First up, the excellent Adam Holmes and The Embers………..Presents! live showcase continues for a second evening at The Voodoo Rooms on Wednesday 4 April from 8.00pm in The Speakeasy. Tickets £6 on the door. Over 18’s only. Featured acts:

• Adam Holmes and The Embers – “roots pop with a hint of Scotland” they have recorded three critically acclaimed EPs in the last twelve months, and have played sell out gigs throughout the country, including a storming set at Celtic Connections 2012.
• The Deadly Winters – Scottish band of brothers who re-define the term ‘folk-rock’, and take us on musical travels through tales of love, pain, sorrow, joy and friendship, and show us all that sometimes, even whispers can deafen.
• Brigid Kaelin – comfortable on piano, accordion, guitar, or the musical saw “the Bette Midler of Alt-country” was recently voted “Best Singer/Songwriter” in Louisville for the third year in a row.
• White Wolf – New and amazing solo artist……….and not to be missed!

Secondly, Edinburgh Council are asking for responses to new licensing rules for free events –http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/QTZMWXP – and the consultation closes on Friday 13 April 2012. It is really important that you and everyone you know who enjoys free live music and other free arts events in Edinburgh let the council know what you think of this proposed legislation, also known as the “tax on art”. As Irvine Welsh said in today’s Evening News “[the art tax is] a brilliant idea if the intention is to destroy grassroots culture in Scotland.”

Despite the gloom of the art tax and closing of key venues such as Forest Cafe, Roxy Art House, Bongo Club and Cabaret Voltaire (to live music at least), there remain many quality live music events in Edinburgh, such as:

• Out of the Bedroom – Edinburgh’s originals-only open mic night, OOTB is on every Saturday evening from 8.00pm at The Montague Bar.
• The Listening Room – 100% acoustic every Sunday evening from 8.00pm at The Blue Blazer. Like OOTB, recently celebrated its 10th anniversary. Legendary!
• Edinburgh Unlimited – second Wednesday of the month at the the Third Door. Next gig is on Wednesday 11 April at 8pm with featured acts The Dirty Demographic, Dan Whitehouse, and Stephen Langstaff. £3 entry on the door.
• Acoustic Edinburgh – first Tuesday of the month. Next gig is tomorrow(!) Tuesday 3 April at 7.30pm with Gecko 3, Paul Ryan, Rob Sproul-Cran and Hailey Beavis. For Free! Amazing local acts.

Finally, Secret CDs resident DJ King Horror has started his own club night for the discerning music fan called… Grown Ups. Currently for one night only at at The Meadows Hotel on Saturday 21 April it starts at 8pm and is £5 at the door. If you fancy a boogie after Out of the Bedroom this might just be the perfect place for you.  As the GrownUps blurb says “We’re for grown ups who want a night out with cool vibes, great atmosphere and a friendly crowd… Expect rockabilly, soul, R’n’B, French pop, garage, teen beat, new wave, electro, indie and hip hop and everything in between. Think vintage vinyl for fully-fledged funksters – we’re more Bowie than TOWIE. ”

Keep loving the music!
James

OOTB Presents… RELENTLESS ENTERTAINMENT!

Hi everybody. Well, it’s Damien Casey-Boyce who’s the featured act at OOTB tonight (Sat 31 March). Basically it starts at 8pm, we have an hour of open floorspots, then Damien Casey-Boyce, then another hour of open floorspots. The open floorspots are usually pretty impressive because everybody has to write their own material (ie: no covers). If you want to sign up for a floorspot by the way, please get there for about 7:15-7:30pm, as it’s first come, first served.

So yeah, it’s FREE and it’s GOOD, and it’s at The Montague Bar on St Leonards Street in Edinburgh. ALSO, if you know anybody who might like this sort of thing (ie: they enjoy music), then please forward this email to them as well. Spread the word, we’ve got FREE LIVE MUSIC every Saturday at The Montague Bar and there’s no point making a secret of it. In fact check out all the upcoming featured acts we’ve got lined up:

Sat 24 March – Jamie and Shoony Eh – very vigorous newcomers to OOTB, total showmen
Sat 31 March – Damian Casey-Boyce – he actually wrote a theme song for OOTB!
Sat 7th April – The Ferny Brackens – wyrd folk music, with very varied song subjects
Sat 14 April – Colin Milne – His songs are full of real life humour and sometimes tragedy
Sat 21 April – Calum Carlyle – Acoustic anti-pop songs for the 21st century
Sat 28 April – Jo Wilson – he’s back from Pakistan, ready to entrance your brain with music
Sat 5th May – The Keep – an all star lineup which has already turned some heads
Sat 12th May – Laurie Cameron – a top flight performer and songwriter
Sat 19th May – John Watton – a truly gifted guitarist with a lot of great songs to boot!
Sat 26th May – Daniel Scott – fresh faced crooner with a charming smile too.

Not only that but what about TOMORROW (Sun 1 April) eh? It’s The Listening Room at The Blue Blazer on the corner of Bread and Spittal Streets just off Lothian Road. It’s quite similar, it’s FREE, it’s every Sunday, and it’s an hour of open floorspots and then a featured act. Tomorrow night the featured act is Nyk Stoddart/Mutant Lodge – it’ll be a hoot.

ALSO, IN OTHER NEWS…

So yeah, there’s tons of other stuff going on at the moment, my head nearly explodes thinking about it all. For instance tomorrow (1 April) as part of a thing called April Foolery, as many musicians as possible will all be turning up at The Pavilion Cafe in The Meadows at 1pm in the afternoon, and then playing music on the number 23 bus route to protest against the new Entertainment Licensing legislation that’s coming into force. Here’s more information, but if you want to stick up for small venues and live music, then be at The Pavilion Cafe in the The Meadows at 1pm SHARP with your instruments, or just yourselves.

See you all out there in Musicland!

Calum Carlyle
Out of the Bedroom

Hi everybody. Right this week at OOTB the featured act is Jamie and Shoony Eh. They are 100% energy. A young duo with a lot fewer inhibitions than most open mic acoustic performers. You can’t help but get into the party mood with them. Also, two hours of open floorspots which will be filled with Edinburgh’s songwriters! All this for free too, on Saturday at The Montague Bar at 8pm. Don’t miss it!

Spring’s finally sprung, hasn’t it? do you remember it actually snowed on this day last year? Well, it’s sunny now so get yer erse down to OOTB this Saturday, you’ll not regret it. We’ve refilled the silver bag of dreams too, so don’t miss your chance to win a truly original prize!

And here’s some stuff you need to know about our forthcoming featured acts too:

Sat 24 March – Jamie and Shoony Eh – very vigorous newcomers to OOTB, total showmen
Sat 31 March – Damian Casey-Boyce – he actually wrote a theme song for OOTB!
Sat 7th April – The Ferny Brackens – wyrd folk music, with very varied song subjects
Sat 14 April – Colin Milne – His songs are full of real life humour and sometimes tragedy
Sat 21 April – Calum Carlyle – Acoustic anti-pop songs for the 21st century
Sat 28 April – Jo Wilson – he’s back from Pakistan, ready to entrance your brain with music
Sat 5th May – The Keep – an all star lineup which has already turned some heads
Sat 12th May – Laurie Cameron – a top flight performer and songwriter
Sat 19th May – John Watton – a truly gifted guitarist with a lot of great songs to boot!
Sat 26th May – Daniel Scott – fresh faced crooner with a charming smile too.

And here’s your weekend planned out for you:

Fridays – The Ale House Open Mic Night from 9:30pm, at The Ale House on Clerk Street

Saturdays – Out of the Bedroom from 8pm at The Montague Bar on St Leonards Street

Sundays – The Listening Room at The Blue Blazer from 8pm on Bread Street

On Monday you could head along to Whistle Binkies (for what i think is a 10pm start) or on Tuesdays to The Ale House again (for 8pm this time i think?) if you still have the stamina, but save some energy for the OOTB the Saturday following!

Right, i have to dash, i’m getting ready to go to Hailey Beavis’ EP launch tonight at the Bongo Club at 7pm for only £4 with The Gilly Flowers supporting.

See you out there in Musicland!
Calum Carlyle
Out of the Bedroom

OOTB Presents…

This evening it’s the haunting sound of Nyk Stoddart (ably backed, by Calum Carlyle on bass) at OOTB at The Montague Bar at 8pm this evening (17 March), so come along for this quite possibly unique event. Spring is in the air and you’re only young once, plus the rest of the evening will be filled with our usual high quality pot pourri performers in the open floorspots.

In other news, later this week on Thursday 22 March Hailey Beavis will be releasing her EP at The Bongo Club at 7pm, with support from The Gilly Flowers, and it’s only £4 to get in.

Other stuff you should know are the upcoming featured act performers at Out of the Bedroom, and some other nights you might be interested in going to over the weekend:

Sat 17 March – Nyk Stoddart – psychedelic acoustic music, with Calum Carlyle on bass
Sat 24 March – Jamie and Shoony Eh – very vigorous newcomers to OOTB, total showmen
Sat 31 March – Damian Casey-Boyce – he actually wrote a theme song for OOTB!
Sat 7th April – The Ferny Brackens – wyrd folk music, with very varied song subjects
Sat 14 April – Colin Milne – His songs are full of real life humour and sometimes tragedy
Sat 21 April – Calum Carlyle – Acoustic anti-pop songs for the 21st century
Sat 28 April – Jo Wilson – he’s back from Pakistan, ready to entrance your brain with music
Sat 5th May – The Keep – an all star lineup which has already turned some heads
Sat 12th May – Laurie Cameron – a top flight performer and songwriter
Sat 19th May – John Watton – a truly gifted guitarist with a lot of great songs to boot!
Sat 26th May – Daniel Scott – fresh faced crooner with a charming smile too. 🙂

Fridays – The Ale House Open Mic Night from 9:30pm, at The Ale House on Clerk Street

Saturdays – Out of the Bedroom from 8pm at The Montague Bar on St Leonards Street

Sundays – The Listening Room at The Blue Blazer from 8pm on Bread Street

On Monday you could head along to Whistle Binkies (for what i think is a 10pm start) or on Tuesdays to The Ale House again (for 8pm this time i think?) if you still have the stamina, but save some energy for the OOTB the Saturday following!

Oh yes, just wanted to say thanks to any of you who came to Edinburgh Unlimited on Wednesday. All the performers have some connection to OOTB this time and we all had a rollicking time, and you were all part of making it happen. 🙂

See you out there in Musicland!

Calum Carlyle
Out of the Bedroom

And the featured act this week is Norman Laomnt, ably assisted by James Whyte! Norman’s a really good songwriter as well as a pillar of Edinburgh’s acoustic music community, so come along and have a great time for free at The Montague Bar this evening, open floorspots as usual, and it’s at 8pm. Original music for original people.

Take care out there!

Calum Carlyle
Out of the Bedroom

OOTB Presents… Union Canal!

I’m sorry it’s been a while folks, i have been busier than usual, really, and i’m genuinely sorry i didn’t email to tell you about Kat McKenzie’s featured act set last week, but you all know where the OOTB website and FB group is by now…

Speaking of which Roisin Russell has been posting tons of OOTB videos onto our FB page, why not check them all out? Hours of fun for the whole family, thanks Roisin, for recording these for posterity.

And the same goes for Malcolm Mclean‘s tireless efforts to photograph OOTB from start to finish, scores of his excellently vivid photos are on the FB page as well.

This week (Saturday 18 February) Union Canal are the featured act at OOTB, 8pm start, 7:15 (approx) signup for performers, free admission, at The Montague Bar on St Leonards Street. Union Canal were excellent at the most recent Edinburgh Unlimited, so come to OOTB and check them out if you didn’t see them there (and if you did see them there, you’ll know they’re worth hearing again!)

Also on Sunday the 19th of February, starting from around 7pm.it’s the Matt Norris and the Moon thank you gig, in the back room of the White Horse pub on the Royal Mile. Free entry and limited seating, so get there early!

What else? The Ale House on Friday nights at 9:30pm, it’s still awesome, the Listening Room at The Blue Blazer on Sunday at 8pm every week, again, awesome, plus sauce, the Ale House has an open mic on Tuesdays too, and there are many others, one in Nobles in Leith on Thursdays (9pm start?) and one in Walkabout at the Omni at 9pm on Thursdays too, plus there’s a nice one in Bannerman’s (underneath South Bridge on the Cowgate) on Sundays from 2pm till 4pm.

Aw, you can tell it’s late and i’m tired…

See you all out there in Musicland!

Calum Carlyle
Out of the Bedroom

This week (TONIGHT) the featured act is.. let’s see, it’s… HOLY CRAP it’s DARREN HENDRIE! i’ve been waiting months for this lad to get a full featured act set, he’s awesome. Mesmeric, let’s say. Don’t miss it. It’s tonight (Sat 4 Feb) at The Montague Bar at 8pm and it’s free, PLUS there will be two hours from all of Edinburgh’s best singer songwriters (yes, ALL of them!)

Then tomorrow at The Listening Room at the Blue Blazer at 8pm it’s an hour of kickass floorspots then the properly amazing (i am NOT exaggerating) LAKE MONTGOMERY! For Free! And that’s sunday 5 Feb.

What else… NEXT WEEK it’s Edinburgh Unlimited at The Third Door (or Medina, you know, downstairs in Negociants) and for only £3, you get four bands, which are UNION CANAL, DAN GILLAN, DUSTY CUT, and TURNING PLATES. don’t miss it, seriously it looks like being a huge extravaganza of music. And don’t be late either, we’re starting promptly to fit as much music in as possible. And that’s 8pm on Wednesday 8 Feb at The Third Door.

Also, the Ale House on Clerk Street has open mic nights on Tuesdays and Fridays which are always awesometastic, 9pm starts for those i think, and the Captain’s Bar, and tons of other places have stuff on, check your facebook and google!

Also, February Album Writing Month just started, have you written and uploaded any songs yet? Why not FFS! Even i’ve done one and my shoulder’s busted!

Finally, you know tons of people who love live music, i know you do. Please forward them this email and get them to sign up to our mailing list so they get this mailout every week. They will thank you later if not immediately.

Okay that’s it, see you out there in musicland!

Calum Carlyle
Out of the Bedroom

OOTB Presents… Al Young!

hi everybody. i’m typing this with my left hand only, due to an injury so this week it’ll be short and sweet.

Al Young is this week’s featured act (on saturday 28 january), don’t miss it, he’s got a spellbinding touch to his songwriting.

As for listings, there are a lot of good things on as usual over the next week, but rather than rave about them, here are some links. please click them.

http://www.facebook.com/events/157499561027825/

http://www.facebook.com/events/149009341880425/

http://www.theskinny.co.uk/event/48497-rm_hubbert

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rvot4RYamtU&feature=share

http://www.facebook.com/events/112451098874484/

That’s it, all the usual ale house/listening room/captain’s bar stuff is on as usual, check your facebook invites!

hopefully i’ll type more next week, take care till then!

Calum Carlyle
Out of the Bedroom

OOTB Presents… Dave Keir

Oh dear, well i’ve been through the wars this week, not that that’s particularly relevant here, but anyway that is the reason for this slightly tardy and rather short OOTB email this week.

Okay, OOTB is now on Saturdays, at The Montague Bar (practically across the road from St Leonards Street police station), and it starts at 8pm. We’ve got a half hour featured act every week, and at least eight open floorspots. If you’d like to sign up for a floorspot, 7:30pm‘s probably the latest you can do that because the slots are allocated on a first-come/first-served basis by the host of the evening on the night, no phoning in advance or getting a friend to sign you up. PLUS we don’t allow cover versions. You can perform whatever you like (at the discretion of the bar, that is, and the law, of course!) so long as you wrote it yourself. Also it’s free, and the standard is usually very high, so bring your friends and have a listen, this is not just a night for performers!

This week the featured act is Dave Keir. I’ve heard him several times and got his CDs and he’s very very good. He writes intriguing songs, and his fingerstyle guitar playing really reminds me of John Renbourn amongst others. His 45 minute set at the Listening Room a couple of months ago was great and his set at the four hundred and fifty seventh Out Of The Bedroom this coming Saturday (14 January!) will no doubt be at least as good. Don’t miss it, honestly, for free this is pretty much the best gig in town this Saturday! 🙂

And on Sunday another free one, this time at Medina (ahem i mean The Third Door). We had an excellent band at Edinburgh Unlimited on Wednesday just past, called Small Feet, Little Toes, and they will be playing a FREE gig at the Third Door on Lothian Street on Sunday at 7pm, here’s a quick preview of their music: http://www.myspace.com/rachelandersonmusic

And the Ale House open mic and the Listening Room at the Blue Blazer are on as usual, tonight (Friday) at 9:30pm, and on Sunday at 8pm, respectively, they are always good.

And that’s it, sorry if i missed anything out i am highly preoccupied with emergencies at the moment and can’t really devote hours and hours to this email any more, though i will continue to do my best to bring you regular roundups and previews of the OOTB weekly nights, as well as choice listings details and other goodies like free downloads. DO forward this email to your friends if you think they would be interested in this stuff, and get them to sign up on the mailing list themselves (which they can do at www.outofthebedroom.co.uk of course).

Thanks, and keep on rockin’!

Calum Carlyle
Out of the Bedroom