Flyer for The Smittens and friends (20th July)

This is the smashing flyer our good friend Andy Hart has designed for the second of our July popshows with The Smittens and friends. Innit beautiful?

You may have seen some of Andy's artwork before, most notably on the cover of The Pains of Being Pure at Heart's sought-after single Kurt Cobain's Cardigan and on Pete Green's latest EP, Platform Zero.

More of Andy's work can be seen on his Flickr profile or on his ace blog, A Fog Of Ideas.

The Smittens popshow - band added/venue moved/tickets on sale!

The Specific Heats

Just a quick post to let you know of some changes to the second of our July popshows with The Smittens and friends on Monday 20th July.

First of all, we’re delighted to announce a fifth band has been added to the bill, namely The Specific Heats who hail from Brooklyn and Boston. They play fast garage pop songs and wear stripy shirts. What more do you need to know?

The second piece of news is that we are moving the gig from The Captain’s Rest to the kitchen bar at The Flying Duck, 142 Renfield Street, Glasgow. This means we’ll all be able to munch on free toast while watching ace bands and won’t have to leave the room to get a pint. Important points, I’m sure you’ll agree.

Finally, we will be offering pre-sale tickets at the so-cheap-we’re-robbing-ourselves-guvna price of £5 from Wegottickets. That’s five pounds for five incredible indiepop bands, three of which have had to cross the Atlantic to get here. Deal of the century, my friends.

Due to the increased lineup we’ll be opening the doors at 7pm and aim to have the first band on at 7.30pm sharp, so get down early! It’s Fair Monday on the day of the show, so hopefully you Glaswegians will all have the day off and won’t be impeded by the earlier-than-usual start.

Half My Heart Beats presents The Lucksmiths - 9th July

The Lucksmiths

In the short space of time Half My Heart Beats has been around, we've had the privilege of putting on some great bands, some bands I never thought would make it to Glasgow. I thought maybe we had peaked early on when The Ballet graced the club in January, but I think this is possibly even more exciting.

After what has seemed like endless toil in trying to secure a venue, we can now announce that we will be hosting one of the world's greatest indiepop bands, The Lucksmiths, at their final Glasgow show before disbanding after 16 glorious years in existence.

The gig will take place on Thursday 9th July at Stereo, 20 Renfield Lane, Glasgow.

On a personal level, I can't tell you what a huge deal it is to be putting on The Lucksmiths in Glasgow. Over the last year I've listened to them twice as much as any other band, and I love them more than I can tell you. I know Lynsey feels the same, so this is massive for us.

To mark this special occasion, we've lined up two great Glasgow bands to support. The Second Hand Marching Band are a collective of 20 or so folk-pop noiseniks who will put a spring in your step, a twinkle in your eye, a butterfly in your stomach and possibly a stirring in your loins. Several band members had to be given CPR on hearing that they would be sharing a stage with The Lucksmiths, bless them.

Also playing are The Felt Tips, one of Glasgow's rising stars of indiepop. Well, several rising stars that together form an ace band. They play glorious jangly songs about rude stuff that may make you blush. You definitely couldn't play one of their records in front of your gran, let's say. We love them all the more for it.

Due to the high level of interest expected for this, the last ever Lucksmiths show in Glasgow, we will be selling tickets in advance from Wegottickets priced at £7.

Facebook event page
last.fm event page

Photos from Half My Heart Beats 9

Here's the photos from the club on Saturday - sorry for the delay in posting them. We had a brilliant time once again, and hopefully you did too if you came along. Every month we're surprised by how many people come along, and how many stay and dance right until the end. Thanks! You make the night what it is.

Playlist from Half My Heart Beats 9

Lynsey
Sambassadeur - Between The Lines
Slow Club - Because We're Dead
Pocketbooks - Falling Leaves
The Just Joans - If You Don't Pull
Math and Physics Club - La La La Lisa
The Ballet - In My Head
Cars Can Be Blue - Sun Blows Up
Tullycraft - The Punks Are Writing Love Songs
The Smittens - It's A Saturday
The Essex Green - This Isn't Farmlife

Colin
New Morning - Working For The Payroll
The Charade - Loaded Gun
Adorable - Sunshine Smile
The Up Set - Couldn't Lose Our Youth
Belle & Sebastian - The Model
The Lucksmiths - T-Shirt Weather
The School - Let It Slip
Camera Obscura - The Sweetest Thing
The Smiths - This Charming Man
The Concretes - Chosen One

Lynsey
The Shins - Kissing The Lipless
The Flatmates - Shimmer
Speedmarket Avenue - I Can Tell By Her Eyes
Withered Hand - New Dawn
Dressy Bessy - Better Luck
Nick Drake - Hazey Jane II
The Shop Assistants - Seems To Be
Comet Gain - You Can Hide Your Love Forever
Kid Canaveral - Smash Hits
The Hidden Cameras - Breathe On It

Colin
Barcelona - Studio Hair Gel
The Aislers Set - Chicago New York
Standard Fare - Philadelphia
Jeffrey Lewis and the Junkyard - Broken Broken Broken Heart
Yvonne Carroll - Mister Loveman
Belle & Sebastian - Another Sunny Day
Teenage Fanclub - Sparky's Dream
Liechtenstein - Roses In The Park
The Go-Betweens - Love Goes On!
Sons and Daughters - Johnny Cash
Felt - Down But Not Yet Out

Lynsey
Suburban Kids With Biblical Names - Rent A Wreck
The B52s - Rock Lobster
The Postal Service - Such Great Heights
Belle & Sebastian - Le Pastie de la Bourgeoisie
Herman Dune - This Will Never Happen
The Magnetic Fields - Meaningless
Camera Obscura - French Navy
Super Furry Animals - Inaugural Trams

Colin
The Smiths - What Difference Does It Make?
Cats On Fire - Higher Grounds
Orange Juice - Felicity
The Wedding Present - I'm Not Always So Stupid
Los Campesinos! - You! Me! Dancing!
Ballboy - Donald In The Bushes With A Bag Of Glue
The Left Banke - She May Call You Up Tonight
The Magnetic Fields - When My Boy Walks Down The Street
Kenickie - Come Out 2Nite

Lynsey
The Pastels - Nothing To Be Done
Neutral Milk Hotel - Holland, 1945
Rose Batiste - Hit and Run
Buddly Holly and the Crickets - That'll Be The Day
The Ronettes - Be My Baby
George Harrison - Got My Mind Set On You
Lily Allen - Not Fair
Diana Ross - Chain Reaction
The Vaselines - Son Of A Gun
The Ramones - Rockaway Beach

Colin
Camera Obscura - My Maudlin Career
The Jam - That's Entertainment
Pulp - Something Changed
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - In This Home On Ice
The Velvet Underground - White Light/White Heat
Del Shannon - Runaway
The Shangri-Las - Give Him A Great Big Kiss
Belle & Sebastian - Dirty Dream #2
The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - Young Adult Friction

Half My Heart Beats 9 this Saturday

Just a quick reminder that the next Half My Heart Beats is this Saturday night at The Flying Duck. As ever, we kick off at 11pm and will play new and classic indiepop, 60s girl groups and more.

Personally, I'm struggling to fit everything I want to play into my allotted two hours. Early on you'll hear classic shoegaze from Adorable, Antipodean pop from The Steinbecks and classics from Beat Happening and The Smiths. Later, watch out for The Field Mice, The Wedding Present and Kenickie among others. There may also be a sighting of an actual, real-life Smitten.

Brilliant Glasgow indiepoppers Zoey Van Goey are having their album launch at Stereo earlier in the night, so why not head down there first to see Endor, Second Hand Marching Band and ZVG themselves? We'll definitely be there for as long as we can manage.

As usual, any requests for Saturday will be gratefully received!

PS. I want to give a special mention to three music blogs, Skatterbrain, A Layer Of Chips and All That Ever Mattered for the inspiration they've given me this month when putting my set together.

One thing I've learned since we started Half My Heart Beats is that there's such a monumental amount of great music I've never heard (or even heard of) before, so blogs like those three run by clued-up enthusiasts are something to be treasured.