Last month saw Fake Major set off on their first UK tour, stopping in Inverness, Leeds, Brighton, London, and Manchester, before arriving back in Glasgow to play the last ever LAID Glasgow. Having chewed up 1400 miles of tarmac, and tasted the best and the worst of service station grub it was a great week meeting a lot of lovely people and having a lot of fun along the way.

Here is the first of a series of little acoustic tour videos:

Fiction // Inverness // UK Tour March 2013

Talking about having fun, Fake Major’s debut EP is entitled ‘Have Plenty of Fun’ and will be released physically on April 20th, with the band playing live instore sessions in Dundee (Grouchos), Edinburgh (Avalanche) and Glasgow (Love Music)  that day before digitally releasing the EP online on May 1st.

The EP was recorded by Marshall Craigmyle (Old Mill Studios), mixed and produced by Andrew Bush (whose credits include We WerePromised Jetpacks, De Rosa, and The Savings and Loan) and mastered by Iain Cook (Chvrches/Aereogramme). Each of these gentlemen do what they do best, and this, combined Richard Ferguson and David McGinty’s refined songwriting, makes for an elaborately arranged and dynamic record.

The lead track, Little Researcher, received it’s first airplay courtesy of Jen Long and Ally McCrae on Radio 1 back in February when the band first launched, and it has been delighting bloggers and broadcasters ever since.

You can pick up a physical copy from the following record stores from April 20th:

Love Music // Glasgow
Monorail // Glasgow
Avalanche // Edinburgh
Voxbox // Edinburgh
Grouchos // Dundee
Rough Trade Records // London
Brill Music // London
Sister Ray // London
Banquet Records // Kingston Upon Thames
Resident Music // Brighton
Cult Hero // Brighton
Probe Records // Liverpool
Crash Records // Leeds
Graf // Cardiff

Where else better to have some fun than an old abandoned Victorian swimming pool, and that is exactly where we will be launching Quickbeam’s self titled debut album on 31st May at Govanhill Baths in Glasgow. Having secured funding from PRS For Music Foundation in order to stage a special series of events, this show will see Quickbeam collaborate with local artists Annie Crabtree (Picture Window) and Becca Thomas (Pidgin Perfect) to produce a very special event experience that encompasses environmental artistry, projection, theatrics, and of course Quickbeam’s own brand of majestic and cinematic music. The night will also include a full band performance from label-mates Fake Major, and refreshments/bar will be provided by Comets and Cartwheels official partner Brewdog.

Kitty the Lion have been out on the road this week playing shows in Aberdeen, Inverness and Glasgow with Kate Nash, as they begin to get ready for a busy summer as they continue to build up to their album later in the year. Keep a close eye on them for some big announcements coming soon!

We may also have news of a new addition to the label roster coming your way very soon, which we are stoked about!

Although Fake Major’s list of band members is only two names strong, their music sounds like anything but the work of a simple four-armed singer songwriter and the lead track from their forthcoming debut EP, Little Researcher shows this.

Today we are extremely excited to share the band’s first official video, which we produced with the very talented, Glasgow based Precious Productions and stars our very own Little Researcher, who is surely set for the bright lights of Hollywood.

Speaking with the band this morning ahead of  the video going online, David and Richard had this to say:

“We’re really pleased with how the video turned out.

When we were trying to come up with ideas for the video and thinking of who the Little Researcher character in the song was we were struggling to come up with anything.

It was only when we started working with our friends Jolene and Richard Crawford (Precious Productions) that we realised their eldest daughter, Ruby, was perfect for it and virtually is the character she plays in the video. That’s not to say her acting isn’t sterling, I think anyone who sees it will agree that she far outstrips everyone else’s ‘performances’, most of all those two idiots in the shop window.”

Tonight the band will receive their first radio air play with Little Researcher getting a spin on BBC Radio 1’s Introducing Show.

So what is happening we hear you cry?!

Well….

Today we are delighted to announce that the mighty Brewdog will be our official partners (in crime) moving forward! This is a huge boost for the label, and we are extremely grateful for their support!
According to Captain and co-founder of BrewDog, James Watt, “This is a natural partnership for us at BrewDog. We’ve always been keen to support new music at our bars and events, and look forward to working with the guys from Comets & Cartwheels to further champion the awesome emerging music scene in Scotland. 2013 looks set to be a great year for Scottish music and beer.”

BrewDog will provide on-going support to Comets & Cartwheels, sharing their expertise and knowledge, while becoming actively involved in label launch events throughout the year. This new partnership with the world’s most controversial brewer is sure to add another dimension to some of our plans for the year!

You may also have noticed that we have added the mighty Kitty the Lion to the family and will be releasing their long awaited debut this autumn, which is currently being recorded and produced by Paul Savage at Chem19. The announcement over Christmas that Kitty the Lion were about to begin this recording process came as a welcome surprise to many, and we can tell you already that although it might have taken them years to reach the studio properly, they have used this time to become one of the most confident sounding bands in the country. With new members including Midnight Lion’s Stewart Brock clearly already having an influence on the band’s sound, we think you are going to like what you hear!

Quickbeam have also been busy in the studio recording their own debut album, and you might have seen some behind the scenes photographs from a recent video shoot we did on a freezing cold beach or some updates from their studio blog. The new album is sounding HUGE.

The next big roster announcement will be on the 8th February, when we will be announcing a brand new band on the label, with news of their debut release. All we can tell you till then is to remember the name, Fake Major.

However because we want to celebrate our new partnership with Brewdog, we want to invite you all along to the Brewdog bar in Glasgow tonight (January 31st 2013) at 9pm for a little live acoustic showcase, with Kitty the Lion, and a sneak preview of Fake Major. It would be lovely to see some of you there!

We promise to keep the blog and website updated more this year too, and hopefully there will be plenty to share with you!

For more daily ramblings you can follow us on Twitter at @CometsCartwheel or find us on the book of faces.

Don’t forget to check out the Brew at the Bog festival in Inverness, featuring some of the best new music Scotland has to offer – www.brewatthebog.com

We are down to our last 25 tickets, so if you fancy coming along and haven’t got one yet then head over to the Tickets Scotland website by tomorrow night to order yours. We’d all really love a sold out launch, and have prepared various delights for you including a string trio playing on deck upon arrival as well as a Quickbeam inspired art installation.

The last couple of weeks we’ve been lucky enough to have the single/label featured in the Scotsman newspaper and Radar blog, on NME.com, This Is Fake DIY, Drowned In Sound plus plays on BBC Radio Scotland and even a tweeted pic of the single by 6Music DJ Lauren Laverne. We also wanted to give a big shout out local bloggers/music websites like Pop Cop, Rave Child, Last Year’s Girl, Peenko, Glasgow Podcart, Ayetunes, Is This Music? and loads of others who have been really kind and shown us so much support throughout this campaign.

We very much look forward to seeing everyone on Friday, and in the mean time, the single Seven Hundred Birds is OUT NOW, buy it at any of the links below, or listen on streaming services such as Napster, Deezer and Spotify (but mostly, just buy it!). We will also have limited edition physical copies available at the Tall Ship gig.

Bandcamp | iTunes | HMV Digital | 7Digital | Play.com

Warm, fuzzy love, Team Comets

It’s our aim to use this website as a general home for talking not only about our artists but about other artists we love/have seen live/have been listening to. We will of course be searching for new bands for our roster as well, so be sure to submit tracks to our dropbox on soundcloud!

Until our next update, why not have a listen to some of our artists on the soundcloud player, or head on over to Quickbeam’s bandcamp page where they are kindly giving away a free download of their lovely track Tide, for which their singer Monika has also made a nice video you can see in our featured video section.

That’s it for now, tell all your friends.

Team Comets x