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the social services

About Me

The Social Services are two thirds Glaswegian and one third Swedish, so that explains their combined love of nature and cholesterol. Their nomadic lifestyle and frustration with the world around them inspire them to write songs about war, death, consumerism, being an immigrant, storage solutions, potatoes and swimming. They rant without being shouty and they love it when everybody joins in on the sing-a-long choruses.

Here's what some people out there have to say about TSS:
"Their sound is very melodramatic with hints of drama and melancholy. The songs here are very well thought out and come tightly wrapped with some rather fine melodies. There are even hints of the old music halls in how the songs are arranged and sung. Clever stuff."
www.indie-mp3.co.uk
"The Social Services are a promising up-and-coming indiepop band out of Stockholm - cute, not cloying, more bittersweet than sweet and overall, incredibly charming. Another thing I like about them is their outsider status and the way it comes through in their songs - 2/3rds of the members are Scottish expats and without that, you'd never get a song like "Baltic Sea". The song is great and I love the wilting waltz feel, though the vocal counterpoint on the outro is by far the best part. It's so well-orchestrated and comforting, considering its wholesome optimism. Expect to hear more from these guys soon."
www.itsatrap.com
"The best thing I’ve heard all year (...) is the new song by The Social Services called 'Baltic Sea'"
www.swedesplease.net
"Vissa band är otroligt lätta att tycka om, The Social Services är ett av dem. Att de sen skapar musik som får mig att samtidigt vilja kramas och bygga barrikader på gatorna ser jag bara som en ren bonus ... Med en lekfull lätthet växlar medlemmarna Lucy, Emma och Martin instrument och sång mellan sig. Med ett knippe låtar där stommen utgörs av sång, bas, trummor och piano får de mig ibland att tänka på Regina Spektors mer raka låtar. Vilket är ett mycket bra betyg i min bok"
Johan Nilsson, musikjournalist
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My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 3/29/2007
Band Members: Emma Naismith - bass, piano, vocals

Lucy Cathcart - piano, bass, vocals

Martin Frödén - drums, guitar, vocals

Big thanks to our friends Gustaf Spetz (Eskju Divine) for producing/vocals/cello and Staffan Axelsson for the fantastic photos.

Touch the Swede

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Previous gigs:
23/06/2007 Lauren’s Farm Festival, Edinburgh
24/06/2007 Forrest Café, Edinburgh
25/06/2007 Tchai Ovna, Glasgow
07/08/2007 Paradiso festival, Teater Tur, Stockholm
22/07/2007 Oran Mor, Glasgow
23/07/2007 Bannermans, Edinburgh
27/07/2007 Greenbelt Festival, Cheltenham
28/08/2007 The Louisiana, Bristol
29/08/2007 The Dublin Castle, London
28/09/2007 Private Party, Kinross
13/10/2007 Rygerfjord, Stockholm
10/11/2007 Playhouse Teatern, Stockholm
17/11/2007 Scen 393, Stockholm
29/11/2007 Klubb Republik@Hugos, Norrköping
30/11/2007 Svenska Musikklubben@Landet, Stockholm
05/12/2007 Swedish Showcase@Cafe String, Stockholm
06/12/2007 KGB, Stockholm
06/02/2008 Fight Club@Stampen, Stockholm
26/02/2008 Klubb Navarone@Musslan, Stockholm
03/03/2008 Stockholm City stage@T-Centralen, Stockholm
16/03/2008 Nada goes live@Nada, Stockholm
09/04/2008 Glasgow School of Art, Glasgow
17/05/2008 Sigurdsgatan 25, Västerås
18/05/2008 Mosebacke, Stockholm
26/06/2008 Peace & Love festival, Borlänge
02/07/2008 Send in the Clowns@Babylon, Stockholm
10/07/2008 Lost Music@The Gramaphone, London
09/08/2008 Frizon festival, Örebro
20/02/2009 Pero loves@Teater Pero, Stockholm
23/02/2009 Live session on Marc Riley's show, BBC 6music
26/02/2009 Live session on Vic Galloway's show, BBC Radio 1
13/03/2009 Club Pluto, Gröndal, Stockholm
Sounds Like:
Record Label: Stereo Test Kit Records (www.stereotestkit.com)
Type of Label: Indie

My Blog

Radio 1 session online

Hello sweet potatoes. The lovely people from the BBC just got in touch to say that the tracks from our live session on Vic Galloway's show on Radio 1 are now up here:http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/musi...
Posted by on Thu, 26 Mar 2009 14:58:00 GMT

live sessions at the BBC

Hello you wee rascals.We had a brilliant time last week on our wee BBC tour. We started off in Manchester (after another traumatic Ryanair experience) where we did a live session on Marc Riley's show ...
Posted by on Sat, 28 Feb 2009 10:11:00 GMT

Gustaf Spetz

Stop whatever you're doing and go and check out our melodious friend (and producer) Gustaf, who has just released his first solo album. It's brilliant. And it features lyrics written by our very own l...
Posted by on Sun, 15 Feb 2009 13:40:00 GMT

Teater Pero/BBC

hello furry friends. we've decided to come out of hibernation. it's still pretty cold out there, but we got bored of just sleeping and scratching and nibbling on bourbon biscuits. so we're coming out ...
Posted by on Sun, 15 Feb 2009 13:30:00 GMT

some reviews for yous

So were not very good at finishing projects. We started telling you all the song stories a wee while ago and then our words trailed off into a stunned silence. Sorry, we got distracted and spent two ...
Posted by on Wed, 10 Dec 2008 10:33:00 GMT

Medium pop ballad

Medium pop balladA song whose title has nothing to do with its content. We once saw a piece of sheet music for a song that was described as a 'medium pop ballad'. Charmed by these three little words, ...
Posted by on Mon, 13 Oct 2008 05:42:00 GMT

The Baltic Sea

The Baltic SeaA classic tale of love and heartbreak. Girl meets Swede, girl moves to Sweden, girl appreciates many aspects of the well-ordered and efficient Swedish society, girl nonetheless finds it ...
Posted by on Sun, 12 Oct 2008 07:05:00 GMT

Seven dwarves

Today's track is ... Seven DwarvesAn American indie blog once wrote a few lines about us and their interpretation of this particular song was that it was about 'jerks'. We're not entirely sure where t...
Posted by on Sat, 11 Oct 2008 07:31:00 GMT

You are my sunshine

You are my sunshineAt Martin's mum's house there is a piano. It's brown, petite and quite horribly out of tune. It was given to Martin's mum by his gran many many years ago. It plays mostly hymns and ...
Posted by on Thu, 09 Oct 2008 08:27:00 GMT

new tune..

Hello folks, There is only about one week left until we release our collection of short tunes out into the wild. The band has grown an extra member in the past two weeks... (congratulations Lucy and...
Posted by on Wed, 08 Oct 2008 05:14:00 GMT