Wild times at Godiva for Scottish rock group

Jun 26 2009 With Alan Poole

* Local blues/rock outfit Barkerhound (right) will be playing an unplugged set on the Micro Acoustic Stage (right by the entrance) at 8pm on Friday.

And next Saturday they are in action on the main stage of the Napton Music Festival at Napton-on-the-Hill.

Tickets for that event, which is headlined by Whole Lotta, are £12 (under 18s £5, under 12s free) and full details are available at www.naptonfestival.co.uk

Go to www.myspace.com/barkerhound or www.barkerhound.com

San Francisco outfit The Dodos, who have been working with Fleet Foxes / The Shins producer Phil Ek on upcoming album Time To Die, fly over this autumn for a short tour that opens at Birmingham’s Glee Club on September 1.

Time To Die is scheduled for an August 31 release on Wichita with core duo Meric Long (guitar) and Logan Kroeber (percussion) reinforced by new recruit Keaton Snyder on vibraphone.

“After Visiter, we had a lot of options for which direction to go,” explains Long, “but I knew we wanted to make a rock record. Being primarily an acoustic band sort of works against this idea, but Phil’s production showcased that side of our band.

“The vibraphone is pretty crazy and loud and if you put it through some effects, you can make it sound like a guitar or synthesizer.”

The ever-brilliant Richard Hawley will unveil his sixth studio album, Truelove’s Gutter, on September 21.

Recorded in his home town Sheffield it features eight songs and Hawley explains: “I use a load of odd sounds on this album that are not heard on many other records. The sounds in my head on a lot of the tracks – I didn’t even know what they were called!

“I wanted it to be a listening experience from start to finish, where you couldn’t just pause it and go off and watch Coronation Street or whatever. Sonically, it flows – it’s not jumping all over the place. It has a mood that goes through the whole thing.”