This was Kaputt’s Christmas show and they invited some musical friends, four other bands in fact, to support them and join the party. The Old Hair was pretty busy with the personnel of five bands plus associates, scene followers – and interlopers like BM, who, having never seen any of the bands live, was nosy after hearing some good tips about Hairband.
So while ‘Mad Friday’ raged outside, with office parties descending into drunken anarchy, inside there was some variety and eccentricity about this event, including a lot of Xmas fancy dress!
First on were electronic duo The Lawnmower, who gave us some sweet tunes, some ridiculous elf outfits and some Christmas classics, ‘Driving Home For Xmas’ and ‘2,000 Miles’ being tossed off in a reasonable manner. There is a lot of potential here and some decent stage presence – not a lot of presence online but that could change, they were in tune and some of their own tracks sounded pretty good.
Next up were Overwhelmed, who presented a far more rocky approach, thinking US hardcore vs UK queercore, or vice versa. Some incredible guitar and bass playing and the singer just belting out anger and frustration, railing against pretty much everything – quite breathtaking and BM will definitely pursue them in 2019… glorious stuff!
Hairband was the original reason for BM attending this and they did not disappoint. Some intricate guitar lines, some incredible hooks and some embarrassing/great banter with the crowd. Most of this band are also in different groups in the ever-changing Glasgow DIY scene but could well go on to greater things in 2019.
Current Affairs have also been mentioned in dispatches in BM’s admittedly limited pool of attention but they were pretty darn good tonight. There were shades of post-punk (the Slits, maybe The Raincoats) but also more contemporary stuff; anyway they held the attention completely and lead singer Joan is a future star in the making, her deadpan barbs and slights riffing off the extremely riffy other musicians, hooks left, right and centre – another one to watch, oh shit, is BM repeating herself, but this was really good…
Headliners Kaputt also really put in the work into this gig – giving us jarring guitar lines, warped time signatures and unusual instrumental combinations. The lyrics are really interesting as well. Every Glasgow band might want to be mentioned in the same sentence as Talking Heads and Franz but BM can really say this, but they make this noise their own – in fact maybe more Beefheart (shit, no, really) and Zappa, so fucking there!
This was a great night and as BM tottered into the night, reflecting that the Glasgow underground is alive and well, yet another series of gems unearthed and enjoyed – so much good vibes about this gig as well, this was BM’s alternative office party 2018!