Nothing Lasts Forever

"Foreign Land" is a new song from the new Teenage Fanclub album "Nothing Lasts Forever" released 22nd Sept 2023. 

It was pretty great to record in Rockfield. A magical place. And we made the video in one of my favourite buildings.

You can pre-order "Nothing Lasts Forever" here. Teenage Fanclub tour dates are here.

Farewell Andy Rourke, player of great bass lines on great songs. After a festival in Perth, Australia with Teenage Fanclub many moons ago (he was playing with Badly Drawn Boy), I thought the best way to be able to say 'hello' to him was to offer to buy him a drink. Mr. Rourke requested "A Long Island Ice Tea". 

I enjoyed this.

I enjoyed this.

The penny dropped a little after watching it: Keith Floyd must have been a Noël Coward fan, dear boy!

I re-watched Sleeper for the first time in ages. One of my favourite things was the early-70s-vision-of-the-future costumes, props and set designs. Made me want to watch Fahrenheit 451.

I've been digging into various In Our Time culture podcasts: Hokusai, Bethe Morisot, Dylan Thomas, Beethoven, Robert Burns, etc. Ah, Melvyn. 

I'm giving Big Boys a go.

This is a heartbreaker from Rosen and Blake:

I am working away on TV documentary music. (I'm glad to see that two projects for which I wrote music - "War And Justice - The Case Of Marine A" and "The Ice Cream Wars" - are up for RTS awards.)

And still I try and set some time aside every day for art, including a dabble in still life collages...

To quote Bob Dylan (happy birthday! - 82 years young!) quoting Woody Guthrie: take it easy, but take it. x

Justine Watts

I am very sad to learn that Justine Watts has passed away. 

Photo from Scottish Ballet Orchestra

A few years ago I was asked to contribute an arrangement to "The Lost Songs Of Kilda" (Decca). My track - Dùn - was to feature vocals by the great gaelic singer Julie Fowlis. James MacMillan conducted The Scottish Festival Orchestra (SFO) at a studio in Glasgow. Justine - who was leader of The Scottish Ballet Orchestra - was first violin and she sounded amazing.

Later when I made plans to record my Hamilton Mausoleum Suite at Hamilton Mausoleum itself, I asked SFO cellist and fixer John Davidson to put together a string quartet with harp. I trusted his judgement but I was clear I wanted to enlist Sharron Griffiths (who played beautiful harp on Dùn) and - to lead the group - Justine.

John also brought in Stewart Webster on violin and Emma Peebles (soon to be Emma Connell-Smith) on viola.

L-R: Stewart Webster (violin), Justine Watts (violin), Sharron Griffiths (harp), Emma Peebles (viola) and John Davidson (cello). Hamilton Mausoleum, 11th Nov 2016.

I am a self-taught composer. I listened to very little classical music for the first forty years of my life. It can be easy for me to feel insecure around great, formally trained musicians. But Justine was so gracious - so supportive and respectful of my musical efforts. Wise, hardworking and inspiring; in rehearsal and during the long, cold recording session. I remember her calling a break for her fellow musicians as we neared the end of the session. She sent everyone else out to their cars to get warm. Meanwhile she sat in her scarf and woolly hat with a blanket round her going over the next piece of music to be recorded. Considerate and selfless.

The Herald newspaper interviewed me about the album and I remember Justine was tickled at my description of her as "a lioness".

There is a short film about the recording here:

A little over a year after the recording session we arranged a performance of the suite in Hamilton Mausoleum. Here is some footage with Justine and Sharron performing the first of the two tracks:

I remember Justine enjoyed this short piece of writing by Bernard MacLaverty about the Mausoleum concert. She left this comment on Facebook:

What stunning writing. Absolutely smitten by this. Worth a thousand photographs. And shows exactly what I mean when I say to my youngest to “read a book” not look at a screen. Beautiful x

When I heard about Justine's diagnosis I sent some flowers "to the lioness". I didn't have the opportunity to record with her in recent years although she did keep performing through her treatment. I would see facebook updates and be cheered by the occasional 'like' on a post. 

Now she is longer with us.

My thoughts are with her family, friends and colleagues.

Not To Bragg

I'm glad we have Melvyn Bragg's In Our Time. A nice roll of seemingly eternal cultural wallpaper to take for granted like flicking through the channels and catching the last 10 minutes of Dad's Army.

I had a podcast listen to his discussion of Picasso's Guernica. Now I'm elbows deep in The Sistine Chapel.

Life Changing is another Radio 4 programme that draws me in every time I come across it. Hazel Ellis-Saxon's story tells us about the importance of how we talk to - and about - young folk; the lasting power of words.

I played some songs at a thing for Thi Wurd in Glasgow the other night. Great event with some engaging readers. I also liked the presentation given by Andrew Cranston and the screening of Martin Clark's "Jealous Alan". I recommend keeping your eyes peeled for the next one; editor-organizer Alan always puts a lot of care into arranging these nights.

Colin From Accounts was worth sticking with.

I liked this...

(If you are watching the end credits - the electrician has a wonderful name.)

If you are a fan of Alex Chilton and you were not aware of this - you are now.

If you know and like the art of Joan Eardley (and even if you don't) this is worth a listen, in my humble opinion.

Lyra is a powerful, heartbreaking documentary available on Channel 4.

I enjoyed Alan Bennet's "Kafka's Dick'. You can become acquainted with it here.

Very sad to learn of the passing of Michael Palin's wife, Helen. If you've read his diaries you would know how much they meant to each other. I had just re-listened to his Desert Island Discs interview from 1979 a couple of days ago.

New from Laura Cantrell...

Laura's upcoming tour dates are here.

Also digging Becoming Frida Kahlo on BBC. What a life. What a fearless pioneer.

Teenage Fanclub have added a gig in Cork to our June schedule. All gigs for 2023 are here.

Spanish brandy update - this is nice... 

..not fancy but quaffable in the spirit of Felipe II. And cheap - if you live in Spain. Impossible to get in the UK.

I completed my wee introductory print course at Glasgow Print Studio. Loved it. The last two sessions were Mono Printing...

...and Etching...

Loved the experience and would recommend. Thinking about another part time evening class sometime, somewhere.

I am working on TV music.

And still I sketch and draw...