Michael Kasparis (aka Apostille) put in a typically abrasive but also hilarious performance in this slot at Platform’s always interesting Eastern Promise annual weekender.
The programming is always eclectic with music performance art and “happenings” across the weekend along with decent food and drink and decent public transport from central Glasgow. The local kids do however take particular glee in giving the arties and hipsters a hard time and have a healthy disrespect for their library/swimming pool being flooded with weirdoes! Also appearing on this second day were Idris Ackamoor and the Pyramids, from the LA area and playing their own version of Parliament/Funkadelic jazz/funk,(in bloody Easterhouse ffs!) and a modern dance piece ‘Decline’ performed by Chivas/Reid/Smekot (which included the very incredible guitar playing of multi-band member and Dave Grohl lookalike Jer Reid).
So Kasparis is joined tonight by a live bassist (Flo, I think) which gives him someone to quip with onstage, leading to some self-deprecating banter, diffusing some of his more confrontational moments. There are tracks from his second album ‘Choose Life’ on Upset the Rhythm Records which came out earlier this year but BM also believes there was some new material as well. The music is a bit like Blanck Mass (BM first saw Apostille doing a BM support slot) vs The Fall with a hefty dose of early Human League – the electronic bleeps and percussion mixed with his distinctively-brogued vocals make for a pretty unusual sound, and fact that he stalks, dances, paces and at times comes into the crowd and yells in our faces keeps it real as well.
Performance definitely seems cathartic for him – when BM had a chat afterwards in the cafe he was very mild-mannered and polite, we ended up talking about Glasgow’s swimming pools, not the dark night of the soul that some of these songs depict…
With two other performance theatre acts and a ticket price of a tenner, it was literally £2 per act, incredible value and a very varied night – thanks again Platform and stay weird, as BM is sure the local kids do not think!