ONE of the landmark events in the Scottish music calendar has announced its return, as the Scottish Alternative Music Awards (SAMA) released the details of their showcase event.
The awards night will be held on Thursday, October 8, at the Garage in Glasgow, with previous winners and nominees performing on the night.
The awards, voted for by the public, include categories such as Best Live Act and Best
Newcomer, as well as individual genre categories.
The ceremony will be the finale of the series of shows that SAMA have put on over the past few months, featuring the likes of Gerry Cinnamon, Josephine Sillars and pop-punk rockers Vukovi.
As well as the final event, the award organisers yesterday announced the final link in the series of gigs – a free event in Glasgow’s Bloc on September 15, featuring Copper Lungs and Albarn.
The final show will be hosted by DJs from XFM, and will also feature performances from Holy Esque and Crash Club, who are featured in this week’s Tenement TV column on page 21.
Glasgow trio Holy Esque were nominated for Best Alternative Act at last year’s awards, alongside the likes of Baby Strange and Vladimir, but were pipped to the post by Aberdeen four-piece Forest Fires.
Organiser and founder Richy Muirhead said he was “over the moon” to finally be able to confirm the return of the awards this year.
Muirhead said: “We have been working hard on building awareness of the Scottish Alternative Music Awards this year, with monthly gigs applauding the plethora of musical talent throughout the country.
“To be able to bring all those acts together in one venue for one night and show the amazing amount of people who want to celebrate these bands is going to be incredible. And, with XFM hosting the evening, it’s going to be one to remember.”
This year will signal the awards sixth birthday, and the team behind it will celebrate with what is likely to be their biggest event to date.
Last year, the irrepressible Mickey 9s picked up the coveted Best Live Act gong, which had been taken home by Motherwell hip-hop rockers The Lafontaines the year previously.
Glasgow favourites Hector
Bizerk, pictured left, were the well deserved winners of the Best Hip Hop Act, while Jack Rowberry picked up the Acoustic award.
Upcoming Dundee indie-rock band Model Aeroplanes also picked up an award on the night, taking the Best Newcomer prize back to the north-east.
The full list of awards at the event, with tickets available online priced £10, or £6 for students, is as follows: Best Live Act (In association with Bloc Glasgow); Best Newcomer (in association with UWS Creative); Best Hip Hop (in association with Splitter Scotland); Best Metal (in association with Cathouse Rock Club) Best Electronic (in association with Eventbrite); Best Acoustic (in association with citizenM Glasgow); Best Rock/Alternative (in association with EmuBands.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here