....................

Ali K. asked me to write a blog. So I’ve written one.

We played a really fun gig last Sunday at the Listening
Room. Haven’t had so much musical fun in ages. I contributed some stage banter
too for the first time. I think this helped to some nice comments about how
entertaining we were. J
Some people also said that we sounded good which is an added bonus. While I
personally play music for my own enjoyment, it’s also nice when you appear to
be keeping the attention of everybody in the room. So thanks to The Listening
Room and Lindsay  for the gig. Thanks too
for Louisa for putting up with us practising all weekend and Matt for valuable
feedback (yeah, I know that bass solo is *too* long, but it makes Ali smile and
I’m pretty sensible for the rest of the set I think). Thanks also to my dad for
bringing beer mid set J

What else, oh year, playing a longer set (up to an hour) is
great. You really get a chance to get stuck into the music and enjoy yourself.
As Ali’s songs are generally pretty short (which is a good thing, personally I
think most people try too hard to write long songs ) we fitted 13 songs into
the set. We also had the best set list, decorated on A3 paper by Louisa. I
think that helped set the AlKandAlC mood from the word go.

So, I guess we’ve now reached a bit of a ceiling. I know I’m
not exactly what we should aim to do next. I guess getting a good album
recorded. But apart from that, hmmm. Play at the Ark/Henry’s again? Meh. Could
arrange a few new songs, but then we already have around 15 which is more than
enough for a set or two, especially if we mix in the odd cover.

This is a weird feeling. Not sure being satisfied and
content suits me. It’s resulted in a lack of enthusiasm for playing. Sure it
will only last a little while, but, weird. I’ve actually achieved everything I
want as far as playing with Ali goes. At least, everything that can be done
without kidnapping Ali and keeping him captive til he gets some decent takes
done for the AlKandAlC album J
Then we can try and blag a gig at a folk festival J or something.

Any suggestions for where to go next are most welcome!

Alasdair out.

Hello, I've finally got around to starting a myspace for some of my silly little acoustic tunes which are roughly recorded so i don't forget them. Thought i might put them online to see if i get any feedback....if you've a moment do visit myspace.com/alastairkilgour. Al and Al are still top priority although with me living in Berwick at the moment its been harder to collaborate. Thanks, Ali

Now that the band EP has been recorded (it'll be uploaded to last.fm soon....) it's back to concentrating on the acoustic stuff (another Forest Gig first Wednesday of August don't you know).

So, we've done some rough and ready recordings of the new set and stuck them here. Lots of mistakes etc.... one take wonders!

Hope you enjoy them Louisa

Hello.
Al C here. What a tiring day. :) Looking forward to a nice meal. But, we have managed to record a 5 track EP.

Alastair Kilgour - Electric Guitar and Vocals
Jenny Sturgeon - Vocals
Alasdair Clarke - Fretted and Fretless Basses
Lucy Cradden - Fiddle
Niki Boyle - Drums

Hopefully we'll get it mixed on Wednesday :) Then just have to sort out the artwork and decide how many super deluxe digipak cases to get done. Nothing but the best for us. Shame doing a vinyl version is out of the question....

Anyway, pretty pleased with how it all turned out. Only disapointment is that the tempo ebbs and flows, like the tide. But hey, that probably what happens when you try and record 5 band tracks in 1 and a half hours. :)

Tracklist:

Amy
Its Time I Learnt To Sail
Back To The House
Fake Beggars
Emily


Personally, I'm now looking forward to the next acoustic gig (first Wednesday of August at the good ole Forest Cafe). A fresh new acoustic set. Then bring on autumn, hopefully some band gigs, add a couple of new songs to the band's set. And get an acoustic album recorded :) It's all go.

Have a nice evening
Alasdair

Hi everyone,

Seeing that Al's added a link to some of the "rough" live stuff recorded a few weeks ago at our third gig, i thought i'd pinch a few and replace some of our more gentle acoustic songs uploaded here. I could add the "live for one week only" tag but lets be honest i'm not that organised to take them down again in seven days...

Hope you enjoy them as much as we did playing them :)

Ali

p.s we're known as the "Al and Al band", we all liked "Al et al" but i'm not smart enough to pull that off on stage.... 

 

bye for now

 

Hello.
if any of you are interested, there are some recordings from the Henry's gig. You can download them from ym blog:

http://riadsala.co.uk/2008/05/23/a-rough-and-i-mean-rough-recording-of-the-al-and-al-band/

Enjoy. And sorry for the bits that don't sound so great. :)

Hello,

Al C here. Just thought I should post a self congratulary post as we recorded a new song this afternoon, now titled "Talk All Day." From start to  finish it took less and an hour and a half There's something to be said about not worrying about mistakes and that illusionary concept known as "perfection." Just plug in and go baby...

Anyway, so that's good ;) One of my favourite songs in the set. Although now that the "new song" has been recorded, it's now the "old new song" and there's a new "new song." Not a "new new song" mind. That would be something different. Anyway, this new song is really good. Going to have my work cut out trying to get my bass playing up to the level needed to do the song justice. As Al K said earlier, "It's got different parts, like an opera."

In other news, the band are having a jam this afternoon. Lucy suggested the band should be called "Tot-Al," but that's far too clever for us. Looking forward to it. Hopefully introducing some American country to the set, in the form of a James McMurty tune. And Ali's taking his electric guitar down! Woo

So long...

Another packed house for another musical extravaganza (organised and made to happen, as always by The Bluesfather – thankyou!). After the usual, and somewhat quirky mixing desk issues (it wouldn't be the wonderful forest if there weren't any) the stage came to life. Alison and the Mings- heard for the first time were excellent, fusing banjo, cello, flute, guitar, percussion and vocals. Jym Ponter always gets my foot tapping, had the unlucky experience of playing on my guitar (thanks for tuning it Jym). We had a blast on stage, playing a couple of newer tracks, along with the staple Al and Al diet. Finally Roger "The Bluesfather" played a really super set to end, I do not hear this guy play enough!

Another cracking night which comes around to sparse (or once a month to be exact), so put the 19th Dec into your diaries...

Thanks

Al  

What a night in Uluru. During a blistering 45min set we had everything from forgetting how to start a song, forgetting how to end a song and super quick loops, along with the welcome usual laughs and fun and games. We were kindly joined by Lucy on fiddle for She cries, Emily, The Grounds (whoosh how fast did we play that?), and Who needs who. Brilliant fun!

Thanks to Norvel for sorting us out...

My stage chat remained the same as ever....dodgy!

Till next time

take care

Ali

Hello. Is anybody out there?

We have three upcoming gigs :)

First up, next tuesday we have a suprise warm up gig. A suprise as I didn't know we were playing it at the start of the week. :) Anyway, it's at a pub/bar (?) Uluru on Morrison Street. Never been before myself so it'll be nice to play (and go to) somewhere different. It's run by Dave who runs/used to run the monthly Exposed night at the Jazz Bar. Come along if you're free. It'll be the first gig with the new "guest third member" - my old flatmate. Although she's not so old. Old as in, I no longer share a flat with her.

Then next up we have a gig at The Ark, another new venue to me. It's jsut off Princes Street, Waterloo Place. Matt James and Jym Ponter are also player and it should be a really good night so place come along. Hopefully we'll have made any big mistakes at the little Uluru gig so in theory we should be playing well by then. That's on the 21st.

Then the following Sunday we're at Roger's Oxjam gig at Henry's. Less AlKandAlC gig and more lots of people playing sets to save the world. Which can only be a good thing. The line up is looking pretty good, see The Bluesfather's blog for details.

 

What else? Playing with a fiddler has been great fun, Al K has gone looptastic and Al C is trying to play mulitple instruments at once. With limited success. Oh, and some new songs!!!! And some old songs done differently!!!