Glasgow’s Captain’s Rest is perfect for an intimate, hot and sweaty gig by one of your favourite bands, and a bouncing moshpit. However, the fact that eight albums in, a band who can be as majestic as Quasi aren’t filling much bigger venues, reinforces that we live in an unjust world.
Cranking into action with ‘Repulsion’ from latest album ‘American Gong,’ Sam Coomes wastes little time in pulling some classic rockstar poses, even managing a reverse stage dive (such as the surroundings allow) in mid-song.
Alt-rock heroine Janet Weiss on drums is as exuberant and dynamic as ever, even as she supplies sweet harmonies, while new addition Joanna Bolme seems a touch reserved but provides pulsating bass nevertheless.
Crowd favourites such as ‘When The Going Gets Dark’ and ‘The Sword of God’ mix comfortably with newer material such as ‘Little White Horse’ and ‘Laissez Les Bon Temps Rouler’. The current album’s ‘Black Dogs and Bubbles’ is an especially stunning mix of weary vocal, foreboding, funereal guitars, and doom-laden, metal crescendo.
Transferring to keyboard for a clutch of songs ‘Our Happiness is Guaranteed’ is in particular ecstatically received, with Coomes bouncing his instrument on his knee as he beats the crap out of its keys.
Back on guitar, ‘Ape Self Prevails In Me Still’ from cult classic ‘Featuring Birds’ is a gloriously noisy piece of schizo freak-out genius.
Right up until the last notes ring out, Coomes is still throwing himself around the stage, having earlier leaped from the drumkit and jumped on monitors throughout, inspiring a passionate crowd. Despite that aforementioned injustice, it’s perhaps all the better for those in the know, who can get close enough to see the whites in the eyes of alt-rock royalty such as these.