Latest album ‘the Hunter’ makes up the bulk of the night’s set with at least eight or nine tracks. Particular highlights include a storming ‘Spectrelight’ and the deep, bouncing bass of ‘Blasteroid,’ but there’s plenty of variety with ‘Crack the Skye’ seeing the band bathed in green light, and all of their five studio albums represented.

It’s a night of bone crunching riffs, lightning fast drumming and flailing heads all round. Amidst the aural onslaught, Troy Sanders ventures towards the front row and aims his bass over the crowd as though pointing a rifle, Bill Kelliher skulks menacingly around the stage and Brent Hinds is the star man, mercilessly shredding his guitar.

Inside the metal juggernaut, another recent single stands out. Sandwiched between ‘Spectrelight’ and ‘Bedazzled Fingernails’ it becomes clear that ‘Curl of the Burl’ actually has a bit of a groove, and even inspires a bit of grooving in the appreciative crowd.

It’s a temporary change of pace however. As if their titles weren’t enough of a clue, ‘March of the Fire Ants’ and ‘Where Strides the Behemoth’ from 2002’s ‘Remission’ are chunks of relentless aggression.

There is not a word to the audience until the very end of the set, but eventually Brann Dailor makes a point of acknowledging the reception and affectionately brands the Glasgow audience ‘crazy’.

The closer is Dailor’s own’ the Creature Lives’ during which some lucky local punters are invited onstage to add extra vocals, to what is as much a communal sing-a-long, as a band performance. It’s in some ways an anti-climax rounding off the night with such a slower-paced song (and no encore) but perhaps from the band to the punters, a bit of a rest is in order by this point. Tonight, Mastodon are on top form and put on a typically loud, heavy, and fun show.

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

Billed as a rockin’, honky-tonk, country, swing, fourpiece, the SS (no Nazi theme intended) arrive onstage in matching cowboy outfits, with singing pseudo-siblings Emily Miller and Zara Bode in striking blue dresses that look ever so… Thatchery (make your own Nazi jokes). Putting aside any potential latte-larceny, this turns out to be more of a solid country offering than I was expecting but no worse for it.

Affectionate covers and sparkling originals roll along in equally entertaining measures. This is a band who love their genre and wilfully indulge in some of its more ridiculous elements. Songs like ‘It Won’t Hurt When I Fall Down From This Bar Stool’ and ‘Lookin For A Fight’ are introduced with a knowing nod and a wink but are delivered with expertise and exuberance that is a treat to witness.
A cover of Patsy Cline’s ‘Love Me, Honey Do’ brings swoons and gushes from all around and is an example of the playful, energetic style which underlines the fact that my knowledge of the scene has until now pretty much been limited to ‘Stand By Your Man’ and the theme tune from ‘Rawhide’.

Just when I’m about to reach for the stetson with both hands I’m struck by the fact that that the guitarist is clearly taking the piss with increasingly elaborate solos reminiscent of Marty McFly at Enchantment Under The Sea. It might just be country speak but describing this as ‘Telecastering’ has started to bring images of someone playing guitar until we give him money to stop. During one particular epic, short haired Thatcher can be seen shaking her head wondering if and when it will ever end.

A final cover by Roger Miller (think ‘King of the Road’ not Cameroonian World Cup goal botherer) brings proceedings towards a close. ‘My Uncle Used To Love Me But She Died’ which for this evening at least should surely be renamed ‘If Yer Auntie Had Baws’ is pure theatre and the highlight of the gig. I urge you to look it up.
An excellent evening and a perfect example of jewels that are on offer at a festival that goes from strength to strength.

In March last year, Panic! At The Disco consequently released their first record as a duo named ‘Vices & Virtues’ in which the band are currently promoting on their eight date UK tour where they are performing at the Barrowlands in Glasgow, alongside the help of their touring guitarist Ian Crawford, and bassist Dallon Weekes.
 
Upon reaching the east end of Glasgow, the endless amount of teenage fans queued around the outside of an extremely illuminated entrance with a prestigious looking tour bus dominating the only car park in the area, could only indicate that I had finally arrived to my destination.

Inside the venue, the Barrowland stage embellished an extravagant backdrop much suited to Panic! At The Disco’s eccentric style. The four piece entered dressed in their accustomed formal attire entailing waistcoasts, ties, and suit trousers. Arriving to a magnificent applause from the audience, the band commenced the night with a powerful and upbeat song called ‘Ready To Go’ where Urie energetically accompanied the jubilant music by jumping back and forth on the stage, whilst entertaining the crowd at any given opportunity. Crawford and Weekes acquired a similar disposition to Urie throughout and more noticably in proceeding songs ‘But It’s Better If You Do’ and ‘The Ballad Of Mona Lisa’ truly uncovering their high potential to become permanent members of the band.
 
The group evidently yield much pride in creating a unique performance that should certainly not only be listened to but also carefully watched as Urie’s frequent acrobatics onstage were honestly almost as impressive as hearing the band perform live. However in spite of this, the four piece may have paid too much close attention to the performance side of their set rather than the setlist itself as when they played songs such as ‘Trade Mistakes’ and ‘Hurricane’ the spirited atmosphere in the room promptly disappeared, and sadly this happened on and off during the band’s show.

Providentially by the end of the night Panic! At The Disco’s performance rejuvenated back to full status just in time with the support of songs from their debut album including their massive hit single ‘I Write Sins Not Tragedies’ which lead the crowd into an extreme delirium within seconds of the song’s introduction, plus an energetic synthpop number called ‘Time To Dance’ which equally acquired a great amount of appreciation.
 
The most intriguing part about the group’s set was their choice of a cover song for their encore, ‘I Believe In A Thing Called Love’ by The Darkness. Surprisingly enough the song went down a treat with the audience, and it seemed like the perfect choice for the band to perform as Urie’s falsetto voice naturally acquired the high notes without any hindrance.
 
Panic! At The Disco brandished the best of their abilities with their performance as they revealed that they can still provide a diverse approach to their live set, similarly in their former days with Ross and Walker. If only the group had made a few minor adjustments to their setlist, the show would have been undoubtedly flawless.

(Photos by Nicola Sharkey – www.nicolasharkeyphotography.com)

Of course, sophomore effort Forget The Night Ahead kind of retreaded this path and in doing so, without that surprise element or songs as impressive as those on the debut, fell flat. Something had to be done.

And the band have indeed managed to reinvent themselves and deliver an album that is on a par with their debut, but quite quite different. Yes, they do draw on the 80s again, but rather than the obvious wall of post rock associated with the band the sound is more stripped back, with analog synth noises. In fact, guitarist Andy McFarlane compiled a couple of mixtapes which show his influences when recording this album. ESG and Talking Heads and Can aren’t particularly apparent – NOCEK is no dance album – but with the likes of Fad Gadget and Cabaret Voltaire cropping up is no surprise. And The Names and Section 25, carry on that Factory lineage (though I’d suggest that Red Lorry Yellow Lorry’s proto-goth was as significant… effectively a rather more chipper Joy Division with a drum machine, for younger readers.

And so it carries onto the album. ‘Dead Cities’ is very industrial with its electro synths, though ‘Not Sleeping’ belies the pattern of fragility. ‘Nil’ is back to form, and type, with walls of synthetic noise, matched by a portentous atmosphere and James Graham’s usual accompanying sinister, doom-laden lyrics.
It’s far from a concepty album, too abstract for that, but the overbearing feeling of doom and the story that’s kind of played out make for the feeling that this is a much more considered, even ‘produced’ release, though the overall feel is that analogue, DIY / lo-fi sound beloved by, well, as evinced by the mixtapes mentioned, the band themselves.

It’s easy for older music fans to point that there’s nothing new when ‘The Kids’ seem to have claimed their heritage as their own. However, No One Can Ever Know treats this reverentially and in doing so, carves its own niche and results in a thoroughly worthwhile ‘new’ sound – not only have they met and surpassed their own previous high standards, but they’ve made an album that will rank alongside those of the bands that inspired it.

The only question remaining is, where do they go next?

So tonight at King Tuts is your last show of the tour. Besides having to cancel two shows, how has it been overall?
Murray Macleod (vox/guitar): It’s been great. I think it’s definitely been our best headline tour so far. It’s the first time where people have turned up to every show.

Any highlights?
Jordan Smith (bass): Last night would be a highlight, our hometown show.

I think that’s always a highlight for every band.
Murray: Yeah it was good, I really enjoyed it. I got to go back to my parents’ house the other day so my mum loaded me up with soup.
Jordan (to Murray): My mum told me that your mum said something really funny last night when you were onstage. You were like, “Aw yeah, I cancelled two shows but I’m back, I manned up and I played the show,” and my mum said that your mum was just like, “Aye bloody right, he’s manned up. He’s had half of Boots in him! Of course he’s manned up!”

Murray: My mum was totally giving me grief last night because I had some more soup then I had this aspirin that you put in water and gargle then she was like “Do you want to steam first? Probably best steam first. Yeah, go and steam,” so I did that, started gargling then made a honey and she was like “Oh, making yourself a tea, are you, eh? And medicine?” Just giving me a massive amount of grief for trying to get better. My mum doesn’t know how many people are let down if I cancel.
Jordan: You don’t know, mum!
Murray: But yeah, it should be fine. It held out last night. It’s just unfortunate I got ill before the tour. I’m pretty sure I caught something from our practice room, that’s what I’m putting it down to.
Jordan: Dirty microphone.
Murray: But yeah, Brighton was great too and London was good but it was just quite a nerve-wracking show for us because of all the stuff that goes on in the background.
Jordan: Guest list stuff and the pressure of knowing who’s going to be there so, don’t fuck up.
Murray: But it was great, it was one of the busiest shows we ever played in London.

Glasgow was the first show of the tour to sell out and did so very quickly. So what was your reaction when it first sold out?
Jordan: Woo hoo!
Tom Heron (drums): I think it was a surprise.
Murray: We’ve played here a lot over the years and we’ve always been close to selling out.
Jordan: Tantalisingly close, every time.
Murray: The first time we played, we sold about 292.
Jordan: Then we’d just round it up and say “Yeah, it’s pretty much a sell out”, but this is the first time it genuinely is a sell out. It’s a pretty big occasion, big milestone.
Murray: It’s weird because we’ve done a lot of support tours but before Taking Back Sunday, we’d never supported a band in Glasgow apart from Get Up Kids and Charlie Simpson. So it’s nice to see from the support shows that we’ve done, that it actually worked and we translated well to bigger crowds.

So what are some of the best memories that you have from playing King Tuts?
Murray: The last time we were here was with Dinosaur Pile-Up. That was really great, just because they’re some of the best people we’ve toured with and we’ve been friends ever since.

You’ve been touring with old friends Flood of Red, how’s that been?
Murray: Awful. I wish we had never taken them out.
Jordan: All we can say is it’s the last show, so thank God for that.
Murray: Not many people know but Flood took us out on our second ever support tour. The first band who took us out was a band called Breaks then after that, Flood of Red took us out on tour and we were always exceedingly grateful for them doing that because they liked us. Their fans didn’t. I think we were like a real novelty band on that tour because every other band on the bill was a metal band and we were this pop band. But since then we’ve remained exceedingly close.
Jordan: Then we did it again two years later, a Christmas tour with just us and them. That was like a rotating headline and now we’re doing this. We’ve known each other for years.
Murray: We were all quite nervous about asking them on this tour because we thought they would say no but fortunately for us they said yes. It’s great because we love them as people, we hang out like the best of friends and then we’re also massive fans of the band, they’re one of our favourite bands in the UK without a doubt.
Jordan: It’s amazing to be on tour with your peers, people you admire and respect, rather than sitting in the dressing room moaning about how the support band sucks.
Murray: Now we just moan about how the support band steals our rider…

So have you been playing any new material on the tour?
All: One song.
How’s that been going down?
Murray: Amazing
Tom: It’s got some good reaction.
Murray: My mum liked it last night.
Tom: Yeah that’s the clincher.
Murray: It’s always weird playing new songs because in a live environment, it can be a bit awkward because we’re having a great time and then you look out and people are like, “I don’t get it…”
Jordan: It’s because they’re hearing a song for the first time and they obviously want to get into it but they don’t know the song so it is kind of awkward for everyone involved except us.
Murray: I think the good thing is, is that this is, without a doubt, the most instant song that we’ve ever written. It’s just flat out… pop, I guess.
Jordan: So it’s not as if people will be talking about the new stuff and speculating about what direction we’re going to go in or anything. It’s pretty immediate.

So after this tour, you’re heading to Europe. I know you’re all fans of touring Europe, will you be going anywhere new this time?
Murray: No, just hitting the same places. Germany, Switzerland, Austria…
Jordan: Yeah, just the same cities we played in November/December last year. We’re hitting them back, making sure they don’t forget our faces!
Murray: Yeah, we made some friends and we don’t want to lose those friends so that’ll be fun. It’s only five shows but we’ll probably take a break from playing in the UK eventually and then head back out there to play more shows.

Yeah, because after that you’re back over here to support Brand New on their UK tour. How did that come about?
Murray: Uh… we don’t fully know. There are a few things…
Jordan: We just paid them.
Murray: Yeah, we paid them an awful lot of money… No, basically we recorded our last record with Mike Sarpone who is their producer. When they announced the tour, he emailed us to say he’d put a word in but it wasn’t one hundred percent set, they were going to think about it. Then we kind of got told we weren’t going to get the tour and that a tonne of other bands had been promised it so we were like, “It doesn’t matter. We still get to see Brand New, we’ll go see them in London”. Then we were on tour in Brighton with our manager and he got an email through from Mike that said “Why hasn’t your booking agent confirmed the tour because you’ve been offered it”, and as he read it out, we were just looking at each other like “Sorry, what??” Then our manager ran off to confirm it, came back and said “Yeah, you’ve been offered the Brand New tour”.
Jordan: We accepted.
Murray: But there was a couple of other things. I know the drummer, Brian Lane is a fan of our latest record and we’ve kind of got links all round because we toured with Manchester Orchestra…
Jordan: …Taking Back Sunday. I think our record got passed around a lot of that Long Island circle and obviously having Mike Sarpone as our producer is like a foot in the door. But it doesn’t feel like nepotism, it’s just the fact that our record circulated among those people.
Murray: Well Andy Hull from Manchester Orchestra said that, didn’t he? He said, “Don’t give Mike all the credit for getting you on that tour, you’ve earned it.”
Jordan: To hear that from Andy Hull is pretty big.
Murray: To hear anything from Andy Hull…
Jordan: Don’t get this guy started…
Murray (to Jordan): Shut up! You were a fan boy so much over Johnathan Corley.
Jordan: Oh, Johnathan…

So, do you have any recording plans for this year?
Murray: We do, but we don’t… There was talk of recording a record in March but that’s not going to happen.
Jordan: March become April, which became, “Hey, it doesn’t have to be April!”
Tom: At some point this year we’ll be recording.
Murray: I never understood why bands were like, “We’ve scrapped a record, we have to go back and re-record it”, but now we’re having that, just on a smaller scale.
Jordan: We haven’t recorded anything yet but we’re just still unsure about what we want the record to sound like.
Murray: So we’re back to telling everyone we’re taking our time with it.
Jordan: Yeah, that difficult third record…

Any more plans for after the Brand New tour?
Murray: After Brand New we are going to…
Tom: Write.
Murray: Yeah, we’re going to take some time off.
Jordan: Shut ourselves in a room.
Murray: There’s talk of doing a wee headline run in May which would involve coming back to Glasgow.

And will you be playing more material then?
Murray: Well, this is the debate because we won’t have a single out so it’s a bit of an ongoing talking point right now for us and everyone involved. We have to reschedule the shows that I cancelled and we’ve been offered a show in London that looks set to go ahead and I think people want us to play in Glasgow at another venue so we’ll just wait and see. But right now, the main focus for us is the shows coming up and writing a new record and trying to write something great.
Jordan: It’s difficult to gauge because you want to play the new songs and get everybody’s opinion and see what everybody thinks but at the same time, you want to keep the cards a little closer to your chest and not give too much away so that we only have these three opinions and no others.

The band’s tour takes them around the UK and Europe in February, including London shows on the 11th and 12th February and Glasgow on the 14th. More at
www.facebook.com/Thexcerts and
www.thexcertsband.com

Since the beginning, they have managed to retain a rock mystery to them that the age of information has done their best to destroy. This is what I appreciate about the Gorillaz and Damon Albarn; the ingenuity. This model has the ability to retain one band image whilst using every artist it can get its hands on; resulting in songs that never sound the same, and a music with so much fusion it’s almost rebellious. The Gorillaz method was so effective that I had a poster of them on my wall, four fake cartoon characters. I even had a favourite; 2D, the one with no eyes.

The album is a chronology of singles spanning the decade of their virtual existence. However, it is not a greatest hits album that you buy for your dad so he can remember the ‘good days’. Even now, after ten years of life, their first album is my ‘go-to’ music. Due to its creative and alternative sound, it can make you more interesting at a social gathering, more bass heavy songs like ‘Rock The House’ can always spark up a dance-floor and the music’s melancholic optimism will always put a smile on during a stroll. Despite being packed with hits and mixes of the first album one should not mistake it for a re-hashed re-release as it quickly develops through Demon Days and Plastic Beach.

If there’s a lack of the demonic cartoons of your music player, I strongly suggest you snap this up. Unless you’re fully confident in your own ‘go-to’ band that is.

It falls to her long-suffering associate and handbag carrier Gus to do this one then, so here goes…

This was a stormer – we arrived early enough to hear DJ MK, the support act, do some very sophisticated old-school scratching and mixing, using a combination of discs, CDs, digital media and, I think, a couple of samplers. I’d not heard him before (he also backed Mr Manuva throughout the set – see later) but worth checking out if you like that sort of thing. The Arches looked around half-full at 8.45 but filled up nicely and must have been around 80% full when the band took to the stage, and it was some band.

A live drummer, DJ MK on the decks, two other vocalists (one of them doing the MC-ing and generally whipping up the crowd, the other doing raps and harmonies), a guitarist with what looked like a Gibson X-wing or whatever you call it and looking like a former member of Anthrax, a female keyboard player/singer who took lead vocals on a couple of lines, and Mr Roots himself, resplendent in a very smart jacket, white shirt and posh kecks.

Mr Manuva recently (ok, September 2011, it didn’t get that much press) released his fifth, or even sixth album proper and this is the main material played tonight, tracks from Forevolution being to the fore, starting with recent single ‘Here We Go Again’.

The music is a strong concoction of rap, dub, ragga, funk, hip hop and I’d also suggest, infusions of ska, the perfect music for hard times, the ghost of The Specials’ ‘Ghost Town’ haunted this gig more than once. Newer tracks showed some real anger and resentment at “Cameron’s Britain”, touching I think (didn’t get all the lyrics) on financial collapse, bankers, poverty and recession, and riots.

There were older cuts as well, several towards the end from the Mercury nominated second long player Run Come Save Me.

After reports of some less than great gigs in the past, Manuva (2012 version) appears very much in control, possibly a bit nervous given this was the first date of the UK tour and from what I can see on the t’internet, his first appearance live in the UK for some considerable time. This bodes very well for the festival season – it’s the usual showbiz magic, they went on about how wonderful Glasgow was etc… too much praise can be a bit false, but I think they were genuinely moved by the fairly mental reaction – this reviewer was certainly dancing like a gibbon with lit matches on his feet during the latter sections; not a pretty sight, but it certainly did it for me.

The sound (very loud in the bass but perfectly mixed, and pretty good for the Arches really) and the sight of the six of them in full effect and really going for it shows that British rap music can escape from the cliches – another obvious comparison is Tricky, supremely talented but ultimately wasting his talent after his classic debut, and Dizzy, who deserves the success but may become a parody of himself. This is complex and challenging music, but party music at the same time, a very tricky thing to do well – there’s a fair amount of bravado but in general this is focused and I think Mr Manuva is playing the long game, at touching 40 he may be living on borrowed time but the most recent in a long line of collaborations, with the Maccabees, shows his willingness to work with almost anyone, and who knows, he could strike gold at any time.

A very hasty (running out of time, in fact well over time) ‘Join The Dots’ rounded off proceedings, a somewhat mental crowd thanking them profusely for their efforts. It had been a completely full-on gig, unrelenting beats and bass from the back of nine until quarter to eleven, in a long and demanding set. Hopefully they can do this every night but this crowd really went for it.

Best gig of January so far, not a great contest but it shows something…

Have Some Faith In Magic shows the band rapidly matured since 2010’s fine Come Down With Me. Whereas that album was a pretty distinct mixture of (semi) club-friendly and more considered, thoughtful melodic efforts, the music here is more sophisticated and majestic.

While they’d previously demonstrated a knack for creating wondrous electronic gems, here they’ve managed to develop their talents so that the songs display a greater array of depth and variety. The band create a sound that is quite separate from that of their previous albums.

There’s moments that sound like an uncharacteristically grim Sonic The Hedgehog level (‘Blank Media’) or creepy and unsettling, like a musical ‘reimagining’ of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre (‘Canon’). Even album-standout ‘Pleasure Palaces’, the most similar in style to the songs of Come Down With Me, is about twice as intense as anything Errors have produced before.

This is undoubtedly their finest offering so far and it’s tempting to describe the album as a creative peak, if there wasn’t an overwhelming sense that there’s still a lot more to come from Errors. They’ve harnessed the full command of their music-making powers and created an album that maybe can’t be danced to, but at least can be enjoyed with quiet awe.