Dear Scotland

“I will admit there have been times when I have wished that I had never entertained the idea of taking over Rangers,” you said in a public statement on Wednesday. There are times when I wish the same: from the time I wake up until the time I go to sleep. A few weeks ago [...]

It’s a busy time for Scottish bands touring internationally right now. SXSW is just around the corner  and in the next few weeks The Twilight Sad head to the US, Simple Minds are in Europe and Hudson Mohawke is in Australia. Today, Vic has more on Django Django in Ireland and the full listing below:

“I’m all out of love, what am I without you?” – Air Supply Hong Kong can’t live without Air Supply. Aging Aussie soft rock crooners Graham Russell and Russell Hitchcock retain astonishing popularity in the city. Their most famous dirge frequently pollutes the public airwaves, and decades after their 1980’s heyday they regularly sell out [...]

Earlier today the Scottish Music Industry Association announced via press release that eleven Scottish bands, DJs and producers will showcase as part of this year’s South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas. The updated list adds several new acts to those that were already made public by SXSW last month.

Over the months I’ve written about some difficult and disturbing books. Duncan McLean’s ‘Bunker Man’ immediately springs to mind, but perhaps Toni Davidson’s 1999 debut novel ‘Scar Culture’ unsettles more than any other Scottish novel I have read. It’s never as salacious as McLean’s novel often becomes, but like ‘Bunker Man’ it deals with abuse; [...]

You need a degree in accountancy to be a Rangers fan these days. On Tuesday, the Daily Record broke the story that Rangers’ owner Craig Whyte sold four years’ worth of Rangers season ticket sales to fund his takeover of the Govan club. Later that same day, Whyte released a statement admitting the deal happened [...]