The Colourful Band

Hi , been a long time , a long lonely time.

But I have been back at the page writing like a b*******

Album 1 in progress.

Ian

Hi, given my rant last week about the poor quality of writing on the net, I appreciate that you may hit snooze halfway through this.

However, I was out in Edinburgh at a local gig and thought I would report back on the good health of the underground music here and the community.

Henry’s Cellar was good and busy for Chris Devotion and the Expectations (CD &EX), a Glasgow 4 piece post punk / rock and roll band. They took the roof off the joint, and were well supported by My Tiny Robots, and Morris Major. A good start for the Ides of Toad gig calender. The CD & EX album was exchanged for seven pounds of my hard earned money and will be played on the stereo this week. It was produced by Andy Miller, with whom we worked on the first EP (The Colourful EP) at Chem 19. He has since set up his own recording studio at Gargleblast. And you can hear the signature drum sound and sharpness on their single A Modest Refusal.

After the gig we headed over to catch up with the crowd who had been at the Rob St John gig .They had by the sounds of things played an excellent set to a good sized crowd at The Banshee Labyrinth formerly known as Nicol Edward. It was good to see old familiar faces from the local music community out and about and finding new (although in very established) venues to play in.

Today I needed  a hike in the Pentland hills overlooking Edinburgh, the Forth and Fife to clear the head and work off the bevs

Cheers Edinburgh

http://chrisdevotion.bandcamp.com/

http://www.mytinyrobots.com/

http://www.morrismajor.co.uk/

http://songbytoad.com

http://www.gargleblastrecords.com/ 

https://www.facebook.com/rob.saint.john

Dear friends,

I have eventually got some writing time so here is an update on the music front.

After last year’s offensive on the live front as a full band, we are once again changing shape and form, as Dave C is moving down south, after being the drummer at many shows including Kelburn Garden Part, King Tuts and The Cluny, Dave we will miss you man.

Steve has been bought a sax for Christmas and was last seen panhandling on the Marseille docks moonlighting as a Louisiana drifter.

Its a funny thing, it really takes time and work from all members of a band to get a live act on the go and I’m really happy with 2011. Big thanks to all the lads in the band and also to the people who came to our shows in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Newcastle. We played at some great venues to over 100 people at a time in some cases which was a new experience for us all.

I would also like to thank the other bands that we performed with, many of whom have been consistently putting that level of effort in for longer than we could, in all fairness conceivably manage to do.

Particularly Blackcatwhitecat from Sheffield who are the best band Ive played on the same bill as. With rock and roll act of this kind of quality it takes a group with the lifestyle of a band to carry on. Hence most bands do it for a while, dont make a living at it, and have to spend time on other things.

But, and here is the truth, I would rather not stop making music, but have to accept that for now, a band is not a realistic way to go about doing it.

So, with that in mind this year I have moved to a little place in the countryside just outside Edinburgh, where I have started writing for a new project with other members of the band pitching in as and when  time permits, but with Jon starting to get creative aswell , it frees me up to play more guitar and write less about my own experience. Which , lets face it, you can only do so much of without becoming overwhelmingly self aware

Yesterday in Avalanche Records , Kev, the owner reminded me that the self aware miserable thing is what sells in his shop, so I will pitch in a bit of that just for good old measure. And since I have written a bit of that , as well a some light hearted satire, I think Im due some time playing music as well as the rigour of writing.

Living in the country side…..yawn, almost time for River Cottage. So anyway I had a really good weekend jamming with Jon, watching the shop for Kev whilst he got a toastie, keeping me late for getting a haircut and having a lovey lunch today, I salute you all and hope to keep the tunes coming this year , in whatever way possible.Keep writing and doing creative things or reading and listening to mine. In the end whatever makes you feel better. Because you deserve to.

Lots of Love

Ian

TCB

Hi,

pleased to have some shows coming up.

Glasgow ; King tuts  19th August The Colourful Band support The Mars Patrol

Tickets are £5 and just email me on

mckelvie12@hotmail.com and I will sort / reserve some for yer

Edinburgh; Lach’s antihoot Sat 6th August, short 2 song set midnight downstairs in Teviot

Yup, were going on as a 4 piece this weekend.

Downstairs stage at the almighty Barrowland

New as well as earlier material.

Should be quality.

Hope to see you there, starts at 7.

Drop me a line at mckelvie12@hotmail.com if you want a tick

 Ian

We will be appearing over the summer in various guises.

Dates TBC

TCB x ( been waititng to do that for a while)

This is 2 minutes 56 of utter guitar joy.

The video is terrible so Im not posting a link.

but the song is tremendous.