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Hello and welcome to redroomreleases: an independent music label.
Let me first introduce myself. I’m Graham Murdoch, a musician based in Edinburgh. I have been involved in music for many years, ranging from writing, producing and recording tracks to playing numerous gigs and events across the country.
Throughout the years, I have been privileged to have worked with many talented musicians who have been receptive to working with me on my music and alongside me whilst playing live in various venues over the years.
Playing gigs is part of what I do, but writing and recording music is something I’m extremely passionate about. The process of creating new music can sometimes run away with time, but the creative evolution of a track is something that I find to be very enjoyable and rewarding.
You can find more information about my musical history in my timeline below, however if you would like to get in touch, you can contact me directly.
The Loafers have reformed and are currently rehearsing new material with a view to playing gigs in the future.
1970 | Started playing out on acoustic guitar, then formed duo with Jimmy Dick, playing pubs/clubs. This gave me good experience playing in front of people and working within a duo with both of us as lead vocals and harmonies.
1974 | Auditioned and got the position to play in my first band, Fine Edge, playing pubs and clubs. The guys in the band were much older than me at the time but they were supportive and encouraged me to sing more songs with the band.
Personnel included: John Brown (drums), Kenny King (bass), Ronnie Allen (lead vocals, guitar) and Graham Murdoch (vocals, acoustic guitar).
1976 | Formed new band, Talking Pictures, with my friend J Dick, collaborating to write original material, playing pub gigs and the odd festival here and there. Some recordings exist for this band on cassette then transferred to reel-to-reel. These recordings were very much like demos at the time and good fun to make with limited recording tools.
Personnel included: Eddie Stanton (bass), Jimmy Dick (lead vocals, guitar), Ian Hunter (lead guitar), Graham Murdoch (lead vocals, rhythm guitar).
1979 | Formed The Runners, writing original material for the band. It was a very important time for me musicially as I found the guys in the band were happy for me to perform my material live on stage. We also went on to record and release original songs on cassette tape format, utilising two four track Tascam portable cassette machines (one for recording the information, and one for mixing the recorded material).
The record consisted of 7 tracks:
As a side note David Donaldson, played bass on tracks 1,2,4,5, and 6 Alex Gray played bass on tracks 3, and 7.
Personnel included: David Manson (drums, vocals), Alex Gray (bass), Mike Ross (lead/rhythm guitar) and Graham Murdoch (lead vocals, rhythm guitar).
1986 | I become more involved in writing and recording original songs, and collaborating with other musicians, helping them with their recordings of original material. I found to be a very liberating experience, especially when given free rain.
1993 | Joined Henry Spalding, a 5-piece band playing mainly pubs and university gigs. The band goes through some personnel changes, including a new drummer and bass player who are recruited. There was also a name change for the band, and are now called Yer Blues.
This line up also gave me the opportunity to play keyboards, both live and on recordings. Gigs followed and a live recording is set up at Dalmeny Estate Edinburgh Gate in the open air. This presented some tricky challenges such as wind and planes flying overhead.
My friends 8 track Tascam cassette format mixer desk was utilised for this recording and some overdubbing is carried out, namely vocals and harmonica. The tracks are mixed and mastered back in my home studio.
As a result of this recording, a CD is released on 13/05/01 called The Sunny Sunday Afternoon Session and consisting of seven tracks (all blues covers). The CDs were sold mainly at our live gigs.
Personnel included: Guy Harrower (drums), Duncan Clark (bass), Ian Watt (lead/rhythm guitar), Mike Ross (lead/rhythm guitar) and Graham Murdoch (lead vocals, keyboards, and harmonica).
2003/4 | Working in various bands including Khatru, which culminated playing a charity gig entitled Rock the Gardens at the Ross Bandstand, Princess Street Gardens, Edinburgh.
Also, at this point I was writing new material and recording demos whilst learning more about recording and mixing music in the digital format DAW. My digital audio workstation namely at this point was Cubase.
2005 | I was invited to form a band with my friend D Manson, with a view to playing live. The name of the band becomes The Loafers, playing gigs in public houses, marques, town festivals, charity events, and various other venues. Some new original material was introduced to the band and was performed live at some of our shows. The material we decided to try was both challenging and rewarding and took us out of our comfort zone at the time.
As a side note after one year Duncan Clark (bass) leaves the band and we invite Alex Gray to complete the line up.
Two original songs are recorded at Shed 1 Linlithgow and at my home studio in Edinburgh, redroomreleases. They are mixed and mastered, working with Pro Tools. Both original tracks, Blind Date and Accident Prone are dropped on SoundCloud. Both songs are now the subject of remixes.
Personnel included: David Manson (drums, vocals), Alex Gray (bass), Mark Wylie (guitar, vocals), Graham Murdoch (lead vocals, keyboards, guitar).
2018-23 | Invited to join The Baker Boys, a 5-piece band playing public houses, clubs, and charity events. This line up taught me how to work in a four-part harmony setup, which was good fun. Also, the guitarists who are father and son are both left-handed players – very unusual to play in a band with two guitar lefties.
Personnel included: Alan Gray (drums), Keith Regan (bass), Johnathan Wright (guitar), David Wright (guitar), Graham Murdoch (keyboards). Lead vocals were shared around, along with the harmonies.
2020 | My first digital solo record is released, and dropped on all major digital platforms entitled Certain Kind of Love. Some of the drum tracks were recorded in Glasgow, all other instruments including drum samples and vocals were recorded in my home studio. All tracks were mixed in my home studio redroomreleases.
Pro Tools was the DAW of choice for recording and mixing purposes, along with the use of some third-party plugins. The tracks were mastered at Post Electric Studios, Edinburgh, by engineer Kris Phol.
The record is made up of eight songs: 1. Take it For Granted, 2. The Right Choice, 3. Certain Kind of Love, 4. Keep Me Posted, 5. Different Love, 6. Wake Me Up, 7. Burmese Days, 8. She Found Joy.
Personnel on this record included: Grant Miller (drums), Gus Boyd (bass), Nick Gould (alto sax), Graham Murdoch (lead vocals, harmonies, guitar, and samples).
2021-23 | Meet up with Julie A Neill, for some jamming and throwing ideas around. We decide to form a duo, Humble Heart. Gigs follow in public houses, festivals and charity events. I enjoyed working in this duo as we performed both our own original material, working together harmonically. It’s a joy filled liberating thing musically, when you meet someone who also wants to be creative and perform original material. In many ways I had found myself coming back full circle at this point musically.
Julie has now went on to form her own band, The Wispz and continues to play her own material. I wish her well for the future on her musical journey.
2023-24 | The Loafers reform briefly for a one off gig at the Four Marys public house, Linlithgow. I continue writing, recording and mixing new material for my second digital solo record.
