OLD NEWS

(Note: some of the links below will now be out of date)

28th June 2006
Today sees the release of my new collection of songs, snappily entitled, 'Sergeant Howie's Holy Stamina Test'. You can listen to the 1st track in this staggered release on my MySpace page, and you can download it and read the why's, where's and how's here.

5th June 2006
I've got another gig this week at Fired Art in Fort William supporting Paolo Nutini. I'll be on at 8:30pm.

5th May 2006
While spending far too much time on the web recently, I have incorporated myself into the very addictive world of Last.fm . Between that, MySpace, Ragtime and this humble website I am further along the road to world domination.

After reading this on Juliana Hatfield's website, I have decided to be kind enough to give you the chance to donate your hard earned cash to me vai Paypal, in return for any free music I am generous enough to offer. Just click wherever you see a 'Donate' button.

20th April 2006
I've got a few gigs coming up, the first being at Elliotts Bar in Glasgow this Sunday night. More info here.

I've also now got a page on Ragtime.com where you can download a (very!) rough demo of 'Testimony', which I've been playing live for a while now.

6th March 2006
Sorry if you tuned in to MFR last night and didn't hear my delicate tones - at the advice of the presenter Marion Scott we decided not to brave the snow-blocked roads. It should be rescheduled though.

Another blog review of last week's Dunfermline gig has appeared, this time by the great Stuart McHugh of Jockrock and Is This Music?. Read it here: Jockrock Blog

27th February 2006
Thanks to everyone who came along to see me in Dunfermline - there's a couple of blog reviews of the gig here:

Gareth's blog
Rich's blog

Other news is that I'll be on Marion Scott's show on MFR this Sunday 5th March.

13th February 2006
Good news for any Calamateur fans living in the States - both my 'Son of Everyone' EP and 'The Old Fox of 45' are now available to buy from CDBaby.

6th February 2006
I'm supporting King Creosote this Friday at the Raigmore Motel. More details here...

You can also hear the session I did last year for Cielo Liquido and Radio Magnetic on the listen page. The session consists of alternative versions of four tracks from 'The Old Fox of 45'. More here...

30th January 2006
I'm now the proud owner of a MySpace page - click here to see it. Come and be my friend (please!) and have a listen to some tunes you may not have heard.

18th January 2006
3 gigs lined up for the New Year so far - see here for details.

14th November 2005
A few gigs over and more on the way...see the live page for more info.

When I was down in London recently I did some more recording with Steve Lawson. The plan is to release a collaborative album at some point in the future so keep your eyes peeled for that.

If you've seen me play in the Inverness area recently you may have noticed I'm not on my own on stage anymore - the very talented Mark Hilditch is playing keyboards with me now and will hopefully feature on some recordings in the future as well.

10th October 2005
I'm playing my first London gig this week at Darbucka, supporting Steve Lawson and Rise Kagona (founder and guitarist with the Bhundu Boys). It's on Thursday night, doors open at 7:30pm. You can buy tickets in advance here.

6th September 2005
More gigs coming up in Inverness very soon as well as my very first London date....click here to find out more..

Other than that I'm just doing a lot of recording at the moment. Expect a flurry of badly timed releases sometime in the near future.

9th August 2005
A couple of gigs coming up...click here for more details.

14th June 2005
My session for Cielo Liquido is repeated today on Fallout, the indie show broadcast on radiomagnetic.com (16:30 - 18:00 GMT). After today, you'll be able to find the show here.

27th May 2005
I'll be playing at Siberia in Aberdeen on the 2nd June as part of this year's GoNorth Festival. See the live page for more details.

6th May 2005
This Monday (May 9th) I will be having a session broadcast on Spain's finest radio show, Cielo Liquido.

The show is broadcast in Spain every Monday from 9pm to midnight at RCS 107.2 FM. Monday's show will be available a couple of days later on their website, and you'll be able to listen to my session tracks anytime, from then on, here.

I've recorded 4 songs for the session which are all alternative versions of tracks from my album, 'The Old Fox of 45'.

12th April 2005
'The Old Fox of 45' is the 15th greatest (Scottish) album of all time, according to the results of the recent Is This Music? magazine poll - thanks to everyone who voted, whether you meant it or not!

Reviews have started coming in for Tiny Pushes Vol.2, as well as some airplay - click here to read more.

14th March 2005
My new mini-album is released today! Tiny Pushes Vol.2 can be downloaded from here.

7th March 2005
I'll be playing a few songs live on Marion Scott's show on Moray Firth Radio this Sunday (the 13th). Tune in at about 10pm to hear me.

15th February 2005
This month's 'Is This Music?' magazine features my album, 'The Old Fox of 45' in the Top 100 Scottish albums of all time. To vote for it to win, go here.

27th January 2005
I've got some live dates coming up - go to the live page to find out where they are.

My new mini-album will be released on the 14th March - and it's free! 'Tiny Pushes Vol.2 (All the Wrong Buttons) is 30 minutes long, has 10 tracks and will be available to download from the Autoclave Records website.

12th January 2005
'Half Truth' (taken from my album, 'The Old Fox of 45') will be appearing on a new CD released on the cover of music industry mag 'Music Week' on the 24th January. The aim of the CD is to showcase the best that the Highlands has to offer in contemporary music and it's been put together by the good people at Make Tracks, an online record label supported by Channel 4's Ideas Factory.

I'll hopefully be playing some gigs in England and Scotland soon to coincide with the release of this CD, so please check back here soon for more details.

16th November 2004
I've just finished recording and mastering 'Tiny Pushes Vol.2' so look out for it's release soon...and if you've had trouble downloading 'Tiny Pushes Vol.1', the problem's now been fixed. Click here to go to the new download page on the revamped Autoclave Records website.

10th September 2004
Greenbelt went well, especially the Johnny Cash tribute which I helped to organise as well as sing a couple of songs at. Thanks to everyone who came to see me play at some point over the weekend.

A couple of 'Deep Peace' reviews have appeared - have a look at them here.

At the moment I'm working on some songs I've been doing with Steve Lawson, who you may have seen at a couple of my recent gigs or at Greenbelt - He's a fantastic bass player and makes some beautiful music - listen to some of his mp3's here.

19th August 2004
Thanks to everyone who came along to the Glasgow and Berwick gigs - Steve and I loved playing to such amazingly quiet, attentive people! I'm off to Greenbelt next week to play a few sets - if you're there please come and say hi.

On the 'Deep Peace' front, there's been a bit of airplay including the Frog Pocket/Calamateur track being played on Radio Scotland's Air. There's more info here.

10th August 2004
I'm playing at Brel in Glasgow tomorrow night (11th) and also at the Barrels Ale House on Friday (13th) - it would be great to see as many folk as possible at these gigs so come along if you can! There's more info on the live page.

28th July 2004
I'm playing in Dunfermline next Friday (6th August) at Monty's with Luxury Car and Freepost. It's the first of many Is This Music? gigs that'll be taking place there. Come along if you can....

16th July 2004
At last, the compilation I've been putting togethere for the last 2 years (!) is now available - Deep Peace features tracks by Aereogramme, Oldsolar, Spare Snare & Frog Pocket and all the money raised from CD sales will go to Trident Ploughshares. There are some beautiful songs on this album so at only £7, it's well worth buying. You can get it here.

1st July 2004
Another couple of great reviews have popped up from Channel 4 Teletext's Planet Sound (P.354 today & this weekend) and Is This Music? magazine - see them here - there's also a list of my airplay so far.

I'm really looking forward to what's shaping up to be a mini-tour with Steve Lawson in August. Look at the live page for more details - and book your diaries now!

16th June 2004
There's a great review of my new album in the current issue of The List. Read it here. I recorded my interview with Jim Gellatly for Beat 106 a couple of days ago - it'll be on-air June 23rd at 10pm. Also, check out a couple of live dates coming up here.

2nd June 2004
I'll be playing Hootananny in Inverness on the 17th June as part of a live broadcast by the Rapal show on BBC Radio Alba. I'll have more details soon.
Also, for those of you in the Central Belt, listen out for a interview with me on Beat 106's The Beatscene, June 23rd.

11th May 2004
As promised, I've just added some teaser mp3's of a few of the tracks from my new album - have a listen here! Thanks to all those who've bought 'The Old Fox of 45' so far - remember to sign the guestbook to let me (and everyone else!) know what you think of it...

5th May 2004
I've finally got my new album back from the pressing plant! It looks lovely and sounds fantastic so, despite all the hassle I've had getting it made, it's definitely been worth the effort. You can buy it online now by clicking here! I've already sold a few to some of you who made it along to my gig at Sleazy's. Thanks to everyone who came and especially to those who bought the album.

26th April 2004
I'll be playing again this Sunday night (2nd May) supporting Poor Old Ben on their album launch night at Nice 'n' Sleazy's, Glasgow. I should (hopefully!) have my new album for sale that night as well - so bring your cash! See you there...

23rd April 2004
I'm supporting Poor Old Ben at the Market Bar in Inverness tomorrow night. I should be on about 10pm - come along if you can make it.

29th March 2004
Well, my new album's been sent off to the manufacturer but there's been a few hiccups with the artwork so, as usual, it's taking much longer than anticipated! Hopefully it won't be long now though....

Other news is that the compilation I'm curating, Deep Peace, is very nearly ready for manufacture. All money raised from the sale of this album will be going to Trident Ploughshares. There's more info here.

I've just finished mastering 'Tiny Pushes Vol.2' so look out for info on that soon as well.

17th February 2004
Hi, and welcome to the new-look Calamateur website.
My debut album will be out soon - 'The Old Fox of 45' is finished and the artwork should be ready in the next few days. There are 10 tracks on the album including new versions of 'Son of Everyone', 'Here Beside' and 'Hold Your Stare'. It's being released on Autoclave Records and distributed by Shellshock.