I’m not truthfully sure what the Edinburgh Printmakers are, but their name, and the blurb for a show which is close to the end of the festival, suggests the Art School may be involved. Well, these facts coupled with the fact that the first act I encounter is doing a trouser solo. No, matron, he – Malcy Duff? – has mic’ed up some trousers (happily, not the ones he’s wearing) and, well, is making a noise with them. Bemusement is mixed with ‘appreciation’ from some of the crowd, presumably those who have studied art themselves.
Next up is, possibly, Lee O’Connor, whose two song set shows some nice songwriting touches, but sadly stagecraft isn’t his strong suit, with rather muffled vocals and uncertain instrumentation.
Nob (I assume) start promisingly, but soon attitude wins over performance – facing away from the audience, they deliver a wall of guitars and computerised beats and noises. The Marychain-esque grind shows little light or shade or indeed very much to differentiate between the numbers they play – if indeed it’s not all the one big tune.
They are of course musical leviathans compared to what follows… The District Nurse is a man (we assume) with a bucket on his head and who plays seagull noises at full volume through a megaphone. Unpleasantly unlistenable, people run from the venue covering their ears. Mission accomplished, we suspect.
After an almost interminable wait, the main event: The Frankensteins. Boasting as they do a couple of ex-Fall members, it’d not be unreasonable to expect some similarities. And yes, what we get is some goodnaturedly shambolic grooves from what looks like a pickup band fronted by an increasingly eccentric lead singer. Steven Hanley is even clad in a lame shirt and The Frankensteins have the decided look of a cabaret band about them – which of course they are.
However, they’re not on the chicken in a basket circuit, not quite – performing originals, it appears that this lot are good to go. Although there’s no denying that they sound an awful lot like The Fall.
And since Hanley and Tommy Crooks have served time with Mark E Smith, they’re quite entitled to roll out a few oldies – so that they restrict themselves to Dragnet’s ‘Before The Moon Falls’ is to their credit.
They do however sign off with a rollicking ‘New Face In Hell’ which the singer delivers from inside his jumper – as much of an artistic statement as we get all night.