Book Yer Ane Fest; First Timers

Book Yer Ane Fest always seems to throw up some “firsts”, usually some idiotic decisions that we as a collective have made; from making BYAF a three-day event to adding extra stages and venues, each year there seems to be something happening that didn’t happen the year before. This time round, for example, we’re running all three days in Kage nightclub, as well as running some pre-BYAF shows at Henry’s Coffee House and Cerberus Bar before the main event kicks off at the club itself. I’ve written about the full day and venue breakdowns previously and you can check out that post here. However, with less than a week to go until things officially kick off, I want to focus on the important stuff; the bands, more specifically, the bands who will either be playing BYAF for the first time, paying their first visit to Scotland and, in some cases, playing their very first show!

First Ever Shows!

Last Of Us are a brand new band of “well ken’t” faces. They are indeed the last remaining members of Perth punk legends PMX and their opening performance on the Sunday of BYAF will be their first ever show. If you know any of these dudes’ previous projects, you’ll know that we are in for some tightly-honed, super-precise powerful melodic rock’n’roll and, having heard the demos and being friends with the dudes, I know that these guys are going to rip it up. John Harcus will also be playing solo on the acoustic stage later in the day, but I’d recommend getting down to Kage earlybells on Sunday to catch these guys. It’ll be well worth your while.

I find it hard to believe that for a band so polished and kick-ass, that BYAF will be the first ever show from Manchester punks Stay Clean Jolene. Last year’s “3 Songs” 7″ on Drunken Sailor Records may well be one of the finest debut releases from a punk rock band that I’ve heard this century and given the calibre of the members’ previous bands (The Great St. Louis/ The Leif Ericsson), that comes as no great surprise. I’ve been in love with that record since Jamie first sent it to me sometime last summer and we’ve been trying to nail them down for a show ever since. I am absolutely mad stoked that they’ll be playing their first ever show in Dundee. They play Saturday afternoon so make sure you’re there.

Lachance will be playing their first ever show on the Acoustic Stage on Saturday afternoon. Featuring our pal Baz from the MTAT collective as well as our friends Gerold and Gav (of Contra/The Hijacks and Terrafraid/From The Tracks respectively), they play fast, melodic, urgent emo-tinged acoustic punk rock that is as nostalgic as it is uplifting. I have personally been waiting a long time for these guys to come out with a new project so I’m very much looking forward to seeing them perform for the very first time. I’ve heard rumours of some sort of super-limited release being available at BYAF too, although you’ll have to wait and see.

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First Time in Scotland

Friday night headliners Broadcaster are not only paying their first visit to Scotland, their ongoing tour has seen the New Yorkers visit the UK and Europe for the very first time also. Alongside their tour buddies Muncie Girls from Exeter (also playing their first Scottish show), this will be the only Scottish performance of their month long European tour and we’re delighted that they are going to spend it with us. Super-catchy melodic pop-punk/indie rock goodness like Weezer/The Weakerthans/Superchunk, these dudes are guaranteed to leave you with a smile on your face. The new “A Million Hours” LP on Jump Start Records is a banger and I look forward to picking one up (my bank account isn’t too pleased with the amount of cash I’m going to wax on records next weekend, though).

Dividers are a band that I have long admired from afar and yet, despite all of the shows, miles and travelling, our paths have yet to cross. Therefore, I am very pleased that these Welshmen are making the trek north to play Scotland for the first time and am doubly pleased that it shall be happening on the Saturday afternoon of BYAF, where they’ll meet up with previous tour buddies Antillectual. Dividers play honest, heartfelt gruff pop-punk and, to my mind, are pretty much the perfect Saturday afternoon BYAF band. There will be other Welshmen present also, so there may well be heckling.

Andy Thomas’ Dust Heart is the solo project from the Denver, Colorado native and former Tin Horn Prayer frontman of the same name. Our friend Josh of Loaded 45 hooked this up and we are delighted to host Andy at what will be his first ever shows outside of North America and the only shows that he’ll be playing in Europe this year. Andy will be playing the pre-BYAF acoustic show at Henry’s on Friday before giving us the full Dust Heart treatment at Kage later on in the evening. I’m looking forward to this greatly as the LP is a cracker full of Waits-esque gravel-punk murder balladry.

BYAF will also see the first visit to Scotland from our London punk rock’n’roll pals The Rocco Lampones. Unfortunately they won’t be coming in their fully revved up plugged in incarnation, but we are still very pleased to host them on the acoustic stage on Saturday afternoon. We met Justin in Gainesville a couple of years ago then Uniforms went to London to play at what has now become a somewhat infamous New Year’s Eve house show. All I’ll say is that if things are even a fraction as chaotic as that night, then we’ll be in for a rare old treat!

First Time in Dundee

Words cannot adequately describe how stoked I am to have Chicago punk rock legends The Bomb closing out the Sunday night of Book Yer Ane Fest. These guys don’t play out very often and this is the first time that they’ve been in the UK for over four years, so I am very pleased that we can host them this year. We always try to pay tribute to our punk rock roots and I can’t think of a band with a higher calibre to wrap things up than these dudes. With records out on No Idea Records, The Bomb feature Jeff Pezzati of Naked Raygun alongside members of The Methadones, Big Black and All Eyes West. Those are some mighty big shoes to fill and The Bomb have bucketloads of bangers to keep us pogoing until the final curtain.

Fast-as-fuck ultra-tech super-melodic dual-guitarring skate-punk madness from Sweden! These dudes are incredible and shred in a way the likes of only Propagandhi/A Wilhelm Scream can. They are also part of the “Sweden The Deal” compilation alongside a host of their fellow punk rock countrymen that will be receiving it’s “official” UK release at BYAF. We’ve been in touch with these guys for a while now and we’re very pleased that we are finally able to get them up to Dundee and double stoked that it’ll be happening on the Saturday night of BYAF. Widdle-fingers in the air for sure!

Lach is the “King of the East Village”; the man responsible for launching the careers of a thousand artists and the popularising the genre known today as “Anti-Folk”. If you’re a singer/songwriter, there’s every chance that you’re influenced by Lach and that you don’t even know it. A New York native now relocated to the mean streets of Edinburgh, Lach will be bringing this critically acclaimed blend of storytelling, music and stand-up comedy to Dundee for the very first time. Having conquered NYC, the Edinburgh Festival, BBC 4 and everything in between, it is our humbled pleasure to have Lach headlining the acoustic stage on the final night of BYAF VII.

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That’s it for now folks, thanks for very much for reading. I look forward to every Book Yer Ane Fest and this year is no exception. I’ll be playing at least three or four sets over the course of the weekend, so keep your eyes peeled for where I and many others may pop up. Don’t forget about the MYSTERY GUEST HEADLINERS at the Acoustic Brunch Club show at Cerberus on Saturday 30th November too, kicking off at 12 noon. Get stoked.

Also, ye can still get Earlybird Weekend Tickets for £20 here.

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BYAF VII; Three Weeks To Go!

Once again Book Yer Ane Fest has crept up on us. It’s one of those strange paradoxes; it seems like an age ago the last year’s happened and that we’ve been planning this one forever, but at the same time it seems like no time at all since we were cleaning up Kage last time and we’ve been so busy that times seems to fly in. Regardless of any philo-physical ramblings, Book Yer Ane Fest VII is now a mere three weeks away.

We shall be hosting an “acoustic cafe” pre-BYAF show at Henry’s Coffee Shop on Seagate, Dundee that will be running from 5pm until doors at Kage at 7pm on the Friday night. As enthusiastic coffee drinkers and regular customers, we thought it prudent to try and involve our local caffeine-fuelled community and, thankfully, Henry’s were happy to indulge us. This is the first time that we’ve tried something like this but we’re hoping things will run smoothly, as I’m sure they will in Jonny Domino’s capable hands. It’ll be a pretty informal affair but please come down and join us for the calm before the storm.

Mark McCabe shall be “headlining” this part of events and comes to us straight from a successful performance at the CMC in Gainesville, Florida at Fest 12. Who knows where else he’ll pop up over the weekend? As a heads up of sorts, the best place to keep up to date with any “last minute” or “secret” developments across the BYAF weekend is the MTAT Twitter page. Mark will be joined at Henry’s by the wonderful Gone Wishing, Turtle Lamone and Dundee firebrand David Hennessey. Things will be wrapped up by 7pm, giving ample time to walk the two minutes down the road to Kage to catch first bands.

One of the most exciting things about BYAF is the sheer number of travelling bands and convergent tours that cross over during the course of the weekend. We’re very excited for the Broadcaster (USA) and Muncie Girls (ENG) tour to roll into town. Their European adventures start today and will continue for the next three weeks as they wind their way around the mainland. The Friday night of BYAF will be the only Scottish show of the tour and we’re very excited to welcome both bands to Scotland for the very first time. Broadcaster just released the new “A Million Hours” LP on Jump Start Records and it’s a mighty fine slice of pop/punk rock goodness. If you’re into the likes of Weezer, The Weakerthans and Superchunk, then you’re absolutely going to fall in love with these guys. Muncie Girls released the “Sleepless” EP on the wonderful Specialist Subject Records earlier this year and have spent 2013 working their way around the UK and leaving an impression everywhere they’ve been. The tour with Broadcaster is their first adventure to Europe and I’d expect that they’ll smash it everywhere they go. This is one of the most exciting tours of the year and I’m very happy that we’ve managed to bring them up for BYAF.

Both us roasters in UNIFORMS and Sink Alaska shall also be playing the Friday night and I am delighted to report that we will have the physical copies of the “ROASTER” 4-way split 10″ featuring both bands and our brethren in Question The Mark and The Walking Targets. This will be the official release weekend for the record and will be your first chance to get your hands on one of the REIGN IN BLOOD coloured vinyl. We’ll be selling them cheap as well as in a number of different bundles, so make sure and come across to the merch table negotiate with Abbie for some bargains. We’ll be putting up the stream of the record and a pre-order over the next week or so. It’s safe to say that I’m pretty excited about this whole thing. Also, we put up a new song that won’t be on the record but is available for free download.

We are also very pleased to welcome Andy Thomas’ Dust Heart. The solo project of Denver, Colorado based punk rock journeyman Andy Thomas (former front man of Tin Horn Prayer and a million other bands), this will be his first ever show outside of North America and the only show that he’ll be playing on a fleeting visit to the UK. Taking Tom Waits-esque baroque and mixing it with some calculated punk rock murder balladry, Andy is a unique talent with a knack for twisting a dark tale around a haunting melody. We may also introduce him to Buckfast. Cheers to Josh from Loaded 45 for hooking this all up.

Those cheeky east coast ska-punk roasters Maxwell’s Dead shall be opening the evening’s proceedings at Kage. These dudes launched their first album “On The Floor” with a riotous show in Dundee last weekend and they are pumped to be playing BYAF again. These dudes work as hard as any band I’ve met and their dedication and commitment to their band is unquestionable. With new guitarist Bobby now firmly entrenched in the squad, there’s an extra layer of crust atop the sweet pop-punk melodies and sick as fuck basslines. These dudes love to party and are probably the most fitting band to kick off a weekend of madness.

Doors will open at Kage at 7pm and it’ll cost 7 bones on the door. Weekend Tickets are available on a “will call” basis from the MTAT Bandcamp page and in physical form from Groucho’s in Dundee.