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Label Releases 2024

Here is where we showcase to you where we're at with the latest releases from Whanga Records. Follow us on all the usual socials to let us know exactly what you think, or if you want to get involved or arrange a chat to discuss how we can work together, drop us a line using the deets on our Contact page.

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Birrell or Biscuit - Demons

Released 6/9/24

The jingle jangle of Craig Birrell's mind meets the jingle jangle of Barry Sutton's (of The La's fame) guitar. And it's a perfect match!

Expertly driven on, by the machine Neil Allan on the drums, and the genius Alfie Ramage on the bass and lead guitar! A sprinkling of organ from John Kidd (reminiscent of Booker T and the MG's Green Onions :P) ties it all together beautifully.


The music scene has certainly been a poorer place for the absence of Birrell or Biscuit over the last year. Locked away in various rooms, studios and bars in Dunfermline, Craig Birrell has been on a journey of self reflection and demon confronting. Weaving from calling it a day to bursts of previously unseen creativeness, ‘Demons’ sees a new professional edge to his songwriting. 

Featuring Barry Sutton from The La’s and mixed by Chris Taylor (Blossoms, The Coral, Keyside, Courteeners, The Lathums), the impassioned vocals that have been the hallmark of the band, are now merged with jaunty guitars with an Americana undertone. 

It is the band’s most accomplished track to date and bodes well for the future of BOB. 

The artwork is by Ian Barrett, nephew of the legendary Pink Floyd frontman, Syd Barrett.

 

Craig BIrrell says of the track :

 

"It’s a personal song about self reflection, was sitting on it for a year. Played it to Barry from The LA’s back at my hotel room after a gig with Texas Bob and Patrick Lyons. for The Liverpool Psychedelic society. I managed to persuade him to come up and play guitar on it for me, and feeling inspired by his involvement, I managed to up my game on it. His signature bouncy rhythm guitar gave it a new lease of life, especially with the Hammond organ being added to the track. It became a more jaunty number.''

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TwinsTown - Saltire in the Sky

Released 11/6/24

A song inspired by the optimism surrounding the country since Scotland qualified for Euro 24. Featuring Mariam Amhaz on accordion and Chris Agnew on bass guitar. No Scotland no Party!

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Birrell or Biscuit - Unknown

Released 11/10/24

There is a much believed theory that buses don’t arrive for ages and then two come along at the same time.

The same can be said of releases from Scottish songwriter, Craig Birrell, aka Birrell or Biscuit. A gap of several months of wilderness before Birrell Or Biscuit released their last single, Demons, and now hot off the back of that comes, arguably, their best single to date, ‘Unknown’.

Laid back guitars and drums mix with keys to lay a bed for Birrell’s impassioned brutally honest lyrics of the confusion of sometimes just living. Hearts are not worn on sleeves for Craig Birrell..they are torn from chests and laid bare for all to see and trample on.

Birrell struggles to explain the track himself..

"I wrote the track whilst I was between places, staying in Whanga Records, freezing cold in the communal area over Xmas time eating an Indian takeaway and drinking buckfast. As is the norm, it was a confusing time of my life. I’m not sure what the song is really about...hope for a better day for those around you and a general confusion of your place in life. Losing grip of reality and confusion. I forgot about the song. It’s one of many I’m going back to that were done in a very rough form over the past couple years. There’s probably two albums worth, seems to fit the mood and ethos of Demons, a continuity in the misery and confusion that being alive can bring.”

The artwork is by Ian Barrett, nephew of the legendary Pink Floyd frontman, Syd Barrett. 

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TwinsTown - Brankholm Brae (ltd edition white vinyl album)

Vinyl Release 8/3/2024

After a streaming release last Xmas, here is the much anticapated ltd edition white vinyl!! Grab your copy today via our merch shop and support new music! 

Introducing TwinsTown and The Greatest Album Never Released… until now!

A Clockwork Orange was withdrawn from British cinemas at the behest of director Stanley Kubrick after it inspired copycat crimes and a bit of the old ultra-violence. They stopped the Sex Pistols’ God Save The Queen from hitting number one in the Jubilee year. And, mid-song, when prudish Radio One DJ Mike Read realised what Relax was all about, he believed he had good reason to yank the Frankie Goes To Hollywood single off his turntable toot sweet. However, no one knows why The Greatest Album Never Released has been gathering dust in an attic somewhere on the outskirts of Rosyth… until now!

TwinsTown’s Brankholm Brae – the Cinderella stuck in the scullery missing her ball, the sleeping beauty never kissed, the debut album lost in the mists of time – has found a Prince Charming, a man who can make fairy tales come true… it’s Big Barrett of Whanga Records, Stuart to his parents, and he’s remembered that a record label needs records.

The supremely-talented song-writing sonic twins, Donald and Stuart Mackay, have remembered that they want to be rock stars, or indie pop playboys in Hollywood, or something with guitars.

Harry Dixon won’t thank me for reminding him that he worked his fingers to the bone devising and playing unflinchingly good bass lines at the magnificent Tpot Studios, Path of Condie.

Having worked with Manic Street Preachers and The View, top producer Robin Wynn Evans demands the best, the hit-maker recognised Harry’s talent and worked him ’til he dropped.

Unlike Harry (and me), universally acclaimed superstar drummer, Wayne Robertson, avoided the perils of Sailor Jerry, and drummed his heart out. Brave and selfless, Wayne returned to smash it on stage with TwinsTown recently, when new drummer, Keiran Gillespie, was unavailable.

Aiden Stewart, the other new member of TwinsTown, knows what he’s let himself in for. I remember Aiden doing an acoustic version of fan-favourite Wrath of the Rum ages ago at The Creepy Wee Pub jam sessions. That reminds me, we missed out on having the Brankholm Brae launch party at Tappie Toories, that would’ve been quite something to remember.

Welcome to TwinsTown, Keiran and Aiden.

Magnificent Mark Guyan is still in the band. With the patience of a saint this classically trained pianist takes the ever-catchy tunes to new heights. Fans say Mark “could be in a boyband” and he is most likely to look good in an Ainsley Harriott T.

Brilliant backing vocals from Ellie and Billy George alongside Ben Sharp complete the infectious sound.

I know the band would like me to thank you for buying the album and everyone who makes the live gigs so special. Thanks to everyone who helped along the way too (sorry I can’t mention everyone here) and special thanks to Billy George whose support and advice was, and still is, crucial.

The whole Brankholm Brae experience was amazing, a pleasure from start to finish, from all the days and weekends spent at the idyllic Tpot Studios to The Twa Tams in Perth, just after lockdown, where we heard the album played live to an adoring audience.

I still have flashbacks, slightly ironic for the photographer, to that magical night in Perth; taps aff Greco-Roman wrestling with a massive cuddly gorilla* and Hugh Reed of Hugh Reed and the Velvet Underpants. Hugh, who was left shocked when Diane drank both his drinks in Trainspotting, had not encountered TwinsTown. Well, he has now!


 

 

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