A cloudy and dank bank holiday Sunday in Glasgow – as the old firm semi-final played out in the southside where better to be than on Sauchiehall St for another Stag and Dagger.
Edinburgh was the previous day, with some interesting reports of the various venues being used – for Glasgow this year BM thinks that Firewater was a new one for S&D, while apparently St Andrews Church in Bath St has been used before but if so BM either wasn’t there that year (there have been a couple of those years) or simply doesn’t remember.
BM is slightly surprised by this event, given that it never completely sells out, doesn’t really have much of a media profile and the “curation” such as it is remains a slight mystery – the other thing is that BM seems to recall the festival ran the same weekend in London for a few years, so did it stop there and become a solely Edinburgh/Glasgow thing? – looks like it, in which case PCL must do all the booking and not just piggyback onto a London promoter. Seems to be a combination of bands who are touring anyway, some from US/Canada, plus others who presumably apply or get asked. Occasionally someone features who goes on to far-bigger things and it is maybe that and the urge for the unfamiliar, and the between-venue chat about what acts were great in Edinburgh that means BM looks forward to this each year, a bit like a Scottish outdoor festival without the mud or sunburn…
(obviously with well over 50 bands on offer in multiple venues some choices had to be made, some of which maybe did not turn out for the best – most bands on this list got a fair hearing though, and some brief encounters have simply been left off).
Being in the basement at Broadcast for 2 in the afternoon always seems a bit decadent, but things started well with a set from Edinburgh combo Swiss Portrait, who BM has tracked across a couple of years but never seen live. A four-piece featuring singer/songwriter Michael on vocals/guitar, they played a nifty set of melodic indie, including a couple of released tracks and a couple not out yet. Hogwart’s Legacy chat seemed to be a running theme and Michael made the first foray into the audience of the afternoon (with no barrier at Broadcast this is the most likely spot for a bit of getting involved with the punters) – second last track ‘Cassettes’ caught BM’s ear as a gorgeous slice of Teenage Fanclub-esque chiming guitar-pop.
Shelf Lives were on next in Broadcast – a two-person noise-pop combo featuring Sabrina, originally from Canada on vocals/occasionally keys, and Chris from London on some very crunchy guitar and electronic percussion/noise – they put in an energetic shift, Sabrina baiting the audience with her crazed stare and bad attitude, tottering on the edge of the stage in people’s faces. For BM’s money they have some lineage with Ayrshire’s Vukovi, who aren’t spotted nearly enough around these parts…
Downstairs at Firewater there is quite an extensive venue setup (BM was told it used to be a bank but can’t remember being here in any of its incarnations. Maruja are from Manchester and have a somewhat punky attitude, plus extensive deployment of a sax, which builds the sound up to some extensive wigouts. At one point a male audience member did the full Michael Clarke (yes BM checked, he was a trained dancer) in the front row, people had to duck from flying limbs. The vocal style was shouty, dissatisfied and very effective – seems that a new crop of bands have been listening to Sleaford Mods and the Fall (again!).
Talk Show (Broadcast as well) gave a good account of themselves – a four-piece with some slightly Suede-esque musical and vocal mannerisms, also the first taps-off sighting of the day (maybe the only one in fact) as the singer stripped to the waist. Good motorik beats, squalling guitar and some rousing choruses make for a slightly chaotic but enjoyable set – hope they come back soon!
Majesty Palm (back in Broadcast) are another Scottish act, a female-fronted five-piece with a nice line in dreamy electronic disco – very melodic, and they drew a good crowd.
Acid Klaus could have done with a larger venue than Broadcast – the four-piece played a set of 808 State-influenced rave disco, and the audience loved it. The two female singers got involved with the crowd and people partied like it was 1988. Klaus himself, in his sensible parka, hat and shades, claims to be a failed Manchester DJ from the era – it’s certainly a consistent story – whether true or not the combo gives great vibes.
Upstairs in the main Garage venue BM missed the first couple of Alice Glass tracks – the place is not really that full, given that this Glasgow appearance must be her first one in the city since her band Crystal Castles played the same venue some years ago (checks previous gig review, 2016 actually) – there is also the problem that the sound just isn’t loud enough. Given it appears to be played entirely through one laptop and she has to hear her own vocals maybe this is inevitable but the sort of bleepy, trancey electronica with chipmunk-pitched vocals just doesn’t work unless it is pounding. One of the less evolved security staff in the venue threatened to eject BM for opining thus, so it was with a heavy heart that a retreat was beaten to the bar, where it sounded even quieter. There were a couple of old CC numbers in there and the new stuff sounded ok, but oh dear me what an opportunity missed…
Was this Scalping’s first trip to Scotland? Checking setlist.fm it looked quite likely. Appearing at St Andrews Church, in a sizeable hall with a pumped up sound system they wowed a pretty large crowd with electro-goth slices of doomy beats, FX and guitar. Not too much in the way of vocals but the overall effect was atmospheric, helped by some nifty back-projections – rather good.
BM at this point began to lose track of time a bit but did see slightly mysterious partially masked outfit Deijuvhs, who kicked up a fuss back at Broadcast with some further doomy electrogoth malarkey. Short on details or song titles but another band which went down very well live.
BM’s night was rounded off by Scottish act Redolent, numbering probably six and looking like an interview committee behind large banks of keyboard and effects machines. There was a drummer at the back and a singer at the front though, and the overall sound was glorious, orchestrated indie-pop. Playing tracks from current EP ‘Make Big Money Fast Online Now’ along with some unreleased and previous material the band are developing into something very interesting indeed and BM is keen to witness the full set at some point soon. Anyway with no rest for the wicked the following day it was time to exit (the fun did continue for a couple more hours) and pull the curtain down on another interesting year of Stag and Dagger.