Gary Flockhart: Auld Reekie at last has a music scene to rival best

By GARY FLOCKHART
Published on 07/06/2012 14:55

DESPITE the long, long wait, the Edinburgh music scene is now something worth shouting about.

When I started covering music for the Evening News in the mid-Noughties, many of the bands I encountered where Oasis-aping goons swaggering around like it was still 1996. Not so today.

In the last few years, things have changed drastically. In that time the scene has expanded like never before and become home to a plethora of talented bands and solo artists.

Rather than rattle off a list of contenders, I’d prefer to highlight those on the brink of an actual mainstream commercial breakthrough - something that’s eluded our acts for more than a decade now.

Leading the procession is Nina Nesbitt. Since I reviewed the 17-year-old’s gig at Electric Circus last month she’s enjoyed heaps of daytime airplay on BBC Radio 1 and toured with Example. It really is only a matter of time before she is selling as many records as her two biggest inspirations, Jessie J and Emeli Sande.

Then there’s Bwani Junction, no strangers to Radio 1 themselves, and another act who WILL go on to achieve major success.

A fortnight back, I spent a night at the National Museum of Scotland watching two more Edinburgh-formed outfits, Django Django, already one of 2012’s breakthrough bands, and Discopolis, another exciting talent that I expect great things from.

Then, on Sunday afternoon, I watched locals The Stagger Rats perform in the sun at the Meadows Festival, and they, too, are on the brink. Their payday will come when debut album Scorpio Leisure is released later in the year.

With all these acts and more, Edinburgh’s music scene does seem in the rudest of health.