Few bands have caused such a stir in the pop punk scene than Hot Mulligan. First pushed under the spotlight by No Sleep Records and championed by label mates such as The Wonder Years, Hot Mulligan really are something special.
In a world where pop punk has become whinging frontmen and tired chord progressions, Hot Mulligan have dragged the genre back to where edge is king. Dual guitars navigating fresh, mid-western emo riffs with unique angsty vocals. Last time in Glasgow, they sold out in close to no time at all and announced the current tour while still here. You’ll be hard pushed to find a harder working band right now. The hype and buzz around Hot Mulligan are insane amongst both the pop punk and emo circles and it seems to only be growing. Now we’re here to see if they’re living up to it.
The crowd are certainly champing at the bit for tonight with godfathers of pop punk Blink 182 postponing shows in Glasgow on the Friday and Saturday, leaving this school night show yo satisfy them.
This show is close to what you could call a co-headliner with Spanish Love Songs supporting. The only reason I can imagine that this is a support slot rather than a co-headline is because SLS haven’t been on this side of the pond as often. They certainly have the chops to share all the glory here.
Spanish Love Songs aren’t pop punk and I’m struggling to call them emo thanks to the state of the scene for the past ten years. The guitars and keyboards scream indie rock (or at least American indie rock as defined by The Get Up Kids and Motion City Soundtrack), but the vocals are passionate and harrowed as if vocalist Dylan Slocum is having a breakdown in front of our eyes. This is the emo that our older brothers and sisters would have listened to as they smirked at the kids of today listening to Fall Out Boy and My Chemical Romance. I say this as a man with a Get Up Kids tattoo… this is the real deal. Were Spanish Love Songs a couple of decades late to the party or are they keeping the party alive? I’d argue they’re hosting their own.
There’s clearly significant cross over with the fanbase of Hot Mulligan and Spanish Love Songs tonight. Where most support acts manage to get a handful of intrigued audience members or some head bobs of approval, we have a room full of genuine fans. A group sharing of the existential crisis that’s happening on the stage. Singing along, arms flailing up from all the way to the back of the crowd, and the occasional angry pointing at our front man while sending his words back to him.
The announcement that SLS are coming back in January is good news and well received. If tonight is anything to go by, it would be unwise to sleep on the tickets to that one.
When Hot Mulligan take to the stage, it’s confirmed the crossover of fans is exactly that. There’s not one person who isn’t here for the headliners. Everyone roaring along with Nathan “Tades” Sanville as he proves that he has the same control over his voice on a stage as he does in the studio. The only way we know he has a sore throat is because he mentions it no less than four times… But you can’t tell when listening.
Hot Mulligan’s enigmatic song titles make it hard to list what they’ve played and when. Is it ‘Drink Milk and Run’ or is it ‘How Do You Know It’s Not Armadillo Shells’? This song might be ‘Featuring Mark Hoppus’ which doesn’t feature Mark Hoppus, or it may be ‘*Equip Sunglasses*’ which also doesn’t feature Mark Hoppus – nothing here (or anywhere across this weekend) features Mark Hoppus.
Even dedicated fans may struggle with compiling a full and accurate set list… But they know their favourites. You don’t need to know the names of the songs when you know every lyric like you wrote it. The stage presence of the quintet is solid with most of the charisma coming from Tades. Especially when he confirms to the Scottish crowd that Irn Bru is “alright”. There’s plenty of banter from guitarist and vocalist Chris Freeman including a running joke of ass shaking which provides the most sex appeal an emo show has seen in a long time. The encore of BCKYRD opens up a full party to finish off with.
Both of tonight’s acts summoned a wall to wall crowd and there was not one person amongst them who didn’t love every second of tonight. This one is definitely a highlight of 2023.
Photos by Catching Light Photography
Spanish Love Songs 2024 Dates
Spanish Love Songs – No Joy Live In Europe 2024
13 January 2024 – Engine Rooms Southampton United Kingdom
14 January 2024 – Waterfront Upstairs Norwich United Kingdom
16 January 2024 – The Bodega Nottingham United Kingdom
17 January 2024 – The Garage Glasgow United Kingdom
19 January 2024 – Stylus Leeds United Kingdom
20 January 2024 – Club Academy Manchester United Kingdom
21 January 2024 – District Liverpool United Kingdom
23 January 2024 – Clwb Ifor Bach Cardiff United Kingdom
24 January 2024 – The Fleece Bristol United Kingdom
26 January 2024 – O2 Institute 2 Birmingham United Kingdom
27 January 2024 – Electric Ballroom London United Kingdom
28 January 2024 – Chalk Brighton United Kingdom
30 January 2024 – Kavka Antwerp Belgium
31 January 2024 – Gebäude 9 Cologne Germany
Fri 2 February 2024 – Bahnhof Pauli Hamburg Germany
3 February 2024 – Badehaus Berlin Germany
4 February 2024 – Backstage Club Munich Germany
6 February 2024 – Arena Wien (Small Hall) Vienna Austria
8 February 2024 – Exil Zurich Switzerland
9 February 2024 – Oetinger Villa Darmstadt Germany
10 February 2024 – De Helling Utrecht Netherlands