News

Music Like A Vitamin Charity Gig

• 23rd Oct 2012

Music Like A Vitamin, the Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film Festival’s biggest music event, is back by popular demand after a year’s absence. Previous editions have featured one-off collaborations, solo performances and an impressive range of Scottish talent, and this gig certainly promises more of the same.

Music Like a Vitamin is on Thursday 25 October at the HMV Picturehouse, 31 Lothian Road, Edinburgh. Book tickets via the Box Office: 0844 847 1740 (24 hr) or through Ticketweb (link), SEE Tickets, HMV Tickets, Ticket Scotland Edinburgh, and Ripping Records Edinburgh 6.30pm (doors), 7pm (start). Tickets are only £5 – and there are four great bands to see.

The line-up includes the fragile folk sound of Withered Hand, who have headlined The Queen’s Hall at the Fringe for two consecutive years and will be fresh from their current European tour. Giving a grungy edge to Scottish indie rock, Kilmarnock’s Fatherson will energise the crowd, while Sparrow and the Workshop add another dimension to the line-up with their eerie melodies and slow-burning vocals.

Former Idlewild guitarist Rod Jones has been the driving force behind Music Like A Vitamin since its inception in 2008, and he returns with his band The Birthday Suit, whose new album will be released just days before the gig. Having experienced mental health problems himself, Jones has a strong personal connection to the event and sees it as an opportunity to reduce stigma and encourage people to talk about the issues.

The event is presented by the Fruit Tree Foundation, which was set up by Jones and Emma Pollock in 2010 as a direct result of the success of the first two Music Like A Vitamin gigs. Having grown out of SMHAFF, it aims to raise awareness and challenge perceptions about mental health, while creating exciting new music in the process. The foundation has produced a critically acclaimed collaborative album, First Edition, and developed a mentoring programme for young musicians, highlighting the wider achievements of this established event.

With the running order chosen at random on the night, it is essential to arrive early to make sure you catch your favourite bands, as well as the other unexpected treats on offer. The HMV Picturehouse doors open at 6pm, and the timing also means that those visiting from Glasgow can comfortably make the last train home.