Glam metallers Gun have lined up a rare brace of acoustic shows in Courier Country.
The Glasgow band’s frontman Dante Gizzi and his brother Giuliano – better known as Jools – are heading north of Pitlochry to Blair Atholl tomorrow, Saturday August 13, to play the Food In The Park venue, and following a jaunt to Newcastle on their short two-man tour.
They’ll be back round our way again on Thursday, at PJ Molloys in Dunfermline.
Time in the charts
Originally formed in 1987, Gun released their debut single Better Days two years later – earning them an appearance on Top Of The Pops – with their cover of Cameo classic Word Up making the Top 10 in 1992.
They hit No 14 in the UK with their sophomore album of the same year, Gallus, before reaching No 5 two years later with follow-up Swagger.
After splitting in 1997 they eventually reformed 11 years later and have completed three further LPs in the past decade.
Lockdown fanned creative fires
Gun insist that the Covid lockdown unexpectedly fanned their creative fires, and a collection of stripped-down reworkings of some of their best-known anthems, dubbed Calton Songs, is due to drop in October.
They’re being supported in Highland Perthshire by Glasgow country songstress Katee Kross.
Separately, the Tolbooth in Stirling has a visit from alt-rock queen Honeyblood to look forward to on Wednesday night.
Acclaimed singer-songwriter Stina Tweeddale – who’s been putting together a new-look live band in recent times – has been one of the Scottish music scene’s more successful breakout artists of recent years.
Sold-out headline tours
The Hole, PJ Harvey and Sonic Youth-influenced talent has racked up sold-out headline tours both at home and abroad, plus sharing stages with the likes of Foo Fighters, Wolf Alice and Garbage.
Honeyblood’s three critically acclaimed albums – Honeyblood (2014), Babes Never Die (2016) and In Plain Sight (2019) – have each been nominated for the Scottish Album of the Year Award, with Edinburgh-born Tweeddale, 33, gradually exerting greater creative control over the project’s direction.
So much so that the frontwoman toured solo last year under the moniker Stina Marie Claire as a precursor to her band’s impending fourth album, which will be the first to be recorded without input from either original drummer Fiona McVicar or her replacement Cat Myers.
Free afternoon session
Honeyblood – who also play Dunfermline’s PJ Molloys on August 21 – are being supported at Stirling by Edinburgh duo Posable Action Figures and introspective Glasgow-based songsmith Sulka, aka Lukas Clasen.
Also at the Tolbooth, the Jail Wynd venue’s cafe is set to welcome indie troubadour Lewis McLaughlin for a free session from 1.30pm to 3pm tomorrow.
The Edinburgh-born performer cites the likes of John Martyn and Villagers as influences and earned his spurs performing across the UK and Europe in various outfits before going solo.
Lewis, who played the Solas festival at Errol a couple of months ago, has just released his debut album Feel The Ground You Walk Upon on, via Frightened Rabbit guitarist Andy Monaghan’s Monohands Records, and has landed airtime on Zoe Ball’s Radio 2 breakfast show.
Star turn from TwinsTown
Elsewhere, Fife rockers TwinsTown make their comeback tonight, following a lengthy quiet spell, as part of a three-band bill on home turf.
Led by identical twins Donald and Stuart Mackay, the Dunfermline hopefuls are the star turn at PJ Molloys’ inaugural Supernova Nights event, which has been organised by the A State Of Mind studio-cum-promoters.
Anglo-Scots The Chase and Edinburgh strummers Usual Affairs will also be appearing at the session, which further features ’90s music-inspired spoken word from Stirling-raised class warrior Kevin Graham.
Other gigs to note
Meanwhile, it’s a quiet spell coming up on the Dundee gig scene, although Bruce Springsteen tribute outfit The Rising are at Beat Generator tomorrow.
The Stirling and Fife-based five-piece claim to be the UK’s leading dedicated homage to The Boss, and they’ve certainly built up a loyal and sizeable following in the wake of a fairly relentless touring schedule over the past few years.
Looking further ahead, the countdown is on to a Perth appearance in a fortnight’s time from punk doppelgangers Lizzie And The Banshees.
The West Lothian-based Siouxsie Sioux tribute are set to blitz the Letham Club on August 26, where they’ll be supported by old-school Fair City punks The Tolerated.
Tickets are available from the venue, Concorde in Perth and Dundee’s Thirteen Records.
