Ambivalent Peaks

Though this blog is mostly inactive these days, (I've recently become Editor-in-chief of the Strathclyde Telegraph, I'm nearing the end of my third year of university and have been dealing with a plethora of personal circumstances that I won't go into for everyone's benefit) I was reached out to by some of the team at Behind The Noise. If you don't know who they are, THEN BUCKLE UP.

There's a good chance that you might not be aware of them if you're out of secondary school or you're not actively involved in the running of it BUT I think it's an amazing organisation that's afforded me with so many incredible opportunities so it would be daft not to talk about it.

I was able to run a live show at Stereo which I talked about in my blog post, the Chronicles of the Scottish Heroes which I still count as one of my proudest accomplishments to date.

If not for rest of the team, as well as the partnership of fellow trainees Michael, Kieran and Ibby - it would not be as transformative an experience for me not only as a human person, but also as someone who wanted to (and still wants to!) make a career in the creative industries.

Look, posters for our gig! Awww, memories.

Behind The Noise has it's roots in education, as it starts in schools as a music and business education program. I was told about it off hand when my drama teacher at the time - shout out to Mr Nolan, if it wasn't for him taking interest and seeking out opportunities for me, then none of this would have happened. That's what you call a good teacher - was asking me what I was thinking about doing after school. I told him that, idk, maybe like, working with bands and stuff? It just so happened that THAT week, the Behind The Noise workshops would be rolling into our school. They would run as an after school activity, and seeing as I was a big nerd and that sounded like an awesome opportunity, I went along. And after that, my friends, the rest was history.  Kind of. The workshops cultivated into an end of the year live show at The Classic Grand in Glasgow, called The Gig at the Grand. The pictures you see peppered through this post are from the years past, and every time they're on, they are the cultivation of hard work, stress, tears, and the coming together of people who believe in the younger generation and what they can do creatively. They help them with skills and tools to build up their confidence and think "hey, maybe I CAN work with bands and stuff!"

This is so, so important. Far too often, people think that working in the music industry is just a pipe dream - but when you're in school, there are little options are available to you if the most you feel like you can do is get into a 14+ show, while missing out on other gigs that your favourite bands are playing because you're not old enough to drink yet. If you don't start a band yourself, or have friends in bands -- then it feels like there's no possible way it can ever happen. Behind the Noise changes that, and creates experiences for these kids who might feel like that was never going to be an option. That's what happened for me, anyway.

Hi Sean!

ANYWAAAAAAAY, enough sappiness. Sean at Behind The Noise has brought on a new team of trainees, and they are putting on a gig of their own. The Noise Floor is a show that will take place at Stereo THIS SUNDAY between the time of 1pm and 4.30pm. While an afternoon show might seem like a total effort, I can promise you that it will be worth heading along to if you get the chance.


Okay - now here's another one that will blow your mind. You know how the song Youth by Daughter is the ultimate indie, all-of-the-feels anthem? WELL SHE'S ONLY BLOODY GONE AND COVERED IT. Maaaaaaaaan. So, so good.

Another amazing lady playing on the Noise Floor is the incomparable Lizzie Reid. Her tone is more mellow, but still harsh when it needs to be. There's something very enticing about her song 'I Cannot Speak,' featured below. There's a long intro (skip to ~2 minutes for the start of the song) and it opens with almost slam poetry-esque, confessional quality. It's very raw and interesting and between the various projects that she's been working on, past of the band Weatherston and currently of the band PESTS, it's clear that she's definitely one to keep an eye on.

Get tickets here and go along if you can, and tell them yer gran at Ambivalent Peaks sent ye. 

P.S. writing this blog post was fun, I might start doing more. Are you intae that? Let me know! I'm on twitter as @soakedinstatic, and my online portfolio is here if you wanna read more of the words I write.