GuilFest 2006. The 3 Day Guildford Music Festival on 14th, 15th and 16th July 2006

About the bands
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Artist:Alistair Cowan
Genre: Acoustic
Performing: 17th July 2005 / The UNCUT Magazine Stage
Website Address: [www.alistairmcowan.com]
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Following the first single, ‘Bird In The Sky’, that was play-listed on Sky Music Channel ‘The Amp’ and supported on Video-C Channel, a new single, a radio edit of the album’s title track ‘Why Can I See Stars’, was released on 18 April (video on Channel 4, supported on Video-C Channel) Both tracks are taken from the solo album from Al istair Cowan, former front-man with REDWOOD.

‘Bird In The Sky’ was also played by Radio 2’s Bob Harris, Johnnie Walker and Mark Radcliffe as well as BBC London’s tastemaker dj, Gary Crowley .

The 3 rd single to be taken from the album will be Long Way To Go, with a release date set at July 18th

Following the rousing reception given to REDWOOD’s late 90’s-released debut album ‘Colourblind’ (Q magazine 4/5, METAL HAMMER 5/5, KERRANG! 4/5), the band hit the road with a number of national tours, playing alongside FEEDER, ‘A’ and EVERCLEAR and winning positive press in Q, MELODY MAKER, VOX and KERRANG! (not forgetting men’s mag MAYFAIR !) Releasing some singles along the way, they also secured radio play and sessions on Virgin, XFM, Radio 1 and BBC London.

But despite all the acclaim the band received, they split up in 2000, due to a variety of factors which included the tequila-iron-poker-casualty incident, brushes with bailiffs and band infidelities…

A brief attempt at a reformation was made under the moniker of LAZYDOG, in conjunction with MASSIVE ATTACK producer Neil Davidge. The project won airplay on RADIO 1 and a No. 1 on the PEOPLESOUND chart, as well as impressing fans like ZANE LOWE (RADIO 1, MTV), COOPER TEMPLE CLAUSE and FEEDER, but proved short-lived.

And so Alistair went solo. As the principle songwriter in Redwood & Lazydog, it seemed like the natural thing to do. Swapping his bass for his grandpa’s nylon string flamenco guitar, he moved into the acoustic realm, although, to quote a popular influence, ‘the song remained the same’.

Using beats, loops and chopped-up sounds, with subject matter drawn from personal experiences, Alistair’s music doesn’t fit the traditional torn, melancholic and introspective tag that is so easily awarded to solo songwriters. These are powerfully intimate songs that reflect subjects such as marital violence, a road accident death, the longing to escape, being broke or just the experience of drinking wine all night and watching the sunrise.

The project is released through independent label, 320 Records, distributed through Universal Music, it was co-produced with brother Angus (producer Reuben, Hipslinky) & Feeder’s Mark Richardson and Skin’s Wayne Riches help out...

Alistair has recently been playing dates with Wayne Riches on drums and John Blackburn on bass, both kindly on loan from Skin’s band.