Ralph's Pinterest
OK bands you know the score.....
the more hits your blog gets by the fans.....
the higher you go.....
the higher you go.....
So Tweet it, Facebook it.....
and generally expose yourself.....
Now Mr Snuggles and me have been sitting with our heads down counting the hits on each bands blog to see who's got which place.
So here it is.....
The Top Ten Blogged Band Chart .....
No 1.....The Phantoms
The Phantoms are Colin Simpson on Vocals and Rhythm Guitar, Colin McKillop on Lead Guitar, Peter Stewart on Bass and Backing Vocals with Brad Young on Drums. They began with local gigs in their home town of Broxburn, and have since branched out into Edinburgh and Glasgow, landing gigs at venues such as Cab Vol, The Electric Circus, The Liquid Rooms, Maggie Mays, Sneaky Petes and Pivo Pivo, getting them noticed on the way by Jim Gellatly et al.
No 2.....The Darlingtons
Now it's no secret that Ralph's a fan of Sheffield band The Darlingtons so it's with no small amount of glee that I heard they've just released their second single as an autonomous unit and it's another gem. 'Rotations' bursts into guitar driven loveliness as they bring us more of their well conceived, lyrically strong, Indie music.
Ralph normally concentrates on unsigned UK Indie however when he heard London Alt Pop Duo Thumpers (Marcus Pepperell on vocal, guitar, keyboards and John Hamson Jr. on vocal, bass, drums) are going to be playing just round the corner from the kennel at Central Library, St Helens in May it was time to take a look and a listen. They announced the release of their debut album 'Galore' on Sub Pop records and it's been receiving no small amount of critical acclaim and heavy airplay (yes Ralph's given them a spin on Radio KC) including on Radio 1's Huw Stephens show.
Ralph's played Derby band The Sons single 'Death Love Money' on his Radio KC Indie Show a couple of times so it's about time he took a listen to the recently released album 'Heading Into Land' funded by fans and friends. It's a well crafted slice of alt-folk which leans on a variety of musical styles.
It's just over a year since Ralph did a fascinating Q & A with Louie of Hector Bizerk and a lot's happened in the interim including Audrey being nominated in Hit Like A Girl, winning Best Hip Hop in the Scottish Alternative Music Awards and jetting off to debut in New York!
Third of the Scottish bands featured this week (Tijuana Bibles on Monday and Laykiller Caterpillar on Tuesday - do pay attention) is the increasingly impressive Fatherson. With the long awaited, much vaunted album about to be released (7th April) they're embarking on a UK album release tour and only this morning have released a video for one of the new tracks - 'I Like Not Knowing'. The good news for me is I've had a listen to the album on the QT and I can assure you the hype is not without merit - the bad news for you is, the wait 'til April 7th!
The new KynchinLay EP (launch night May 9th) has just dropped into the kennel, giving Ralph the chance to have a listen in advance. The Liverpool trio have been working hard to provide a bigger sound and with this excellently produced EP ('Dogfathers' and 'Leave Me Alone' were mixed at Motor Museum) they've achieved that.
No 8....Ian Roland
It's no secret that despite his penchent for Indie rock music, Ralph's fond of a bit of Alt-Folk too. So when the new EP 'Helicopter' by Ian Roland dropped into the inbox it was on with the headphones
No 9.....Duke and The Darlings
Wullae Wright is capturing the same raw intensity of vocals that an early Robert Plant did. Not only that his almost psychadelic guitar on the track also has the same haunting tones found on early Zep tracks. An old rock soul in a young body.
