Tag: reviews

  • We’ve finished writing our tenth album

    We’ve finished writing our tenth album

    We are really doing this...

    When I found myself trawling through holiday let websites, I couldn’t quite believe that we were embarking on recording another album. We did consider other options, perhaps going professional and finding a studio and an engineer. Noting that Greg and I (along with Byrne) had spent a neat sum on Social Dancing’s (may I humbly say excellent) debut LP we decided against this and opted for a week away. Its still costing us money…and time. (when people buy music from artists its an incredible support)

    band picture
    Weird Decibels assemble!

                The search for a suitable cottage proved challenging, four guys, wanting four separate bedrooms and a large open living room for that unique room sound you can’t get with FX and plugins. Eventually, a few candidates emerged, then we reached a final two, with Teviotside Lodge near Kelso a frontrunner alongside a familiar site…the legendary Springfield Cottage, the space where we recorded Weird Decibels 2 back in 2015.

                When I emailed about Springfield a familiar response came from the letting agency, the price quoted on the site was for two adults…extra charges would be implemented. I remember the last time we contacted the owner, and he agreed to waive that fee but on this occasion it out is off, plus Teviotside looked too dam appealing. After a few clicks our sixth cottage was booked, it was real and it felt like the band was back.

    Writing the tenth has now taken nearly fours years, that is very unusual for us. By now we had had two Slange sessions, both fruitful, we now had a collection of new songs.

    Greg and Derek writing some new tunes

    Derek, more than the rest of us insisted that we were still short of tracks, especially now that we had dropped ‘My Internal Wasted Mind’ and ‘Bad Things Happen’. Time was pressing, it was now creeping towards February.

    On the 23rd January one of those special creative moments happened, we just started jamming a basic major C and G riff, two chords…but we structured the distortion well to build this epic tune. Lyrics just came to me, as they sometimes do, thinking of Scotland at the 2026 world cup I started singing ‘Toe to toe. Nose to nose, here in Scotland we call it a Square Go.”.

    Lewis was there, filming some footage for a future documentary, he captured the moment we created the song.

    Another tune came to us very much in the same way, as a three piece, when Stu was unable to join us, we started jamming a thick riff in the key of F sharp, with hints of Tad (Derek argues that it is Nirvana’s Blech) we created ‘I Make Great Mistakes’ in just minutes.

    A few weeks later, when Stu returned, he added his guitars and the song just came alive. We had also discussed dropping ‘I Try to Be Strong’, it was a bit slower, but Stu was having none of it and insisted it stayed in contention for recording. I’m glad we did as it has a much-needed change of pace for the album.

    Song list for our tenth album

    1. My Internal Wasted Mind

    2. Fire in the Garden

    3. Science Will Save Me

    4. Bad Things Happen When You’re Bored

    5. If Heaven Exists, It’s in Little Bits

    6. I Try to Be Strong

    7. Derek’s Piano riff which became ‘Will We Be Ok?”

    8. I Talk To You

    9. Cocaine Cop

    10. Caught the Virus

    11. Ain’t Stopping

    12. Stu’s idea that would become, You Want It

    13. Let Me Out Or Let Me Know

    14. Square Go

    15. I Make Great Mistakes

    16. Bones

    On the 25th to 2nd May we will be recording our tenth album (no title yet), stay updated here and on our socials throughout the week.

    Pabs

  • Gig Diary: Social Dancing

    Gig Diary: Social Dancing

    The Socials played their first gig at Behind the Wall 20th September 2024′

    Words Pabs.

    I’d literally just unlocked the front door to the house when the phone pinged. Greg would be kindly picking me up in thirty minutes. I dropped the works bag and the laid the laptop down, another week done.

    With this much rushing about I didn’t really have a chance to think of the night ahead. Social Dancing’s debut gig, Greg and I’s first gig for some two years, and we hadn’t played in Falkirk since 2017 (again at Behind the Wall) and Kevins for two decades! I guess I was nervous but I felt prepared, the biggest worry was playing as a three piece, with me on guitars and vocals mistakes would be noticed.

    Of course, there is an advantage to being an unknown band, no one knows your songs. If I forget the lyrics? Who cares! Just make them up! (and I did, a little)

    Behind the Wall has recently been synonymous with the local music scene, many nights have been set aside for cover bands during the early 2000s, then progressing to some fantastic nights, including  RiFF, a short-lived rock night that Weird Decibels were part of. Some notable acts have also graced the stage, King Creosote springs to mind (incredible to think, as the last time I saw him live he had sold out the Queens Hall and this year plays the Usher hall).

    To really cement our rock and roll credentials we had some hard coffee (no milk), then gulped down some pizza (BTW do good Pizza, really fresh). Soundcheck followed, It was great to be back on the BTW stage.

    First up was Adam Donaldson, who has taken some of his solo work and developed it with  the band ‘An Opening Lie’  featuring Dario Palazzo, Gavin Paterson & Julián Pombo.

    I really enjoyed these guys, there was a real energy to their set. Well-paced set with hints of Doves and the grittiness of Mastersystem. Thankfully the crowd had arrived on time and these guys enjoyed a god crow who lapped up their music.

    After their gig I nipped back up to the greenroom, I enjoyed the moment of quiet, grabbed a few bottles of water then headed downstairs back into the bustling crowd. It was then that I realised how busy the place was, I was really pleased to see family and friends, it was the first time that many of us were in the same room at the same time.

    After a quick tune up I laid the setlists down.

    We played.

    1. Little Kingdom
    2. Mark as Read
    3. They Asked You a Question
    4. Dracula
    5. You Can’t Have It All
    6. Turn to Glass
    7. Breathing

    I was nervous playing Little Kingdom, a couple of weekends before we were recording at Studio257, my playing on Little Kingdom was all over the place (thankfully the first take turned out well, it was the rest that were a car crash.). I lowered the tempo a little bit and it seemed to work fine. Mark As Read went down well I think, by this time I found myself really getting into the gig. Greg as usual, looked calm, taking things in his stride. Looking back Kevin seemed to be enjoying it, but there was a hint he was holding on for dear life! He nailed it though and our confidence grew.

    We stumbled on They Asked You a Question, coming back into the second verse after a pause we tripped up but after a little laugh it was all good. Dracula is fast becoming my favourite. It’s strange, if you play and write music for years there is an urge to write ever complex chord structures that take you further from your early ideas (and playing). Sometimes however, its good to let the song come alive on its own. Dracula is one of those songs. A possible crowd favourite could be You Can’t Have it All, it was my turn to hang on for dear life, as the only guitarist, one slip up…and the chords fall apart. Just got through it. Turn to Glass is our moment to breath, my inner Belle and Sebastian coming out. It felt like seconds had passed and we were on our final song Breathing. To have the crowd still with us as the end felt great.

    Headliners Aretsan which includes Ronnie Bisset on vocals alongside son Bryce on guitar, on Bass Dickson Telfer who recorded both Kevin and Weird Decibels for his late lunch series which aired back in the mid 2000s, so we did a little reminiscing in the green room. I enjoyed a few beers listening to the tunes of Aretsan, really nice mix of rock and alternative, they fling in a few different instruments for a bit of texture. Really enjoyed their set.

    I had some time to catch up with friends, family and neighbours, it felt like a real community gathering. Our Derek was there, it was great to see him. Of course, our thoughts turned to Weird Decibels and getting the tenth record recorded. I alter caught up with Greg and Kevin, we had some photos taken. It just felt good to be playing live again. Long may it continue.

    A huge thanks to all that paid a fair sum for a ticket. The place was busy, we met some news friends and re-connected with old. We decided that night (we had been talking about it for a while) that all profits from the band will go to charity. Thanks to you guys we have some money to give back to the community.