With anthemic tales of love, debauchery and sin laced with black humour Findlay draws on influences from the darker side of genres like Folk and Country with a sound that remains uniquely Scottish. A reviewer once stated that he's "More rock and roll than 50 shitty indie bands..."
A review of our latest single Valentine's Day which appeared on Russell's Reviews.
Ok, so I may be late in posting this, but it's worth writing about nonetheless. If you were full of self pity and spite on the day of the lovers, yet still carried yourself with style and grace, this is the song for you. It's the Scottish equivalent of the Ben Folds Five track Song For The Dumped, in which the downtrodden fights back. There's a great knack to what Findlay does, writing tunes that could come across as MOR in lesser hands, but investing them with verve and vigour and more hooks than a cloakroom. With the aforementioned Mr Folds having lost his way slightly recently, it may well be time for Findlay to step up and take his place. The future of caustic radio friendly pop is in good hands.
It's hard to criticise someone and make them feel good about themselves at the same time. Jim seemed to be able to do that naturally. He was at the first Back of the Moon gig in the Star Folk Club, Glasgow sometime in late 2000 early 2001. Quick to dispense praise and criticism each discourse was liberally punctuated with swearing... we all thought he was (fucking) great! I think we had immediate respect for him, he had a great voice and we loved his songs, he didn't seem to care that we were a bunch of upstart kids. We had already experienced a patronising attitude towards young bands so it was refreshing to be spoken to like what you had to say and your music was worth something; dues paid, welcome to the team.
He showed up at The Late Night Session at Celtic Connections last year. Security wouldn't let him in (no surprise there) and he was protesting loudly about their authority. I told them he was getting up to play which seemed to calm them down. "I'm not fuckin playing. They don't want tae listen tae an aul bastard like me. Fucks sake."
I did a short spot first, which garnered the usual appreciation and roasting... Go and show us how it's done then you grumpy old bastard... So he got up and played. The audience, who were getting a bit on the chatty side, went absolutely quiet. He played about four songs with no regard for genre; a bit of blues, a country tune, a folk song. When he finished the place went mental. One woman, moved to tears by one of his song pushed herself backstage desperate to talk to him. No act the whole year received that kind of reception. All the musicians hanging about backstage and in the room were coming up to me for the rest of the festival asking if he was going to go up on stage again.
Watch the video. It's funny, instructive and pretty much sums up the Big Jim McKenna we knew.
Have you ever been stood up, locked out or kept awake by amorous neighbours? Does this sound like your worst Valentine’s Day? Well never fear because hope rises from the ashes of a failed Valentines Day in the new single by Findlay Napier and the Bar Room Mountaineers’.
If you can’t beat them subvert them. That is the attitude taken by Findlay and his band on this new release. A darkly humourous stroll through the other side of the commercialised nightmare that is the 14th February, ‘Valentines Day’ celebrates the lows and lows of singles who have love and companionship rammed down their throats alongside the overpriced set meal for two with warm flat champagne.
Napier releases this single after the busiest January of his life. As host and performer for the Late Night Sessions and organiser, host and performer for Hazy Recollections this year he played over thirty gigs throughout the largest winter festival in the world, Celtic Connections in Glasgow.
‘Valentine’s Day’ is the second single to be released from the forthcoming release ‘File Under Fiction’ which Findlay and the Bar Room Mountaineers are recording at Watercolour Music, Ardgour. The first single ‘Raise a Glass’ was The Daily Record’s five star single the week.
