Published 18/09/2011
A new program by STV in partnership with The Scottish Sun and Real Radio is due to be aired later this year.
Scotlands Greatest Album will feature 3 tracks from 70s’, 80s’, 90s’ and the 00s’ the 3 winning tracks from each decade will then make the album.
Vewers will get the chance to interactively vote and choose track from the shortlist.
Among the 70s’ category will be Into The Valley, so Skids fans can tune in and vote!
I have been speaking to some of the production team over the last few weeks and the program will also have a lot of interviews and guests on the show, including Bill Simpson who was recently asked to do an quick interview and chat about Into The Valley and its iconic bassline.
The program is initially schedule to be aired at the beginning of October.
You can read the article and more about this programme on the STV website by clicking here, there is also a Facebook page where you can get involved in the big debate! More details and official statements to follow soon…
Published 10/09/2011
The World Premiere of THE SOMNAMBULISTS is on Friday 14 October with additional screenings on Saturday 15 and Monday 17 October
Tickets go on sale to the public Monday 26 September via the BFI website (www.bfi.org.uk/lff)
Fri 14 | 21:00 | Vue Screen 3 PRIORITY BOOKING
Sat 15 | 15:30 | Vue Screen 3 PRIORITY BOOKING
Mon 17 | 13:00 | Vue Screen 3 PRIORITY BOOKING
Richard Jobson’s new film THE SOMNAMBULISTS surrounds 15 testimonies from British
servicemen and women who were involved in the Iraq conflict in Basra.
They have a ghostly presence as they talk about their experiences in a near documentary
style, after each testimony the camera glides into the lives that might have been and the
people they left behind.
Jobson says ‘Like many people I was angered by the Iraq war and like most people did
nothing about it. This is my response to that apathy. In the film although it appears that the
speakers are the ghostly presence, it is in fact we the audience who are the
Somnambulists, it is we who were sleep walking in the build up to the war and its tragic
aftermath.’
The story was heavily influenced by the work of photographer Joanna Kane who’s
exhibition The Somnambulists at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery left Jobson deeply
impressed by it’s haunting vision of the space between life and death.
The Somnambulists is produced by Richard Jobson and Alan McKenna for No Bad Films.
The Somnambulists was shot using the Canon 5Dmk2 and 7D
The Somnambulists on the BFI Website: http://www.bfi.org.uk/lff/node/1808
Richard Jobson’s committed, imaginative response to our collective apathy to the war in Iraq.
Created as a response to our collective apathy to the war in Iraq, this new film marks something of an intriguing departure for Richard Jobson. Inspired by the photographs of Joanna Kane, whose haunting work explores the space between life and death, Jobson has gathered together the testimonies of servicemen and women participating in the conflict in Basra. Contributors are starkly but effectively filmed against a black backdrop, so we concentrate on their words, without distraction. Between these semi-documentary portraits are poetic fragments, glimpses of the lives they have left behind or might have had. Regular soldiers, a bomb disposal expert, a couple of medics and a commanding officer all bear witness to the recurring themes of the conflict: heat, dust, confusion, bravery, camaraderie, vulnerability, terror, loss. For the most part these are ordinary people sent to do an extraordinary job, and varied as their testimonies are, their cumulative effect leaves little doubt of the human cost and tragedy of this war. Jobson is a filmmaker who always works at the cutting edge of technology; here he uses that craft to powerful and memorable effect.
Sandra Hebron
Published 08/02/2011The Skids frontman is to host acting and filming workshops at the next digital cinema event.
Converge.3 at the NFT on March 1st and 2nd brings together the leading lights of the HDSLR world. From Philip Bloomʼs expansive and ground breaking images to the ground breaking award winning documentary world of Danfung Dennis, the two day festival is a mixture of inspirational talks and workshops. Festival organisers James Stoneley and Sol Rogers, say that “The Convergence movement is a gathering storm that neither the cinema and or photography world can ignore. People like Kevin Shahinian have invented a new genre of docu-drama that is setting standards we never knew were possible. “
The workshops will contain everything from creative lens work with the likes of Feature Film DOP Simon Dennis to learning how to take Final Cut Pro to a new level.
Director, Richard Jobson will hold an acting workshop breaking down a scene and showing how he would film it.
He says “Convergence is freedom to control and create a new type of narrative. Convergence is changing the face of how we all think and work and those who apply the technology to their ambition will be the ones who succeed the most. Convergence is the answer.”
Tickets available from www.theconvergence.co.uk
Published 11/01/2011January 3, 2011
Thanks to Dod for posting.
Original article can be found here
It was with some anticipation that I went along to see Big Country at the Lemon Tree, Aberdeen.
I hadn’t seen them perform since Stuart Adamson had passed away and I wasn’t sure how I, or indeed, any of the other fans would react, to a different singer.
From the opening number, 1000 Stars, the fans were right behind Mike Peters, the frontman with The Alarm, and made him more than welcome.
He seemed nervous at times and could be seen to be struggling with the words at some points but soon got into the swing of things. Bruce, Mark and Tony were also joined on stage by Bruce’s son, Jamie, who’s a welcome addition to the band. They put their heart and soul into every song and often made reference to Stuart. At one point Mike read a paragraph from a book from the 1800′s from which Stuart had got inspiration to write The Porrahman.
They sang all the old favourites including Harvest Home, Fields of Fire and Steeltown then came back on to do a 4 song encore which consisted of Lost Patrol, Chance, Restless Natives and In a Big Country. The time passed far too quickly and we were all left wanting more. Roll on the next time they come back to the Granite City.
-Rock Chick-
Big Wheel Contributor
More photos of the show can be seen HERE
Go HERE to see all the latest show reviews
Published 09/01/2011News Of The World – 9th January 2011 by Tim Barr
SUBMERGED beneath a heaving crowd, Mike Peters is pulling off the neat trick of still managing to sing…a bit.
And when the spotlight finally picks him out, midway through his extended stage dive, it’s clear he’s having the time of his life.
Yet it’s hard to think of a more daunting venue for only his second show with the reinvigorated Big Country.
Stepping into the shoes of the late, great Stuart Adamson, one of Dunfermline’s favourite sons, before a hometown crowd takes a special something.
But tonight, in a dazzling display that reminds us of their special accomplishments as a musical force, the Welshman seems to be staking his claim as one of post punks all time great frontmen.
While the band, powered by drummer Mark Brzezicki, drill through hit after hit, including stunning versions of Harvest Home and Just A Shadow, he proves a neat match for Adamson’s signature vocal.
And in terms of the energy he expends, relentlessly vibing up the crowd, no one could ask for more.
“This is a real international gathering,” he says at one point, reading out the names of fans who’ve travelled here from all over the world.
At another, he reveals he’s spent the hours before the gig travelling the local area, visiting places like Crossgates and Townhill that have played a key role in Big Country’s history.
When he offers a salute to Stuart, while knotting a Dunfermline scarf into his belt, the electric atmosphere cranks up a notch.
It doesn’t hurt, of course, that this brilliant venue is an almost perfect setting for rock ‘n’ roll thrills but the band themselves, led by co founder and guitarist Bruce Watson are on sensational form.
Bassist Tony Butler is exceptional on a tearing version of Look Away that’s one of tonight’s undoubted highlights, offering further proof of Big Country’s abilities when it comes to penning classic guitar rock, littered with memorable hooks.
Meanwhile Jamie Watson turns in some impressive rhythm guitar work on the epic East Of Eden, another early standout.
Much of the set is drawn form their 1980s heyday, but as they plot their way through a running order packed with king-size singalong moments, the songs sound as fresh as if they’d been penned yesterday.
The spine tingling Inwards, surely one of post punks most emotive treasures, gets pulses racing, it’s jagged guitar riff spiralling underneath Adamson’s heartbroken lyric.
Hearing it back, in the company of superbly crafted songs like Wonderland, it’s not difficult to figure out why Big Country were such a welcome fixture in the charts.
But it’s obvious they’re winding up for a big finish, and when it comes, it hits with all the force of a runaway train.
Cramming a blistering Fields Of Fire, Chance and of course, In A Big Country into the final quarter, they deliver a brilliant sprint to the tape that suggests there is plenty of mileage left in their creative tanks.
“Thank you for looking after me in there,” Peters tells the fans.
Judging by the response, he’ll be welcome back anytime.
TIM BARR
Published 08/01/2011Review of the Birmingham gig in the Wolverhampton Express & Star , Saturday 8th January 2011
Report by Mark Mudie
Mike Peters, lead singer with The Alarm, performs with Big Country at Birmingham
Alarm lead singer Mike Peters stepped into the shoes of Stuart Adamson to bring the unique sound of Scottish band Big Country to Birmingham’s O2 Academy
Peters is taking a break from Welsh band The Alarm to front Big Country on its first tour for two years.
Original lead singer Adamson, formerly of The Skids, committed suicide in 2001.
Other founder members Bruce Watson, on guitar and mandolin, Tony Butler on bass guitar and vocals and Mark Brzezicki on drums took to the stage last night on the penultimate date of the seven-date tour.
Hundreds of fans packed into the Birmingham venue last night to sample the distinctive sound of Dunfermline’s finest, heavily influenced by traditional Scottish folk music and famous for engineering guitar riffs to resemble bagpipes and fiddles.
Big Country enjoyed a decade in the spotlight from 1981 to 1991
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