Author Archives: Douglas Kay

About Douglas Kay

During the past decade Douglas Kay has honed his stagecraft in theatres, clubs, bars and coffee houses on 4 continents. The 2003 release of his debut album Of All The Towns To Sleep In generated airplay on radio and TV stations worldwide, including BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio Scotland, Australia's GWN and Xfm London. In addition to tours of Europe, the USA, Canada, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand, Douglas has played a number of notable gigs in the UK. These include shows alongside the likes of KT Tunstall, Amy MacDonald and Nell Bryden, the T-Break Showcases and the 2010 Ben & Jerry’s Sundae on the Common where Douglas played alongside acts which included Billy Bragg and Frightened Rabbit. The album Into Your Head was released in late 2009 and features ten tracks penned by Kay. This eclectic collection offers the listener moments of delicate beauty - on tracks such as Everything In The World - contrasted by the swelling crescendo of tracks such as Haunted. Second track Better topped a poll of songs by Scottish acts in the Edinburgh Evening News and has also received airplay on the BBC. An acoustic album, Last Touch, was released in late 2012. This stripped-back collection features 12 tracks which showcase Kay’s vocals, guitar & piano, and hint at some of his traditional folk influences. Lead track, All That We’ve Lost – a duet with Joanna McQuillan – received considerable airplay and critical acclaim. The tour Douglas played in support of that album included a guest slot for Grammy Award winner and former Men At Work frontman, Colin Hay. Douglas returned to the studio in 2014 to work on Lift, which like its predecessors gained airplay on BBC Radio. Perhaps his most eclectic work to date, the upbeat, rootsy stomp of opening track Casablanca Face introduces a collection which veers from contemporary folk ballads to slide blues, from piano ballads to melodic guitar rock. The album’s release was followed by a UK tour during the middle part of 2015. 2017 saw a flurry of studio activity, the fruits of which arrived in December with the release of the Winterland EP (and accompanying video) and then in February 2018 with Kay’s 5th album, Volcanoes. In addition to solo recording, Douglas has undertaken numerous other projects in recent years. Collaborations with others have seen him record a radio session with Adam Holmes for BBC Radio 2 and record backing vocals on Rebuild the Universe by Australian band, The Winter Migration. Kay has been the driving force behind A Songwriters’ Circle, a show which features Douglas and other songwriters sharing the stage to perform their songs, discuss the writing process and collaborate on each others’ material. Douglas has also recorded and performed across the UK with his traditional folk duo, The Sorries, a project which has not only seen the pair play countless sell out shows at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe but also deliver lectures and perform in schools, explaining something of the origins of Scotland’s traditional songs and how the folk tradition has been perpetuated throughout history. For more details see: www.douglaskay.com www.facebook.com/DouglasKayBand

Douglas returns to the Edinburgh Fringe – 5th August 2022

SongwritersCircle_logo2022smI’m very excited to announce that I’ll be back on stage at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe this August with A Songwriters’ Circle. I’ll be joined for the show by Rob Howell and John Sloan, who will share the stage as we play through some of our songs and explain a little bit about how they were written.

The show is on:
Friday 5th August – 10pm
The Jazz Bar
Chambers Street
Edinburgh.
Tickets are available from the Fringe ticket office now: https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/songwriters-circle

Heist On A Bike – New Album Out NOW

DK - Heist banner newI’m delighted to say that my 6th album, Heist On A Bike, is out on all digital platforms now. The bulk of it was written during 2020, with recording taking place during spring and early summer this year.

You can stream the album or buy the tracks as downloads by clicking the links below:

Huge thanks go to Carol Laula, who did such a fabulous job on vocals on the track At My Best, to Chris Smallwood who played saxophone on Stay With Me. Also thanks to Alan Davison at Hero-Creative who did such a great job, as always, on the cover.

New Album – pre-order now

DK - Heist On A Bike_1000 GnBorder

The new album, Heist On A Bike, will be out on all major digital services on Monday 1st November but is available to pre-order NOW on Bandcamp – just check out the SHOP page here on the website to preview all the tracks and pre-order.

The album features the following 12 tracks:

  1. The Sycamores
  2. Strike Me Down
  3. Nearer To Home
  4. Break Us Apart
  5. Run Aground
  6. Shuddered
  7. Magnificent
  8. At My Best (featuring Carol Laula)
  9. When The Devils Come
  10. Kick Out The Fire
  11. On The Road
  12. Stay With Me

First Track from Upcoming Album

The first single from the upcoming album, Heist On A Bike, is now available to watch on YouTube.

The track features the wonderful Carol Laula alongside me on vocals. I’ve been lucky enough to play with Carol on a few occasions, but this was the first time we’d recorded together and it was an absolute delight to hear what she did with the song.

The album will be out on 1st November.

New Album

I’m delighted to say that there will be a brand new Douglas Kay album released on Monday 1st November.

Heist On A Bike was recorded during the spring and summer of this year and features 12 tracks. I’m delighted to be joined on the album by Carol Laula, who contributes vocals to the track At My Best, and by Chris Smallwood who play saxophone on the closing track, Stay With Me.

Look out for more details as the release day approaches.

Shutdown

Hi all, hope you’re keeping well.

Obviously all live music in public is off at the moment, but there are lots of opportunities to get your music fix in other ways. Countless acts are streaming live shows from home, recording videos or coming up with other inventive ways of getting their music out there. I aim to get some content to you soon, I’ll post here and on Twitter as soon as I do…

In the meantime, please bear in mind that a lot of your favourite musicians who can’t get out and play are missing out on their main source of income. Musicians are obviously not alone in being affected financially by this, but if you’d like to support them don’t just stream tracks on Spotify, Amazon or Apple Music – buy some product. If they don’t have physical product for sale you can pay to download their music at Bandcamp.com or can donate to them through PayPal. And if they have a store on their website, that’s probably the best place to buy!

Stay well, and stay home.

Australian Bushfire Fundraiser – 5th April

I’m playing at the Voodoo Rooms in Edinburgh on Sunday 5th April, as part of an Australian Bushfire Fundraising concert. I’ll be joined by a number of old friends and collaborators at the gig, including Paul Gilbody, Alan R Davison & Caroline Gilmour (who’ll be performing with her band, The Eves).

In keeping with the Australian theme we’re following classic Sunday session timing, with the gig on from 4.30 – 9.30pm. For more details see:

https://www.edbushfireappeal.com/

February gig…

I played my first solo gig of the year when I returned to Bar Brig for the Sunday session on 19th January, and it was nice to get the first one under my belt while the year was still fresh! It felt good to mix up the set too, with a few from Volcanoes plus a couple of oldies which I hadn’t aired for quite a while.

I’m playing in Edinburgh again next month – Friday 21st February – at a benefit to help those affected by the bush fires in Australia. I was over there back in early 2009 when there was a particularly bad fire season on the East Coast, and saw the devastation caused by the fires. Details of the gig are still to be confirmed but I’ll post them as soon as they’re sorted.

Meantime, you can hear my music here on the site or on the usual streaming platforms. Heck, you can even go old-school and BUY the music if you want!