Edinburgh's original open mic night

Calum Haddow

in his own words

Which OOTB performer really rocks your boat?

Props to Big Jim. He's a Champion. He's probably got the power of flight or something. I have to admit, I downloaded his song I Found Love, listened over and over again, tried (in vain) to work out the guitar part and learned the lyrics. Sang it to my girl. She approved.

What was your worst musical experience

Singing Closing Time really badly at kareoke while destroyed on cheap vodka. Realised that I couldn't hit the note in the chorus.

What's the best song you've written so far?

I dunno, I like to think I'm getting a bit better as I go along, so I'd like to say one of my later ones. Death To The Animals seems to go down quite well, but I think people might be getting a bit tired of hearing me play it. Hmm.

What's the best songwriting advice you've ever had?

One of mates pointed out that I'd written a really shoddy line that was only there to rhyme and served no other purpose. I learned never to write on autopilot.

What's your favourite song of all time?

Tommy by Kelly Joe Phelps, Evaporated by Ben Folds Five, Nick the Stripper by the Birthday Party and Toxicity by System of a Down.

What's an album you've enjoyed recently?

Miss Machine by The Dillinger Escape Plan is blistering. Still, pretty poppy by their standards. Setting Fire To Sleeping Giants is bloody amazing, I'm still trying to learn it...

How would your best reviewer describe you?

"Wrist-slitting, world hating menace". Hah. One of the OOTB reviewers said that, but then again, they also said that the guy before me was "the next Kurt Cobain". Hmm.

How would your worst critic describe you?

"Well, it was nice. I suppose. Didn't really sway me one way or the other". I'd much rather people hated me than were indifferent. Apathy really insults me.

Who'd be in your fantasy band?

Me on rhythm guitar and backing vocals, Serj Tankian (System of a Down) on lead vocals, Joey Jordison (Slipknot) on drums, Nick Zinner (Yeah Yeah Yeahs) on lead guitar and Robert Sledge (Ben Folds Five) on bass. And some mad git at the back making noises with machines.

at OOTB

(April 2004)
It had been a while since Calum Haddow marched onto Red Square, aka the Waverley stage, and he showed just what we’d been missing tonight. “Lighthouse”, about when his crew took on So’ Solid Crew apparently, was confident and assured and the change in style from laconic to almost rockabilly in the song sounded unfeasibly natural. The quirky, offbeat “Quicksand” was about someone with ‘a lack of resolve’ and nothing to do with Rap collectives. The melodious, radiant “Pronouns” was unusual and interesting and brought a fine set to a close.

(July 2004)
Calum turned out to be the last man to walk the long walk from the fireplace end of the room to the stage and immediately summed up the audience's current state with the perceptive comment "I know you're getting tired!" Well one thing was sure, Calum wasn't tired, in fact he was "in an angry mood" so decided to play his "angry set" - not sure if you get "angry sets" at Toys-r-us these days but Calum's got a well wound up one if you ever want to borrow it. Calum's three songs and I may not have their correct titles, "Slow it down" "Too scared to carry on" and "Crazy Wild" seem to represent a school of fired up car crash song writing. Here convention is blown to smithereens in a barrage of frustration and rage expressed in song and guitar attack. Calum's blitzkrieg includes violent images and hormonal-like mood swings that is sometimes quite scary to listen to. I'm not sure where Calum is going with this but I'm certainly glad he's not holding it in. I think I need to hear his "peaceful set", which I hope exists somewhere, in order to make a balanced judgement. He soldiered on with his set burning out like the Wicker Man and despite suffering group exhaustion even at the late hour (1215) Calum's energetic efforts were rewarded with hearty applause.