For the uninformed, Outstandifold and the Wettygrippers (OATW) are a Kilmarnock-based outfit three albums deep into a musical escapade that has seen them take on a range of musical projects.
From rudely named alter egos, to the irreverent use of local dialect in album titles, OATW are a band who’ve seemingly stood left of field from their straight-up rock contemporaries. However, their comedic side has often hidden the band’s abilities to write big, bold stadium rock anthems, the calibre of which many of the wider music community would often kill for.
Their latest full-length release, simply titled ‘Box’, sees the band take on a much more mature persona. Ditching previous forays down the path of mockery, in favour of simple, swaggering rock numbers which let the instrumentation and arrangements do the talking.
The brash choruses which have filled previous releases have been muted slightly in favour of an aesthetic which is still hook-driven, but which essentially gives the band much more room to breathe. What hasn’t changed is the palette from which OATW seem to take inspiration; post-punk cut from the remnants of bands like The Cult and The Cure. That sonic template can be heard to some degree in songs like ‘Sooner or Later’ and ‘Light Up The World’. But it’s never parody, nor is it wistful. Instead, it seems to capture the essence of that era without ever wallowing in it.
At the half-way point there’s also a lovely number, ‘Low’, in which lead singer David Orr sounds almost David Byrne-esque. Almost. Not that there’s any need for pseudo-vocalisation. But there is experimentation and greatly welcomed it is, too. The backbone of it all though is still those rollicking guitar licks that seem to take up half the running time. ‘Ride the Wave’ is typical OATW in this regard: built from the guitar up, with a brazen drumbeat and gutsy chorus line. It’s built to be sung from the rafters, and there’s plenty more where that came from, too.