

VIDEO: https://www.facebook.com/thewaxingquarter

HENRY THE NAVIGATOR: 60s/70s style R&B and blues. Obscure covers, mostly, of songs from the likes of Jeff Beck and Jimmy Reed. Great stuff, and proof that age is no barrier. They're not as old as Keith Richards, though. Too cool for the socials, it seems.

VIDEO: https://youtu.be/Y0jU7-AOD9Q https://soundcloud.com/henry-the-navigator

AUTOMATIC WRITER: Jangly indie with a distinctive Scottish flavour. Joined for a couple of songs by guest singer/guitarist possibly called DAN. That's him with the acoustic guitar.

It's really hot in here, now, and the guitarist's daughter (I think) nips out to bring back a handful of paper towels for brow-mopping.

VIDEO: https://youtu.be/i8fN7j5_N44 https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100090015565674

OPERATION WOLF: Mostly gloomy, occasionally jolly 80s/90s style synth pop. Very DEPECHE MODE/HUMAN LEAGUE. Keytar included. Not as loud as they need to be, struggle to be heard over the very chatty audience. Judging by the number of children who turn up to watch, I reckon one of the members is a teacher. Or has a LOT of kids. I need to watch where I'm standing to avoid the wee girl sitting on the floor just behind me.

VIDEO: https://youtu.be/scD8CBAKU-4 https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61578235396059

UNDER-VOLT: Loudest band of the day. Jed on guitar and Vini on drums, blues-heavy riff'n'roll, and the only band of the day that I've seen before. I'm curious to see how they go down with the very mixed audience - from little kids to grannies - but they seem to be quite popular.

VIDEO: https://youtu.be/Id0fVa5Z658 https://www.facebook.com/undervoltband

So, that was fun. Remarkably good sound in the venue. But very, very warm. Sweaty. I'll be watching out for this next year.

Friday, October 18, 2024

THE FIERCE AND THE DEAD, SNEAKY PETE'S, EDINBURGH, OCTOBER 2024

It's been a while - twelve years, in fact - since I last saw these lads. About time for another look, I reckon...

Line-up:

BIG HOGG: Glaswegian five-piece, a melange of styles and genres from the 70s including - but not limited to - prog, soul. jazz. blues, folk, r&b, funk and good ol' British rock. The last song of their set even features a driving space-rock-esque bass line that Hawkwind would have been comfortable with. Includes trombone and flute but, fortunately, manages to avoid the honking monstrosity that is the saxophone. Great fun.

VIDEO: https://youtu.be/VFYWWMIw6Os https://www.facebook.com/bighoggband

THE FIERCE AND THE DEAD: Like I said above, it's been 12 years since I saw these lads and, coincidentally, 12 years since they last played Edinburgh. That's not where I saw them, though. That was in Leeds. And they've not changed much. Or they've changed quite significantly, depending on how you look at it.

They still play a hard-to-classify blend of mathy post-rock, prog, and straight-up rawk, same as they always did, but they have now added vocals into the mix. Because why not? Guitarist Matt Stevens still throws some impressive rock shapes, but has lost the beard he had last time. Bassist Kevin Feazey now does the singy stuff, and has gained a few beard inches. There's a keyboard player now, too, at the back where nobody can see him. As you might expect for a band that has been together for 14 years, they seem supremely comfortable with each other, the banter comes easily and naturally, and it's all effortlessly entertaining. The new songs are received as enthusiastically as the old instrumental material, which is nice. Great stuff.

VIDEO: https://youtu.be/x_Cu9t3-L4k https://www.facebook.com/fierceandthedead

By the way, apologies for the lateness of this post, but I managed to delete the whole thing just as it was ready to go and I've had to redo it from the start.

Friday, March 15, 2024

LUCID SINS, BANSHEE LABYRINTH, EDINBURGH, MARCH 9 2024

The second of last weekend's Banshee gigs, this one featuring two very different acts from Glasgow. Also, I'd resolved my camera issues. A memory card fault, it seems. Which is nice, as £16 for a new memory card is significantly better than £300 for a new camera.

Line-up:

CHEER: A fellow in a hat, playing some very American folk/blues instrumentals. Made me think of shabby hobos riding steam trains across the prairies, for some reason. Doesn't seem to do Facebook, which is probably wise these days.

VIDEO: https://youtu.be/XDukz3t0D-M

LUCID SINS: 'Occult psychedelia' from Glasgow, never played a gig in Edinburgh before. Very retro, apparent influences include Sabbath, Focus, Yes, a bit of old Thin Lizzy, a touch of Santana, a hint of Steely Dan and a host of others. Not fans of fascists.

VIDEO: https://youtu.be/Gpb17lNwEqw https://www.facebook.com/Lucidsins

Friday, July 14, 2023

RITUAL KING, LEGENDS, EDINBURGH, DECEMBER 3 2022

In an odd twist of fate, this archive post features the first ever gig of a band whose most recent gig was featured in the previous post. If that makes sense.

LINE-UP:

OBSIDIAN SAND: Proggy post-something new kids.

VIDEO: https://youtu.be/3znzftS9UIo https://www.facebook.com/ObsidianSand

ACIDSAURUS BONG: The aforementioned first gig from local dinosaurian swamp-beasts. Have they, you ask, evolved at all in the last seven months? Well...no.