To learn a craft it helps to watch a master craftsman. How much you can teach art and self-expression to achieve greatness is an academic debate I’m ill-equipped to write about. However, I’d be surprised if you weren’t inspired by seeing RM Hubbert and Craig B of The Unwinding Hours play live.
My first thought for tonight’s post was to make a lame joke around beards as self-aware entities. You know the type. “Beards bringing RM Hubbert and Craig B of The Unwinding Hours to St Andrews in the Square, Glasgow“. Then it hit me.
New bands spend so much time trying to gain fans and exposure before they’re ready that they fail to truly hone their craft. Yet there’s no reason for bands to fail so hard at songwriting. Not when you have two truly talented Scottish songwriters on your doorstep (if you live in Glasgow).
RM Hubbert recently won Scottish Album of the Year for ’13 Lost and Found’. It’s a fantastic album. Then you have Craig from The Unwinding Hours, formerly of the-band-everyone-namechecks-as-an-influence Aereogramme. Aside from having vocal qualities rarely heard from any Scottish singer, he’s in a league of his own when it comes to songwriting. The point here isn’t to be a kiss-ass. The point is that there’s an opportunity to see these guys live and take inspiration. To take heart. To take stock of where your art is at.
All these post-hardcore derivatives still do the rounds in Scotland and yet Braid comes to town (a primary source) and can’t even sell out Stereo. I mean, WTF?
If you read up on the life stories of all the great standup comedians you’ll come across a common thread. They obsessed over the greatest comics who had existed before them. They recognised what greatness was so they studied it. They studied it until it was part of their own DNA. And then they made it their own.
Ultimately, bands have to grow beyond their own record collections and unconscious influences. Before they get to that stage there’s groundwork to do.
On Sunday 29 September at St Andrews in the Square in Glasgow there’s an opportunity to see both RM Hubbert and Craig of The Unwinding Hours play live.
It’s as good a place as any to start.
BUY TICKETS FOR RM HUBBERT’S ALBUM LAUNCH IN SEPT
VISIT THE UNWINDING HOURS WEBSITE
