Hello,
You can buy tickets for our ABC2 gig now by going here

We are pleased to announce we will be playing not one but two gigs this Friday(July 22nd) at The Merchant City Festival in Glasgow.  Once again we will be without Stuart but the rest of us will be again be joined by Derek O'Neil on keys and Gav Brown on drums.
We'll be playing at 8.30pm on the  Outdoor Stage Brunswick Street, Merchant City, Glasgow.
the second gig will be at the Tron Theatre details to follow.

Well folks, its that time of year again where you wonder what has been happening in viva-land.

For those that don?t know we know have a Viva base up in the Highlands, just down from Glencoe in fact, and there have been a couple of practices in village halls to the amazement of locals and tourists alike. Glencoe translates from the Gaelic to 'Glen of Weeping' and I?m pretty sure there was a lot of that the first time we practised after a summer off.

We did make it back into the Diving Bell in Glasgow again at the start of November for another recording session. This one was just as fruitful as our visit in June. Unfortunately Stuart couldn't make it up but that meant that Tim and myself got to flex, uh-hmm, our vocal chords on a couple of tunes. Gav was with us again hitting things and Derek also came along to put down some rather nice piano on a tune. All in we now have eight tunes close to being finished with another two or three vying for position on the album. Its getting pretty exciting now as loose ends are beginning to be tied up and we are now in a position to discuss track listings. Many a fight can be started by track listing discussions. In fact, the last practise we had up here in the Nether Lochaber Village hall ended in more than fisticuffs as Tim and Doug had a go at each other in full boxing gear! I kid you not, the village hall is now partly given over to the local boxing club, I didn?t know there was one either, and when we arrived for a practise on the Saturday afternoon we were presented with a full boxing ring, multiple punch bags and one of those little punch bags that hang from the ceiling. Well, we all thought we were Rocky, as you do, and started punching everything. Great stuff. The only down side was that boxers sweat a lot and having had the gloves and head gear on for a few minutes, when you took it off that 'lovely aroma' clung to you for hours!

Ok, been a while since we posted on here so I thought it was about time someone said something to somebody.

We?ll be posting a load of exciting new stuff in a few weeks but until then I thought I?d bridge the gap by rambling on a bit.
As you can see the website has been revamped which can only mean one thing..yes a new Viva Stereo release is on the horizon. Our 4th album proper should be out early 2011 and we are currently putting the finishing touches to it. As with all releases we are well chuffed with how it?s sounding so far. I wouldn?t say it?s a total massive step away from previous releases(well the band line up is the same) but I do feel our sound has matured a fair bit(well for a start I don?t think theres any swearing on this one!). We?ve always prided ourselves in being able to move on with each album and not stay in the same place. We could have written 10 ?Jesus Son?s? but it would have probably been the end of us after a couple of albums. However, nearly ten years on and we?re still plugging away and exploring new styles. This time though I think we?ve hit more of a live band sound. We?ve got Gav drumming live on nearly every track and haven?t been relying on the electro beats. Yes, as soon as the world and its wife goes electro and eighties sounding, we decide to change into a guitar band?
We?ve never really been a fashionable band..i think we had our finger on the pulse for about ten minutes back in 2005. These days I couldn?t tell you what was the next big thing, or who was cool or not. From about 2008 I?ve totally lost touch in new music. It?s pretty sad and I do miss it. But I think ?new music? is music that is ?new? to your ears and theres still plenty of great stuff to discover from the past. However, I was talking to a friend of mine and we were both saying that we missed buying an album from a new band and getting that feeling where you get a buzz from it. I don?t doubt there?s records out there that would do that to me now. But I just haven?t heard them. I hear the odd song that catches my ear but in most cases when I listen to more it?s usually a let down, or after the initial excitement it gets forgotten about.
I also get frustrated at the music press and their willingness to award everything high marks in reviews. I guess the problem is I read it then think ?oh better check that out? and most of the time its never going to live up to the hype. It?s very rare these days to see an album getting panned. I always remember The Gyres album getting 1 out of 10 in the NME and feeling a bit sorry for those guys as it can?t have been nice to read after spending so much time on something. However the album was sh*t so it was fairly justified. However these days certain journalists in certain publications tell you that the new Pete Doherty album is 9 out of ten which you know damn well its not and the journalist is probably getting kick backs or doesn?t want to lose out on any exclusives in the future by giving a bad review. Indie bands have become stars now with a lot of power. With music magazine publication sales figures falling faster than ever they need to get these stars to give exclusives and interviews tos ell papers. Whereas in the past, the indie scene was filled with bands who didn?t really have that many personalities..there were a few but the ones who did were usually a bit too cool to play the press game. I can?t imagine Luke Haines giving shit but then who remembers The Auteurs? So we have to contend with Dave from The Courteneers, of Tarquin from The Mystery Jets boring us to tears about another crap album that is hyped up beyond belief because the record company are sh*tting themselves that they won?t sell any and won?t make their money back.
I was listening to 6Music?s Jukebox Jury type programme ?Round Table? the other night. On the panel was Steve Mason from The Beta Band. When reviewing the singles he was giving pretty poor scores, 3 out of ten, 4 out of ten. When challenged about it he said, it wasn?t that he didn?t like the music..it was just his scoring system was more realistic than most. In his opinion Marvin Gaye?s ?Sexual Healing? was a ten out of ten. So the latest indie guitar band playing generic indie rock would be round about a three out of ten. This resonated with me. I?d say Love?s ?Forever Changes? is a ten out of ten album so when I look at all the 8 out of tens, and nine out of tens awarded all over the shop I think ?Are they really as good as that??. What is the last classic album to come out? Elbow maybe with ?Seldom Seen Kid?? Prove we wrong though. Why am I ranting about this and probably setting myself up for a fall with our new album? Well, to be honest we stopped caring about that sort of thing along time ago and maybe its pure bitterness from me!
Music business eh? 10 years on you would have thought Viva Stereo would have given up and let it all go. But we?ve still got a lot to say and I think people will be surprised with this new album especially under our circumstances(i.e everyone living in different areas). But aye ten years on and still no sign of a Greatest Hits collection?..maybe next Christmas?.

Stuart

Hello,
Just a quick update on all things Viva Stereo related.
We were in the practice studio for THE SECOND TIME IN A YEAR! Christ! Yes, we went into the rehearshal room behind Tims flat in Edinburgh last Saturday for a quick run through of our new songs.
Life in Viva Stereo these days is interesting to say the least and with only a few run throughs of the four new songs, we intend to go into the studio and record these little beauties at the end of June. Fuck knows who they will turn out but its exciting stuff and maybe a more interesting alternative to playing them live a million times before committing them to tape.

Still, keeps it interesting so it does....

We're not sure at the moment when these songs will be released, probably not this year but more likely to be early next. All of our previous three albums have came out around October/November so we want to try for a Spring release this time...

In other news, we are all still keeping ourselves involved in various jusical things. Robs hiring out his local church hall to beat the shit out of his drumkit. Dougs just bought a very nice new epiphone guitar. Stuart has his other band on the go, 'The Vitman Sees'. They played their first gig down in Leicetester last month. They will be doing some recordings at the end of May so we'll let you know how that goes.

Until then.

As things have been fairly quiet round these parts we thought we?d just let you know we are still alive with a wee update.

Since the last time we reported a few things have been happening. On a personal level, the first member of Viva Stereo got married. Tim got married to Eilidh in May up in Dornoch so congratulations to them both. Obviously the whole band was in attendance(Rob was Best Man) with Stuart and Gav Onthefly spinning some discs at the end of the night. It was a grand day although Tim and Eilidh might have regretted putting the Viva Stereo lot on the same table!
Tim and Eilidh then spent their Honeymoon in Norway. Although Tim claims this was coincidence, that same weekend, the town they were staying in hosted a Heavy Rock Festival featuring such greats as Europe and Whitesnake. So yeah Tim was in his element we think!

Band wise, it has been quiet but a few things of note been happening.
March we played a one off gig in Dunoon. This turned out to be part of Tim?s Stag Night weekend. Four of us set off early one Friday to catch the ferry. It was our first gig of the year and we were lacking in practice but nevertheless looking forward to it. We?d booked a seaside hotel which was very nice and gave us the holiday bug. Some of us hadn?t been to Dunoon before so it was a nice thing to do for Tim?s Stag Night. We did get wary after witnessing a punch up in the street at 5pm but the gig itself, despite having some sound problems went not bad considering. Also on the bill were our long term partners in crime, Odeon Beat Club so it was good to catch up with them. The night ended(for Stuart and Doug anyway) back at a party at a hillside farm with OBC before a long walk back to the hotel at 5am through various dirt tracks. Just in time for the early morning alarm call at 8.00am and to catch the 10am Ferry, back over to Edinburgh for an all day drinking session for Tim?s Stag Night. Who says we?re getting too old to keep up?!

We picked some airplay in April with Radio One giving ?Knee High Boots a spin. Always nice to hear yourself on the radio even though we all missed it! Still, considering the album came out way back in November it was nice to get played.

April was most notable for this years Homegame. This was our 5th Homegame in succession and probably the best yet. Definitely our best crowd in terms of enthusiasm and mayhem. You can check out the final moments of our set complete with stage invasion here(the picture gets brighter about 30 seconds in when the house lights come on):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0aYuz4PBRSM

The Homegame itself was fantastic and we?d like to thank Johnny, Kenny and everyone at Fence records for getting us onboard. Special mention to Kate for sorting out the equipment. Closing the Saturday night was a real honour and despite the fact our lack of practice was probably apparent, we managed to put on a decent show?.or maybe everyone was too wasted to notice!
The weekend was jam packed with highlights, all four of us went in different directions and saw lots of stuff(and missed lots too unfortunately). A special mention must go to Onthefly for a fantastic set before us(and probably got us in the mood for playing more than anything!) Other highlights were The Phantom Band(who somehow ended up kipping on our floor on the Saturday night!), Malcolm Middleton, Pip Dylan, Strike the Colours, Candythief, Pictish Trail, English Bore, Kid Canaveral and loads more..plus who can forget Hardsparrow?s ?Mushroom Ghost?(?) tune which freaked Stuart out somewhat after a heavy night.
Roll on next year.

We also managed to sell all copies of our limited edition ?Viva Fence? album?.thanks to everyone who bought one.
Doug and Rob also played a solo gig in August at Glasgow's Liquid Ship. Blues Bunny reviewed the gig and said this:
"Executing a stylistic right turn were Viva Stereo. Or at least half of them anyway as there's normally more than two of them. One guy with a guitar and one guy with what looked like an old and cranky synthesiser treated us to a selection of stripped down songs that sounded like they came from an unholy alliance between the Pastels and Hawkwind. Normally the mere thought of Hawkwind would cause me to spit flames but the mischievous sense of humour that Viva Stereo brought to their performance diverted me from that. They didn't take themselves too seriously and they actually appeared to be enjoying themselves. Altogether rather pleasing, I'd say."
Interesting!

So what next? Well, work has started on some new ideas that might feature on a new album at some point later in the year. Currently we?ve got the bare bones of 6 or 7 tunes. To be honest we?ve wiped the slate clean and want to try some new things. As usual we?ve also got a couple of remix/collaborations on the go. One with the lovely fellow Fencer Iona Marshal, if you haven?t heard her yet check her stuff, its ace. www.myspace.com/ionamarshall
The other with a couple of friends from up state New York which is sounding pretty off the wall so far and definitely a departure in sound for us! We?ll get some snippets up in myspace when we are happy with how its sounding.
We?re going to be taking it slow and letting things develop. We?re very pleased with our first three albums but we feel its time to move on and try something new?.well, that?s the thinking at the moment..this could change and we?ll just release a rehash of previously released tunes!

Hope you all have a great Summer. Hopefully we?ll sort out some live gigs at the end of theyear.

Viva Stereo

Our new album is now available to purchase. We?ve put a couple of tunes from it on our myspace player for you to have a listen to.
You can order it online from here.
http://www.resonancemusicstore.com/vivastereo

Its also available to download from itunes.

If you?d rather do things the old fashioned way and actually go into a shop then you can buy it from the following stockists:
Glasgow: Mono records, Avalanche Records
Edinburgh: Avalanche Records
Leicester: Rockaboom Records
Manchester: Piccadilly Records

If you?d prefer to send us a cheque we can sort that out too, just get in touch and we?ll get you an address to send it to.

It sounds great honestly! It features guest contributions from Onthefly, Malcolm Middleton, Chris Deveney from My Latest Novel, Candythief and King Creosote playing a bit of accordion...oooh yes.
We?re also playing the following live dates:
November 7th ? Glasgow ?Pin Up Nights at Stereo(Renfield Lane) with Licker (Late show...we will be onstage at midnight followed by DJ?s til 3am)
November 8th ? Aberdeen ? The Blue Lamp (De-Fence Records night)
December 13th ? Leicester ? Sumo (with The Dirty Backbeats, Emily Breeze & Ambrose Tompkins plus Onthefly -DJ set)

Theres a wee interview with us online here:
http://www.shaddersonline.com/page47.htm


Ok, thats all for now. Please buy the new album!!

Hello,

Three years since the release of our last album, we are pleased to announce our return with a brand new album 'Roar Lion Roar'.

The third and final album in trilogy of self-released albums that started in 2004, this new album features a myriad of songs and we believe the strongest body of work we have released so far.

Now with all four of us living in different cities throughout the UK with Stuart furthest South in Leicester and Rob furthest North in Aberdeen, we have embraced the 'problem' by ironically recording their most cohesive record to date.

Although not a 'concept' album as such, it is the mixtape(or cd!) to the Saturday night excess, through Sundays soul searching and into Mondays drudgery of the 9-5 job. With us now all in their 30's and dealing with the inevitable pressures this brings, from financial burdens to parenthood to resisting the feeling that maybe it is time to 'grow up'(!), this album is a celebration of still enjoying life, love and the occasional allnighter.

The album was partly recorded at Diving Bell Studios in Glasgow with Marcus Mackay and partly recorded at Viva Stereo's own Footfall Studios. We also recorded one track with Paul Savage at Chem19, Chemikal Undergound's studio in Glasgow.

As with previous albums we've enlisted the help of some guests, Track 8 features Malcolm Middleton on vocals, Track 5 features Chris Deveney(My Latest Novel) on vocals, and Track 3 features Candythief(Fence Collective) on vocals. While Onthefly(Fence Collective) co-wrote track 6 and King Creosote added accordion to track 10.

The album will be officially released on November 10th, with a launch night in Glasgow at The Winchester Club as part of Pin Up Nights on November 7th. However, we will have the album in our online shop and on itunes in October. Just keep checking back, or check the myspace page for more uptodate info.

The tracklisting of the album is as follows:
1) Another Night Out
2) Glass
3) This Is Not an Exit
4) Knee High Boots
5) Last Living Hope
6) Pariah State
7) Night Owl
8) The Seaward
9) War Paint
10) Teenage Dreams
11) Everything Goes Wrong
12) Suffocation

We will be uploading some of these tracks onto our myspace page so you can have a sneaky preview in the run up to the records release. You can also check Youtube for some short videos we have made to accompany a couple fo the songs.

If you'd rather do things the old fashioned way and actually go into a shop then you'll be able to buy it from the following stockists:
Aberdeen: One Up Records
Glasgow: Mono records, Avalanche Records
Edinburgh: Avalanche Records
Leicester: Rockaboom Records
London: Rough Trade Records
Manchester: Piccadilly Records

If you'd prefer to send us a cheque we can sort that out too, just email us at vivastereo (at) hotmail.com and we?ll get you an address to send it to.

To coincide with the release we will be playing a couple of gigs:

November 7th - Glasgow - Pin Up Nights @ Stereo, Renfield Lane, Glasgow(ALBUM LAUNCH)

November 8th - Aberdeen, The Blue Lamp (De-Fence Records night)

December 13th - Leicester - Sumo

We should be doing a proper tour in the Spring next year.

Other stuff...

We still have T-shirts available to purchase at £10 plus P&P. Red with black print or brown with white print. Get in touch for further information.

We are now on Facebook..just search for the band name and it should come up.

Ok, thats all for now. We would appreciate your support by buying our new album.

Yes, we are still very much alive. But we can forgive you for thinking otherwise! Its been a strange year for us. For the first time not one band member lives in our adopted home town of Glasgow. When we started Viva Stereo we all lived in basically the same postcode, but now hundreds of miles separate each of us...but we shall soldier on.

We are now in our 5th year as a band, and we?ve seen many of our peers come and go, watched so many next big things wither away, and so many bands split up over this time. However, maybe because of our sheer bloody mindedness or indeed our will to keep experimenting with different styles we find ourselves preparing the release of our third album and feeling the same anticipation as we did back at the beginning.

Yeah, it does get frustrating. Or it did. Being out of the Glasgow loop has helped us get on with doing our own thing without getting worked up about not getting that elusive festival slot or mentioned as "a band to watch". After all, five years is along time to be "the next big thing". Anyway, enough soul searching! We are pleased to announce the release of a brand new EP. The 'Miles Apart' EP will be available to download FREE OF CHARGE for a limited period only through our myspace site yes, four brand new tracks completely free of charge so you?ve no excuse apart from laziness. So DO IT NOW!! We will be changing the tracks around xmas time, so get in while you can.

The lead track from this Ep is taken from our forthcoming third album, 'Roar, Lion, Roar', which will be released early 2008. We?ve been working hard on the album at Diving Bell studios and we?re really pleased with how its sounding so far. We hope yet again to enlist the help of some special guests to give the songs an extra something but we have about 9 somgs almost complete with a further 2/3 in the wings. To coincide with the EP release we will be playing the following Scottish dates:

Saturday November 17th, Barfly(upstairs), Glasgow
Special 'Biff Bang Pow' and official EP launch night, with live sets from ourselves and dj sets from Onthefly and Paul from My Latest Novel until 3am. As well as free entry to the club downstairs. Tickets can be ordered from BarFly

Wednesday November 28th, Tunnels, Aberdeen

Thursday November 29th, Henry's Cellar Bar, Edinburgh

Friday November 30th, Monty's, Dunfermline (Is This Music? Night)

We can't emphasis enough how sporadic Viva Stereo gigs are these days(this will only be our third Glasgow gig of the year. We used to play 3 a month!) so if you want to catch us live anytime soon, these are the gigs to go to.

We've been busy in the studio. Rob, Tim and 'OnTheFly' have been blazing a trail on the new album. So far we have drums, bass and some guitars for about 4/5 of the tracks.
Stuart and Doug have still to put in their final recordings in for these. We hope to have it completed this year, but time we're not promising anything.
On a Live note, we're not playing again live till around November, so these are the last gigs while we invest some time pulling the album together.

Two exclusive tracks, one side of 10" vinyl. We are very pleased indeed to be taking up space on one side of a 10 part limited collection of Vinyl. 20 Fence artists in one box by the end! Go here and buy them all: De-Fence Records