The Shine

2011 - A Review In Music!

2011-12-18T12:45:00.001Z

So, that'll be the end of 2011 for The Shine... Last gig played at the mighty Finnegan's, time to stick on the Santa hats, uncork the wine and get pissed for a fortnight... And reflect on the "happenings of 2011"!

What a year it's been! There's been very good, pretty bad and some changes within the band. And still the monster of The Shine rolls on throughout Scotland. I thought I'd take the chance to just have a wee recap from my point of view...

Before we "hit the road", we had a pretty unique opportunity back in February when we were invited by Ewen Cameron and Cat Harvey to perform live on the Real Radio Breakfast Show as part of Scotland's Got Real Talent! Very surreal experience playing live at 7.30am but we did a pretty cool version of our stripped down "Somebody Told Me" by The Killers - me on 12 string acoustic and vocals, Andy on 6 string acoustic and vocals, Stevie on bass and plumbing and Iain on his newly purchased thunderbox and vocals. If you want to see how it went (and the insides of Scotland's premier radio station), check out our Media section! All I can say is this was possibly the most nerve wracking performance I've ever done! Get it wrong and potentially millions of listeners could go "Ha, he fucked up"! But we didn't and it was an amazing experience! Many thanks to Ewen & Cat!

Round about the early part of the year personally I wasn't in a good place as a bad dose of the flu triggered a case of Bell's Palsy - a pretty debilatating condition which paralysed the left side of my face. Thankfully I caught it in time with steroids but still spent a good few weeks with the paralysis - one of the latter weeks coinciding with a gig in Skye. Thanks to the advice of a good friend of mine George Futter, we just pressed on with it and everything was fine.

Talking of Skye, this was another highlight of 2011. Following the demise of our previous Skye venue, the King Haakon, we were honoured to form a new alliance with a venue which turned out to be in a completely different league - Saucy Mary's in Kyleakin. As someone posted on the KH Facebook page (not me I hasten to add) "F*** off you dead viking". Couldn't agree more! Saucy Mary's is just amazing, great people, professional and an absolute pleasure to play with no bullshit!

Perhaps related on a tangent to this, new venue / new band member! On a fairly amicable basis we parted company with Stevie around the middle of the year and welcomed John Petrie in on bass - within 48 hours! John's an absolutely stunning addition to the band (with a gorgeous stable of basses), an old friend of Iain's and within minutes became a soulmate to Andy and I too. The great thing is John didn't experience King Haakon, so Skye at Saucy Mary's was just fantastic! Not only a stunning player but John is just such a lovely guy!

On Stevie, great guy and left a legacy of humour, great laughs on the road and a fine collection of live videos. Worthy of mention from the " Stevie days" is a certain visit to Oban when we decided to go for a Chinese before the gig. An oyster mushroom fell off someone's plate and, from it's appearance, Simon the Slug was born! It looked exactly like a wee slug... So we gave it eyes made of rice, fed it some Chinese greens, took some photos and laughed until the tears were running down our faces!

And so, the end of 2011. As posted below we finish the year off with a stonking gig at the mighty Finnegan's Wake in Edinburgh.

All that remains is to thank everyone who's come along, sang along, danced and made every night a party with The Shine during 2011. By our Reverbnation stats, I reckon that's about 4,500 of you! We're now approaching our 8th year together and all our favourite venues and all the audiences make it so worthwhile - it's the most fun you can have with your clothes on (optional)!

Finally to Andy, Iain and John - thanks for just being yourselves! You are a great bunch of guys and a tremendous bunch of people who I'm proud and honoured to call mates!

To everyone, have a brilliant Christmas, New Year and hopefully see you somewhere on the road in 2012!

Peace, best of luv and stay alive!

Neil

So Here It Is.... Merry Christmas!

2011-12-18T11:58:00.000Z

What a way to finish a great year for The Shine, Finnegan's Wake a week before Christmas!

We had an awesome night last night (17.12.11) at Edinburgh's finest - and the one opportunity this year to play Christmas songs. They really don't work too well in June!

Arriving about 7.30, we found the venue absolutely jumping - and a strict door policy obviously in place. It seemed to be, no tits, no entry! Works for us!!

For once we had the chance to have a pretty detailed set up, no pressure to throw the gear together - and by God it worked. All the equipment worked first time (apart from the monitors because, for the technical, I inadvertantly plugged the monitor send into the desk return).

Taking the basis of an "Andy Cheese" set and making it even more crowd pleasing, we ripped into set one. It's hard to pick out one highlight as the band, the playing and the sound was awesome from the start. We had a great selection of rocky stuff, indie stuff and crowd pleasers which catered for pretty much everyone. If I was to pick a highlight, it'd be "Walking On Sunshine" - a new inclusion which we'd only rehearsed once but OMG it worked and felt so good!!

Into Set 2 and a gamble for the kick off - AC/DC's Thunderstruck. Again, worked a treat! The rockers in the audience were down the front giving it laldy! About 4 songs in we got the inevitable request for a Christmas song - time for a quick rejig of the set order and bring out Slade "Merry Xmas Everybody". It's actually a shame we only do this track once a year as we really do it justice!

Storming on to the end, we actually made it on time this time - Heroes and the band intros got a full airing. I just love playing this at Finnegan's, especially with Danny's strategically lined up footage of Mr Bowie playing on the video screens!

So, in the words of the song, Finnegan's Merry Xmas Everybody! Have a great time and see you all next year!

Peace & best of luv,

Neil

Back to Edinburgh's finest!

2011-11-20T15:14:00.002Z

Good evening Finnegan's Wake!

That's now about 6 years solid we've been playing Finnegan's Wake in Edinburgh and last night proved why this venue remains one of the jewels in our crown and why we value it so much! The place is absolutely amazing!!

With an Andy compiled set of classic rockers and mature cheese, we were set for a good night - and boy did we have one!! Resurrecting Another Brick to kick off, we were off and running great style. Strangely, this was followed by The Darkness "I Believe In A Thing Called Love" and the audience seemed to go into fever pitch! As we powered through the first set, we totally loved the reaction and response - as usual this feeding us to go on giving it 150%! Quite seriously, as a band there is nothing beats a fantastic reaction to make you play your socks off and by God we got it last night!

Rocking into the second set and we kept the momentum going with more great tunes and more great reaction. Andy and I had a great time leaving the stage for a bit of a walkabout and mingle with the audience. If anything, in fact, this was actually quite difficult as Finnegan's was packed to the rafters! Didn't stop us doing the obligatory floor slides and duck walks (Andy) and lie backs (Me).

Despite continuing sound issues (John's temperamental Trace and Iain bursting a snare tape) the sound "out front" was awesome and so powerful!

Funniest thing for me on the night was Andy in the middle of "Song 2" announcing "IT'S CHRISTMAS!!!". OK Noddy!

However, next time out it IS Christmas!! We're back to our favourite City Centre venue on 17th December so bring your mistletoe and pucker up for a chocolate Santa!

Thanks again and best of luv!

Neil

Good Evening Saucy Mary's!!

2011-11-14T15:00:00.000Z

And indeed it was!!

We made our long awaited return to Skye's finest on Saturday night, Saucy Mary's in Kyleakin. For some reason the couple of months since we were last up seemed much, much longer - must be the anticipation of heading back to this awesome venue!
The trip up was interesting and educational - one topic of conversation was "inventive means of murder through the years"! John won that discussion with his description of a copper pipe up the jacksie followed by a red hot poker up the pipe! We then observed a 45 second silence as we passed Sir Jimmy Saville's house in Glen Coe - one second for every degree he is buried at!

So,Saucy Marys..... Sammy was in Glasgow at the Chilli Peppers gig (boo....) but Laura was there, Ali was there and Danii came down to see us!

Our welcome was absolutely amazing, with Laura coming round from the bar to give us all big hugs! Then, just as we were about to set up, Ali arrived - more hugs!! Getting to like this....

After a fairly rapid set up we thought we were ready to roll at about 10pm, until John discovered there was still a problem with his bass amp! Shit! Quick dismantle of the frontage but still couldn't get to the root of the problem.. Plan B - bass went through the PA again. In terms of the PA, in the confusion, I'd plugged in one of the main PA leads wrongly so more panic! Couple of minutes of sweat and we were ready to roll.

For this gig, we'd decided to record the whole thing and thank God we did!! It sounded awesome!! A hot, rocking, non-stop performance went straight on record. When I say hot, particularly for me as the leather trousers were brought out again in honour!!

Musical highlights of the night for me were the first outings of two new AC/DC tracks - Andy's feature "Thunderstruck" and "TNT" especially for Danii. Both felt fantastic and, listening back, sounded even better!

The night ended at bang on 1am - halfway through the band intros and before we could get into "Heroes" as two cars of Northern Constabulary's finest were sitting outside! One of the things The Shine have (in addition to rock prowess and unfeasibly large genitalia) is respect. There was no way we were going to put Saucy Mary's licence at risk or cause Laura grief - so just killed the gig dead! It's just not worth messing about with the licence or reputation...

Quick towel down and strip down of the gear and it was time to chill out for a few minutes. Huge thanks again to Laura for accepting the dates (all on the planner section of this site) for next year! Then, during our chill out chat, we discovered someone who might have been worth trying the copper pipe / poker experiment on.... :-)

Anyway, this gig (which DIDN'T result in the inevitable killer hangover like last time) is dedicated to Laura, Ali, Danii and the picture of Sammy from stage left and all at Saucy Mary's - God bless her and all who sail in her!

Until next time, best of luv!

Neil

Happy Days!

2011-10-12T00:09:00.000+01:00

What a great day! I had the pleasure of bumping into and chatting to the legend who is Bongo Terry in Stirling today (Ewen & Lynne not included this time)!

In case you're wondering what the hell I'm talking about, Bongo Terry was on Real Radio "Scotland's Got Real Talent" with Ewen & Cat a couple of days before us.

Edinburgh Rock

2011-09-18T15:53:00.002+01:00

Edinburgh Rock - soft, sweet, sticky and only seemingly bought and "enjoyed" by tourists...

No, we're talking about The Shine's latest return to Edinburgh's finest - Finnegan's Wake last night!! And what a night it turned out to be!!

We picked up a message on Blackberry just as we were heading out that we couldn't get on the stage until 9pm - turned out there was a CD launch by a Celtic group. As we were on the road, we got there at about 7.30 to find various hooching and chooching going on - and an extremely weird (and that's being kind) looking German bloke called Basil Wolfsbane doing their stuff. Basil was.... OK, nuff said... Suffice to say he looked like Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull circa 1971, in a kilt and couldn't sing for, well, Edinburgh Rock.

Stage vacated, we did a massively fast set up and were ready to roll by 10pm. Prior to set up we were pretty nervous as Finnegan's Wake was fairly quiet other than people associated with the CD launch. By the time we were set up, it was starting to cook and really pretty well full.

We launched into our first high energy set and, as the guys agree, had the audience in our palms from the middle of the first song - the inevitable Another Brick In The Wall. The energy, dancing and fantastic reaction continued right through our first set with no let up.

Quick break at about 11.20 and, quite seriously, the closest I think we've ever - both collectively and individually - been to being mobbed. This reaction was just outstanding!

Back on at about 11.30 and kicked off with John's earth moving bass intro to Jet's "Be My Girl"... Set 2 just rocked to the rafters with the crowd, very well behaved (no stage invading / falling on gear) and dancing in the aisles.

All in all, a fantastic visit to Finnegan's and testimony that this line up of the band absolutely rocks!!

Vote of thanks time... I was chuffed that my old friend David Mathieson came along and did us a favour by taking some outstanding and quite arty photographs! Cheers David! Also, in addition to all the amazing audience - from Australia, Canada, Ireland, Wales etc - a big shout out to Linda, Jaide and Amanda who came up from Coldstream to celebrate Jaide's birthday in Edinburgh and dropped by to see us! Cheers guys, you rock!!

Until the next time...

Best of luv,

Neil

Saucy Mary Rocks Our World!!

2011-09-05T12:34:00.001+01:00

Well, as the rats continue to gnaw their way through the discarded food scraps at the King Haakon, we made our journey up to Kyleakin on Saturday night (3.9.11) to a fantastic new venue for us - Saucy Mary's!

From the minute we arrived, we were made really welcome by Laura and her team. Straight away the whole attitude was different, friendly and professional. After a quick tour, bags chucked in the bedroom (a scene of much messiness later on...) it was down to the bar for some well needed food after the four hour drive. On this score, the food at Saucy Mary's is AWESOME!! Where else can we fuel up before a gig on venison???

Dishes cleared and a quick wander off to take some stunning photos by me, it was time to start rigging up for the gig. Fantastic set up facing the bar, we were ready to go at 10pm. Slight problem with the lights during the first set as the sound to light switch had been nudged in transit - I must build a wee box for this rather than just chucking it in the tote box. All the gear line checked and working 100% (110% in the case of my Marshall with it's new valve!) we were ready to go...

In the usual manner, we kicked off with the long intro version of Another Brick In The Wall - synth and guitar delay setting the scene of what was to come... This being the first time at Saucy Mary's there was a wee bit of trepidation as to how the audience would be, would the material be right... The audience was absolutely stunning! With us right from the start, we took that energy and turned it into a high energy set of sound, light and plenty of wireless running about! From Another Brick, through The Darkness and onto a range of older and modern classics, we fed from the energy and appreciation - the band was on fire!!

Quick break around 11.30 to get towelled down by some freshly scrubbed virgins and we were off again into Set 2. This was the gamble set (before we headed for Skye) as it was the higher powered rock set - AC/DC, Guns n Roses, The Fratellis... They were all in there! Should we have worried? God no! There was dancing in the aisles, dancing on the tables, dancing outside and even at one point a bloke dancing on his arse on top of my frontline gear!

As 1am came round, we finished with the inevitable Heroes - dedicated after the band intros to everyone at Saucy Mary's. As the feedback delay rang out and I said "Thank you, Goodnight", it was obvious we weren't getting away that easily! Mindful of curfew, we came back on for an encore of Fleetwood Mac's Don't Stop - then it was off for good.

After a quick 5 minutes to let the dust settle and thank Gordon from Plockton for his brilliant photography, time to strip the gear down. 45 minutes later everything was cleared and stored away - time for a quick drink and chat with Laura and the team! What a laugh!! We had a great chat in great company (in my case tanking a full bottle of wine in the process - which I'd regret in the morning!). It was then upstairs for the now obligatory late night Malt session and disection of how the night had been. Eventually at 5am our alcohol soaked bodies gave up and had to collapse for what was left of the night!

All I can say is, can't wait to get back up to the AWESOME Saucy Mary's on 12th November - and hopefully hook some dates for next year!

Finally, this gig goes out to two different dedications - Firstly, this was John's second gig with us on bass and first induction into the overnight debauchery of The Shine on the road. He survived well, is a stunning player, is a fantastic bloke and I dedicate the night to him.

Equally, the BIG dedication goes out to Laura, Danii, Sam & Ali at Saucy Mary's - the ultimate cool people! Laura, the conversation about Original Source Mint & Tea Tree shower gel will stay with me for a LONG time!! Also a mention to Dani who used to work across the road and came out specially to see us. To all of you, we love you to bits!

Until the next time, Kyleakin you Freakin' ROCK!!!

Best of Love,

Neil

Adventures in rural Perthshire...

2011-06-27T23:20:00.000+01:00

Friday night (24.6.11) and we were off again to one of our favourite wee gigs - the Coach House in Killin. Can't believe that's about 5 years we've been playing there now!

Anyway, this one was a bit extra special as due to our resident God Of Thunder heading off to sunnier climes in "la belle France", we were joined at the back by the incredible Chic McFee of Soul Inferno. Stunning drummer who gave us a solid foundation even without any form of practice or run through with us. As usual, the welcome from David, Jan, Kerry, Rob & Kim was heart warming. These people are not just venue owners to us now, they're genuinely friends. Quiet night due to the ongoing recession & lack of money but it's always a pleasure playing for the Robinsons. Must work out how to do them a wee favour.

So, 9pm we launched into our now regular half acoustic / half electric sets. I could feel that this would be a tricky one as it was evident my what I thought was hay fever was actually yet another cold. Paper hankies at the ready we donned the acoustics. The sound was incredible! Mind you, this was the first time in Killin with the new more powerful amp. More volume? No, turned down and delivered pure quality. Strangely, as agreed with Andy, my vocals were outstanding. I was deliberately holding back big time as my sinuses were exploding and my throat was on fire. The upside? I concentrated on singing rather than yelling and it worked! The playing was just amazing from all of us - Andy & I just in the zone trading riffs and lead lines, Chic and Stevie providing a solid base with tons of space and light & shade. It just felt lovely...

After a short break it was time to strap on the solid bodies and fire up the Marshalls. How were the slightly older audience going to take to the usual Fratellis etc? The answer was they were really appreciative! Although now running on full octane we continued to keep a lid slightly on and performed beautifully. For once even my solos were pretty sweet...

Afrais the highlight for me was when Andy's batteries ran out in his new radio unit. Taking 5 minutes to nip out & change them, I decided to launch into leading a version of "Whiter Shade Of Pale". We should really do stuff like this more often! It was a pleasure to perform a track that I could actually give heart & soul to - not that I don't with everything, it's just it's often hell for leather. Even my lead lines on "Whiter Shade" were beautiful, note perfect and heartfelt.

So, until the next time... Killin, we love you!

Peace & best of luv,

Neil

The Shine in PICTURES!!!

2011-06-11T17:24:00.000+01:00

Right, remember what I said about the picture gallery about 2 posts down in this blog? You know the bit about our beloved Fotopic disappearing into the ether? Well, we're back in business!

Thanks to some great Facebook friends, well one in particular (thanks Scott). I've been spending a LOT of time working on our Google Picasa albums - which already existed but weren't really used. The great thing is that we should be a lot safer with a Google based gallery than other "come and go" ones. So I guess the official The Shine site now owes a lot to not only my creation but also Google and Reverbnation!

Personally I like the slideshow of pics now on the site and if you click on any of the pictures it'll take you directly to our Picasa album!! Result... Alternatively, you can sit and watch all the pretty pictures from our travels - you won't get to see the clever maps of all the locations in the slideshow though.

So, worthwhile use of a wet afternoon in Dunblane when we were expecting to be somewhere just north of Fort William "en route" to the fabulous King Haakon in Skye. Spotify playing some classic prog in one window and web editors in others!

Peace and best of love,

Neil

There's Water In That Thar Diesel Para Handy!

2011-05-31T16:03:00.000+01:00

OK, here we go with another blog from Shineyland - partly because our Stevie rightly pointed out I hadn't done one for a while....

Talking of which, let's start with Stevie.... During our now routine "get pissed until you fall down" routine post-gig in Skye at the weekend (28.5.11), Stevie mentioned his time with the band. That got me thinking as I guess we still consider him "the new boy". This is quite scary but Stevie is coming close to being the longest serving masters of the bottom end - that honour will be bestowed in August when we hit the road again after the inevitable return from holidays by the half of the band whos employers are generous enough for them to afford holidays! What's more, with the stack of gigs in 2010 and 2011, Stevie is possibly also the most prolific player we've had the pleasure of working with (I'd need to check the stats for that)! Most importantly, he's an absolutely vital part of the band and has been for some time now! An exceptional player with an exceptional sound - which does vary I have to say with every Frankenstein bass he makes and hits the road with!!

Right, to Skye..... Always a pleasant adventure and as I said to the guys on the way up "No two nights are really the same". How right was I this time???!!!

On the way up we discovered that Iain our multi talented drummer, vocalist and tour bus driver absolutely LOVES cyclists! Just as well as there must have been about 15,000 of them on the 190 mile journey! With every group, Iain broke out into a big grin and gave them a cheery wave as he passed them - especially the ones who were cycling three abreast on the twisty mountain roads. "Cheeky wee minxes" I'm sure he said in these scenarios... I might be wrong in this description of his responses though as I did nod off a few times!

Anyway, got up to the amazing King Haakon about 7pm to the sound of a generator (although we did wonder if the Vital Spark was moored alongside). Never mind, we thought, we've played a fair handful of generator fed festival gigs. First problem was, the generator didn't feed the kitchen - therefore the kitchen couldn't feed the band! Thanks to Robert's advice, we headed back along the road to "Taste Of India" restaurant. After ordering within 5 minutes we had to wait for a further hour with no food. At this point Andy erupted in one of his very rare furies - laser beams shot from his eyeballs and wiped out the inefficient waiter. Off we piled into the van again and over to the chippy in Kyle Of Lochalsh.... Which closed at 9pm and could only offer us one bag of chips and half a sausage to share! Fuck that, we thought!

Back to the King Haakon, Stevie saved the day again by whipping out his George Formby grill, a pound of bacon, 8 rolls and promptly fed his bandmates while we hurredly set up all the gear.

Come 10.15pm (not bad, only 15 minutes late), we hit the stage! We were absolutely on fire! A totally tight, high energy set... Well, high energy until the generator spluttered and killed the power... The night continued on like this in which we watched for the tell tale signs of power drops - wondering if the sophisticated electronics of our gear would survive. There were even a couple of times some absolute tit had gone outside and deliberately killed the generator. Hopefully Robert will have returned the favour with the culprit!

So, weird night... Great night, great gig as usual, great venue but we could have done with mains electricity, food, the camp guys in skintight t-shirts being replaced by Annia, Lucy, Amber & all.... OH, AND MORE CYCLISTS ON THE WAY UP & DOWN! :-)

Can't remember much about the post-gig band blether until 4am this time but it's always a guaranteed laugh!

Oh, and on the way back down we happened upon an unfortunate motorist who had decided to see if his car would work as well upside down on a steep mountain pass... There was a helpful chap who appeared to be directing traffic whilst huddled under a horrible golf umbrella and equally horrible beard - so we left him to it, gave a cheery wave and carried on our merry way!

Wonder what our next trip up will bring in a couple of weeks....? A plague of locusts?

Take care,

Neil

Picture Gallery

2011-03-21T14:01:00.000Z

OK, so what's going on with The Shine's Picture Gallery??

It appears that our previous picture hosting site - fotopic.net - has ceased to be... No goodbyes, no warnings, we're just left with no pictures!

So in the meantime I've set up a Photobucket hosting account for the picture gallery. I'm not sure if this will be the final solution for the site but certainly it'll mean we can keep photo contant on the site.

Frustrating though....

What a Shiny week!!!

2011-02-26T14:06:00.000Z

So, pipped to the post by big Mr W... All I can say is what a week!

After a couple of weeks getting psychologically prepared, 7.15am on Tuesday 22nd February we were on the Real Breakfast Show with Ewen & Cat. Not only was this a fantastic opportunity for Andy, Stevie, Iain and myself to perform acoustically to potentially the biggest audience ever - it was also a great opportunity to visit my good friends Ewen & Cat in their own environment.

Somebody Told Me is not the easiest song to sing at the best of times but at the crack of dawn before I'd had my usual 16 coffees, I was scared! Boy was I scared!! The outcome was with the exception of a dry throat meaning the fumbling of 2 words, we played a blinder! The sound was great and the balance of all instruments & voices both on air and on the video was exceptional!

Amazing experience for us and one we can't thank Real enough for! I have to say though, ALL the acts on Scotland's Real Talent were fantastic! Best of luck to everyone...

So how could the week get any better?

Here's how.... My best bud and lead guitar hero Andy and I trotted off to the Alhambra in Dunfermline to see the incredible KT Tunstall on Wednesday night.

This was the first time either Andy or I had seen KT and all I can say is WOW!!! Utterly amazing gig and we both came out full of ideas of what we could do with The Shine (no, not a full set of KT hits).

So, back to the mundane next week....

Take care, peace & best of luv,

Video killed the radio star?

2011-02-25T22:27:00.000Z

Last Tuesday morning at very early o'clock, me and the other Shiney boys trekked our way in to deep, dark and dangerous Easterhouse to the home of Real Radio to perform in the "Scotland's got Real Talent" spot on the Real Radio breakfast show, with Ewan Cameron and Cat Harvey.

Having eventually found the studio and got in, there was merely time for a very quick coffee after Neil tuned his 12 string guitar (yes it takes at least twice as ling as a standard 6 string, thank you for asking), a quick run through our tune to warm up and it was off into the Live studio, with Andy on 6 string acoustic, Stevie on very quiet electric bass and yours truly on the thunderbox/cajon/commode, depending on who was trying to slag it off at the time.

Ewan and Cat were most welcoming and after a short interview and a bit of travel news it was down to a wee bit of unplugged playing. We had deliberated long and hard on the choice of tune that we would play, and like a woman out shopping for shoes, we inevitably, after much trying and testing, plumped for the first tune we thought of, our slightly swingy and utterly acoustic version of "Somebody Told Me" by the Killers. If you've ever seen our acoustic set at the Coach House Hotel in Killin, you'll have a good idea of what we did with this classic.

We played our little hearts out- Neil commented afterwards that it was the most terrifying thing he had ever done, and this is a man who has a pet chainsaw! You can check out our performance on video at http://www.realradio-scotland.co.uk/presenters-shows/shows-xcyr/real-radio-breakfast-with-ewen-cat-eubf/scotlands-real-talent-sap8/the-shine-perform-somebody-told-me/dkzbz6xg/ Reaction to the appearance has been stunning- thanks to all of you who got in touch. It was great to share the experience with a large proportion of the population of Central Scotland.

The kicker is though, that unknown to us, the performances are being judged this Monday morning by Michelle McManus and a journalist from the Sun and the Daily record, choosing the 3 top performances for a playoff on Friday next week, with the opportunity to play at a charity gig for CHAS (Scotland's Children's Hospice) as the prize. I'm not sure what to think of this as we'd all love to do the gig, but given the talent on show and the diversity of the acts from large choirs to soloists and the ubiquitous Bongo Terry, I don't envy the judge's task.

That's not to say we won't be a tad disappointed if we don't get picked, but it's a 1 in 6 chance so who knows?

Watch this space for further updates.

Later dudes,

The Shine

Happy Christmas from The Shine

2010-12-24T11:04:00.000Z

To all the great venues, all the great people we've worked with in 2010 and all the amazing people we've played to throughout the year....

From Andy, Stevie, Iain and myself, we wish you all a fantastic Christmas, Happy New Year and all the very best for 2011.

See you all in the new year.

Peace, best of luv and God bless.

Neil

The only thing that can stop The Shine!

2010-12-06T15:41:00.000Z

It was with real regret that, unfortunately, we had to pull out of last Saturday's gig (4.12.10) at the fabulous Lorne Hotel in Oban.

With the worst snowfall and freezing temperatures in 30 years, not only was it not safe to drive up to Oban but - being honest - 3 out of the 4 of us couldn't even get to our vehicles which were buried in snowdrifts.

Bloody weather! It's the whole principal of The Shine NEVER to cancel a gig or let anyone down but with these exceptional circumstances I'm afraid it was inevitable.

Bring on 2011 and we'll make it up to you good people of Oban! 5 bookings in the diary and we'll make every one of them a night to remember.

Take care, best of luv and have a great Christmas & New Year.

Neil

King Haakon Bar, Skye - Sheep Have Webbed Feet!!!

2010-11-09T22:37:00.000Z

Captain's Log - Stardate 06.11.2010 - The Shine venture further north than ever before to seek new lifeforms of partying... And by God did we find them!!!

Even the journey north was amazing with great opportunities for band photo shoots and Stevie & I firing off more shots than the average Japanese tourist!! Stevie did, however, get caught taking a shot at a cute German girl's butt as he forgot to switch the flash off!

This was our first gig at the King Haakon Bar at Kyleakin on Skye but, as it turns out, the first of many. We arrived at about 6pm and were made very welcome by Kate the barmaid who told us Robert would be down in about half an hour. That was cool, time for a pint!! This was also the first gig we'd all be away overnight together and we were going to enjoy it!

Robert appeared about 6.30 and gave us the lie of the land - set up about 8.30, play from 9.45 to 1am. Absolutely fine we thought, we've got tons of material so no problems. Time to tuck into our burgers, fish & chips and fajitas!

When we kicked off, the bar had about 20 diehard locals who'd been there for a few hours already... then the place went mental....!! It started to fill up as the night went on and just kept filling up! We had the girls from (a different) Kate's 18th birthday party, we even had loads of folks still in Halloween dress a week after Halloween! Believe me, when the party starts in Skye it just gets better and better as time goes on!

There was tons of walkabouts (or more accurately "runabouts") as Andy, Stevie and I all went through the appreciative crowd. So much so, Andy lost the cover for his radio unit in the melee.

Eventually at 1.05am we decided to call it quits as there were more girls on stage than there were band members, the local Police were hovering and Robert had the house lights on. Quick stripdown of the gear and it was time for a quick drinkypoo with the King Haakon crew. At 3am we decided to call it a night and crawl off to bed.

Next morning we were up at about 8.30 and thinking "how the hell do we go downstairs when there's no sign of life?". Well, Iain and I discovered the answer to this - we set the intruder alarm off!

Leisurely load up of the van, a chat with Robert and 4 more gigs, and we were off on the road again at about 10.30 for a slightly bleary and hungover drive down the road.

And now the punchline - On the way up Stevie was asking us why he sunk in a bog in Wales but sheep could trot over the bogs. His theory is that sheep have got webbed feet...!!! Laugh, we needed dry underwear!

Until next time you lovely, mental West Highland people!

What could be better than Finnegan's Wake?

2010-10-18T14:17:00.000+01:00

That's right - a double header at Finnegan's Wake!!

Big thanks to Danny, we picked up an extra - our first Friday night - at Finnegan's on Friday 8th October. This was then followed by our "official" booking on Saturday 16th October. The challenge? To have two radically different setlists but keeping the handful of guaranteed crowd pleasers as well.

So, we rolled into Victoria Street on Friday 8th for the "extra" gig - and boy what a gig! The Friday crowd were every bit as enthusiastic as the usual Saturday crowd! Despite (personally) feeling pretty duff, we stormed into a selection featuring older stuff and some tracks which had never been played before. This gig also gave us the opportunity to take time in setting up the gear in a new way through the Finnegan's rig. Time well spent.... Where previously we were overdriving the house desk, this time we took a direct feed from our desk into the house amps! What a sound, what clarity! This was also the first gig at Finnegan's featuring my Roland GR-20 guitar synth and, my God, it sounds awesome through a good rig!

Following our first outing to Finnegan's on 18th September and subsequent "social" visits, our challenge was to stop the inevitable exodus at around 12.30am. We succeeded!!!

So, one week later and we were back... Gone was the comfort zone of familiar material in familiar places. Working a completely different set, this was a great opportunity to try a few new things - although the setlist kind of went out thew window as we adapted to crowd response. First new track (well, excepting a brave try the previous Friday) was Kings Of Leon's Sex On Fire. This second gig REALLY did it justice and we're now definitely confident it's a keeper! For the third gig running we also got the request for Summer Of 69 so despite Andy loathing the song (I love it) we cracked through a passable version even though it's never been rehearsed.

The night ended with yet another change... We always finish with David Bowie's Heroes, so much so Danny had cued up the video to play on the big screens in the background... And we ended with the first outing for our version of Runrig's Loch Lomond! It's nice not to be predictable!!

Only two glitches... The bass intro to Kaiser Chief's Oh My God left us thinking "Oh My God!" and, although we were recording the gig, the line input from the desk was so powerful that the recording was a distorted mush. Oh well, try again next time!

So, there we go - can't wait for the next batch of bookings at Edinburgh's finest!

Next up, our world tour of Scotland takes us further north than we've ever been before! The King Haaken Bar, Kyleakin, Skye!

Catch you soon and best of luv,

Neil

Farewell To Fife (well, maybe....)

2010-09-26T12:28:00.000+01:00

So, off we trotted to the Woodside in Glenrothes last night.... Farewell to Fife? Well, certainly for 2010. Who knows what 2011 will bring?

Another belting night with The Shine! We arrived to very few punters in the venue but as we kicked off the place started to fill up... and carried on filling up all night!

The band were absolutely on fire - every one of us! Obviously this heavy gigging schedule makes us as tight as a frog's arse on a frosty morning!

Highlights?

* First live outing for the Roland GR-20 guitar synth - WOW!!!

* The random dropping in of "never played before" material - Sunshine Of Your Love & Hush - both of which worked!

*The girl in the yellow mini dress which was so mini Stevie and I got a full flash of her bum cheeks!

Next up, another great gig at Finnegans Wake - hopefully with The Shinettes and The Eyemouth Posse in attendance!

Until next time.....

Neil

The Triumphant Return!!!

2010-09-19T13:33:00.000+01:00

The date was early December 2008, The Shine had just played our socks off and finished the night by landing another 6 gigs for 2009... Then an overly hot vindaloo at Khushi's upstairs destroyed not only Edinburgh's top venue but also the Indian restaurant and The Liquid Rooms.
21 months later, here we are - The Shine's triumphant return to the fantastic Finnegans Wake!! The venue's very different - gone are the dark colours, the alcoves and the beer soaked floor. This is now the new, improved version with tons of new wood finishes and stacks of atmosphere. Oh, and a killer sound system.

We arrived last night, Saturday 18th September 2010, with bags of excitement at returning to Finnegans, coupled with a wee bit of trepidation at using the house rig (justifiable after the disaster of using Behind The Wall's crap arrangement - who puts bass bins up near the ceiling?). This concern was completely unfounded as the Finnegan's system is awesome and with a clarity out of this world.

After setting up, come 10pm we launched into young Mr Keates return high energy set - titled on this gig as "the OMG it's good to be back at Finnegans set". Kinda says it all... We rocked our way through a collection of favourites old and new in the first set, spurred on by a great collection of hen nights - big up to Jenny's (?) hen night who were with us all night. Off for a quick drink top up and towel down by freshly scrubbed nubile virgins - and we were off again!

Set 2 kicked off with a strangely placed "Let It Be" and then we were off into the crowd pleasers Chesea Dagger, Monster, Song 2 and other rip roaring crowd stompers!

Highlights of the night? Getting firmly back into the saddle of working a crowd, taking them with us and all together singing our hearts out - on this occasion, Chelsea Dagger, Land Of 1000 dances, Song 2, Mustang Funky Sally.... One downside? My channel switch on my amp suddenly deciding (twice) to switch itself from clean channel to screaming lead at random!

So, until our next outing to Edinburgh's finest on 16th October 2010 (joined hopefully by The Shinettes and The Eyemouth Posse) - as Andy says "OMG it's good to be back!".

Oh, and it's true... The Edinburgh girls are just so Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!!

Take care and until the next time best of luv!

N

Appologies to our female fans...

2010-08-12T23:51:00.000+01:00

Yes, the Shine can exclusively reveal, ladies that you have indeed missed the boat. Our pocket guitarist, Mr Andrew Keates, the young good looking one in amongst the old codgers, will, this Saturday coming, make an honest woman out of his fiancee, Gwen. Our old friends, Soul Inferno with our erstwhile bass dude, Mr Stuart Grant at the helm will be providing the music for said occasion, which means a bit of impromptu jamming will be in order at some point in the proceedings. I hope we don't scare the grannies too much.

Seriously though, the other 75% of the shine wish Andy and Gwen all that they wish themselves and respectfully request that Gwen lets Andy out to play with us on a regular basis- after her honeymoon of course.

Mines a pint of you're asking.

Normal service will be resumed in approximately 4 weeks...

The Lorne Hotel, Oban, 31/07/2010

2010-08-04T20:17:00.000+01:00

While sorting out the gear to take to Oban, we received the alarming, but frankly hilarious news that Stevie had done a "Spinal Tap" and fallen down his stairs at home and seriously damaged his shoulder. As Stevie was meant to be driving, we got serious immediately unpacked the beers that we had decided to take and then enquired after his health. True to form, Stevie cried the show must go on and avowed that it would be "alright on the night" once the adrenalin and the painkillers kicked in.

Having redistributed the driving duties off we went to sunny Oban, our progress only hampered by the plethora of mobile tin cans, ie, caravans on the road to the north west with us. A couple of vaguely frustrating hours later we arrived at the Lorne, where it was steak pie o'clock, so much so that we took a brisk walk along the front to give the bar some time to clear before we returned for some much needed scran. Oban was heaving with the holiday crowd and we dared to hope that more than a few of these visitors would visit us in the Lorne later.

Refueling accomplished, we then had another short wait before the bar could be cleared enough to get set up, which was accomplished in record time.

Having had a few minor sound issues at the previous gig, we prepared to start the proceedings, aware also that Stevie was not overly confident of his shoulder lasting the night out.

From the first chord it was clear that whatever had happened previously, the sound was spot on this time. The crowd got right behind us and sang and danced the night away with us. High spots; Whiter shade of pale- the second outing for this old classic and now we know what is coming up, we're right into it; the revisiting of Cocaine for the first time in many, many gigs was long overdue also. It was hot and sweaty, but that's just how we like it and at the end of the night, having played a blinder, we left the stage after an encore with the sound of "One more song" being chanted enthusiastically by the now well oiled punters.

All in all, a great night, as it always is at the Lorne. The afterglow of the night even made Stevie's arm feel better. Nuff said!

Rocking The Borders - Tavern Bar, Eyemouth

2010-06-13T12:04:00.000+01:00

"Good Evening Eyemouth!!!" (no, this wasn't the crowd from Saturday 12th June 2010 - but ours was equally great)!

We were delighted to break more new ground last night - and what amazing ground to break! This was the first time ever for The Shine at the Tavern Bar, Eyemouth and what a night we had! Huge thanks to Douglas and his great team for making us very welcome, very helpful and very friendly (with a special mention to Jennifer "Bing" - our first Eyemouth fan!)

Despite the England Vs. USA World Cup match (1-1 draw, to Andy's disgust) and a wedding in Eyemouth, what an amazing night we had in this fantastic venue. We rolled into town about 7pm with plenty of time to suss out the stage layout and then off to the chippy for tea.

Gear set up, we hit the stage at 9.30 with the usual "Another Brick In The Wall" with extended intro by me! :-) From there on, we rocked the Tavern to the rafters with people on the dancefloor from the outset. Storming through a wide ranging set from The Beatles to Green day, there was something for everyone and by God they were into it! The good people of Eyemouth sure know how to party! And to think the bar staff said last night was quiet.... Roll on a busy gig!

Highlights, where do I start...?

How about the group of 3 girls who were with us pretty much all night (now our biggest fans Amber, Liz & Wendy) - one of them dressed like a pirate wench - Amber - (apologies if this wasn't intended and was purely Borders fashion). But thanks to one of you for letting me wear your big floppy hat for one song and then Stevie having a shot for the next.

How about the guys who kept asking for AC/DC - even immediately after we'd played "Highway To Hell" by AC/DC.

How about the great looking girl who invented what we'll now know as "The Shine Bra Dance" - almost like a can-can but with her top pulled up to her neck (NICE!!! We actively encourage this at all future gigs).

How about Bing coming out from behind the bar to dance her ass off to her favourite tracks.

How about to the biker chick with the low self esteem who wanted "Smoke On The Water" but was just too late in the night (and we made an arse of it in Killin). By the way, definite low self esteem - no you're not a saddo and yes you are good looking if you read this!

No, this gig goes out to our Stevie. Stevie's been with us for about 5 months now, got a good few gigs under his belt but really this man is now starting to Shine! We've been looking for a guy as into the band as the rest of us for a couple of years now and by God we've got him in Stevie. The guy rocks, the guy moves his booty, the guy integrates (wait til he goes wireless!) and now he sings! Stevie, this gig's dedicated to you!

Until the next time...

Cheers,

Neil

Oban ROCKS!!!

2010-05-23T16:17:00.000+01:00

Well, that was another cracker at The Lorne in Oban last night! My only wish is that we had started playing there years ago with this band... What a gig!!

The Lorne people (Declan & his team) are awesome and so are the customers. We totally love playing here! Whether it's a cold November or February or, like last night, a heatwave May the audience is out of this world! You guys rock!

The band was absolutely on fire last night (well apart from being slightly humid in the bollock department) and played a blinder start to finish. The sound was absolutely spot on this time round, unlike the problems at the previous Glenrothes gig where we overcooked the monitor mixer - blowing a supply fuse - and when the sound's right, the playing's great. We kicked through all the old favourites and did justice to the newer stuff. Slightly flagging by "Rat Trap" but fuelled by lager and cider made it through.

Couple of highlights of the night? Stevie announcing he was going for a w*nk at the break - at precicely the moment the entire pub fell silent - and singing happy birthday to Andy during the band intros! Oh yeah, and coining a new phrase for good looking ladies who appeal to one or all of us... "Fud U Like"!!! Ah, we're just cheeky hot rockin' boys....

Long trip home which I think we all had a wee snooze on (well, hopefully not Iain) and back home by 3.30am - 4am.

Can't wait for our next wee soiree up to Oban in July. Hopefully another hot one and good looking audience!

One question, where do all the short skirted and low topped girls appear from that we pass on the way out of Oban? We need you at The Lorne before you go to McD's!! It's just not fair seeing you all when we're drained and sweaty at the end of the night!!

Another new era!

2010-02-20T22:41:00.000Z

So here we go again... Another year in the life of The Shine (6th one to be honest) and another bass player! We really must be Spinal Tap!

Quite seriously, Andy and I had an extremely sensible chat with Dave back in January. Whilst Dave was committed to the band, and us to him, he also had other priorities with his function band and other projects. Whilst Andy, Iain and I have the support of our "day jobs", Dave relied on music as a valuable source of income. The outcome was that we all agreed to be adult, remain friends, stay in touch when we needed each other but to cut each other loose to do what was best for each concerned.

Enter Stevie Patrick... Stevie was one of many bass players we, without sounding pretentious, auditioned. In addition to having checked out our setlist on here and learned a huge percentage of it, immediately brought a newfound fire to our sound. Stevie's playing is like an amalgamation of the best of who's gone before - the rockiness of Mark, the punchiness of Stu and the talent of Mike and Dave. One other difference - fuck, he can talk!!! It's also great to have another Glaswegian in the band.

After starting the year at another new venue for us, Fishers in Pitlochry, with Stu doing a brilliant job on bass, it was into the studio for a frantic runthrough with Stevie. Within 2 sessions he was gig ready! Just as well as, come 13th Feb, we all piled into Iain's famous Boogie Bus Mk.2 and headed up to the Lorne in Oban.

A fantastic time was had by all in Oban - this really is a cracking wee venue. Mid February in Oban? We thought this might be a quiet one - how wrong can one band be?? The place was, as usual, jammed to the rafters and rocking. The one thing I think we can safely say now we're into our second year with Declan and the Lorne is that this is always a fantastic gig with a fantastic audience. Yes the skirts are shorter in July but the reception would always defrost an eskimo's jockstrap. The one downside was that we discovered the "traffic light" noise limiter DOES work - twice! Something to bear in mind for the rest of 2010. We blame Stevie as this never happened with Dave. Anyway, Stevie... This was where he was either going to prove his mettle or we were going to kill each other. Bloody hell can this boy play! We thought he was good in the studio - stick him in front of a live audience and he's on fire!!!

The other great thing is Stevie's arrival has injected a new fire into the band. With no other commitments, Andy and I are now back to firing on all six to get The Shine back in as many venues as we can manage. We're now optimistic that a return to the fabulous Finnegan's Wake will take place in 2010 thanks to a great communication with Danny, still pursuing O'Neill's in Albion Street, Glasgow, secured a gig at The Tavern Bar, Eyemouth with more to follow in 2011, off to Skye in November with more to follow in 2011, more Pitlochry gigs and, last but not least, looking forward to a return to our "home from home" The Coach House Hotel, Killin.

On top of all this, 2010 will see Andy being made an honest man and frankly couldn't happen to a nicer couple - Andy and Gwen are truly a couple of the nicest, most decent people you could hope to meet! Also, our intention is to return to the recording studio later in the year to record some new tracks - some tried and tested live material and some brand new original material. This should be fantastic with the new sound and new line up.

Until then, hopefully catch you on the road somewhere.

Peace.

Neil

2010 here we come....

2009-11-15T13:19:00.001Z

OK, so Britain's still in recession - gigs have been a wee bit thin on the ground in 2009. So what's happening with 2010?

Things have started to go mental! At the time of writing in mid November 09, we've got around 12 gigs already in the diary with some cracking high profile venues still to confirm and further bookings expected from those that have confirmed.

2010 will see us extending our exploration of the West Coast as we venture further north to take in the Kingakin Bar, Kyleakin, Skye.

Hope to catch you all somewhere on the road.

Peace.

Neil

Finnegan's Wake 13th December 2008

2008-12-15T20:41:00.000Z

The last gig of 2008 and the last gig for our longest serving bass player, Mike, who is off to pastures old in the new year, mixing it with the current Mrs Pidge and assorted other ex Marines in a new venture- we wish him well, so well in fact that he may well be seen in selected venues with The Shine following his official demise! Watch this space!

Ah, the gig. Well, the pre-Christmas visitors to Edinburgh had nabbed all of the parking slots around Victoria Street, despite Neil and Iain having arrived at their usual time when a decent spot can usually be guaranteed. Neil found a dubious space at the top of the road while after unloading, Iain, Andy and subsequently Mike got parked in Belgium, Bolivia and Outer-Mongolia respectively. Iain also had a serious case of "man flu" and was sweating his ass off, as well as wondering if his throat would last the gig out.

The load in and set up complete, we did the now usual from the bottom up sound check, only to be hassled by a very drunk female (I think, genetic testing would be required to truly confirm this diagnosis) who was very "out there" and keen to invite herself onto the stage. More of her later.....

We kicked off with "Come up and see me" and from the off the crowd were warm and appreciative, if seemingly intimidated by the dance floor. In an absolute first, Danny the manager came across and asked us to turn up! Apparently, Neil's vocals could not be heard and some people think this is a disadvantage. Vocal levels sorted, we went on to deliver a pretty rounded first set with good crowd reaction and a large collection of Santa's on the dance floor from about the 5th number. Half way through, our biggest fan, in every sense of the phrase, returned with more attempts to join the band and following a heated exchange with a doorman who bravely got in her way, she was "helped to leave" the area. She apparently continued to protest vehemently and indeed physically long after we lost sight of her for the final time. I hope she enjoyed the hospitality afforded her by Lothian and Borders until Monday am and her date with the short man in the long black robes....

The pants monitor mix was fixed by ensuring the bass was plugged into the bass channel on the desk as it should have been and not into the vocal channel which pumped major bass volume through the monitors to the detriment of everything else. Iain's ears were so blocked anyway that he didn't notice.....

The first set over, the Santa's departed in search of lands anew and we kicked off into our now legendary, in our minds at least, indie orientated second set. Fear of our friend the munter gone, we had a great crowd of people on the dance floor giving it big licks throughout the second set, taking photos and generally having a great time- it's why we like Finnegan's so much. The set ended with the ubiquitous "Heroes" and we left the stage to catch the flights to get the cars to the echo of "One More Song, One More Song". I love that bit.

A long and sweaty breakdown and load up and that was that for 2008. Still, with the diary already filling nicely for next year, we'll see you in 2009? Hope so!

Greetings of the season and I hope that Santa endows you with a significant portion of the contents of his sack!

All the best

The Shine

History of The Shine

2008-08-31T08:34:00.000+01:00

OK, so what do you do when you wake up at the crack of dawn on a Sunday morning? Well, from my point of view I had a coffee and started thinking back through a kind of "timeline" of The Shine... On this basis, I reckoned it may be quite interesting (if only to us Shinies) to atually log this down before memories fade completely... Here goes....

4th January 2004 - Andy and I met for the first time in Nicky Tam's in Stirling following my finding his wee "want ad" in a Falkirk music store. I had left Must Hang Sally in September 2003 following the band's break up and was bursting with new but definite ideas. Through meeting with Andy, and a few pints, we discovered we wanted the same thing - a working band with no material limits, playing what we wanted to play and with no conflicting egos. We agreed to give this a bash with Andy on lead guitar and vocals, me on lead vocals and guitar.

January 2004 - I gave Iain a call, Iain being a mate of mine and long time conspirator with Unfinished Business. Iain was up for giving it a bash at being our drummer from the outset. With Iain on board, we set up a deal with the Railway Tavern in Dollar as a practice venue and started working up material, auditioning bass guitarists etc. First bass player we tried was Stuart Grant who was to feature strongly throughout the band's history (although he didn't take up our offer to join, going on to form Soul Inferno around this time).

March 2004 - Andy, Iain and I had our first live outing at a jam session at the Weir Pumps Social Club in Alloa with a dep bass player from the bunch of people there.

April 2004 - Colin Nelson joined the band as our bass player. A solid, thoughtful guy, Colin also had the coolest "want ad" I'd ever seen in Sound Control and a WAL bass - the first time I'd ever seen or played a WAL close up. Around this time, the Railway closed, never to reopen. I struck a deal with the Twa Macs in Alva and we had a new free practice venue (whenever it wasn't full of assorted crap, timings & agreements fucked up etc.)

November 2004 - First couple of official gigs as The Shine as a four piece. First was a freebie at the Twa Macs, the second the Dunfermline Christmas light switch on.

January 2005 - Colin decided to leave. We were unaware of any musical differences but Colin had a lot going on aside from the band. We wished him well, he was (and probably still is) a great player.

March 2005 - First properly touted / sourced gig at Forresters in Cambusbarron - WITH NO BASS PLAYER! First re-entry of Mr Stuart Grant!

June 2005 - We are introduced to Mark (TSD) Palmer by Lynz Hepburn of Soul Inferno (Stuart Grant link No. 3). Mark immediately gelled with where we were going AND HAD A VAN! This started one of the most inventive period in the band's history where (1) we gained a circuit of prestige gigs (2) developed our sound - turning Mark from a talented bass player to an unadulterated rock monster (or was it the other way round) (3) recording our first "proper" demo CD in Andy's home studio (4) conquering the internet with a diverse web presence (5) following Mark's lead and adopting silly pseudonyms! Andy is deemed the sexiest member of the band by female audience members.

August 2005 - Our first Gig In The Glen in Dunfermline as headliners (with Soul Inferno as second on the bill). This was followed by the conquering of Edinburgh, a city we still love playing.

June 2006 - Just before a gig in Edinburgh, Iain feels a TWANG and amuses us all by showing us that his thumb's got no movement and closely resembles a piece of lifeless rubber! He goes on to play a 3 hour gig only to discover the following day that his tendon had snapped and started it's ascent back up his arm! Thus followed 6 months of surgery, complete rest and then physiotherapy. At this time, Iain was told that he may never play drums, knit or masturbate again (OK, I made up the last two...)

August 2006 - Mark decides to leave the band and concentrate on his other band The Screaming Meemies. Bass recruitment begins again....

August 2006 - Mr Stuart Grant, believing Soul Inferno were about to fold, joins The Shine officially as bass player. As a result, we pretty much drop the silly pseudonyms and discover that we can be just as powerful (or in fact even more) with a funky drive from the rhythm section.

February 2007 - Reports of Soul Inferno's demise appear to be grossly exagerated and there is a conflict of gig dates. After huge heart searching, we suggest to Stuart that he'd be better concentrating on rebuilding Soul Inferno - his baby.

March 2007 - Before leaving, Andy, Iain, Stuart and I head off to Craigmont Studios in Glasgow to record a new professional album. If this was to be seen as Stuart's swansong, it's a fucking cracker! Back to the recruitment process... Andy and I placed various want ads and came up with a few options.

April 2007 - On one night in Rosyth, we auditioned a couple of guys, the second being Mike Gudgeon. Now, here's an interesting one... Mike had previously contacted me about the bass position just after we'd appointed Stuart, Mike's married to Lesley of David Beattie's Lucky Tile who we were vaguely associated with (and who knows my mate Martin) and, in fact, Mike was one of the local cops who put an untimely end to Gig In The Glen 2006 (although he was the innocent party of the couple of cops).

Anyway, back to the audition... There was no comparison! Mike was offered the job right there and then. We were ready to "Set a Pidge on ya!". Mike is also, without any offense to those who went before, the most talented bass player we've ever heard - bringing power, funk, rhythm and a musical knowledge WAY in excess of any of us. Andy has also lost his crown, in audience terms, as sexiest member of the band - this having been claimed by Mike!

May 2007 - Mike's first gig with us (after only a couple of practices) at Alloa Town Hall for the CAMRA Real Ale Festival.

February 2008 - Back off to Craigmont Studios, Glasgow to record our third album (with third consecutive bass guitarist).

August 2008 - Mike is not only the longest standing bass guitarist in the history of The Shine, he's also the most prolific as we pick up regulalrly prestigious gigs. Mike is also the most in tune with the rest of us as he shares the ethos of fun without ego and is a normal decent family guy.

The Orgasmic Scribbler's Picnic - 24.8.08

2008-08-26T23:50:00.000+01:00

Well, I guess you could class this as "yetanotherdoubleheader"!! Esteemed God of Thunder Iain and King of the Six String brought a great sense of hooliganism to Soul Inferno on Friday 22nd August where they depped at the brilliant O'Neill's in Merchant City, Glasgow. I had the "pleasure" of bein there to witness the spectacle of 2 outstanding rock musicians bringing their own form of lunacy to a perfectly respectable soul band... Why the "pleasure" in inverted comments? Well, the sound was absolutley rank! This particular muso was dying to get his hands on their soulie knobs!!

So, a quick sleep, rub down with a couple of freshly squeezed virgins and the boys were made Shiny again! This time it was a Sunday afternoon gig at the Scribbler's Picnic festival in Stirling - a gig we've been trying to land for 4 years!

So, why orgasmic? Well, these festival type gigs are fantastic for us - really our forte - but we tend to run on 30 minutes of extreme pleasure and then a climax!!! Get the point?

Anyway, we launched into high energy version of Kids In America... then straight into Highway To Hell. A quick welcome and we were into Andy's brilliant Inspiration. Not to be outdone, I had to bash out my own one Saturday Night. Strangely, and very welcome, the originals went down a treat! We then launched into the guaranteed crowd pleaser Chelsea Dagger before rounding off with American Idiot.

Thanks to Anita and Carrie for taking some photos (all featured in the various galleries) and videoing the whole Shinyshow! I just wonder whether my comment of "You're coming home with me!" to the bird in the Moulin Rouge type outfit came out on video...? I couldn't hear it, but there again I didn't hear ANY monitor!

Big thanks to Ted Christopher for having us... Hopefully we'll be back next year??!!

So, all in all, within an hour of unloading the cars we had played, sweated a couple of pints, loaded the cars back up again and were on our way out!

A good time had by all!!!

Killin - 15.8.08 - View From The Front!

2008-08-17T12:51:00.000+01:00

Well well well... Beaten to the Blog by the God Of Thunder himself!

What more can I say... As always, particularly big thanks to Jan and David for just being such geat people! These are the kind of clients we REALLY appreciate playing for!

Notable phases for me from this gig? :-

Delivering the goods after two consecutive 20 hour days (as pointed out below)

Forgetting the opening line to Monster... Damn!!

Ledderhosen and Alpine hats - VERY scary!

Seeing Maria / Waitress again for the first time this year!

Wishing Jan & David a Happy Christmas....

Being scared driving home 'cos I was physically, emotionally and mentally so knackered.

Having to be up again at 8am to roll down a Perthshire hill in a Zorb Ball....

Ah, the joys of being a rock and roll legend!

Coachhouse Hotel, Killin, 15/08/08

2008-08-16T15:12:00.000+01:00

Our last visit this summer season to the land of the bat-sized midges saw us again looking forward to an unpredictable night, audience wise. Killin is one of those gigs where you really have no idea who will be in and what set will go down well.

As usual, we hedged our bets. The bar was pretty busy with the post teatime crowd when we kicked off with our now traditional acoustic set. The crowd were warm and responsive and very appreciative, which is always nice. We had a bit of a rash of guitarists starting songs too fast in the middle of the set, but hey ho, if you don't want to wait for the drummer, then hell mend you! Stand out tune was our best to date version of Andy's new self penned "Different Day" which is seriously classy.

First set over and a quick break and we launched into our electric set with Highway to Hell, expecting to cause a mass exodus within the first few power chords, but no, the crowd stayed and wanted more. Never being ones to look a gift horse in the mouth, we graciously obliged and got "tore in". Neil had a bit of a unique moment, forgetting the first line to Monster, but considering he had been up since 4am and opened a multi-million pound shopping centre development already that day, the fact that this was the only aberration in the night was laudable. We also managed to play "Learn to Fly" in the agreed structure for the first time all the way through- like I say, Killin is never predictable!

Towards the end of the set we were joined by a group of well lubricated Bavarians who livened up the place no end. Neil struggled manfully and finally managed to get through the rest of the set without mentioning the war and we ended the night with one of the best receptions we have ever had at a gig and people offering us money to play on... We obliged with an encore for no money and ended the night with great big knackered smiles and the thought of a drive back down the road in the rain, fog and post gig glow...

Roll on next week and our debut, finally, at the almost legendary Scribblers Picnic, 2.30, Sunday 24th Aug in the Thommo Tent, in the grounds of Stirling Rugby Club. See you there?

Finnegan's Wake, Edinburgh - 9.8.08

2008-08-10T11:33:00.000+01:00

Finnegan's Wake... What can we say...!!?? Finnegan's Wake during the festival... Into orbit!

Edinburgh during the festival / Fringe is always great. What an atmosphere! So many great people out to have a great time.

We knew this was going to be a tough one logistically as (1) the bar would be jumping by the time we arrived and (2) would STILL be jumping by the time we left due to the 3am closing time. Not to worry, we were expecting it. We weren't expecting the parking ban in Victoria Street but thanks to my schmoozing a traffic warden and Willie the Security Guard's constant lookout we were fine.

Oh, and it rained... Fucking hell it rained!!! It was torrential when we arrived for the load in, let up during the night and was torrential again when we loaded back out.

As for the gig, yet again - stunning! We'd decided on a high energy, rocky and fairly modern set thanks to our illustrious Mr Keates and, I think, totally hit the mark. From the outset we were supported by Suzanne's friendly hen party (featuring a VERY hot Welsh girl). These girls parties their cute little asses off for the entire first set and totally spurred us on.

By the break, the hen party had moved on (reluctantly) so, quick 10 minute break, and we were off again into Chelsea Dagger. We thought the party could boogie? This was NOTHING compared to the full dancefloor in the second set!!! They were even dancing in the main body of the pub, in back areas, down the sides... AWESOME GIG!!!

Danny asked us if we could play for a bit longer than the 1am finish rather than lose punters - suggesting a 1.15am finish. We were more than happy to oblige, playing until 1.30. Danny seemed happy, the crowd seemed happy and we were more than happy!

Every silver lining has a cloud....
(1) Two weeks previously I'd said to Andy "What happens if the power amp fails". Last night was the night it chose to fail! Thankfully we managed to rescue it with flicking the switch.
(2) First trial of my new Sennheiser headset mic. Possibly not the best idea at a prestige gig. The feedback was horrible from the front monitor. Mind you, a £20 mic into a Sennheiser wireless system? Maybe that was the problem... The in ear monitors were stunning though.
(3) Andy's "Bug" wireless system decided to be downright tempremental at times, leading our stunning lead guitarist to have to resort to {gulp} a WIRE!
(4) Various drunk punters who decided to both use our gear as things to fall into and to stick full pints on. As a result, thanks to some dickhead from obviously the clan McMohammed (what the fuck was that all about), a bass bin, my effects board and half of Andy's floor gear soaking up about 2 pints of finely brewed beverage!

The classic line of the night, however, came from one of the hen party girls. After we did Proud Mary she said "Ah, that's the Tina Turner one!" I said "I'm hardly Tina Turner - I don't even have a vagina!". The response came right back "You will have by the end of the night!" SCHWING!!!

Woodside Inn, Glenrothes - 2.8.08

2008-08-03T11:17:00.000+01:00

Round 2 of our latest "Double Header".... No, I don't mean that certain "bucket of inanimate cogitating hippocampi" (edited by Iain- work it out!) that Iain favours....

So, off we go to the Woodside in Glenrothes. Strange how I get all gramatically correct sometimes. When I arrived a drunk punter who was out for a fag growled at me "Ur you ra band?". Well, if it was just me I'd be the artist, the musician. A band, in terms of basic vocabulary, is a collection of musicians. I just responded "Well I'm 1/4 of a band". This seemed to confuse him so he just grumbled and leaned at an acute angle against the wall... C'est la vie...

Anyway, Iain and I arrived early to claim the stage as there had been a slight double booking confusion. No worries there though.

Strange place The Woodside - it doesn't really come alive until about 10.30. We launched into a much higher energy set than the previous night at about 9pm and immediately had the handful of punters in the palms of our hands. No mentions of dogging (like the previous night) as I'd decided to behave tonight. We tore through the first set at a rate of knots, so much so, we were running ahead of time and had to stick in some extra material. Sometimes it's great to have shitloads of material!!

By the time we took a break at about 10.15, the venue was starting to fill up.

Quick break, fill the glasses, and we were back on about 10.30 with a rousing Chelsea Dagger. By this time, despite some overheard comments that some punters were there to see the "other band", we had them dancing in the ailes.Again, we must have been playing at breakneck speed as - checking my watch - we had played for 45 minutes with 45 to go and three songs left. Out came the extensive setlist again.

All in all an interesting night... Solos where solos had never been before (both Andy and I guilty), solos missing where solos were meant to be, songs done which hadn't been off the shelf in 6 months ("what key's Ziggy in?")...

All in all though, another great performance as usual. When we're running at 60% we're great... When we're at 100% we're unstopable!

The night concluded with the audience screaming for more but, as it was past the witching hour, we did the fastest stripdown of our 5 year career and loaded up.

Thank God for Sunday and the chance to chill with coffee (and web blogs!)

Waverley Hotel, Callendar - 1.8.08

2008-08-03T11:15:00.000+01:00

We had a great time back at the Waverley Hotel in Callendar on Friday night - 1st August. It's strange but, despite all the high profile city centre gigs (Behind The Wall, Finnegan's Wake etc), it's great to do the "semi rural" gigs like Killin and Callendar.

I arived at steak pie o clock to find Iain still tucking into his chilli stir fry... around half past fish supper, we decided to do one of the worst load ins on the circuit - people tend not to appreciate a bass drum in the back of the napper as they're tucking into their tea... Still, no injuries...

We were joined by 3/4 of the "Shine WAG Club" for this gig - the only one missing being Gwen - and the first gig attended by my wife Fiona. We were also honoured to have Kim Shepherd of Cut The Cake along with Mike's wife Lesley (who sings with David Beatie's Lucky Tile).

Being Callendar, we decided to try the half acoustic / half electric set that we developed for Killin. Good choice! All in all, a really great gig and a great audience!! Obviously not the same kind of people as the young venues we do where they swing from the rafters... However, big up to the couple from Warrington who were staying in Callendar and opted to disregard the lockout from their hotel to stay and watch the band!!

I have to say, however, that the highlight for me was when Les & Kim joined us on stage to do backing vocals on Mustang Sally!! It's always been an ambition of mine to work with female vocalists - this was a dream come true! The hairs on the back of my neck were standing up! What stunning singers!!!

All in all a cracking night, although I'm not sure Kim thought so in the morning as I believe she was "driving the porcelain truck" when she got home! One thing, however, Fiona's now an official "Shinette" - the club for gig attending Shine WAG members!

He followed us home.... Can we keep him?

2008-06-01T17:22:00.000+01:00

Well, after more than a year with us - and two gigs away from being The Shine's most prolific bass guitarist - Mike's finally made it onto the mixing desk!! Mike was extremely forgiving about being TSD for the past year, however, he's made it!

All the cables are now also labelled to make sure all the electrons get to the right places on a hot, dark, sweaty stage when we're under pressure to set up - surrounded by beautiful women!

Finnegan's Wake, 05/04/08

2008-04-06T12:05:00.000+01:00

The second gig of our first double header, all I can say is what a stormer!

We arrived early as usual, just to be sure we could get our gear through the usually thronging crowd easily, to be greeted with Victoria Street in a bit of disarray and parking in very short supply. Neil was in a nice wee space, seemingly having just driven there the previous night from Behind the Wall!.....

Anyhow, parking sorted, thanks to the chief security chap- sorry, don't know his name- who moved his car to let me park mine, all the gear was in and set up by 8.40. All we had to do was wait until the time when people find the transmitted sound of a sweaty band to be palatable with their Chicken Korma- 10.30 apparently. The one benefit from the delay was that from full, the venue went to packed to the rafters! It was truly heaving!

Into the first set of two- the traditional 3 sets being impossible now with the later start time- and from the first delay ridden chords of "Another Brick", the crowd were in our palms and a good night was pretty much guaranteed!

We held the crowd throughout- it was great to have such good feedback for once, pub crowds being traditionally reticent to applaud, regardless of how much they are enjoying themselves- it's difficult to clap with a pint in your hand you see- but this was a real revelation. It was fully warranted though, we were playing like men possessed!

So all in all, a particularly satisfying couple of nights. Roll on the rest of the year.

Take it real easy

Percussion Maestro

Knee Trembler Behind The Wall - 4.4.08

2008-04-05T11:51:00.000+01:00

So here we are once more...

Yep, we made our triumphant return to one of our favourite venues last night following a lay off since last October... Back in October we suffered from some exceptionally painful sound engineering, compounded by not knowing how to operate the house PA. By the time we'd decided to switch to our own rig, it was too late - we'd emptied the place, removing the audience's collective heads like a guillotine of sound. Not good...

So this time we had everything to play for! Big thanks to Neil and Bobby for having us back and proving October was a "one off" and not one to be repeated! It's ironic as EVERY previous visit to Falkirk's Finest saw us drawing a great crowd, keeping them and having them eating out the palms of our hands.

Last night was a triumphant return to form. We were on fire!! When we arrived and set up, the venue was pretty empty - well, it was early. By the time we hit the stage at around 10pm, the trickle started... The trickle turned into a flood of people.... By the middle of the first set, the flood turned into a deluge!! WE WERE BACK!!!

We absolutely stormed through a couple of stunning sets with every single one of us playing our socks off. It's not often you'll hear this, but even I was in particulalrly fine voice. From the opening OTT delay of Another Brick In The Wall's into to the final notes of Heroes left hanging in the air, we were tight, we were funky, we were powerful... Face it, we were on form!

Without going on and on, again big thanks to Neil - we're playing with fire and will be back on Friday 13th June 2008. Do we believe in superstition? Do we fuck! We'll be back to rock the rafters again.

Right, off for some more strong black coffee to kick the system back into hyperdrive - we're off again tonight to another stunning venue - Finnegan's Wake in Victoria Street, Edinburgh (home of some of the best looking women on our circuit - until we break Glasgow)!

Until later, take care, have fun and keep rockin'

Neil

The birth of Godiva

2008-04-02T16:55:00.001+01:00

She is born! She is here!! As the bulge in Andy's trouser department will testify, I have successfully customised my Peavey guitar (now re-christened Godiva).

For the technically anally retentive (yup, Andy again), here's a brief overview of what I did... This could almost be subtitled "Don't believe what you read"... All will become apparent.

Initially, I thought I might buy yet another guitar (number 8) with some deeply offensive graphics and a rock 'n' roll image. Then I thought, why buy another when I could do up an existing guitar to sound perfect - and, as it turned out - look perfect.

Rather than simply change the pickups, I decided to remove the whole pickplate assembly and replace everything from the wood up.

Business end - I bought a Seymour Duncan Cool Rails pickup for the neck, a Seymour Duncan Vintage Rails for the mid and a Seymour Duncan 'Lil 59 humbucker for the bridge. After extensive research, apparently this would give me a '63 Strat sound with the neck / mid positions and a '59 Les Paul on the bridge... Hmmm, nice. Add to this, I couldn't just connect these to any old crappy electronics, I added brand new American pots (a push / pull on one to coil tap the 'Lil 59), an American 5 way selector and top of the range Sprague Orange Drop capacitors (a 0.1uF on the neck and a 0.047uF on the bridge). All of this was connected with new American Fender spec replacement wiring.

In terms of "don't believe what you read" - I followed Seymour Duncan's wiring diagram to the letter... And ended up with a non-operational tone circuitry. After much tearing of hair, gnashing of teeth and emails to Andy, a flash of inspiration came to me while driving to work one day! Seymour was wrong! I then copied the layout on the original Peavey plate and VOILA! Perfect.

Looks - I had commissioned a custom designed new pickplate after Googling for "Naked girl on a horse" (hence Godiva). I then added to this new chrome hardwear, stainless steel screws and abalone topped knobs.

Add to this the Grover locking machine heads I had already installed, the job was done....

UNTIL NEXT TIME!!!

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you GODIVA!

On the Road Again...

2008-04-01T23:28:00.000+01:00

After our long winter of discontent and few gigs, we're back out there with a vengeance, with another CD in the bag and a fresh taste for the land of the leather trousers and OTT introductions!

Our time in the studio over Feb/March was well spent with a new 7 track CD produced at Craigmount Studios care of our now almost fifth member, our pet engineer, Colin and Shug, our progressive pal and studio owner. The tunes are up on our Myspace if you fancy a listen (just follow the link in the links section on this site). Quite addictive this studio lark. I feel like a seasoned old pro, but you can never fiind one when you need one....

So, to more recent happenings and our first live outing of the year, a new venue for us in the Waverly Hotel, in deepest Callander. as we arrived, the early crowd were still eating their steak pie, but in the setup period, the crowd changed from Teatime to Playtime and by the time we hit the stage on the stroke of nine, the joint was jumpin' and packed to the door.

We started as we meant to continue and hit them with our usual first set barrage. Despite the fairly long winter lay off, we were on form from the first note and it was like we had never been away. it was like putting on a really comfortable pair of old shoes that you had not seen for a while and just instantly knowing that they were right!

A short break later (and the discovery that a couple of groups in the audience had seen our name, checked us out on line, listened to the uploaded tunes and STILL come to see us!) and into the second set and all of a sudden we had a crowd of dancers infront of us, digging everything we played. This continued to the witching hour when we signed off in our traditional manner- Heroes with ridiculous intros!

A great night- roll on next weekend and our first ever double header!

Keep on rockin'

Percussion Maestro

Tribute to Dean

2007-11-18T14:00:00.001Z

We had a cracking night at Fatboab's in Kincardine last night.After a lot of thought, and changes of opinion, I decided to play my reworked lyric version of Knocking On Heaven's Door in tribute to Dean. To be totally honest, I know it's now cliched to rework this particular song but, when I did it on Thursday, the song actually chose itself, I did the business within 15 minutes and it was the easiest thing in the world to do.

So, here's my version of the lyrics as performed yesterday.

Ma, take these bonds off of me,
I just don't need them anymore
I've got my legs back, I'm gonna run free
Cos now I'm knocking on heaven's door.

CHORUS
Knock knock knocking on heaven's door
Knock knock knocking on heaven's door
Knock knock knocking on heaven's door
I'm just knocking on heaven's door

Ma, can't you see the smile on my face
You know I'll love you forever more
Although I've gone from this earthly place
And I am standing at heaven's door

CHORUS

The Lord is my shepherd
I shall not want
He makes me down to lie
In pastures green
He leadeth me
The quiet waters by

Dad, the wind blows through my hair
I'm not in pain anymore
You'll hear my laugh in the winter air
And I'll be waiting at heaven's door

CHORUS

Rest easy Deanie and God bless you!

The Coach House, Killin - 14.9.07

2007-09-15T18:46:00.000+01:00

Another big, big thanks to all at The Coach House, Killin for another fab night last night (14.9.07)!!

As I said to Kerry, playing at The Coach House is like a holiday for The Shine - the people are so friendly, appreciative and - above all - share our belief in having a party!!

we debuted not only a completely new "unplugged" set for the first half - but also the first of Andy's own compositions.

So, to Kerry, Kim and the whole family - big thanks from all of us! We can't wait to return and please do give us a shout if you need a "dig out" anytime!

N's Studio Tan

2007-08-21T17:00:00.000+01:00

So here we are once more, in the playground of the..... High technology studio environment!

I've been having great fun recently working (and ploughing loads of hard earned cash) into what started out technically as a "solo" project. Originally I was going to record this at home on my old analogue set up, then upgraded to digital and was going to simply take WAVs of the drums back home... Now it's all being recorded at Craigmont Studios in Glasgow - my mate Shug's studio.

It's also less than solo now as Iain has made a huge contribution so far - both with drumming and also constructive criticism like "No, that was shite Neil, do it again"!

The first session back in late July was OK but frustrating as I had over ambitious ideas of how much I personally could get done - plus we'd been off the road for a month and I guess I was a bit rusty. We adjourned back on 18th August and things started to come together. Despite being post gig knackered from the Shiny activities of the previous night and a crappy drive through pissing rain, loads more got done at this second session!! Acoustic guitar, OD guitar, some clean guitar, Moog Taurus and electric pipes all went down at this session under the careful control of Dougie and "oor PM"!

One more musical session to go to finish off the clean guitar, do keyboards, flute, vocals and various percussive noises and job's a good un! Then it's over to Colin's creative wizardry for the final mix...

Don't know what I'll do with this album but suffice to say it's 10 tracks of completely original material, not done by The Shine and a real mixed bag of styles... All I do know is it's likely to be called "It Can't Rain All The Time"

Best of love and keep having fun,

MySpace & Media!!

2007-05-21T16:22:00.001+01:00

Hello! Mr N here....

If anyone reading this is new to The Shine, quite possibly you've checked this out via a My Space friends request. Through my involvement with Gig In The Glen 2007, I've seen how successful building up a good batch of friends can be - so I applied the same principal to The Shine Site.

Every single friend invite has been personally selected by me based on interests, location, gig proximity... AND HOTNESS! Some bands use a kind of "bomber" attack where an automated programme will add countless friends. Fair game to them but I'd much rather have 500 odd hand picked friends who just might give us support at a gig than 5000 who are from Venuzuela, Peru or Siberia! Quality not quanity - that's my theory!! So, if you are reading this because you've linked from My Space - Thank You. Your friendship means a lot to The Shine!!!

In terms of Media, we've got a really cool offer coming up... The new album is complete and, welded to 4 tracks from the previous recording, makes a cracking 10 track CD. The production of the first batch of these CDs is complete, the cover artwork is complete and we're ready to roll!! Here's the deal.... The CDs will be available from the band (signed or unsigned - your choice) for the grand sum of £5!! Let's face it, that's 2 pints in old money!! Or, put another way, it's Stuart's brainchild... Oh no, he invented the £7.5 note!!

What we're also going to do is one lucky person at every gig will get the chance of a free CD. All you have to do is be there and come up and ask me... That's all, no catches, no money... nothing. BUT IT'S ONLY ONE.... Once the freebie's gone, it's a fiver for everyone else!!

Take care and hope to see you at the Alloa Real Ale Festival on 25th May or somewhere on the road in June!

Mr N

Welcome the new Guvnr of the Bottom Line!

2007-05-21T16:15:00.000+01:00

Well, it's hardly new any more... I just couldn't be arsed updating this blog!!

Andy, Iain and myself are delighted to welcome Mike as the new bass player with The Shine. A truly awesome player, it's great to have you on board. On the downside, The Shine are now 50/50 Anglo Scottish - on the upside, Mike has the most enviable birthday of the year!!

So look out, we're gonna set a Pidge on ya!!

Here we go again....

2007-03-23T12:39:00.000Z

What is it with The Shine and bass guitarists?

Sadly, we're about to part company with Stu - after only about 4 months as a Shiny. Nah, Stu'll never stop being an Honourary Shiny!!

Ourselves and Stu have recently had discussions as it appears Soul Inferno have taken on a new lease of life. It's a tough call but we seriously appreciate that Stu was a founding member of Soul Inferno and it would be tough to turn his back on them. Likewise, Andy, PM and I would have the same view about The Shine. Chic and Stu are both absolutely sound guys too (haven't met the rest of the new line up yet) and we seriously wish them every success!

So, anyway, I guess it's back to the "Situations Vacant" columns for The Shine with the job description being "a very tough act to follow filling Mark and Stu's shoes".

It is worth pointing out that there are NO hard feelings in this move and, in fact, Stu will be sticking around for some time to come. It's all systems go for the upcoming gigs and recordings with Stu remaining the "king of the bottom line" until his successor is appointed.

Mr N

Oh dear....

2007-03-19T17:36:00.000Z

And this is what happens when Mr N has a wee bit of spare time at work.....

The Shine 3rd Demo

2007-03-18T16:14:00.000Z

After recording our first demo (with our first bass guitarist) live using Mr N's analogue set up.... Then our second demo (with our second bass guitarist - the mighty TSD) using Andy's home digital setup....

We're now ready (with our third bass guitarist) to record our third demo!

For this one, however, we're all off to Hugh Carter's The Practice Pad in Glasgow (photo left). Hugh has a massive pedigree both as a studio owner and a professional musician with both the incredible Abel Ganz and his Stones covers band Sticky Fingers.

Myself, Andy K, PM and Stu are really looking forward to our trip west in April to do it with the pros!!

More later....

Mr N