Thanks to Donnie from Monument, I have currently have a lovely piece of vintage keyboard technology sitting in my flat in the form of an old Emulator II. It’s one of the later + models, with twice the memory and a hard drive and as the picture shows, it’s in absolutely pristine condition. When I first started seeing bands back in the mid eighties, everyone was using these - Depeche Mode, Ultravox, Front 242, Pet Shop Boys, you name them, they appeared on Top of the Pops with one. Even Ferris Bueller used one during his Day Off to generate coughing noises (as if - they cost $10,000!). Consequently, along with pretty much anything with Roland written on it, they made their mark on my young, impressionable mind and I’ve always wanted a shot at one, even though, technically speaking, they’ve long since been surpassed.

But there’s something extra special about this one. This one’s got history. It’s been around the world on tour with one of the biggest bands of the mid eighties. And I know this for sure, because it’s still got a whole load of sounds and sequences from the show still on the hard drive. Not only that, it’s a band I was quite into at the time and whose live album from the tour that this was used in was a favourite for quite some time (still is really). Fire this one up, press play and you get the intro to the show! It’s all still there!

I’m ‘minded’ not to the name the band here, ’simply’ to avoid people Googling this and asking for copies of the samples - it’s something I won’t do and anyway it’s only on loan so I won’t have it for long. My point here is more the curious quirk of fate that has allowed an instrument originally used in the making of one of my favourite live albums, over 20 years ago, to be now sitting in front of me in my own home, in exactly the same condition as it was then. If someone had told me back then that something like this would happen so many years later, I’d never have believed them. As someone who’s always been fascinated with modern popular music, it’s a curiously magical feeling.

Strangely, it’s becoming an increasingly common phenomenon for the worlds of bands I used to admire as a teenager to cross with mine in later life. I’ll never forget the bizarre night I spent in Sheffield a few years back in a hotel room at 3.00 in the morning drinking with a bunch of Human League fans and an actual member of Heaven 17. I’ve met and spoken with Phil and the girls from the Human League on a number of occasions (and what charming people they are too I might add). The co-writer of my favourite ever song is one degree of separation away. I’ve been at a Depeche Mode backstage party. I spent a very pleasant afternoon recently with a chap who used to tour with Ultravox as their live sound tech. And through having the good fortune to be friends with the Dark City guys, I’ve met a number of leading luminaries from the alternative electronic scene and even lent some of my own equipment to them.

It’s really strange, when you grow up as a fan of this stuff, it seems so far away, untouchable - it’s something that exists on the telly, in an issue of Smash Hits or on a poster on your wall - but not in real life. And yet here I am now, and it turns out it isn’t really that far away after all. Funny thing, life.

Time to write a little about other people’s music rather than my own for a change!

A few days back, I got a chance to see Paul Haig play in Edinburgh as part of whatever it is that’s replaced T on the Fringe. It was another good set, different to the one he did last time (although still nothing from The Warp Of Pure Fun album). But what I found really disappointing was how few people turned up. I’m not sure where to lay blame for this. Part of the problem must be that Paul Haig has always kept such a low profile that it’s only going to be people in the know who are going to come to these things. On the other hand, I’m not sure how much real thought and effort went into the promotion. Being part of the Festival, I think there’s a mindset that says “all we need to do is put loads of posters up in the venue and people will just come after all it’s the Festival and that’s what people do”. But the fact of the matter is that people don’t. There’s plenty of people out on the streets drinking and cavorting but people aren’t going to hand over a tenner to wander into a random mid evening event without some sort of familiarity for what they’re going to see. All of which is a pity because Paul is a pretty darned good craftsman of electronic/guitar pop and deserves a wider audience.

It’s symptomatic of a general apathy towards live music that you can see everywhere now. The same problem has plagued my friends at Dark City Events in recent years (what a nice website that is by the way) so it was good to see them get a sell out crowd for the recent Combichrist gig at the Hive. I should give particular mention to the support band Ashbury Heights - I had heard good things about them and I’m always interested in hearing well crafted melodic alternative electro pop tunes alongside some of the more brutal industrial noise assaults you get from the likes of Combichrist. And to be fair, they were pretty good. Enough for me to buy their CDs and they’re not half bad, particularly the latest EP “Morningstar in a Black Car” which finds them settling into their stride and contains some pretty catchy stuff. But sadly it again highlights a problem - these guys, although fairly new on the scene are already headlining gigs to over 2,000 people a time over in mainland Europe but over here it’s going to be a struggle to gain any sort of foothold with the sort of numbers that put their hands in their pockets and make the effort. It simply doesn’t make financial sense for bands to even bother with the UK now.

As someone who has held a passionate interest in electronic music all his life, this apathy in the UK we see now for anything that isn’t a by product of Simon Cowell saddens me. I enjoy going out and listening to music be it live or in clubs. But I want to be able to go and hear the sort of music I like or am likely to like and it’s becoming increasingly harder to do. And it frustrates me since it’s only seems to be a problem in the UK.

A case in point. This weekend, I’ll be at Infest to witness the first UK appearance by Front 242 for quite some time. This has some meaning for me, as Front 242 are responsible for THE best live gig I’ve ever seen, way back in 1989, specifically the Front by Front tour at the London Astoria. I’ll never forget that night. Three guys, a small stage, minimal lights. It shouldn’t have been anything to write home about. But the sheer energy and imagination that went into the presentation and delivery of that show has left a lasting impression on me to this day. There was a tangible sense of drama about the whole thing. Of course the build up helped - at the time they were a pretty enigmatic lot and the advance press certainly helped (I remember the headline in the London Evening Standard that night - “The Church will Burn at tonight’s show” - and being relieved I hadn’t told my parents exactly where I was going that night). But it was one of those rare occasions where the show definitely lived up to and exceeded the hype. In a word, it was stunning.

Last year, I saw them again at Leipzig, playing to what must have been a 20,000 strong crowd. This reflects their status as THE forefathers of today’s Industrial/EBM acts, in the same way that Kraftwerk are indisputably the forefathers of electropop. They’re not prolific in terms of chart success - in fact they didn’t have any at all here, although they’re still well known enough for Headhunter get the occasional play at The Citrus Club and it always surprises me how many people dance to it AND know the words. But within their genre, they are one of most important bands there’s been. They matter.

So why is that upon what is their first visit to the UK for many many years, and possibly their last (they’re not a cheap band to put on), Infest is still not sold out (UPDATE: as of Tuesday, it has, but the point still stands - Infest is usually sold out long before now)? It’s not exactly a big venue - in fact from what I’m told it’ll be a damn sight smaller than The Astoria where I first saw them all those years ago. Now don’t get me wrong - it’ll be quite a treat to see them back in an intimate setting and I think the show will be a memorable one for that reason alone, but there is something wrong about the fact that such a legendary band are making a long awaited return to these shores and nobody seems to be noticing. Again, this is a UK only phenomenon, and I have to say I feel somewhat ashamed of my home country that having once been so highly regarded worldwide as a creative centre for alternative music, we are now so hostile to anything that isn’t 100% mainstream or gets sold in supermarkets.

Unfortunately my trip down south will mean I won’t be able to get to Retrofest this year. Whilst I’m not too bothered about this (I’ve been a few of these retro things before with the likes of Kim Wilde rehashing all their hits with a house band and to be honest it sort of passes me by - anyway, my version of Kids In America is better than hers!) it does mean I’ll be missing the Scottish debut of one of my favourite new bands in the form of Northern Kind who are headlining the new acts stage. If you like electro pop, you really do need to check these two out. There are samples on their site and if you dig deep enough there are also a few free downloads as well. Get these on your iPod, this really is excellent stuff and in all honesty it makes many of the current crop of synth bands look pretty amateur. So if you are going to Retrofest, do yourself a favour and make time to see Matt and Sarah do their thing.

A big thank you to everyone who came to see me on Friday night at the Citrus Club. Despite the early start and the fact that it was a shorter set than usual, I hope you enjoyed it.

For the record, the tracks I did were:

- Safety Dance (Men Without Hats)
- Wishing If I Had a Photograph of You (Flock of Seagulls)
- Images of Heaven (Peter Godwin)
- Get Set (Yazoo)
- New Song (Howard Jones)
- Mirror Man (Human League)
- The Sun Always Shines on TV (A-ha)
- Planet Earth (Duran Duran)
- Waves (Blancmange)

I was trying out a few things for the first time last night - virtually all of the songs were new ones (for me, anyway!), the light show is more complex now and I was also for the first time doing everything from one keyboard with all the sounds being changed automatically on the fly, in some cases mid song. Apart from a heart stopping moment when I stepped up on stage only to discover my keyboard had lost its power supply (easily fixed as it turned out but not exactly helpful when you’re trying to look cool), everything worked a treat - phew!

Very special thanks to Roy and Jon who travelled from London to record and film the Monument set and very kindly offered to capture my performance as well. I now have a tin chock full of DATs and video tapes sat in front of me waiting to get put onto the computer and hopefully before too long I shall be able to share some of the end results here for your viewing pleasure.

And of course a big thanks once again to the Monument boys as well - it was a real pleasure sharing the experience with you. Already looking forward to your next show.

As for me, I’m now going retire once again to my sofa to rest my weary back which is still suffering from lugging all that gear around (I really should think about getting a ground floor flat).

More details as promised about my forthcoming gig supporting Monument on July 4th. Tickets are £10 (which includes free entry to Planet Earth immediately afterwards) and are available now from Ripping Records, Tickets Scotland or direct from me. Doors open at 7.00 and the show finishes at 10.00 in order to allow time to clear the equipment away in time for the club, so if you’re wanting to catch my set, get there sharp!

I’m very pleased to announce that Monument, the official Ultravox tribute band, have very kindly invited me to support them at their next Edinburgh gig at the Citrus Club on Friday 4th July 2008.

I had the pleasure of being at their last gig at the Citrus and they carry a very strong recommendation from me. The Ultravox sound is a difficult one to replicate - although the strong electronic backbone to their sound is undeniable, they were still fundementally a rock band and achieving that unusual fusion of styles successfully requires a high degree of skill and musicianship, but Monument have it absolutely nailed. Sadly, despite pretty much everyone else creeping out of the woodwork and reforming to do gigs these days, it’s unlikely that Ultravox will ever do so, so this is pretty much the only way you’ll ever get to hear some of this fantastic material live. But it’s no compromise, close your eyes and I think you’d be hard pressed to tell the difference between these guys and the real thing. Well worth a night out.

For my part, it’ll need to be a shorter set than usual but I plan to make up for it by hopefully doing a completely different batch of songs from last time - preparations are well underway and I’ve got one or two unusual choices in mind that some of you may find interesting to hear. Hopefully it will get the evening off to good start!

More details to follow but at this stage I can tell you that it’s likely to be an early start, probably around 7.00ish, as Planet Earth will be taking place as usual right after the gig. Also, this time it will be a ticketed event but the price does include free entry to the club afterwards which, of course, is a great way to spend any evening if you like your music eighties flavoured. Hopefully I may be in a position to sell tickets myself for those that know me, otherwise they’ll be available from a variety of local outlets as well.

Hope you can make it and I look forward to seeing you there!

Whilst wandering around the city centre this lunchtime I was pleasantly surprised to see a poster with details of a Paul Haig gig next weekend at the Voodoo Rooms. Paul Haig is the ex frontman of Josef K, and while I could not say I paid much attention to them while they were together, I do very much like much of Paul’s solo work which over the years has earned shelf space amongst my great records from the eighties that were never hits section. A particular favourite is 1985’s The Warp Of Pure Fun (produced by Alan Rankine of the Associates). Anyway, it turns out Paul has a new album coming out and from the MySpace preview he’s still knocking out decent synthy pop. I was always under the impression that he never liked playing live so this will be a rare treat.

Certainly a lot cheaper and less further to go than Jean Michel Jarre at the Albert Hall last Sunday, although Mr Jarre was good enough to bring along over 50 of some of the worlds rarest and desireable classic synthesisers to deliver us some of the finest vintage bleeps you’ll ever hear in one place at the same time, so we can forgive him somewhat.

Apparently, the drum sound at the beginning of “Do They Know It’s Christmas” is a slowed down sample from “The Hurting” by Tears For Fears. Fascinating.

Well, Alex certainly wasn’t kidding when he said we would be projecting my video onto a wall!

Good luck to Sweden’s second best export next to Abba, my highly talented friend and colleague Mr Alexander Lumsden who hosts his very own art exhibition, ‘Absolute Passion’ tonight at the GRV. I have been hard at work the last few weeks creating some video sequences for the event featuring some of his paintings and I hear that we’re going to get to project it onto one of the adjoining buildings as well, so that will be fun! There’s a possibility we might be able to put it onto the web as well once his website is up and running and if so I’ll put a link here so anyone reading this who isn’t going can have a look and see what a talented fellow he is.

This week I have acheived two long standing objectives. The first was procuring a Roland Super Jupiter MKS80/MPG80 synthesiser. This dates back to 1984 and is the last, and arguably most powerful, of the legendary Jupiter series, widely regarded as some of the most desirable analogue polysynths ever made. I have wanted one of these ever since Howard Jones posed next to the daddy of them all, the mighty Jupiter 8, on the cover of New Song back in 1983. Expect to hear its silky tones all over an eighties cover version near you soon.

The other is finally starting a Facebook page. This however represents rather less of an ambition and is more the result of persistent badgering by friends and colleagues!

One of these will hopefully change my life. Time will tell which one.

Just a quick update, I’ve just added a new Live section with a couple of videos taken from footage from my gig at the Citrus Club last November. There was only one camera on the night so eagle eyed viewers will no doubt detect the fact that I’ve combined footage from a few different songs in order to come up with these two clips but I thought better that way than a single static shot! Many thanks to Dave Roberts for looking after the camera work on the night. A lot of people have been asking if there is another gig planned, there is nothing concrete yet but I certainly want to do it again at some point quite soon, and I already have quite a few new tracks underway with this in mind. More news as we get it!

A little plug for a little project that’s been keeping me away from the synths the last few weeks but all hopefully in a good cause - I’ve been hard at work revamping the website for this year’s up and coming Dark City festival and as of last night, it’s now gone live! So if your musical tastes lean towards the more harder edged end of the electronic spectrum, do take a look and give some thought to coming along. Jonathan, James and Julia have once again put together a great line up of bands for what promises to be another great weekend of bleep induced fun and frolics - although somewhat hard going on both feet and liver.

So here we are at the end of another year and one which from a musical perspective has been pretty rewarding with a number of leading electronic acts from the halcyon days staging some magnificent live shows, some for the first time in many years. Highlights included Depeche Mode (back on form finally after a few lacklustre years getting over the departure of Alan Wilder), Human League, Nitzer Ebb, Thomas Dolby (a real pleasure to see this guy at last, one of the true innovators of the early electronic scene and responsible for one my all time favourite albums, ‘The Golden Age of Wireless’), Sparks, Gary Numan (performing Telekon of all things - who’d have thought it?) and John Foxx. Next year promises to maintain the trend with OMD gearing up for a reunion tour which rumour has it will feature a run through of their Architecture and Morality album in full - can’t wait for that!

We’ve also been well looked after in terms of the newer crop of alternative electronic acts and a special mention is warranted for Jonathan, James and Julia, a.k.a. the Dark City crew who again have attracted some of the biggest names in the scene here to Edinburgh, such as Fixmer McCarthy, VNV Nation, Covenant and Combichrist. We’re lucky here in Edinburgh to have such a thriving underground music scene so many many thanks to them for all the effort they put into making all this happen.

And of course, there was also there was the small matter of my own return to the stage! I’m still hearing lots of really positive comments about my recent show, all of which I appreciate, which is making me all the more determined to do it again very soon. I’ve already got quite a few new tracks on the go and with luck the next time I perform it’ll be more or less a completely new set. The only problem is that Apoptygma Berzerk have a nasty habit of doing covers of tracks I’m planning just before I do, but I shall just have to do my best to ignore them!

In just a few hours time, I plan to usher in the New Year courtesy of a rare Edinburgh appearence by the Pet Shop Boys, however judging by the rate at which other events around the UK are getting cancelled due to the weather I have my doubts whether it’ll actually happen or not. Although I’m quite keen to see them play, not least because they are pretty much the only major modern electronic band I’ve actually yet to see live, the combination of howling gales and rain outside my window right now is doing a good job of dampening my enthusiasm. Anyway, we’ll see.

Hope you all have a good New Year and look forward to seeing you all soon!

Steve

Just like to say a big thank you to everyone who came along on Friday night. Although we overran a little and had to lose a song at the end, plus the fact that one of my keyboards decided not to stop working (even though it was perfect during the soundcheck - typical), everything else went not too badly! Only sorry I didn’t have time to speak to everyone on the night but unfortunately the curse of being a one man band means at least an hour either side needs to be spent setting up and tearing down. But I very much appreciate the fact that so many people turned up and I hope you enjoyed the show. Hopefully we’ll have another chance to do it all again soon - I have some new songs on the go that I want to try out on you all!

Special thanks to Bryan for allowing me to use the Citrus Club and opening up early and to all the staff who lent a hand. It was a great privilage to be playing a proper venue for a change, especially one with such a strong track record with the sort of music I do.

Thanks also to Colin for helping with set up and sound and to my numerous work colleagues who took turns videoing and taking photos. If they come out OK, I shall see about posting some selected highlights here on the site.

Finally, here’s the set-list along with a note of the original artists, for anyone who didn’t recognise them all:

- Intro

(did anyone actually recognise what this is a version of? It’s based on The Freeze by Spandau Ballet. But I don’t think anyone has ever noticed it.)

- You’ll Always Find Me In The Kitchen at Parties (Jona Lewie)

(although I changed a few of the lyrics, to reflect the fact that I am often to be found playing keyboards at parties!)

- Pale Shelter (Tears for Fears)
- Thunder In The Mountains (Toyah)
- New Life (Depeche Mode)
- White Wedding (Billy Idol)
- Kids In America (Kim Wilde)
- Talk Talk (Talk Talk)
- Love My Way (Psychedelic Furs)
- That’s Love That It Is (Blancmange)
- Our Lips Are Sealed (Funboy Three)
- The Sun Always Shines On TV (Aha)
- Just Can’t Get Enough (Depeche Mode)

By the way, the track I mentioned that didn’t originally have any synths on it, as far as I can tell, was ‘Our Lips Are Sealed’. At least, not the Fun Boy Three version!

OK so the posters are up and the flyers are being handed out so I guess it’s about time I revealed a little more about what I’ve got in store for my forthcoming gig.

In a nutshell, it’ll be me, some keyboards and a selection of some of my favourite tracks from the early to mid 80s era. Whilst I’m not going to give away the set list I can tell you there’ll a fair variety of tracks, some big hits, others perhaps less well known. Inevitably some are going to be tracks originally by some of the big synth acts of the time but I’ve got some less obvious songs in mind as well (for example, if I recall correctly, one of the tracks when it originally came out didn’t feature a synthesiser at all so it’ll be interesting to see what you make of what I’ve done to that!).

One thing I’ve always tried hard to avoid is doing straightforward karaoke style covers - there’s a time and place for that sort of thing, but it’s not what I’m interested in. I suppose in recent years I’ve been very much inspired by the likes of John Foxx and Thomas Dolby, who have both recently toured recently using modern technology to do some stunning reworkings of some of their classic tracks and shown that it is possible to do a great show even when you’re stuck behind a keyboard. Whilst I would never pretend to stand on the shoulders of giants like these, I guess in my own way I’m trying to achieve something similar - only with me you aren’t stuck with one person’s back catalogue! So although you may recognise most of the songs, in many cases you’ll be hearing completely new versions.

A quick reminder of the details - it’s on Friday 24th November at the Citrus Club on Grindlay Street (right next to the Usher Hall), home of Planet Earth, Scotland’s legendary 80s night, which follows the gig and if you get there in time to see me, it’ll be free to stay on for that if you like. On the subject of times, doors open at 9.00PM and the plan is for me to do my set as soon as possible after that so everything can be cleared away before the club kicks off in earnest - so don’t be late!