This Year's Performers

Aberfeldy

The five-piece Scottish band Aberfeldy was formed in Edinburgh’s art cafes and pubs and since the release of their debut album Young Forever in August last year, have risen to prominence across the UK music scene.

The music conjures up images of youth, innocence and carefree afternoons under blue sunny skies – perfect for Belladrum!

But according to the band’s main man Riley Briggs the innocence of the tunes also conveys a deeper sadness linked to his own sense of loss.

Aberfeldy, the small Scottish town north of Perth, was a family holiday destination the year his parents decided to separate, linking the location and the name in his mind with “desparate romantic loss and tragedy”.

But Aberfeldy is not a band to listen to when you are feeling like a quiet time to yourself – the songs are more a celebration of life and some of its defining moments.

The warm and organic sound they create – likened to an early version of the Beach Boys from the east of Scotland – is formed by using a single mic in the recording studio to create a unique and raw energy.

Their second single from the Young Forever album was released on Valentine's Day this year and reached number 60 in the charts.

Viewing themselves as the pop tortoises of the race they plan to continue their slow but steady ascent. Since signing to Rough Trade they have toured across the UK, and were selected to play at the Hogmanay celebrations in Edinburgh, supporting Blondie and Scissor Sisters.

The band are now concentrating on gigging over the summer and hope to start work on their second album in the next few weeks.

www.aberfeldys.com

Alabama 3

No band creates a name for itself without careful thought and planning and Alabama 3 certainly thought long and hard before delving into the annals of history back to the early 1900s.

The Alabama 2 were two black men who, in the American deep south of the 1930s, were arrested for allegedly raping a white woman and later hung.

The case became one of the most notorious miscarriages of justice to tar the American justice system. In late UK in the late 1990s the number was changed and Alabama 3 became, in their own words, "one of the oddest musical outfits" to emerge from the London underground music scene. The meeting itself is shrouded in myth but the group like to fuel the rumour they all met in rehab, and the accents they use- a southern drawl - have duped many fans into believing they are from the American state itself.

In reality vocalist Rob Spragg and Jake Black, both from the UK, met at a London rave when Spragg heard Black crooning a Hank Williams tune Lost Highway. They soon forged their own agenda of Americana, electronica, leftist politics, and laughter.

They were soon joined by DJ Piers Marsh and built up a huge underground following in London, where Black would sing Howlin' Wolf songs over Marsh's mixes to the delight of the audience.

They eventually signed to One Little Indian in 1997 and their debut, Exile on Coldharbour Lane, was a groundbreaking fusion of gospel, country, blues and house music. Their work soon coined the musical phrase chemical country as they broke down the barriers between line dancers and ravers.

Building on the stage presence they had started with the southern drawls, the group also took things a stage further and swapped their names. Black became D. Wayne Love and Spragg the Reverend Larry Love. But behind the humour their grasp of UK culture and music was spot on, with country and blues used to portray the excesses of dance culture - all with a pumping 808 beat in the background.

Their second album La Peste was released in 2000 but showed the group in a more muted form. Where the first album made cheeky references to songs by other UK groups, this one contained a bleaker, murky sound which demanded that the listener dig deeper to find the meaning behind the music.

The third album, Outlaw, was released in May this year, and received rave reviews in the music press.

www.alabama3.co.uk

Andy Gunn

Andy Gunn was born near Glasgow but raised in the Highlands. He first discovered the power of music viaa friend's AC/DC tape and was soon making his own musical journey. Early on, he began experimenting with blues music but as his career and musical skills developed, he encompassed jazz, folk and anything that felt right.

Back in the beginning he established the band Jumpin' The Gun and became the first British act to sign with the Virgin blues label Pointblank. They travelled across the Atlantic to play and record, and had regular airtime on BBC radio stations. However the group eventually decided to split and he focused once more on his own material.

He released the album Steamroll and since then has toured in the UK and Europe, appearing with acts including The Sensational Alex Harvey Band and Texas. While in London he played with Gary Moore's Midnight Blues Band and regularly jams with singer and songwriter Martin Stephenson.

His new album Flip Flop Kinetics was recently released and immediately filled the airwaves on BBC Radio Scotland and Radio 2. He appeared with his band at Belladrum last year and was, for many, the high point of the festival, particularly when they appeared on stage with Geno Washington. Expect more astounding and memorable moments this year!

www.andygunn.com

Andy White

Andy White grew up in Belfast surrounded by Irish beauty and terrorist violence. His father is a political writer and his grandmother was a piano player so music and lyricism run in the family. He now lives and works between Australia and London and his recent album boy 40 is his 12 international release. It begins with him performing solo on the guitar and ends with a performance with an orchestra.In his own words he says: "I grew up hearing folk music dividing people into one side or the other.

“I wanted to write a new folk music uniting our traditions with the rock music we loved and the new political future we hoped for. I started off writing poems and then picked up an acoustic guitar when I heard John Lennon sing 'Give Peace A Chance'.”

www.andywhite.com

Baka Beyond

Baka Beyond are one of the most diverse and skilled world music bands around just now. Hailing from Baka, Cameroon, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Ghana and Britain, each member of the group is an accomplished musician in their own right. But when they play together they bring an intense energy and passion to the stage with their mix of Celtic, Gaelic and West African music.

The group is widely acclaimed for its high energy, multicultural live stage shows and the performance at the Tartan Heart Festival promises to be no different.

Since the launch of their debut album – Spirit of the Forest – 12 years ago, the band has gone from strength to strength and become more culturally diverse.

As the name suggests the group recorded the first album using material they had recorded with the Baka Pygmies in the rainforests of southeast Cameroon.

Founding member and guitarist Martin Cradick explained the band’s aim to blend different nations.

He said: “The music of the Baka somehow touches the music of many different cultures.

“I have always looked for the similarities in music from different places and the fast yet gentle syncopated rhythms of the Baka somehow provide the perfect glue to join together different musical elements from different roots.”

The group also makes sure it puts as much back into the culture that inspires their music as they take out. Early in the band’s career its members created the charity organisation Global Music Exchange to take the royalties earned from the music and channel it back into the Baka communities.

The scheme has brought many benefits to those communities, such as building materials and the skills of Andi Main, a timber frame builder who worked on a music house in the heart of the rain forest in Cameroon.

 

 

As well as encouraging local people to play music the music house has also created a more permanent base for Baka Beyond in the rainforest.

In January last year Martin took a solar panel, battery and multitrack with him on a trip and managed to capture some of the Baka music live.

The track Kobo on the recently released new album The Rhythm Tree was the first to be recorded in this way.

 

 

In 2003 the band’s singer and dancer Denise Rowe travelled to Cameroon to develop her dancing skills. The Baka are renowned throughout Africa as masters of dance and since then the band’s live shows include incredible, energetic dancing displays.

 

 

The new album The Rhythm Tree is, according to Martin, the culmination of a decade of work.

He said: “It is where the music of the Baka and of Baka Beyond comes back together. I have always felt that there was a big difference between Baka Beyond live and the Baka Beyond on the albums, which have always been quite studio based.

“We have had a stable line-up now for a long time and we are playing really well together as a band.

“Meanwhile the Baka musicians have been developing their songs using the guitars that we have taken to them, and on The Rhythm Tree we have been able to bring all these elements together.”

He added: “The next stage will be to have two more new albums – one entirely the live band and another the Baka performing the best of their many songs recorded in the forest and the music house.”

"If there has to be a definition of 'world music' this is it" (Andy Kershaw, BBC Radio 3).

 Links: www.baka.co.uk

Bluetones

Brakes

Brakes was formed in a bar in Brighton in 2002 after vocalist Eamon Hamilton had spent the evening playing with British Sea Power in a local pub. He and guitarist Tom White, of Electric Soft Parade, started discussing their music and soon agreed to venture into the city’s Mokinbird Studios run by Marc Beatty.

Beatty was soon onboard playing bass and Alex White, who also plays with Electric Soft Parade, joined as drummer and over the next few months they played wherever they could, building up a vast and eager fan base.

It wasn’t long before they had an offer from a record label to release their first single in the middle of 2004 – Pick up the Phone – and a video to accompany it, filmed in the basement of a Brighton flat.

A few weeks later the video appeared on MTV and the band embarked the same month on a UK tour.

An album deal with Rough Trade followed soon after and the band spent an intensive five days in late January putting together their masterpiece.

As they describe it, the album Give Blood is the sound of four friends playing music in a room. It was released on 4^th July, a couple of weeks after the band played to thousands at Glastonbury.

Make sure you catch them here!

British Sea Power

British Sea Power play amplified rock music and are based in Brighton but the story really started in Kendal, Cumbria.

It was here that brothers Hamilton and Yan attended the same school as drummer Woody. After finishing his exams, Yan relocated to Reading where he met a guitarist from Leeds called Noble. Hamilton and Wood came down to Reading to join the jam wagon and, in essence, British Sea Power had begun. However, it wasn't until the band moved to Brighton that anyone noticed.

In Brighton, BSP began to stage their own Club Sea Power night. This was 2001, the year which also saw the release of the band's first record, the single Fear Of Drowning on their own Golden Chariot label. The nights became legendary – so much so that one Friday, Rough Trade boss Geoff Travis came down to Club Sea Power. Soon after, he offered the band a recording contract.

British Sea Power's first record on Rough Trade was a single called Remember Me, released in late 2001. It was later be re-recorded and, in 2003, gave the band their first Top 30 single. In 2002, they began to find themselves playing alongside groups including Pulp.By this point, BSP were also gaining a reputation as an astonishing live act. A Rolling Stone review of the 2002 Reading festival dismissed all the other performances in a couple of lines, before dwelling on the BSP set at length: "Fuck this puerile drivel, we're going to see British Sea Power... All of them have crazy acid-fried stares, the bass player is wearing tree branches on his head and one deliriously psycho-delic tune concludes with singer Yan beating on the drum-kit with a large stuffed owl. British Sea Power rule."

In January 2003 the band had expanded to a five-piece and supported The Flaming Lips on an UK tour. In March and April 2003 they also toured nine European countries with Interpol. The debut BSP album, The Decline Of British Sea Power, was released in June 2003. It was an ambitious work, ranging from visceral 70-second blast called Favours In The Beetroot Fields to the beautifully structured anthemic song Carrion. There was also Gregorian chant and the 14-minute keystone of Lately. The latter took in references to George Formby, the novels of LP Hartley and the Scandinavian sea lanes of the Kattegat.The year 2003 concluded on a high with BSP supporting The Strokes in the UK and Spain. The globe-spanning BSP tour schedule bore fruit at the Time Out Awards in January 2004 when the group was presented with the award for Live Band Of The Year.BSP spent much of 2004 working toward their second album. Songs were demoed in a barn up on the South Downs, beside the ancient chalk-hill figure The Long Man Of Wilmington. The album was recorded at Rockfield Studio in South Wales and at Kore Studios in West London. The majority of the album was recorded with the tireless Norwegian Mads Bjerke and mixed by the great Bill Price who has worked with anyone from the Sex Pistols and The Clash to Sparks, The Libertines and Fluffy. The second BSP album is called Open Season and is a work that retains the peculiar power while adding new dimensions of poise and prettiness.

www.britishseapower.co.uk

Calamateur

Andrew Howie, a home-grown Scot who lives not far from here on the muddy banks of the Beauly Firth, is Calamateur. The fruits of his labours have been heard on BBC Radio 1, on the show fronted by the late John Peel, on BBC Radio 3's Late Junction and even Madrid's Cielo Liquido. In January one of his songs, Half Truth, taken from his debut album, featured on a CD given away on the front of the industry magazine Music Week. The CD was designed to showcase the best contemporary music coming out of the Highlands to a wide audience.

According to his website he "has the knack of building songs from apparently disparate parts; delicately picked acoustic, soft harmonies, feedback, distortion, electronics, montages of samples, thunderous bass, rock guitar, and found sound; which make sense as satisfying, haunting wholes."

Andrew not only writes and performs his own music, he is part of Autoclave Records, an independent record label established early in 2003. It is based in Beauly and Brooklyn, New York.

www.calamateur.com

Cinematics

The musical career of The Cinematics began on a street in Glasgow's West End late in the summer of 2003 when a passer-by stopped to listen to a lone busker with a tremendous voice. The busker was Scott Rinning, the passer-by Ramsay Miller. Soon after they joined forces with Ross and Adam - two friends and colleagues in other bands - and The Cinematics was born.

All four hail from the Scottish Highlands and started playing music at a young age. But it was the chance meeting in Glasgow two years ago that sent them on to greater things.

The Cinematics sound began as a blend of Jeff Buckley, Byrne and Maculloch, with jagged guitars. As they grew the music became something too good to resist. They describe it as Radiohead meeting Duran Duran at a Television concert on too much speed. TVT Records recognised their talents and snapped the group up, promising to broadcast their music to the wider world.
The band have recently recorded their first single, which was produced by Stephen Hague of Blur and New Order fame, and recentlysupported Ambulance Ltd on their UK tour. The first single is due for release in the next few weeks, followed by an LP early in 2006.

We saw these guys at a Make Tracks Tour gig in February and recognised the talent. As well as an appearance at the Tartan Heart Festival they will also be appearing before the crowds at the T Break stage of T In The Park.

Links: www.thecinematics.co.uk      

Country Joe MacDonald

Editors

The Editors recently burst onto the UK music scene in a way that threatens to do for Birmingham - their city  - what Franz Ferdinand did for Glasgow. The Birmingham quartet have already raked together an avid local fanbase and are now taking the rest of the UK by storm.

Their sound has a raw edginess but with an undeniable romanticism which gives it hints of early 1980s material by bands like Joy Division. Their first single, released in the last few weeks, is called Bullet, and is described as a hypnotic, art-punk anthem and the closest thing they are likely to get to a love song. Despite being their first single it has already been championed by the likes of BBC Radio 1's Jo Wiley and was close to the Top 40.

The Stafford University graduates got together three years ago after discussing music and their hopes for the future in the campus canteen. Gigs across the country soon ensued and they signed to independent label Kitchenware. An album is due out soon, with production by Jim Abbott who has worked with DJ Shadow and Kasabian.

www.editorsofficial.com

El Presidente

El Presidente frontman and founder Dante Gizzi looks like a rock star even when he is off duty – the brightly coloured, custom-made suits, kipper ties and polished brogues, together with a bold moustache, fall somewhere between Prince and Captain Beefheart.

Dressing up is an important part of the band image, he says.

“I love dressing up and I think all bands should make an effort with their appearance. Too many these days just stroll on stage in jeans and t-shirts. Not us – we want to put on fantastic live shows and that means looking as exciting as we sound.”

El Presidente’s high octane glamour suits their songs. The Glasgow-based five-piece list influences as diverse as The Beach Boys, The Bee Gees, Led Zepplin, Prince, Dr Dre and Funkadelic.

Their debut album is a diverse mixture of feelgood pop, frisk funk, glam rock, electronic grooves and, in their own words, glitterball disco.

The harmonies, high-pitched vocals, catchy choruses and party vibe have led many to dub them Scotland’s very own Scissor Sisters.

www.el-presidente.co.uk

Emiliana Torrini

Emiliana Torrini is a virtuoso musician both behind the microphone and behind the scenes. Hailing from the land of fire and ice that is Iceland but also half Italian, the passion of her background is evident in all of her music, from her debut album released in 1999, Love In The Time Of Science, to her latest work - Fisherman's Woman. Torrini spent her childhood out in the wild open countryside in the east of Iceland, living with her grandmother. As a teenager she travelled hundreds of miles to spend time with her Italian uncle living in Germany.

Musically, she joined a choir at the age of seven and sang soprano until she was 15, when she left to attend an opera school. A limited family album collection was soon more than made up for when her family became one of the first in Iceland to get satellite television and, of course, MTV. Many late nights followed, as Torrini stayed up watching and recording various bands. When her father turned 50 she recorded a few jazz and blues tunes to mark the ocassion but so good was the music that it was made into an album, sold 15,000 copies and stayed at the top of the Icelandic charts for months. A second album followed, which she co-funded through performances in pubs and restaurants across Iceland. It was during one gig that she was spotted and signed by One Little Indian. Her debut worldwide album was co-produced by Roland Orzabal from Tears for Fears.

Since then she has signed a new deal with Rough Trade and created a new, and slightly different work in Fisherman's Woman - an album about loss and how it feels to lose people. Torrini says she wrote it like "a letter" to someone close to her she had lost. But despite this the new album is also, in her own words, full of a "magical optimism".

Torrini has also written and performed music for The Lord of the Rings film trilogy and written songs for other artists including Kylie Minogue.

www.emilianatorrini.com

Endrick Brothers

In a review for Uncut magazine the group were described as follows: "

Exist

Foy Vance

To most people a bathroom has specific and limited uses - to shower, bathe, wash and, of course, go to the toilet. Not so for musician Foy Vance. His list of uses for bathrooms include one very important addition - that of music studio.

The bizarre and unique acoustics of the lavatory captured the attention of the Irish performer so much that he embarked on a quest to record music in the toilets of the world, a move spawning his first EP Live Sessions and the Birth of the Toilet Tour.

But despite the obvious humour Foy's musical abilities are not in doubt. His distinctive, soulful voice and ability to write songs with profound lyrics has already brought him to the attention of Brian Freshwater and Jacqueline Hughes, the pair who discovered and launched the career of Joss Stone. So taken were they with Foy's unique qualities they set up Wurdamouth Records to promote his work.

As Brian Freshwater said after hearing Foy perform: "When we first saw Foy playing live we knew he was the real deal. The way he communicates his wonderful, poignant songs, with his astonishing, emotive soul voice just gives you goose bumps. We immediately recognised that this was an authentic artist with something special to convey."

Galipaygos

Heather Macleod

Heather Macleod was born on the island of Lewis and grew up surrounded by a mixture of music - the rich Gaelic song heritage, country, rock and R&B. Her father was also a passionate musician with a keen interest in everything from Scottish country dance tunes to bee-bop. Casting her mind back to her musical childhood Heather recalls memorising songs by Queen and The Beatles as a six-year old. Three years later she took to the stage herself when she began competing in the Royal National Mod. It was while she was at art college in Aberdeen, however, that she began spreading her musical wings, performing in the local blues-jam scene. Following her graduation she performed with Scottish cult luminaries such as Mojo Pep and Gerry Jablonski and worked as lead vocalist with Andy Gunn.

Over the next few years she worked at top musical venues in Edinburgh, the Highland Festival and appeared at Celtic Connections. But more recently she has focused more on her own work - a sensual and authoritative handling of jazz and blues and a broad mix of other songs. Her current solo set features covers of songs by Richard Thompson and K.D. Lang. But it is her own tunes that attract the most attention - painting vivid pictures and conjuring complex, heartfelt emotions performed with Heather's radiantly expressive and seductively world-weary voice. Her first solo album - Crossing Tides - was released earlier this year and featured a number of close musical friends including Sugar Blue, Steven Polwart, Donald Hay and MacFall's Chamber.

Jah Wobble

Jason Ringenberg

Karine Polwart

Karine joins the Belladrum line-up fresh from scooping three of the major prizes from Radio 2's 2005 Folk On 2 Awards. The skilled songstress won Best Album for Faultlines, Best Original Song for The Sun's Comin' Over The Hill and also the Horizon Award.

Formerly a member of the Battlefield Band and more recently lead singer with the Scots-Irish quintet Malinky, Borders-based Karine now leads her own band.  Blending passionate stridency with plaintive sensitivity, she has a maturity and breadth of outlook and experience that distinguishes her as one of the most powerful and inventive narrative interpreters of her generation. Her previous background in working for a domestic and child abuse charity and a degree in philiosophy lend her song-writing an edginess that has brought her a host of other accolades, including Best Scots Singer at the 2003 Scots Trad Music Awards.

Karine's debut solo album Faultlines was released in January last year to critical acclaim. A review in Mojo magazine said she was "blessed with a voice and a view of life somewhere between Eddi Reader and Emmylou Harris, combining the blue-sky dreaming and worldly wisdom of the former with the poise of the latter'."

Roddy Woomble, the frontman of the Scottish band Idlewild said her song Start It All Over Again, which was co-written with John McCusker was one of his top ten tracks.

Karine herself says: "I've got big ideals and love big ideas. And I'm really fascinated by the power and limitations of songs as a way of changing how feel or we look at things. But I'm always looking for the wry, sideways view. It's much more effective and makes for better music."

Links: www.karinepolwart.com 

Karl Broadie

Karl Broadie moved to Sydney, Australia, in 1997 and six years later released his debut album Nowhere Now Here. The work immediately cemented Broadie's international reputation as a fine craftsman of song. Reviews in the world's musical press drew comparisons with the likes of Bob Dylan, Tom Waits and Neil Young, to name a few. His follow-up 2004 EP Everybody's Gold continued to establish his musical depth and strength and this year's release Black Crow Callin' swoops, glides and takes the listener on a philosophical musical journey about the ups and downs of love.

The new album was produced by Michael Roberts and features guest appearances by Kevin Bennett and Tim Wedde from The Flood, Graham Grifiths and Mark Oates.

Mojo describe Broadie as "a Scots-born Oz-based singer/songwriter whose chops are in the right place. His voice comes nicely cracked, his folksy songs often worth an instant replay". Uncut describe his work as "slow-sad meditations set adrift on a raft of mandolins, banjos, dobro and fiddle". Broadie has spent the last few weeks on an European and UK tour which includes appearances at Borderline in London and King Tuts in Glasgow. Other dates include appearances in England, Ireland, Wales, Holland and other venues in Scotland.

Further information from: www.karlbroadie.com

Check out some of Karl's music and videos using the links below:

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Michael Marra

Hailing from the east coast city of Dundee Michael Marra is often described as one of Scotland's finest songwriters and performers. The son of a printer and a schoolteacher, he managed to get himself expelled from school at the age of 14 and took up a series of jobs including apprentice electrician and building labourer before forming his first band Hen's Teeth in 1971. By the mid 1970s he was a full-time professional musician, playing with the legendary Dundee group Skeets Boliver.

The next four years were spent touring, relocating to London and producing three singles, with little commercial sucess. Marra finally became a songwriter for a London publishing company and released his first solo album, The Midas Touch, on Polydor in 1980. But his manager was eager to mould Marra into a figure similar to other Scots on the music scene then such as Gerry Rafferty and Barbara Dickson.

Needless to say, a rebellion brewed inside the Dundee-born musician and, despite negative reaction from his management to the tunes he penned about Scotland, Marra continued on the same route, eventually breaking free of the London scene to return to Scotland. In 1985 he released Gaels Blue on his own Mink Records and has continued to follow his own career path since then.

Anyone who has witnessed his solo shows will testify to his ability to entertain and, through a combination of humour and thought-provoking lyrics, offer insights into the human condition. His collaborations include performances with poet Liz Lochead, tours with Deacon Blue and providing lyrics for Bjorn Ulvaeus of Abba fame.

http://www.baillie.net/ics/marra/main/mm_home.htm

Mohair

The Watford four-piece Mohair have been taking the country's music scene by storm since they established themselves a few years back. Assured, loud and undeniably different, their sound combines bass, drums, guitar and Hammond organ to create blow-away four-piece harmonies capable of giving the UK's biggest musical acts a run for their money.

Described by NME as "a Cockney Belle & Sebastian swigging whiskey with Ryan Adams", the group have nurtured a huge fan-base and continue to convert as more people are exposed to their sound. But working with music industry legend Billy Gaff, who managed superstars including Rod Stewart, it was difficult to imagine anything other than greatness. The four - Tom Billington, Tim Slade, Alex Richards and Pete Baker, have also been working recently with producer Mark Wallis, whose musical associations include U2, The Smiths and Taking Heads.

But their strength is not only evident in the studio - they also wow the crowds at live concerts. In the last few months they have played hundreds of gigs throughout the UK and Ireland, and recently supported Garbage at the Montreux Jazz Festival. Some musical promoters claim they are on track to superscede The Darkness and Franz Ferdinand in terms of chart success, and that budding musicians will soon look to them for inspiration. This year has been a buzzing year, with the release of their first single - Keep It Together - in May, the recording of an album due for release in October, and plans to release two other singles in the next few weeks. There are also plans to perform on the soundtrack for a new Hollywood film and an American tour in February 2006.

For more information: www.mohairmusic.com

N'Faly Kouyate

Peatbog Faeries

Poor Old Ben

Poor Old Ben are a three-piece band who are based in Glasgow but originally hail from the Outer Hebrides island of Lewis. Since they began their musical journey they have been compared, albeit loosely, to the likes of Idlewild and on occasion Jackson Browne.

At the heart of their music lies a cross between indie-pop and country folk. There may be difficulty describing it in words but there is no difficulty at all in listening to it.

Years of hard work appear finally to have paid off for the band - they have recently signed what promises to be a lucrative deal with Universal Music so - watch this space! But not for too long - make sure you catch them at the festival!!

www.pooroldben.org

Ricky Ross

There are few people who grew up in Scotland during the mid 1980s and 1990s who didn't know Deacon Blue. Their thunderous entrance onto the pop music scene two decades ago was the beginning of one of Scotland's most successful, original and enduring bands of recent years.

During their career the five studio albums and compilation CDs sold over six million copies. The majority of their 20 singles achieved top slots in the Top 40 music charts and they created a massive following. Indeed fans of then and now would both agree they were the kind of band worth hearing live instead of from a stereo, with highly charged anthemic songs to fire up the emotions. 

When the group decided to split in 1994 frontman Ricky Ross briefly bowed out of music but returned soon after with his own solo material, more personal and introspective than the Deacon Blue sound.
Since then he has also established himself as a much sought-after composer, writing for and with other artists, for film, television and theatre. His most recent commissions included the music for a production of A MidsummerNight's Dream'at the Cititzen's Theatre in Glasgow and a soundtrack for the TV drama The Lucky Ones.

Ricky's new solo album Pale Rider is the latest in a series of quality albums he has created, recorded at a time when he has stepped out of the limelight, revelled in family life and found time to provide music for other artists including Ronan Keating, James Blunt, MOBO winner N'Jay, Cathy Burton and Fame Academy winner David Sneddon.

Links: www.deaconblue.com  

Ruth Sutherland

Hailing from Inverness, singer songwriter Ruth Sutherland has developed a new four piece band from its solo roots into a dynamic mix of modern eclectic music. 

Her vocals are backed by a fusion of guitars, bass and percussion, creating a warmth of sound capable of casting a spell over any audience.

These newcomers covering styles from earthy rhythmic sounds to more contemporary sounding ballads and are not to be missed 

Ruthless Blues

Ruthless Blues are many things to many people. A band of roughly 18 years standing cannot fail to pick up enough fans over the years and gather up enough memorable moments along the way to fill a whole series of scrapbooks.

As well as spanning many years, the band's career has also seen a number of different line-ups, with different faces coming and going.

Steve Smith, however, remains the indefatigable frontman who not only sings but is also a virtuoso harmonica player. Andy Herbert plays the bass, Tony Fernandez is the drummer and the guitarist is Yorkshire man Martyn Taylor.

Not long after the band formed Time Out magazine described them as London's leading rock/blues outfit.

At the peak of the group's career they trailed a blaze across the music scene with blistering sets and trademark humour the crowds grew to know and to love.

Over the years Ruthless Blues have entertained crowds across the globe - from

the former USSR to Spitsbergen in Norway. They played to thunderous applause at one of Europe's biggest biker rallies in Germany, sold out blues gigs on the Thames and featured musicians such as John "Irish" Earle, John Knightsbridge, Johnny Mars and Jim McCarty.

the former USSR to Spitsbergen in Norway. They played to thunderous applause at one of Europe's biggest biker rallies in Germany, sold out blues gigs on the Thames and featured musicians such as John "Irish" Earle, John Knightsbridge, Johnny Mars and Jim McCarty.

Sundowns

The Sundowns were established in 2001 when three musicians from Aberdeen-shire, another from Fife and a fifth from Moffat got together to put their talents onto the alternative-country scene in Scotland.Their influences range from The Jayhawks to The Byrds and Teenage Fanclub,and their debut album 'The Merchant House Tapes' has been followed by a well-reviewed second album 'Calabasas' released in February and produced by Mike Brennan, sound manager for Super Furry Animals.
Their sound can constantly be heard on Scotland's airwaves, including Beat 106 and Forth 1, and the group have played live with various other musicians including Cosmic Rough Riders, Marah, The Delgados, Runrig and the long established rockers Status Quo.

Following the release of Calabasas, the Edinburgh Evening News wrote: "Nohalf-assed skate punk or homogenous, flat-packed indie; instead, it's the return of real rootsy country music to the Scottish scene.'"

The Band is currently working to expand its sound, introducing a pedal steel guitar to bring a bit of Americana to the Scottish music scene.

Links: www.thesundowns.com    

The Bees

The talents of Paul Butler and Aaron Fletcher burst onto the UK music scene in 2002 when the band’s debut album Sunshine Hit Me was released.

The addictive, humorous, trademark tunes proved incredibly popular and the album was nominated for a Mercury Music Prize, while the fanbase continued to grow.

The successful first album was followed up last year with the release of the band’s second work Free The Bees.

Describing their music is a difficult task. It is slow-paced one minute, the next a fast-paced catchy tune capable of filling any dancefloor. Many of the songs feature harmonising voices accompanied by a funky drumbeat, brass section and the trademark Hammond organ; others are foot-tapping ska song or the catchy Chicken Payback, a song from their second album which blends catchy vocals, brass, guitar bass and drum to create a perfect 1960s chart-topping and quirky Beatles sound.

With the release of Sunshine Hit Me, and the acquisition of a Mercury Prize nomination, came a new found fame and a number of associated changes.

The musical duo recorded the first album in what is now considered a somewhat legendary studio in a shed in Paul’s parents back garden. When the songs were complete the pair swore never to move to another venue and vowed to create more sounds in the same cramped but creative space.

Perhaps, when the statement was made, there was a failure to grasp just how popular and sought after their music would become. Whatever the reason, the promise was soon broken and the second album was recorded in a slightly more legendary setting - Abbey Road studios - the same building where The Beatles created so many of their hits.

The processes leading to the second album were very much like the first and featured the same group of friends who, together, make The Bees what they are – Kris Birkin, Michael Clevett, Tim Parkin and Warren Hampshire.

Make sure you catch them at Belladrum - a great way to celebrate summer!

www.thebees.info/

The Black Velvets

The Black Velvets are four guys from Liverpool who share a passion for all kinds of music, from T Rex to The Stone Roses. Their music is unashamedly big in sound and to hear their full, raw energy you need to catch them playing live. A perfect addition to the Tartan Heart line-up, they create simple and yet classic tunes they could be described as Led Zepplin performing songs penned by The Beatles. A bolshy statement but they are a bolshy band - an attitude which has already seen them touring with The Killers and had support slots with The Who and John Squire.

Their meteoric rise to stardom began when they signed a record deal with Vertigo and secured the services of agent Steve Strange, whose associations include Eminem and Coldplay. Strange has described them as the best new live band he has heard for 10 years, while manager Bill Curbishley was impressed with what he saw when they supported The Who. The Black Velvets are now managed by Sanctuary, one of the world's leading rock management companies. The band's debut single Get On With Your Life was produced by the legendary Mike Crossey who worked with The Basement and Grandmaster Flash. He is also working on their debut album, due to appear anytime soon. The future for The Black Velvets is bright - expect big things! 

www.theblackvelvets.tv

The Duhks

“Contemporary acoustic”, “progressive soul-grass” “kick-ass rock/folk fusion”. Since they were formed many people have tried and failed to find a phrase to describe The Duhks. If there was a way of combining all three of the above in one then that might just about capture the five-piece band who have travelled all the way from Winnipeg in Manitoba to perform at this year’s Tartan Heart Festival.

Their sound contains elements Irish fiddle tunes, Canadian French and Scottish folk, and Appalachian Old Time string band qualities – hence the difficulty one has in trying to capture the essence of their music in a few short words. When you see them on stage it is something to behold - drummer Scott Senior pounding dance rhythms and graceful salsa polyrhythms on a handmade cajon drum, soulful singer Jessica Havey awash with tattoos, cooing, crying and shouting like a punk rock-era Gladys Knight, banjo player Leonard Podolak, fiddle player Tania Elizabeth and guitarist Jordan McConnell. The originality of the band is astounding, with sounds of their own making that create a potent new North American vein of World Music.
The band itself, like the sounds The Duhks create, came together by a combination of planning and a trist of fate.

Founder Leonard Podolak set out to bring together a group of musicians who could create a new sound with traditional roots. Each of their distinct individual styles - blues, salsa, old-time, celtic - collide with surprising fluidity and form something fresh and unexpected.

www.duhks.com

The Hazey Janes

Dundee-based band The Hazey Janes recently confirmed their place on Scotland's independent music map with the release of their debut mini album The Hazey Janes. Recorded by Mark Freegard, a name associated with The Manic Street Prachers, Del Amitri and The Breeders, the album was released in October 2004 by Glasgow-based Measured Records.

Despite Glasgow's reputation as a hotbed of independent musical talent, The Hazey Janes have managed to establish a strong local and national profile from their base in Dundee. Colin Martin, the head of music for BBC Radio 2, recently said the group were on track for great things and worth watching out for in the future. Tracks from the album have received air time on radio stations across the UK including BBC 6Music, BBC London and Beat 106. Several live sessions have also been recorded for BBC Radio Scotland.

The sound of The Hazey Janes has been described as "a rich and original fusion of country rock and power-pop reminiscent of US bands Big Star and Velvet Crush". It is a sound both energetic and uplifting that reflects the talents of its four songwriters. In recent months they have toured extensively across the country, appearing alongside major acts including Snow Patrol and Gorky's Zygotic Mynci. Plans for this year include the release of their first full-length album and tours both in the UK and abroad.

The Hotlicks Cookies

The Hotlicks Cookie were accorded the honour of being the first ever UK act to be invited to the New Orleans Heritage Festival.

Gypsy Dave left Australia with his 1930's Dobro to make the journey across the southern hemisphere and into the north. He played as he went and eventually settled in Newcastle where he met his soul mate and now wife Jackie and his soul brothers in music - Round Eyes Ray & Graham (Shipcote) Anderson, also known as The Hotlicks Cookies. Authentic goodtime barrel-house blues, hokum and country blues were soon being created, a process which still continues.

Gypsy Dave's repertoire is deep, wide and as long as the Mississippi delta itself and The Cookies repertoire is born from the hot and riotous cathouses and riverboats that populate that great river. 

When the band is together the aim is to recreate the golden age of delta blues in all its forms.

The Proclaimers

The renowned Auchtermuchty twins Craig and Charlie Reid – better known as The Proclaimers – will headline the Tartan Heart  Festival at the Garden Stage this year.The Reid brothers have come a long way and have enjoyed huge international success and critical acclaim in the 18 years since they made their first appearance on The Tube.

In their early, formative, childhood years the boys were heavily influenced by the likes of  Merle Haggard, Jerry Lee Lewis, Hank Williams and Ray Charles. At school they formed punk bands and out of this The Proclaimers were formed in 1983, spending the next three years touring in pubs and clubs from Edinburgh to Inverness.Their appearance at Belladrum follows on the back of a high profile gig at the Live8 concert in Edinburgh as part of the Make Poverty History campaign.The twins now have five albums and a greatest hits compilation under their belts, making them one of Scotland’s finest musical exports.The album Sunshine on Leith went platinum in the UK, Canada and New Zealand, and triple platinum in Australia where I’m Gonna Be (500 miles) stayed at the top of the charts for six weeks.The single was a worldwide success and was also used as the theme for the Hollywood film Benny and Joon.The song broke the American film market wide open and they went on to pen songs for the popular comedy Dumb and Dumber, the film Bottle Rocket and Shrek.

As their careers progressed the twins personal lives took up more time, with personal upheavals in the form of marriage, divorce and children delaying album production in the mid-1990s and the death of their father in 1997 also taking its toll. But Craig and Charlie refused to turn their backs on music and returned to various recording studios to produce albums with their trademark Scottish sound - a mixture of rock, folk and blues, with lyrics depicting the spiritual, the romantic, family and friends.Their unique sound has also been snapped up by the international advertising industry, appearing on producs ranging from IBM to South Korean mobile phones and Swedish meatballs.

The Belladrum gig promises to work long established fans into a frenzy and convert the few people unfamiliar with their music, with marking the highs of their long and successful career.It’s difficult to imagine any other band managing to get songs about Scotland - its emigration, its politics, industrial closures and the Highland clearances into the UK top ten. Just follow the sounds of stomping feet and cheering crowds to find The Proclaimers on Saturday!

www.proclaimers.co.uk

Trashcan Sinatras

The Scottish indie-pop stalwarts known as the Trashcan Sinatras were founded near Glasgow in 1987 by the group’s singer and guitarist Frank Reader - the brother of ex-Fairground Attraction singer Eddi Reader), guitarists John Douglas and Paul Livingston, bassist George McDaid and drummer Stephen Douglas.

The group began life as a cover band, performing in a local bar, before being discovered by a talent scout for a record label.

Their first single, the superb Obscurity Knocks, appeared in early 1990, and was reminiscent of the guitar-pop crafted by Scottish bands like Aztec Camera, Orange Juice and Josef K a decade earlier.

A second Trash Can Sinatras single, Only Tongue Can Tell, preceded the release of the quintet's debut album Cake, which met with a positive response on both sides of the Atlantic.

In America the song became a particular favorite on college radio.

In 1992 McDaid left the group and was replaced by bassist David Hughes but by the time the group’s next musical offering I've Seen Everything finally appeared in 1993, grunge was on the ascent and managed to derail plans for major commercial success. The 1996 single A Happy Pocket was only released in the UK, never making it across the Atlantic despite previous successes.

A new single, Snow, followed in late 1999 and the band made a triumphant return to the scene in 2004 with their Spin Art release Weighlifting and a world tour which had them wowing old fans and gaining new ones with their stunning display of melody and emotion.

www.trashcansinatras.com

unholy trinity

The Unholy Trinity are Ronnie Elliot, Terry Clarke and Wes McGhee. The three are renowned American musicians in their own right and the band was formed to allow a group of friends to get together and play a mixture of rock and roll, Texas border music, blues and roots and vivid narrative songs.

Elliot’s music features a collection of back-street heroes and brawlers, wrestlers and hillbillies, rednecks, cross-dressers and sinful soaks redeemed by their poetic souls. McGhee has spent the last three decades penning the kind of tunes that sound like they have come straight from the heart of country music creation. Clarke’s music is of a bygone era – one populated by the likes of Cliff Richard and the Shadows, Billy Fury and Johnny Kidd and the Pirates.  

Wadada

Musician Michael Wadada has spent much of his musical career investigating what he describes as the supernatural potential hidden in the Classical Raga of the music of India. His mission is to mix the cerebral and illusive cosmological vibrations of Raga with the mother Earth rhythms of Niyabinghi drumming that he believed surfaced in the UK over the years in the guise of Dub Reggae.

In the 1970s Wadada created the band Suns of Arqa and in 1979 recorded the groundbreaking album Revenge of the Mozabites with friend Adrian Sherwood. The pair also formed the 4D Rhythm record label and three years later, when Peter Gabriel was putting together the very first World of Music and Dance festival (WOMAD) he discovered the Suns of Arqa album and asked them to perform at the event.

Since then Wadada has performed at countless live concerts with a live band formed in Manchester and his various albums, produced between 1979 and 1988, have been warmly received on the world music circuit.

www.sunsofarqa.co.uk

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