I had met the main man behind them, Martin Metcalfe back in 2011 at an Edinburgh Festival Launch night where I got chatting with him and discovered that he used to be in Goodbye Mr McKenzie and also Angelfish both with Shirley Manson who later went on to great success with Garbage.
He was actually there to meet Lach who he told me was a really cool guy and whom I later got to know when I performed at many of his open mic nights at Henry’s Cellar Bar
I got his facebook details and sent him the odd message over the years and was very impressed when I heard his new band, The Filthy Tongues, singles from their first album Jacob’s Ladder and again when I heard tunes from the follow up, Back To Hell. What a great name for a band though, eh.
When I saw they were going to play in Edinburgh there was no way was I going to miss it and I was quite happy to find out that the minimum age limit was 14 so I could take my son along also, even though he wasn’t overly impressed when I played a song of theirs to him on youtube.
Being the Black Metal fan that he is, the vocals are understandable, which apparently isn’t cool.
We arrived there early so I took the boy down the front so as to get a good position for filming the bands which I had already cleared with Martin beforehand.
The Trama Dolls
First up were The Trama Dolls who I found out had only been together for a year when I met their guitarist in the toilet after their set which I enjoyed. Quite a ‘flamboyant’ lead singer they have and some of their lyrics were really cool.
The Countess of Fife
Next up was The Countess of Fife who were reminded me a bit of Neko Case being a contemporary band who sing depressing Country songs with bite, which are right up my street. Martin was invited to join them for a song they co-wrote.
Then it was time for the Filthy Tongues to come on and take it to the next level, which they duly did, even converting even my Black Metal loving son to a fan in the meantime.
The crowd were very appreciative too and I think Martin was enjoying it as he tried to squeeze in as much songs as he could before the 10pm venue curfew.
Su-a Lee
Su-a Lee who is the Assistant Principal Cellist with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra joined them for a few songs mid set.
Maria Rud
There were some really cool painting on display in the backdrop to their set and Martin who I believe is a visual artist himself, gave a shoutout to the artist Maria Rud.
After the gig finished we didn’t hang around as it had been quite a long day abut before getting on the train I made a quick video round-up with my mobile.
The Photos
Cheers!
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