This was Year 3 of Mugstock, a smallish festival in the hinterland between the commuter belt of Milngavie and the outer limits of the Campsies, near the city but not of the city. The Country Park and the Festival Committee work very hard to make this an enjoyable experience for families, festival freaks and anyone else who fancies it. What was not working in their favour though was the great Scottish summer and BM would have to say the weather was especially unforgiving this year, sheets of rain at times…at least it kept the midges at bay…
Anyway BM saw a lot of acts across the weekend, some of them only very briefly so maybe not fair to review 5 minutes of, so here are the top 5 of the ones she did get to see in full.
1. The Baltic States – this Liverpool three piece have the tunes, the stage presence and the attitude, and they put in a fine performance on the Chameleon stage on Friday night. They emit a very catchy electro sound, Helen (vocals/keyboards/trumpet), Jev (lots more keyboards and effects) and Vadim (some very versatile and thunderous drumming). Over a six or seven song set they wowed, with some Knife-esque numbers, also BM can’t help thinking of Chvrches, Ladytron and The Pet Shop Boys, high praise. This was majestic, dramatic and highly danceable. Songs like “Kontrol” really pulsed, and the closing Iggy cover (after they were granted “One More Tune” at the request of the crowd) “I Wanna Be Your Dog” was mental – BM highly recommends and hopes they will be back in Scotland soon… They have a couple of EPs out, check them!
2. ULTRAS – Gav Prentice’s band have impressed BM a lot during 2017 and they were first up on the Chameleon stage on Sunday, not exactly a prime slot but this did not stop it being a spirited and at times venomous set, showcasing the best of their debut self-titled album. Aided by Matt on bass and Roy on drums, Gav spat out the lyrics and threw enormous guitar licks, solos and shakedowns. Songs like “Royal Names” and “Teamhanded” express the rage of suffocating Scottish smalltown small-mindedness, the cosh of macho conformity and the aftermath of stupid violence. These songs deserve to be heard by more people than were witnessing this performance but chins up boys, this is emotive and it connects with the heart and other parts of the body….
3. The Supernaturals – the headliners of the festival, a band who had major success in the late 90s and who (whisper it!) may actually be local lads, ie Milngavie-bred. This allegedly douce suburb of Glasgow is not known for producing major rock talent but those who originate from here (and its even more boring adjacent suburb Bearsden) don’t tend to shout it from the roofs, it kills the West of Scotland street-cred stone dead – however BM can tell yous that the MB area has spawned (fully or partially) such talents as Edwyn Collins, Lloyd Cole, Del Amitri and various members of The Soup Dragons, and appearing further down this festival bill, Ilk. So there. Anyway The Supernaturals did everything they could in the 90s to become big (signed to Food/EMI, appeared on TFI, toured a lot, eventually sold songs to adverts) – and eventually did not become Travis (Travis did, maybe only room for one Scottish combo in the post-Britpop rush before Napster finally killed the music industry stone deid?) So in the word of one of their own songs, are they “The Day Before Yesterday’s Men” (ok Man!). Not a bit of it from this performance, ok a bit longer in the tooth (but happy to joke about it), what came across in this all-oldies set was that these guys enjoyed performing together, maybe a bit nervous given all the “homecoming hype” but were happy just to blast out their best songs and be entertaining, while trading some self-deprecating quips as well. There was a general cowboy vibe (the hats, a coupla snazzy shirts) so the Brokeback jokes came out early and their “apprentice” keyboard player was complemented on his “young ass”. The hits kicked in (although BM would have to say their were really only a handful of self-identified fans of the band here, mainly curious onlookers and kids dancing in the mud) and sounded great – “Lazy Lover”, “Day Before Yesterday’s Man” and the notorious “Smile” (not really that smiley if you listen to the words, but launched a thousand crappy happy adverts with that one line…”You’d better…” BM understands that this band released material in 2016 but did not tour it, but whatever, this was pure nostalgia and a get-together, and was enjoyable for just that. They had the licks, the tunes and the onstage banter to thoroughly entertain this festival crowd.
4. Bombscare – this lot can move a crowd under any circumstances and their Saturday set closing the main stage was fast of beat, tuneful and relentless. One tune segued into another and with ten people on the stage all blasting out the music it was loud, varied and on the button. The band clearly loves playing and their melange of ska, reggae, funk, punk and soul has something for everyone. They got a big reaction and rightly so – always good, they did not let us down even after a day of lots of rain…
5. Dopesickfly – these guys are new to BM but they were very good indeed, closing the Chameleon on Friday. With a tight backline and Chic-esque guitar licks, the lead singer/rapper Ant was wearing a fetching cable-knit cream cardigan, perfect for the weather, great look. His Southern American tones were well complemented by Wendy’s backing and occasional lead vocals, giving us funkin tracks like “Affirmation Lover” – relatively new to the Scottish live scene but they show a lot of promise and a lotta people were getting down and dirty (not just the mud) to these Dopesick sounds – they also got “one more tune” btw!
Other honourable mentions would be for Yip Man (some shouty self-deprecation), Spring Break (shouty rap and party tunes), Dumb Instrument (wilful eccentricity and witty lyrics) – there were many other acts across the weekend, just a bit of a shame about the weather…