An overdue blog, this one. If you weren’t already aware, our new album Worryingly Okay is out now on Lost Map Records! We’d recommend the CD version as it comes with a lovely map of Scotland and a lyric book, all designed by Peggy-May Chapple and David Galletly. BUY IT HERE!
It’s a lo-fi album recorded by Adam during a period of semi-isolation having moved away from Glasgow to the north east of Scotland. The majority of the music is performed by Adam and sees a return to the DIY home recording style of Randolph’s Leap’s early releases. The album explores connections to people and places (Hide A Thing, Mull, Television) dances with politics (Geopolitical Blues, Lungs) and even describes the absurdity of a fictional relationship with an optician (Hoping To See).
Thanks everyone who has been to a gig recently. We had a terrific time playing a couple of stripped-back shows in the National Museum of Scotland last week and here’s a wee review of the Lost Map 5th birthday gig we did with Kid Canaveral at the Rum Shack.
Image by @atom_man on TwitterImage by @sarahcowie on TwitterImage by Mike Melville
Massive thanks to everyone who came to the Isle of Love shows as well. It was so much fun. We owe a huge debt of gratitude to writers Euan Martin and Dave Smith, director Mark Saunders and the cast of actors (John Kielty, Amy McGregor, Ross Allan, Deborah Arnott and Kevin Lennon) for putting it all together and making it a success. The soundtrack compilation is available on CD from our web store.
We’re currently booking solo and band gigs for the rest of 2018 and into 2019 so we’ll hopefully see you somewhere soon.
If you’re a promoter and would like to book us then please contact gail@laughingdogmusic.co.uk.
Worryingly Okay is a lo-fi album recorded by Adam during a period of semi-isolation having moved away from Glasgow to the north east of Scotland. The majority of the music is performed by Adam and sees a return to the DIY home recording style of Randolph’s Leap’s early releases. The album explores connections to people and places (Hide A Thing, Mull, Television) dances with politics (Geopolitical Blues, Lungs) and even describes the absurdity of a fictional relationship with an optician (Hoping To See). This CD-only release comes with a lyric sheet and a beautiful annotated map of Scotland, illustrated by Peggy-May Chapple, highlighting the stories behind the songs.
The soundtrack to the Right Light Lines theatre production of The Isle of Love. This compilation CD features a whopping 21 songs from the play, all for the bargain sum of just £5, that’s less than 25p a track!
Hello all. Sorry it’s been so long since the last update. We took a bit of time off in 2017 off to do some growing up. A couple of weddings and one baby later and we’re back with a deep, new-found sense of maturity and worldy wisdom. Okay, anyone who witnessed the on-stage “jokes” at Sneaky Pete’s in Edinburgh last week will know that’s not true but it does feel like we’re refreshed and looking forward to getting stuck into lots of exciting things this year.
Full band lineup, past and present + Lloyd from Olive Grove.
First up is the Isle of Love theatre tour. If you haven’t heard about this, it’s a brand new production, written by the award-winning Right Lines (Euan Martin and Dave Smith) with a story inspired by our songs! It’s an amazing thing to be involved in and it’s been a really enjoyable experience so far, particularly seeing the songs take on new life in different contexts. Rehearsals have begun with a fantastic cast and 4-week Scottish tour dates for May-June are listed below. Adam is participating in the full tour to provide a musical backdrop with the actors joining in on songs and swapping instruments in what is shaping up to be a really collaborative, funny and moving performance. There will also be a full-band Randolph’s Leap gig directly after the Glasgow show in the CCA.
First musical rehearsal for the IOL show. Cast from left to right: John Kielty, Kevin Lennon, Amy McGregor, Deborah Arnott, Ross Allan, Mark Saunders (director), Adam Ross
On Saturday 30th June we’re playing at the Kelburn Garden Party alongside some terrific acts. First festival in a while and one we’ve never played before. We’ve heard great things though.
Big thanks to everyone that came to the Sneaky Pete’s gig last week. It was a sell-out thanks to great organisation from Bart of eagleowl fame. Great support sets from Dave Canaveral and Moonsoup. Here’s a review of the gig. As Manic Mike’s review mentions, we trialed some new songs which seemed to go down well. We’ve got loads of new tunes in the pipeline, some of which will arrive on a brand new album very soon. Just putting the finishing touches to artwork etc. and then we can announce a release date. It’s a collection of lo-fi, stripped-back, nostalgic-sounding songs, almost a solo record in fact. Hope you like it.
Talk to you soon!
Randolph’s Leap
The Isle of Love tour dates:
INVERNESS Friday 18th May[Preview] – Eden Court One Touch Theatre | 7.30pm | £9.50/£7.50
Book tickets at Eden Court Box Office on 01463 234 234 or online www.eden-court.co.uk
INVERNESS Saturday 19th May – Eden Court One Touch Theatre |7.30pm |£13/£7.50
Book tickets at Eden Court Box Office on 01463 234 234 or online www.eden-court.co.uk
FOCHABERS Tuesday 22nd May – Fochabers Public Institute | 8.00pm | £10
Book tickets by email fochabers.institute@gmail.com or in person from Christies Chemist www.fochabersinstitute.org
ABERLOUR Wednesday 23rd May – Aberlour Scout Hall | 7.30pm | £9/£8 OAP/£6 conc/£28 family of 4.
Book tickets at Aberlour Pharmacy 112 High St (01340 871279); Taylor Pharmacy 1 High St, Buckie (01542 831116); Moray Hearing (01542 831423) or telephone 07850 459861 www.neatshows.org.uk
PORTSOY Thursday 24th May – Station Hotel | 7.30pm | £9/£8 OAP/£6 conc/£28 family of 4
Book tickets at Portsoy Ice Cream Shop or telephone 01261 843006 www.neatshows.org.uk
RAFFORD Friday 25th May – Rafford Village Hall |7.30pm |£9/£5 under 16s
Book tickets at The Hub, 20 Tolbooth St Forres. Open 10am to 3pm weekdays, 1pm to 3pm Saturdays, online at Eventbrite: https://rafford-isle-of-love.eventbrite.co.uk or telephone 01309 675949
BIRNAM Saturday 26th May – Birnam Arts | 8pm | £12 /£10/ £5 Under 26s.
Book tickets at Birnam Arts Box Office 01350 727674 or online at www.birnamarts.com
WIGTOWN Tuesday 29th May – County Buildings | 7.30pm| £10/ £5 Under 26s
Book tickets at Midsteeple Box Office, Dumfries, online at www.dgartsfestival.org.uk or telephone 01387 253383
MONIAIVE Wednesday 30th May – Glencairn Memorial Institute | 7.30pm |£10/£5 Under 26s
Book tickets at Midsteeple Box Office, Dumfries, online at www.dgartsfestival.org.uk or telephone 01387 253383
BEESWING Thursday 31st May – Cresset Hall, Loch Arthur Community| 7.30pm | £10/ £5 Under 26s
Book tickets at Midsteeple Box Office, Dumfries, online at www.dgartsfestival.org.uk or telephone 01387 253383
STIRLING Friday 1st June – The Tolbooth, Jail Wynd, Stirling | 8pm | £13/£11
ULLAPOOL Wednesday 6th June – Macphail Theatre | 7.30pm | £8/£6/£2 under 18s
Book tickets at Macphail Centre, Mill Street, Ullapool by email macphailcentre@highlifehighland.com or telephone 01854 613336 www.macphailcentre.com/whats-on
BANCHORY Thursday 7th June – The Barn | 7.30pm | £9/£6 Conc.
Book tickets at The Barn Box Office 01330 – 825431 (open Tues – Sat 12-4pm) or online at www.thebarnarts.co.uk
Adam here. How are things? We’re delighted to be bringing our mini-festival ‘I Can’t Dance To This Music’ to Glasgow’s Classic Grand on 1st April for its 5th outing. The lineup is a belter, and probably the most danceable so far. We’ve got:
Rise Kagona! Rise was a founding member of Zimbabwean legends and John Peel favourites The Bhundu Boys. He now lives in Edinburgh, playing with his excellent Jit Jive Band.
Kid Canaveral! You’ll probably know Kid Canaveral by now – we’ve shared a stage with them many times before. David and Kate have both done solo slots at previous ICDTTMs but this time they’ll be in full, noisy, indie-pop mode. I’m also doing a solo gig with them in Newport on 24th March.
Spinning Coin! A brilliant, lo-fi, melodic guitar band from Glasgow. They’ve been compared to early Orange Juice and recently had a single out on Domino Records.
Sacred Paws! The sunny and infectious musical product of Rachel Aggs’ & Eilidh Rodgers’ shared love of Afro-beat and post-punk.
Nae bad, like, eh?
Here is the gig poster:
We will, of course, have some stand-up comedy woven into the day as usual. Acts to be announced in due course! Advance tickets can be bought for £12 here on our website. Price will go up to £15 nearer the time, so get them now to save a few pounds.
In other news, the Isle Of Love theatre collaboration has been progressing well. If you haven’t heard about this, I’ve been working with Right Lines Productions on a musical play, set on a fictional island with stories inspired by Randolph’s Leap songs. We had a rehearsed reading with four actors last week at Eden Court in Inverness and it was loads of fun. A shortened version of the play was performed in front of a small audience and the feedback was really encouraging. You can watch a video of the highlights here. Right Lines are now applying for funding to rehearse and tour the production around Scotland – more news as it comes!
Lastly, you may have noticed lots of pictures of north-east Scotland appear on our Instagram account. I’ve moved up to Aberdeenshire and enjoying it a lot. Rehearsals take a little bit more prior planning but it’s working fine. I’ve been enjoying some good walks lately and there are some new song ideas coming together. Looking forward to a trip back to Glasgow for ICDTTM 5 though. Hopefully see you there.
Gigs
24th March – Adam solo show. Rio Community Centre, Newport, near Dundee SUPPORTING KID CANAVERAL.
1st April – ICDTTM 5 at Classic Grand, Glasgow. WITH RISE KAGONA, KID CANAVERAL, SPINNING COIN, SACRED PAWS + COMEDY.
Ette– the new project from Teen Canteen’s Carla Easton.
Alongside the music line-up is a comedy selection featuring a host of members of the Glasgow comedy collective CHUNKS. Gemma Flynn, Richard Brown and Nev are all on the bill, alongside Adam Todd and Niall McCamley of The Spook School, while poetry is provided by Glasgow performance poet Sam Small.
We’re off on tour in September! Really looking forward to getting around the country and playing some new places. We’re starting in Aviemore and finishing in Inverness and the journey itself will be fairly coastal, taking in the west and east coasts and the Moray Firth. So a good excuse to continue our search for the best chippy in Scotland (Stonehaven and Shetland are currently top of the Randolph’s Leap list). We even get a day off to spend in my hometown of Nairn.
We’re doing the whole tour with Spare Snare which should be a good laugh. See the poster above or scroll down to the bottom of this blog for the full list of dates. Note that Arisaig is a 3pm show.
Before that, we’ll be doing an acoustic set at Over The Wall festival at Glasgow’s Gartnavel Hospital on Saturday 27th August. It should be a great day with music from Chrissy Barnacle, Jo Mango and The State Broadcasters.
On September, we’re heading north again to play a show in Forres as part of the Findhorn Bay Festival. We’re supporting Duke Special and James Yorkston. I’m a fan of both of them so really pleased to be involved.
If you saw the last blog, you’ll know that advance tickets are on sale for our next I Can’t Dance To This Music event. It’s happening on Saturday 8th October at Maryhill Community Hall in Glasgow. We’ve got an amazing lineup lined up and we’ll start announcing some announcements fairly soon.
Lastly, thanks to anyone reading this who came along to our London show at the Sebright Arms last week. It was such an enjoyable night and the audience were brilliant. It was a long way to travel but it was absolutely worth it and we can’t wait to come back. If you live down there, keep an eye on Early Doors Disco, the amazing promoters who organised the gig. I’ll leave you with some photos from the 8-hour van journey. Cheers!
Gigs
Sat 27th August – Glasgow, Over The Wall festival, Gartnavel Hospital
Sat 3rd September – Aviemore, Old Bridge Inn
Sun 4th September – Arisaig, Crofter’s Rest (early show, 3pm)
Mon 5th September – Aberdeen, Underdog
Tues 6th September – Elgin, Drouthy Cobbler
Thurs 8th September – Inverness, Mad Hatters
Sun 25th September – Forres Town Hall
Sat 8th October – Glasgow, I Can’t Dance To This Music 4, Maryhill Community Hall
We’re delighted to announce the next instalment of ‘I Can’t Dance To This Music’! This’ll be the 4th outing for our all-day mini festival and it will take place on Saturday 8th of October in the Maryhill Community Hall in Glasgow. We’ll be performing as well as choosing the bands. The lineup is going to remain a secret for a while longer but previous I Can’t Dance events at the Bowlers Bar, The Glad Café and The CCA have featured music from Withered Hand, Adam Stafford, Viking Moses, Ballboy, Kid Canaveral, BMX Bandits and many more as well as comedy from Josie Long, Richard Brown and Paul McDaniel.
The I Can’t Dance gigs have been some of the best shows we’ve ever played. It’s great to be able to hand-pick the lineup and there’s always a really fun atmosphere with comedians filling in the breaks between bands. The events have gradually been growing in size since the first one in the Bowler’s Bar in 2014 and the hall in Maryhill looks like a smashing room.
Early-bird tickets for this full-day event are are available now for £15. Please watch and share the new video for Microcosm above. It was filmed at March Into Pitlochry festival by Martin Macleod.
Hope to see you in October!
Our new album, ‘Cowardly Deeds’, was released in May on Olive Grove Records.
“Cowardly Deeds compresses joie de vivre into every note and a smart, self-deprecating wit into every rhyming couplet” The National
“An absorbing, hearty, impulsive collection of songs” Gold Flake Paint
“Executed with such joyful abandon that only the hardest of hearts could complain” The Skinny
“A glorious hunk of wonky pop” Daily Record
“There seems no way to stop this Glasgow-based folk-pop juggernaut” ScottishDaily Express
Not long until the album is officially released. Come along and join the party on Friday if you can. We’ll be joined by The State Broadcasters and Woodenbox in the stunning venue of St Luke’s in Glasgow’s East End. Get your tickets in advance.
Here’s the video for our most recent single, Not Thinking. Thanks to Ben and Alan from Wake Up Advice for yet another great idea executed brilliantly. You can buy a special Not Thinking jigsaw from our web shop.
If you really want to do your homework before Friday, the full album is streaming for a limited time over on Gold Flake Paint.
Right. That’s all we need to say right now. Hopefully see you on Friday!
Limited edition Randolph’s Leap jigsaw for our new single, Not Thinking. These were originally used as promos for Radio DJs, so we only have a handful of them to sell.
We will also send you a download of the song Not Thinking too!
On September, we’re heading north again to play a show in Forres as part of the 
