The McCluskey Brothers
& Andy White

Sat 14th August - 8pm - £10
The Griffin
266 Bath Street
Glasgow
Tel: 0141 331 5170

The McCluskey Brothers, Ken and David, one time members of 80's Glasgow band the chart-topping Bluebells released their first album Aware of All in 1987 on the Thrush label. It had to be deleted two weeks after release as the brothers found out that they were still officially members of the Bluebells group which they had parted company with amicablly in 1986 although still signed to the London records label. "Oops".

The Brothers toured widely until eventually released from London in 1990. 1992 saw the launch of the Favourite Colours album on the guys own Kingfisher records followed two years later by Wonderful Affair. In 1993 they were honoured to play for Nelson Mandela when he visited Glasgow to take up his Freedom of the City award. In 2000 the Brothers released the compilation Housewives Choice on Glasgow's Linn records label. The deleted album Aware of All and a Bluebells out-takes CD second on the Vynil Japan U.K. Ltd Label as well as other Kingfisher and Linn records releases are all now available again on CD.

David is currently a music therapist working with Sense Scotland and Ken is a Music business lecturer at Stow college, Glasgow. The chaps still perform occassionally in and around the Glasgow area and it is always a treat to behold those wonderful Harmonies.

The McCluskey Brothers myspace

Andy White, one of the great Irish singer-songwriters, tours the world with his 12 string guitar in one hand and a book of poetry in the other. He has worked with the likes of Peter Gabriel and Tim Finn, been the A of ALT and won Ireland's top songwriting award.

Since his breakthrough single Religious Persuasion, Belfast-born Andy has produced nine internationally released albums. The latest of these, Garageband (Floating World, 2007), was recorded in Melbourne and Real World Studios by legendary UK producer John Leckie (Radiohead, Muse, Pink Floyd). The new album is panoramic, live and loud. A mix of world, rock and Irish music - all shot through with Andy's trademark lyrics. Featuring virtuoso piano player Radoslav Lorkovic and Liam Bradley on drums, it sounds like an Irishman playing Velvet Underground songs at WOMAD. Standout tracks - single Message To You, surreal literary hommage Samuel Beckett, Stooges-sounding No Way Out and trippy Letter From T.

Belfast born Andy White has merged pop sensibility with lyrical excellence, social commentary and acoustic guitars ever since his debut single Religious Persuasion (Stiff Records, 1985) and first album Rave On Andy White (Decca, 1986). They called him Belfast's Bob Dylan as he emerged in the new wave of acoustic music headed by The Pogues. Melody Maker reviewed his first album with the headline 'Yer Man's Brilliant!' and Folk Roots made him their youngest cover star. Andy has worked with the great names of Irish music - supporting Van Morrison on the No Guru tour of the UK and Ireland, and Mary Black in the US. Sinead O'Connor and The Frames have guested on his recordings, Andy was included in the Irish HQ Rock Hall of Fame in 1998. Socially aware in a way which comes naturally to someone who grew up in Belfast during the 70s and 80s, Andy's work has always reflected his time and place. In trying to make this particular experience universal, his writing incorporates and transcends the boundaries of his native land.

The release of Himself on UK roots label Cooking Vinyl in 1990 broadened Andy's touring horizons to include Europe. Sharing management with Billy Bragg (Peter Jenner's Sincere organization), Andy was invited to play the DDR both before and after the fall of the Berlin wall, and Andy and his band were invited to tour the Czech Republic immediately following the Velvet Revolution. Signed by Warner Music Ireland and moving to Dublin in 1992, Andy's next two albums Out There and Destination Beautiful were his most successful in Ireland, featuring the singles Palaceful of Noise and Street Scenes From My Heart (Warner Music, 1992 & 1994).

In 1994 Andy was introduced to Australia by Tim Finn (Of Split Endz & Crowded House fame) - Andy was one third of folk supertrio ALT along with Tim and his Dun Laoghaire flatmate Liam Ó Maonlaí (Front man of Irish group The Hothouse Flowers). After recording and releasing their album Altitude (EMI, 1995) and promoting it worldwide, Andy returned to Australia to tour solo, signed to publisher Mushroom Music and wrote Cathy Freeman's Sydney Olympics anthem Coz I'm Free with Christine Anu in 1999. Meantime Andy recorded Teenage' in Dublin with Pat Dunne, Kim Fowley and Ingmar Kiang, featuring the single Get Back Home. Released in 1996, this album signalled a return to Cooking Vinyl who followed it up in 1998 with the best of collection compilation. The same year, Andy moved from Dublin to Switzerland, continuing to tour Europe and stretching his wings further afield. After appearing at WOMAD Singapore, the Real World/WOMAD organization took Andy under their wing, releasing a live album Speechless (WOMAD Select, 2000) and booking Andy to appear at all the WOMAD festivals in the next few years. Andy's mix of lyrical excellence, songwriting, political passion and social awareness are what attracted them, and the relationship continues to this day.

In conjunction with the performance album, which featured both songs and poems, Lagan Press published a book of Andy's collected lyrics and poems The Music of What Happens (1999). The book was launched at the Dublin Writer's Festival and Cúirt in Galway. In the meantime, Andy wrote an eponymous album in Switzerland, returning to Dublin to record it in Temple Bar with a team of friends including Kieran and Maria Doyle-Kennedy, Bronagh Gallagher, his sister Cathy, Liam O Maonlaí, Dave Clarke and Nick Seymour. Andy White was the first of Andy's albums to be released by UK label Floating World, in 2001. Andy moved to Melbourne the following year, finding a new home and the inspiration to write the albums Boy 40 (Floating World, 2003), and his most recent release Garageband (2006).

Highlights of the past few years have included being musical director and host of the WOMAD UK grand finale in 2005; building up a collaboration with Canadian songwriter Stephen Fearing who group Blackie and the Rodeo Kings have recorded many of their songs; writing, recording and mixing the new album with John Leckie.

The World of Andy White is a peripatetic one. Life on the road with Andy is never uneventful - a recent round the world tour started on St Patrick's Day in a rock club in LA, continued at a SXSW roots showcase in Austin Texas, from which he went on to a songwriter concert in New York followed by band shows in the Mid West and folk concerts in Canada. He then flew to Italy to produce tracks for an Italian rock group, before heading to London to launch Garageband at The Luminaire in Kilburn.

Andy's last visit to Ireland was to record appearances for the Blackstaff Sessions on BBC Northern Ireland and Dave Fanning's TV show. Suffice to say, his journal on his Myspace site is worth reading. Best known for songs such as James Joyce's Grave and Vision Of You, Andy's work can be summed up by the title of one of his best known songs - Street Scenes From My Heart. Welcome to The World of Andy White!

Andy's website