Another month, another itm? gig, and though we are contractually bound to say so, this one does look a bit special.
Kicking off the evening’s entertainment is Northern Alliance mainman Doug Johnstone. taking time from his busy book promo tour he will be offering a bunch of songs usually heard while in full-band mode, as well as tunes made famous (er…) by fictional ne’er-do-wells The Ossians. Come along early, all will become clear.
Without wanting to pick favourites on this bill, the appearance of Smackvan is a bit special. The history states that their debut single appeared around ten years ago, a 7″ on a label created by Belle and Sebastian’s manager for that exact purpose. However, don’t be fooled, as jaunty indiepop melodies are quite far down their CV. As are releases, gigs and interviews. We’re not even sure of the last time the mysterious Glasgow act played live, and we can’t even get in touch with them to find out. However, we’re quite sure they will show up and deliver some of their moodily downbeat, atmospheric tunes from an album so popular with itm? staffers that it forced its way onto the writers’ chart for 2008.
Rightly headlining, however, are Le Reno Amps. It is their album launch after all, following their signing to Devon-based label Drift. The band started off as an all-teuchter duo, making noisily infectious multi-genre tunes, but since expanding to a (cosmopolitan) 4-piece they have settled upon simply being one of the nation’s top alt.folk acts, albeit with country/pop/rock/eastern overtones.
Some links:
www.myspace.com/lerenoamps
www.smackvan.com
www.myspace.com/northernalliance
Le Reno Amps Tear It Up album review
Smackvan album review
Ossians review
Northern Alliance & LRA gig review