4

THE HOLY GHOSTSWHO: Jack Sandison(vocals/guitar), Jon Macken-zie (guitar/vocals), JonnyLinstead (bass/vocals),Andy Barbour (harmonica/keys/pedal steel), PennyPenman (percussion).WHERE: Edinburgh.FOR FANS OF: SteveEarle, The Rolling Stones,Ryan Adams.JIM SAYS: It’s not difficultto imagine The HolyGhosts being a worldwidesuccess.They may not have

re-invented the wheel buttheir rock ’n roll-fuelledtake on alternative countryis a delight.It’s been a pretty rapid

rise for the capital band.Only forming last year, theypicked up Best Newcomerat the recent Scottish Alter-native Music Awards.Penny said: “It’s a fantas-

tic platform to showcaseour music. We’re glad toknow how much supportthere was out there for us.”Starting life with jam ses-

sions among long-timefriends before becoming aproper band, it all seems tohave come together verynaturally.Each time I’ve heard

them they come across asa band brimming with confi-dence.The strength of their

material is also key to theoverall effect. Their currentEP Voodoo Shakedown,along with last year’s debut

Devil On Your Side, set themood perfectly.Working with Oasis pro-

ducer Owen Morris, alongwith Garry Boyle (BrokenRecords, Homework), therecordings sound like theband have as much fun inthe studio as they do whenplaying live.Penny added: “This sec-

ond EP captures The HolyGhosts growing together.Recording the albumallowed us to experimentwith our sound, but the mixof rock, rhythm and countryon Voodoo Shakedown willmake your big toe shoot upthrough your boot!“The whole EP was

recorded live, in one room,so the energy is real, theperformance authentic.”Their album is set to be

completed in the summer. Ican’t wait to hear a fullrecord, but I’m tempted tothink it’s on the live stagewhere The Holy Ghosts arein their element.Penny said: “We’re final-

ising a Scottish tour for thesummer, before makingour way through Englandagain, then Europe.”More: theholyghosts.co.ukQ Jim will be playing TheHoly Ghosts on In:DemandUncut this Sunday from7pm on Clyde 1, ForthOne, Northsound 1, RadioBorders, Tay FM, West FMand West Sound FM.indemandscotland.co.uk

4

THIS game is anambitious project mar-rying a multiplayeronline open-worldshooter with a TVseries.In Defiance you playas an Ark Hunter, ascavenger of alien rel-ics.The game section isbased in the bay area ofthe US but the place hasbeen transformed by alieninvasions.

VarietyDefiance is not a bad-looking game and hasmany players all playingat the same time, doing avariety of different things.You can follow the mainquest of your character orcomplete “episode mis-sions” which can tie inwith the TV show.You are certainly notgoing to be stuck forthings to do.From following the main

quest of the character tocompleting “episode mis-sions” which will tie inwith the TV show, it’smore than easy to occupyyour time.Competitive multiplayeris a nice change if youwant something a little dif-ferent.Then you have Arkfalls.These are random eventsin which debris from alienships falls to the groundbringing all playerstogether for one purpose —looting.It will be a long timebefore we know if Defi-ance has really deliveredas a trans-media concept —but it does show consider-able promise.Purely as a game —while it does have a fewteething problems and is adifferent experience fromwhat console players haveso far been used to — Defi-ance is entertaining, inter-esting and ultimately fun.

JN

NEWMUSIC

SADLY this isn’t an appwhere you become Mr Beanfor a day.It is a puzzle slider where

you move pieces to restorean image. It is excruciat-ingly addictive and theperfect time-killer.The shame is the price,

69p would have been fairer.

KATE NASH used to be achart-topper — now hernew album Girl Talk haslimped in at No85 on thetop 100.But the Harrow honeyinsists it does not mean hercareer is on the slide — morethat it’s in rude health.And she reckons the proof isin the number of people flock-ing to see her perform.The 25-year-old is refreshinglyhonest about the changes sinceher debut album Made OfBricks landed her a Brit award.It seemed she had the worldat her feet, but she was droppedby her record label and had tostart all over again.Instead of moping, the bru-nette is loving the challenge.She said: “Last year was achallenging year for me person-ally and work-wise as I gotdropped from my label.“If you’re not part of that XFactor or The Voice culture orthe mainstream, commercialdance stuff that’s on the radio,then people write you off.“But there are loads of artistswho have huge fanbases andtour the world, and have reallygreat careers.“You get a bit older and yourealise the other stuff doesn’tmatter.

Loyal“I have the most loyal andhardcore fans — they’re so dedi-cated and supportive, they’rereally behind me.“And they are the people whomade my career happen in thefirst place and are the reasonI’m still going.“I treasure them.”After being dumped by herlabel and all the financial back-ing that goes with it — Kateadmits there was a little panic.But she pulled her-self together andset up her ownimprint Have 10pRecords.Kate said:“It was kindof scary forthe firstweek, Iwas like‘Oh f***’.“ T h e nsuddenly

By CHRIS SWEENEY

the idea of being in charge ofmy own label appealed to me.“I like to do things on myown terms.“It’s ideal for me right nowtoo as I don’t fit into thosecategories of The Voice ormainstream radio — but I dohave a lot of fans.“It’s better not to have thatpressure where people have toachieve things.“The charts positions andawards I’ve had before, thatstuff is fun, and obviously thereason you release music is toput it out there.

Crazy“You want as many people aspossible to hear it.“But it shouldn’t be somethingto feel bad about if you don’tget that.”Kate has just finished off ahuge run of US gigs.The new regime meant Kateand her manager sharing driv-ing duties all over the country.Now she’s on the UK leg ofthe tour — and starts a Scotsrun tonight in Aberdeen, carry-ing on to Inverness and Glas-gow over the weekend.She said: “Being in America isexciting for us Brits because itlooks like the movies to us.“But being back is great. InSheffield this week, there was astage invasion by loads of girls— they came on and went crazy,I just dived into the crowd.“I didn’t encourage it, it justsort of happened.“I got two days off at homeafter leaving America. I wentstraight to my parent’s house asI wanted to be looked after bymy mum. I stayed in bed thefirst day and I had to do somework on a movie I have beendoing on the second day.“Then I went straight backout on tour — but that’s my life

right now andI’m enjoying it.“It feels satis-fying andI’m reallyproud ofmyself.”Q G E Ttour tick-ets at:my igno-r a n ty o u t h .com

AGAINST all odds, this hasjustified to me America’sweird love of baseball.There are no complicated

rules or deluges of tacticaloptions to drown in.You pitch and bat. You

can choose slightly morecomplicated controls, butthe basic option is a funtime-killer.

MR BEAN: SLIDERPUZZLEiOS. £1.99

2.5POWER PROS2013iOS, £2.99

POP phenomenonWillow Smith, left, is ahuge Kate fan.The daughter of mega-

star Will Smith evenasked Kate to help her writelast year’s single I Am Me.Kate said: “We hung out

and went in the studio —she’s so talented and beyondher years. It was cool.”

3.5

By JIMGELLATLY

FANS-TASTIC. . . Kate isloving thewelcomeon tourWILL-ING TO

HELP STAR KID

DEFIANCEPC, PS3, XBOX, (£44.99)

MARTIN SCORSESE’S gangsterepic is rightly regarded as one ofcinema’s greatest movies. It’s thetrue story of Henry Hill (Ray Liotta)from his beginnings as a streethustler to the top level of the Mafiaand a flawless work from one of theworld’s finest directors.The cast, including long-timeScorsese collaborator Robert De

Niro, are phenomenal. But it’sJoe Pesci who delivers one ofthe screen’s most terrifying andmemorable performances —“Funny, how? How am I funny?”There’s not a wasted moment, justtwo-and-a-half hours of slick, stylishmovie-making cut through withviolence and dark humour. Thisbelongs on everyone’s must-see list.

Goodfellas

Friday, April 12, 2013 531S