Under the radar

HIP Parade have had us jumping around our respective residences in recent weeks, thanks to their winning combination of punchy pop punk sounds and cheeky lyrics – imagine The Damned merged with The Hives, singing in weegie accents.

After coming second in the nationwide Orange Unsigned contest, they toured the UK supporting The Cinematics in April and sold out King Tut's a couple of weeks later.

A school tour is currently in the pipeline and we are keeping our fingers crossed that a label deal is not far off. Our track of the month, Girl On The Radio, is the best song to come out of Glasgow this year. Have a listen at swts.oldsite.jpimedia.uk/underthe radar.

WHILE the Costa Del Sol attracts so many Scots that they even make Irn-Bru under licence there, it is not somewhere we would expect to find a CD compilation featuring another up-and-coming Glasgow band Nacional, who play goNorth and Rockness on 11 and 12 June respectively (www.myspace.com/wearenacional). Titled SweetFA2, the collection came free with a pair of Pepe jeans bought by Derick's girlfriend on holiday, and features the band's single, Telephone.

Further investigation revealed that the clothing brand gave away some 80,000 copies in the UK and the rest of Europe. Its follow up, SweetFA3, was released at the beginning of this month and is a collaboration between the Art Goes Pop label, Artrocker magazine, Pepe jeans and the Strummerville charity set up by friends of Joe Strummer to provide help to young musicians.

Scottish bands featured include Pop Up, excellent disco punks Ming Ming & The Ching Chings (www.myspace.com/mingmingthechingchings) and music providers for the Oxy pluke remedy advertisement, Isosceles.

LITTLE Kicks (www.myspace .com/thelittlekicks) are arguably Aberdeen's hardest working band, with frontman Steven Milne also finding time to run a venue, DJ, host his own club night and play frequent solo shows. Somehow they have also found time to organise a mini tour taking in Newcastle (27 May), Edinburgh (29 May) and Leeds (30 May). It culminates in a gig at the Granite City's Tunnels venue on 5 June, where they will launch their debut album.

BACK in the capital, the Leith Festival, which runs from 6-14 June, has teamed up with the Transgression Skate Park to host a series of under 18 gigs in the Ocean Terminal, arguably putting the bogging shopping centre to its best use since it hosted the after party for the MTV European Music Awards back in 2003. For more info, check out www.transgression sessions.co.uk

FOR any budding promoters or bands out there looking for a forward-thinking events tool, we may have found what you're looking for.

Eventzi, www.eventzi.com, recently set up by Napier University graduate Scott Purdie, is a mix between a social networking tool and ticketing agency. The site is growing fast, allowing bands and event organisers to sell E-tickets to their events for just 10 pence each (or to give them away for free if the event is free) and also enabling them to promote all events on all the main social networking sites at the click of a button.

AS FESTIVAL season approaches, we recommend that connoisseurs of quality talent – much of it Scottish – head to the Kelburn Castle Garden Party taking place on 20 and 21 June near Largs (www.kelburngarden party.com). With a capacity of 2,000, it promises to be an intimate affair, set in beautiful grounds and featuring some excellent acts including James Yorkston, Joe Acheson Quartet, The Aliens, The Bays and Found.

Olaf Furniss and Derick Mackinnon run the monthly music scene social night Born To Be Wide. The next event takes place on 4 June at Edinburgh's Voodoo Rooms and will begin with a record label seminar featuring Laurence Bell (Domino), Steve McConnell (Benbecula), Michael Fuller (Association of Independent Music) and Martin Atkins (Invisible Records).

For more details, see www.myspace.com/borntobewide