I have a big “thank you” to say to a gentleman named Chris Cope. He runs a website that’s just recently started up — only this week in fact — dedicated to the music scene in Scotland. Bands on tour here, new talent and so on. As a journalist who’s worked for a number of different music publications before he knows his stuff, and the way everything is going to be organised looks very interesting.

The best bit though is his taste in photography. I know this, because he’s featured me as the first photographer in his “Photo Friday” feature! I’m thrilled to bits by this, particularly as I’m well away from most established venues down in the south of Scotland — if I were to be honest, I would have never thought to look around for gig photographers in Inverness. Glasgow, Edinburgh, at a push Aberdeen, but definitely not Inverness.

Once again, thank you!

Go check out the site guys — it’s The Daily Dose, and you can get directly to my little feature right here.

What a night, and not for the best of reasons. If you don’t like moaning Scotsmen doing what they do best, just look at all the pretty pictures…

Was working yesterday on the normal 9:00am to 5:30pm yesterday, and unfortunately since I can’t drive yet my only means of getting to and from my job is to use buses. Buses which, thanks to Stagecoach being complete and utter morons, seem to come and go at the most inappropriate times. Seriously, who the hell thought it would be a good idea having a bus leave town at twenty-five past five when all the shops close at half past? Why force us to wait another thirty minutes for the next one? And why cut it to one bus an hour after half seven?

Sorry, you’re right, it’s a photoblog, I forgot. The long and short of it is that because of the way the bus times work, there was little point in me heading home; I’d just have to pack up and leave again as soon as I walked in the door to get to the Doll and The Kicks gig at Mad Hatters on time. The alternative is to wait at work (since there were people there to talk to until 8pm), head to the venue when they left, and then hang about in the pub downstairs for an hour or so before the gig, the route I opted to take.

It’s then I find out nothings happening until 9:30 which actually, would have given me enough time to head home for a nice meal and a shower. Hindsight’s a bitch, huh?

10:30 comes along and only now do the support act take to the stage, playing to a near empty room. Apparently, Little Buddha have just about enough pulling power to attract one super fan (to say he was a little bit weird would be in the same league as describing Katie Price is a “little bit annoying”) and a few stragglers from the bar down the stairs.I must admit, if I were to put it kindly I would say I’m not a fan of their music. I’m going to leave it at that.

I was, however, looking forward to DATK. I’d heard some of their tracks on their Myspace page before the gig to get a flavour of what to expect, and it was exactly the kind of music I like — a kind of indie/art-rock/pop hybrid that works very well for the likes of Franz Ferdinand, The Sounds and Deluka, for example. Thanks to all the delays before though, they only took to the stage at 11:15pm — precisely 10mins before the very last bus back home. Roughly, that works out at 2 1/2 songs and an embarrassingly sharpish exit…

Needless to say, I’m going to be investing in some driving lessons and a car very soon, and I’m most definitely going to be looking out for DATK for any other gigs in the area in future, a prospect that doesn’t look very likely due to the abysmal turnout that night. They’re a fantastic band and they deserve a better reception than they got last night.

More on Flickr as usual.

Happy Valentines Day everyone! Unless you’re single, in which case you can not only be jealous of those who have girlfriends and / or boyfriends, but you can read on and be very jealous of me, seeing as I spent my evening in the company of the fantastic Ocean Colour Scene…

Very little else needs said really. The Moons were supporting tonight, and are also worth looking out for if you see them near where you are — a nice mix of ska and britpop got everyone going nicely.

The only downside? Some very odd choices in lighting ruined things a bit for me. Blue with purple doesn’t seem to play well with my camera. I also think I overexposed a few shots, so there’s not as many usable shots as I’d like. C’est la vie.

I did promise it would be a big update. More shots on my Flickr page as normal, Doll and the Kicks next week.