The Phantoms

Ralph's been a big fan of Edinburgh band The Phantoms since he covered them back in April last year after they played a set at the Ralph's Life CD Launch in Electric Circus for the Rethink Mental Illness charity. They've since played a succession of gigs including the one and only King Tut's in Glasgow.

He's played their single Revolution a few times now on his Radio KC Sunday Show along with a few of their other tracks and they featured in his 2014 Top 100 tracks. Good news is, The Phantoms have released Wasting Time as a single with video and it's a great follow up to the anthemic Revolution.

Focusing on their driving guitar sound backed by thumping drumming and strong vocals it's a fair bet Scotland's DJ's will be pricking their ears up and The Phantoms will again see some serious air play.

No wonder XFM's Jim Gellatly was quoted as saying - "Soaring atmospheric Britpop -What Oasis would have sounded like if they'd listened to The Doors rather than The Beatles." 

Catch them live if you can as they support Cold Ocean Lies in King Tut's on the 14th of March. The Phantoms are Ralph's 'ones to watch' for 2015.




Wasting Time takes their sound to a whole new gritty level, acompanied by a powerful vocal as The Phantoms are very quickly proving to be Scotland's answer to Catfish and The Bottlemen. 

The Phantoms must be favourites for T in The Park's T Break stage this year (Ralph predicted it for The Vigo Thieves three years ago and they've never looked back since).

The Ralph's Life CD Offer

For today only The Ralph's Life Double CD of 40 tracks donated by Indie bands and artists will be available at the bargain price of £8 including postage and all proceeds go to the Mental Health charity Rethink Mental Illness.

All proceeds to Rethink

Price includes UK Postage

So if you're a fan of unsigned Indie music and would like to help raise funds for mental health awareness please join Ralph by buying a copy of the Double CD.



The line up for the Ralph's Life Double CD. Click on the band or artist's name to follow them on Twitter...






The Travelling Band - Took My Soul



Tom Robinson - The Mighty Sword Of Justice


Wullae Wright - Fight Or Flight 

(prod. by Ambrose Chappel)


Culann - Jerusalem


Plum - Casting Shadows


Pumajaw - Mask


Velocets - Secrets

The Varese's - Spotlight


Snippet - Celebration


Elia and The Low Tears - Sweet Lies


Fat Goth - Creepy Lounge



The Bedroom Hour - X Marks The Spot



Jess Harwood - Feeling Fine


The Mutineers - Tell Me Why


Steve Heron - Eleanor


Have Mercy Las Vegas - Pappy


Vukovi - Schwagger

Debs McCoy - Wendy


The Ninth Watch - Forever's a Long Time


The Folk Remedy - Sirens


The Fireflys - Hummingbird


Graham Marshall - Freedom Call


Whispery Club - The Boy


We Came From The Sea - Animalskin

Stillia - You Only Live Once

TiTORS iNSiGNia - Beg, Plead And Pray


Tingle In The Netherlands - Prostitute's Handbag


Helen McCookerybook - Monday's Mood



Mog Stanley - Mind Games


The Low Countries - At The End Of The Day


Robb Murphy - Never Letting You Go


Ambrose Chappel - Pick It Up ( ft. iKashflo)


Twin Hidden - A Berry Bursts


Fiona Soe Paing - Daymoon Sun
(With thanks to the BBC Radiophonic Workshop's
Daphne Oram Trust who gave permission for the 
sample on this track)

Great Reckoning - Bleed For Your Life


Feral Five - Skin

King And Queen Of Sorry - (Couldn't Get) High Enough 


Tea Street Band - Push The Feeling On (Tom Eno Remix)

Mono Life - Disco In Paris

Shiny Rhino - I Love My Radio

Ralph's Life Fundraiser for Rethink Mental Illness

Well it's day 8 in the kennel after starting the Ralph's Life Double CD campaign to raise funds and awareness for The Fine Line Project Rethink Mental Illness.  Forty bands have donated a track to the CD and the crowd funding campaign for it will start on Friday 22nd. 









In the meantime though, Graham Marshall who not only donated a track for the album but has also pledged the fee from his London appearance with Linda Perhacs in London next month is now going to donate the proceeds from the Bandcamp downloads of his single 'Freedom Call' whilst the campaign is active.

You can download it for just £1 by clicking here!

As if that's not enough, his friend and fellow musician Jane Allison has offered to donate the proceeds of her Bandcamp debut single 'Hymn To Hope' to help bolster the funds raised to assist in the awareness and care for mental health in the UK through Rethink.










You can download Jane's single 'Hymn To Hope' by clicking on this link!




Written while hibernating in East Berlin through a long, cold and very harsh winter, Jane emerged with an unexpected album of intimate heartfelt Americana songs that reveal her personal journey, struggles & hopes over the past few years. Hymn To Hope is the first single off the album

Jane Allison is the solo Americana project from Jane Allison Stanness ~ actress, singer songwriter & founder member ofKarmaDeva. As an actress she's recently been in the award winning British TV cult comedy series Hunderby, Nighty Night & Human Remains, also the Simon Pegg movie A Fantastic Fear of Everything.

The Fine Line Project - Charity Concert

The Fine Line Project was set up by a dedicated group of marketing, design, arts and music professionals to provide an online space to support fundraising and awareness for mental health care. and is based in the UK, US, Germany and France.


They organise regular fundraisers in the UK at The Troubadour Club in London but the Southampton Soul Cellar gig is their first foray further South.  They're also in the process of working on something North of the Watford Gap (hopefully Manchester or Liverpool) for later in the year and another Troubadour collaboration is in the pipeline.

In the UK they organise a charity fundraising concert every year in Southampton's Soul Cellar, with an outstandingly talented array of entertainers giving up their time to entertain the gig goers - and this year is no exception.






The fundraising gig will be in aid of Rethink, who celebrate their 40th anniversary this year. They started out as the National Schizophrenia Fellowship, operating at a time when conditions such as schizophrenia and bipolar (then know as manic depression), were barely spoken about. 



Anyone diagnosed with or caring for someone affected by these wide ranging and often debilitating conditions was almost utterly bereft of any support, let alone information. Thanks to the work of Rethink, and that of a few other pioneering charities including SANE (the beneficiaries of another of our ongoing campaigns), times have changed.
  


The headliners on June 8th at the Soul Cellar will be Noah Francis Johnson and Where's Strutter alongside performances from Charlotte Campbell and Mog Stanley.


Noah Francis Johnson was born in Tiger Bay where his mother’s love of Bob Dylan and Sam Cooke taught him to be lyrical and his father taught him stagecraft and developed his voice.  His early career saw him sing and jokedhis way through working men's clubs, laterly he's sung along side Slayer,Lenny Kravitz and Gil Scott Heron and as he says - "Performing in the moment is my most authentic and honest account of myself" - and that along with his strong soulful vocals is exactly what he'll bring to  the Soul Cellar for the Fine Line concert.

Where's Strutter from Manchester were recently 'Tipped For The Top' when they featured on the St Pauls Lifestyle website recently.  The four piece comprising Paddy - Guitar/Vocals, Broady - Drums, Danny - Lead Guitar and Leach - Bass have made a lasting impact in the first years of their career. Their gigs are never shy of high octane performances and eclectic diversity. 

Their music is a driving force, finding acute satisfaction in extreme dynamics and wavy euphonious guitar sounds. From subtle tranquillity to fierce and loud in an instance their energy on stage and on record will always pack a punch.

Charlotte Campbell is a 23 year old singer/songwriter with a quirky folk-pop style.  She's been singing since before she can remember and began playing guitar at 15.  As well as her confident performance ability, she's also a strong song-writer and has been composing her own material from her mid-teens.



​Charlotte Campbell has performed at Glastonbury Festival 2008, Camden Roundhouse and many other well-known venues across the country. BBC Radio 2's Howard Goodall featured her on his 'class acts' programme (17 October 08) as one of the latest crop of superb talent from The Brit School. In 2012 she was also a winner in the Mayor of London Presents "Gigs" competition, in which she played at many prestigious olympic venues. ​

Smooth Indie Blues singer songwriter from Preston Mog Stanley comes armed with guitars and a homemade percussion toe tapping shoe box thing.   Mog Stanley has been playing as a solo alternative blues artist for the last eighteen months.  Playing up and down the country and just as recently as March 2013, has played a couple of shows in France as part of a the Beauvais Blues Festival.  







He's building up a reputation for catchy, primal style blues and giving it a unique slant. He's also starting to build up a good catalogue of songs, as well as developing a confident stage presence.  Currently Mog is in the process of writing and recording his 'as yet untitled' debut album following on from a very positive response to previous releases.








You can in touch with The Fine Line Project wherever you are, they welcome a collaborative and global approach with a focus on the creative.  They all have day jobs, so time is limited and it may take them a while to get back to you but between them they speak English (mostly), French, German and Spanish.