This was the second of two nights where Chem19 gave bands who had recorded through the Creative Scotland-backed demo fund at the Blantyre studio the chance to show their stuff live in the renowned Southside gem which is the Glad.
Again much praise from BM to the Glad and Paul and Emma from Chemikal for putting this on – as Emma said when introducing the bands, there is not too much money in physical sales any more so playing live is the only real way for aspiring musicians to pay the bills.
The venue was busy, not packed, with a very reasonable door price of £5 entry for four acts.
First on was Ross Woodhouse, who sang solo with an electric keyboard. He has some voice, big, soulful and with a good range. First song ‘Spiral’ immediately had the audience pretty rapt, with no chatting during this at all. He followed with a Tina Turner cover, an unlikely but very effective choice, again showing his vocal talents.
‘Black Summer’ was an original and BM would have to say that it sounded like a very mature piece of songwriting,really impressive. The other songs in this shortish set were also good and BM thinks Ross could be a major talent, so one to watch out for…
Second on were The Lower Depths, a guitar and drums duo, mainly showing off the talents of Angus Gibson, who has released music on Bandcamp as well as the Chem19 demo.
There were some good tracks, starting with ‘(Nobody Knows) How To Talk To Girls’ – BM did thing the guitar playing was a wee bit vanilla, for example a few pedal effects would not go amiss among the Lou Reed-esque strums, but hey, who is BM to make suggestions, it was a confident set and anyone who can sing and play guitar at once is beyond BM’s range of talents!
After that we had Chrissy Barnacle (real name,? not sure!), a female solo singer/songwriter who has been around for a couple of years and has a unique voice and take on the world. Each song was introduced by a vivid, sometimes surreal/mad narrative, from dreams to ex-boyfriends to personal obsessions, she has it all.
The voice is small, subtle but very expressive – there are shade of Joanna Newsom, Kate Bush and others but live it is a thing of wonder. Self-deprecating, idiosyncratic and charming, she could go far but enjoyed this intimate gig in front of a very appreciate audience.
Last up were Gardening For Bumblebees, an duo who have some good tunes, mainly guitar and drums, Sam and Joe do several songs, like “‘Leaf Collecting’ and ‘The Narrow Door’, with good humour and some catchiness. They have an entertaining, folky vibe about them and some gorgeous minor chords – there is a touch of the Jeff Buckley about the singing, in a good way…
All in all a very good night’s entertainment from diverse and interesting acts – fair play again to Chemikal and The Glad for putting it on, hopefully it could become an annual or regular event.