Norman Blake

As just one of the singers and songwriters in legendary Glaswegian indie pop group Teenage Fanclub, Norman Blake knows a thing or two about collaboration; over the course of a sparkling, critically-acclaimed career that’s spanned a couple of decades and several LPs, at this point, he’s worked together with bandmates Raymond McGinley and Francis McDonald to bring their own songs to the table and then mould them into cohesive albums, leading to classic records of the genre like Bandwagonesque and Grand Prix. Interestingly, despite some increasingly long lay offs between Fanclub records - especially in recent years - Blake has never really properly gone solo - instead, he continues to seek opportunities for collaboration elsewhere. Since moving to Canada in 2009 to live with his wife, who hails from there, he’s formed The New Medicants with Joe Pernice, releasing a debut full-length under the moniker, Into the Lime, earlier this year; it was met well by the critics. A handful of local shows confirmed that he brought his signature guitar playing from Fanclub to the Medicants, as well as his increasingly dulcet vocal tones; next up is likely to be a return to his ‘day job’, with no new Fanclub records since 2010’s Shadows at this point.