Ever since Stirling’s Tolbooth reopened as a venue for music and the arts it has held regular showcase gigs, giving local bands a platform to show what they are made of.
More recently pairing the local talents with some of Scotland’s finest indie - alternative – underground bands.
ReLoaded fest takes the idea to the next logical step delivering 16 bands and making full use of the Tolbooth’s innovative layout.
Starting off proceedings in the Tolbooth bar which had been converted to hold the acoustic stage was Falkirk troubadour Ross Fairweather. Unlike last time I saw him here, supporting Emma Pollock, he is without a full band and the stripped back songs seem to have less of an Alt. Country edge to them.
Being first on can’t be fun but Ross doesn’t seem to be having trouble winning this crowd over after effortlessly meeting someone’s shout for a Neil Young song.
At this point I must leave him and head upstairs to the attic stage, which looks part Abbey Road studios, part your front room, to catch Jack Vampire.
Their drum kit fell apart Keith Moon style after the first song which would probably make you expect that a set of rock and roll excess would follow but thankfully you’d be wrong.
Their songs sounded fresh and at times walked the borderline of post-rock, had the spikiness of a band like Mew and a tiny dose of Biffy influence in the vocals.
Heading downstairs to the main auditorium I catch the last couple of songs from Tegan. At first glance they brought Bloc Party to mind but alas I missed too much of their set to be sure.
Back upstairs to see Huxley play. This is their debut gig and as far as debut’s go this was like coming off the subs bench and scoring the equaliser.
Sounding like four guys who’ve spent a lifetime absorbing completely different music, their tunes managed to sound comfortingly familiar and completely new to me at the same time.
They were also the first band of the night to have an encore demanded (and the first to politely refuse).
Describing someone as having “an unusual voice” usually is a euphemism for “cannae sing for toffee” but that’s what I’m hearing back at the acoustic stage with Barry, Alban & Amreet. Barry with the unusual singing and odd lyrics contrasting with Amreet’s honey sweet harmonies and Alban’s bass glueing it all together. The results bring to mind a Tigermilk era Belle & Sebastian and it all works pretty well.
Back in the auditorium I’m disappointed to see Zoey van Goey onstage. Disappointed as it means I’ve gone and missed the French Quarter.
To make matters worse I’ve also missed Colin James Murphy.
Trying to avoid an unwanted hat trick I catch the First Year Thieves in the attic stage. They turn out to be a fairly standard indie band, pretty decent and with some good songs but after running up all those stairs to catch them, it left me wishing for something a little more.
As I rejoin Zoey Van Goey halfway through ‘Foxtrot Vandals’ it seems they’ve been wooing the crowd. Quite literally! Several in the front row seeking a kiss from Michael John.
In between some jovial banter with the crowd they are as witty, charming and fun as always. Their ode to the end of the world ‘we all hid in basements’ starts a rather odd domino effect for the rest of the night with almost everybody having a song alluding to the end of everything.
Zoey van Goey – harbingers of doom, who’d have thought it?
The Leads, being from my hometown are obviously a band I’ve seen a lot of but it’s taken until this gig for me to work out exactly what it is I like about them.
Oddly, for my money they are the band on line up here with the biggest following, earned by constant gigging.
On paper they could so easily just sound like any other little guitar band.
A bit of Oasis here, a bit of the View there and some Stone Roses for good measure. But there’s more to them than that and it takes me going home humming one of their tunes to realise it.
It’s not just that their songs are catchy. It’s more than that.
The songs seem like they’ve been made for dancing too and looking around this attic room, filled to the brim it seems like they’ve got the whole crowd moving.
Marlow picked up where the Leads left off. Being described in the promo blurb as having U2 and Killers influence but you could add Fleetwood Mac or latter day Clash to that list for all it matters. Truth is they have a warm radio friendly and slightly nostalgic mainstream sound. Those words would normally put me right off but they had so much personality and fun shining through it was impossible not to like them.
Pressed for time I didn’t get to see as much of either of the last two on the acoustic stage as I had hoped. Both Matt Johnston and Beth Wilmshurst are well known playing in and around Stirling, honing their craft and providing the acoustic stage here with some quality song writing.
I was curious to see how Amusement Parks on Fire would go down, the only non Scottish band of the night.
With all those flashy strobe lights, floppy fringes and over use of the smoke machine I thought I’d walked onto the set of Nirvana’s Teen Spirit video.
With crashing waves of guitar and haunting melodies they chart similar paths to the Twilight Sad or iLiKETRAiNS albeit with a lighter and less gloomy tone.
John Peel famously described the Smiths as a band whose influences were not immediately apparent.
The same cannot be said of Attic Lights. I don’t think I’ve come across a band that fits so easily into the Scottish indie rock family tree as they do.
Obviously they’ve given ‘Pet Sounds’ a spin or two and their work with Francis MacDonald brings in equal parts a Teenage Fanclub and Camera Obscura sound .Singer Kev also announces to the crowd how he has just moved into the house that Michael John from ZVG has just moved out of just to score that bonus point on the indie I-spy game.
Despite their easily traceable musical roots they are actually very refreshing, taking the finest ingredients and cooking up some quality tunes bathed in glorious sunshine. And God only know where they got that from?
Last band of the night are Lions. Chase. Tigers. Wearily my notes say they sound reminiscent of early Biffy Clyro or maybe even Idlewild, except they actually do sound Scottish. Lots of clashing angular guitars were at work on the last few songs of the night. Not bad sounding either but at this point of the evening my full attention just wasn’t there.
Overall this was a very successful night helped by every single band rising to the occasion and a healthy turn out from an appreciative audience. When the good people at the Tolbooth stop feeling rightly chuffed they’ll realise they’ve set themselves a high benchmark for the next ReLoaded fest to follow and here’s hoping they’re up for the challenge.
more photos from ReLoaded on Flickr
//Stuart McHugh