The idea of a mini-festival in central Glasgow in August seemed like a good idea at the time – that the date fell in the middle of a cycling competition which cut the venues off from the roads system and a recently introduced Low Emission Zone may have had the organisers (The Filthy Tongues) and some of the bands cursing. The event was however very successful, being almost sold out and the choice of support acts from, shall we say, a wide age-range meant that they brought some of a younger crowd so TFT die-hards like BM and others didn’t make up the entire audience!
BM missed the first couple of bands due to a wee engagement in George Square but arrived in time to see Jim and Shona play a storming Nanobots set to an increasing audience in Stereo. The duo played guitars and deployed a backing track to beef up their Sci-fi from Hell-derived ditties. Like Scotland’s answer to Devo crossed with some B52s/Rezillos attitude, the songs mainly covered intergalactic themes.
Across the road and up the stairs Kilgour played an interesting and varied set. Main vocalist and guitarist Fionn confessed to feeling a bit rough (“courtesy of Bread Meats Bread”) but seemed to rally as they continued through the set. From memory BM thinks a five-piece, the songs were quite reminiscent (in a good way) of long lost Dublin outfit Whipping Boy, dark and emotional, with even some slightly late period Nirvana-esque stylings.
Over in Stereo the sort-of headliners (though not the last on) The Filthy Tongues played their usual apocalyptic fusion of blues, pop and Americana, Martin Metcalfe’s vocals genuinely sounding better than ever. There wasn’t much time for chat though as they were subject to the venue’s brutal 10am hard deadline curfew – presumably the late opening club night has a thirstier clientele… The set drew from all three TFT albums although no earlier Isa-era stuff tonight. ‘Rab McVie’ sounded especially good, as did newer songs like ‘Hang My Head’. By the time they finished they were drenched in sweat but had proved again they are one of Scotland’s most enduring and unique combos.
The Old Hairdresser’s was not subject to a curfew so the fun carried on there with Scorpio Leisure, substituting for the cancellation of Casual Worker. BM had heard some very favourable things about these East Coast comrades of TFT, so anticipated a blistering show and that was indeed what we got. The four-piece band have some very experienced people in their number including ex-Win/Sexual Objects/etc drummer Russell Burn and Colin J Whitson who has a similar pedigree. Add to that younger guitarist Mungo and the charismatic lead singer Heather/Hettie and you have a combustible combination. On tracks like ‘Feral Life’ Russell deployed electronic percussion in a pretty weird way, referencing punk and Krautrock, while ‘Seeker’ saw more guitar in the mix. Hettie projected an almost Deborah from Flying Lizards vs Debbie from Blondie-esque persona as she minced and teased her way through the set, and they all seemed pretty pleased about the performance when things wrapped up around 10.45pm and Chris Bainbridge starting spinning discs until last orders.