The latest gig on our A to Z Musical Tour was ……
All being well, this was a night to see a few local bands strut their stuff across the stages of St Luke’s and BaaD while playing some of their own music and giving us an insight as to whether they will ‘make it’.
Arriving a few minutes later than planned, I wandered into St Luke’s and was struck by the chords of a Springsteen song coming from the stage. Och nooooo, surely it’s not a night of covers bands at The Gathering.
Fortunately Idle Comets were just filling out their limited stage time with an old standard that was probably one of their favs. The relief from me was palpable!
The next couple of tunes reflected their own recent releases, an indie guitar band with a pop slant. In the main, an ok start to the evening.
St Luke’s remained the venue of choice for the night given the short turnarounds by each band.
The Rants were up next and, though their recent self titled album release showed a Celtic Rock influence, they offered a far more dynamic indie guitar feel throughout their set. Whatever they have before going on stage, it certainly releases them from the more manufactured sound from the studio.
A tight unit with vocals shared by front man and guitarist Fionn Lyons and drummer Shay McDermott.
A promising live act worth keeping an eye on.
The Rants
Resister bounded on to an ever increasing audience. The word was obviously out on the street. And yet when the chance came to shine at one of Glasgow’s best venues the lead singer Connor Dowell was brought down with a throat infection…..
While it did have an impact on the band’s set, he manfully battled on and, with the help of the rest of the band, especially drummer and vocalist Robert Lang, pulled off a decent setlist. Again, the recorded output below doesn’t give a true reflection of the band’s dynamic live showing and it was a surprise when they slowed the tempo of the set with their last song Sarah, albeit that it is the track they had released as a single.
Filed under promising and worth another look to see if they’ll fulfill their potential.
The Squints were next up and it wouldn’t be too difficult to identify them in any group photos. Female drummer, kilted bass player who probably throws the caber for fun. A forever smiling and charismatic lead guitarist and vocalist and a rhythm guitarist who…..kept the rhythm going.
The songs were very much in the style of pop indie and well structured too. Of all the bands on the night, they probably offered the best hope of getting the breaks required to get to the next level.
The setlist reflected much of their recorded output, good indie guitar based rock, short, tightly focused and played with a smile. Patrick Murphy always seemed to know when the cameras were pointing at him and Rory Mcguire is not a bass player you’ll forget in a hurry.
Filed under very promising
As the night wore on, in the nicest possible way, One Nine Eight took to the stage. Bigger audience, bigger sound. Well a heavier sound that was for sure.
Listening to the band, and vocalist Harrison Gray in particular, I was reminded of Saturday mornings before heading to football watching MTV2 and listening to the likes of Nickelback, Queens of the Stone Age and Staind. Definitely a band with an American influence and not short of our Atlantic cousins self assurance either.
There was definitely something underneath the surface that was worth listening to. The band were a good unit, with powerful drum beats and bass leaving the guitarists to get on with their parts. There is a definite audience for the music played and, with the luck required, they might be able to take the next few steps forward in pursuit of making it.
Not sure how the bands were allocated their slots on the night, maybe the youngest had to get to their bedtimes earliest. It did seem a bit strange that Slowdance were on last, a band who were playing their third gig.
With only one released track, the excellent Ashton Lane, the band played a couple of covers to start their set with including the Arctic Monkeys.
Can only conclude that with Ashton Lane, this is the likely direction of the band. Filed for hopefully see in the future to give a better appraisal of them.
To finish the night, I managed to nip down to BaaD to see Aim For Two.
And a pretty worthwhile nip too, as this young four piece band tore into their set with an attitude that is often needed to get noticed. Playing Smells Like Teen Spirit was always guaranteed to get the audience on their side and they supplemented the set with a number of self penned songs which were none too shabby either.
Filed under watch this space.
And, as we headed home, who stood out from The Gathering? There are a few I’d like to see again in the not too distant future to see if they have progressed, with both eyes peeled on The Squints and Aim For Two, the tips to who might just ‘make it’.
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