Sex Swing / Teleost / Shag Nasty

Not a combo with the most internet-friendly name, BM first became aware of this lot through their ‘Night Time Worker’ track almost a decade ago but they have never (until now) ventured north of the border for a live date. Playing at Audio, an unassuming venue but with a very decent sound system, they headlined over two local support acts.

First up was Teleost, a self-declared “Doom Duo” who have recently relocated to Glasgow from York. With Leo on guitar/effects/vocals and Cat on drums/vocals, they kicked up a grinding, brooding and dark racket, although with some surprising melodies in the vocals and the guitar solos breaking out from the gloom.

With maybe some shades of Sun O))), they played 4 or 5 tracks mainly from their current ‘Three Originals’ EP. Definitely worth catching live…

Next up were Glasgow band Shag Nasty, a four-piece who ramped the BPM up a fair bit with a harsh sound but slightly more OTT lyrics (‘Blair Witch Ear’….). They put in a shift high in energy levels and with a lot of shouting…

The headliners are effectively a psych/noise supergroup, a six-piece combo comprising members who mainly play in other London-based combos (including Earth…) – maybe that’s why their touring has been quite limited over the years.

With a newish album to promote (‘Golden Triangle’), the set started with a Scottish based pal of theirs (Bruce) reciting the words which open album track ‘Boten 13’ before all sonic hell broke loose. With an armoury which included a massive tenor sax, guitars, keyboards, drums and a shuddering bass noise, they laid into several of their newest tracks before going back to a few older ones.

Lead vocalist Dan growled and yelled his way through the set, pacing the stage like a caged animal, while Colin’s sax parped and squealed above the din, giving them probably their signature sound and USP as a live act as well. BM could hear shades of PIL and possibly Idles (who have interestingly remixed at least one SS track) – this was not for the faint-hearted!

The set closed with a furious version of ‘Night Time Worker’ which was quite frankly the scariest thing BM has witnessed for a while. After the gig several band members vowed to return to Scotland soonish – let’s hope they do…