Vukovi are now on their third album (this year’s ‘Nula’) and it is a few years since BM last saw them at King Tut’s. This date was the end of a successful tour comprising British and European dates.
The headliners (core members Hamish and Janine plus their regular touring drummer) arrived onstage to a lot of cheering. The band had made a bit of an effort in terms of dressing up (it was the night before Hallowe’en and a lot of the audience were also rocking costumes, some of them downright scary – Hamish looked somewhat like ‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ star Leatherface). The music (a punishing blend of frazzled guitar, thunderous drums and a bass/effects backing track overlaid with Janine’s strident and very loud vocals) was brutal in tempo from the off, as the band played the first few of a total of 14 tracks, mainly from Nula but also a smattering from the first two albums as well.
After a few tracks Janine (typically) goaded the audience (there had been a couple of crowd surfers) about the lack of a moshpit, cue obviously for the outbreak of one of the liveliest that BM has seen this year. At this point Janine’s sparkly top, which had been fighting a losing battle with her chest, pretty much sprung off to reveal some strategically-placed gaffa tape crosses – nobody battled an eyelid and she continued with a couple of slower tracks, which she sung from on top of the crowd barrier.
After that it was back to the “bangers”, with the crowd-surfing becoming more frequent and the moshing more frenzied. During ‘Nula’ album track ‘I Exist’ several people down the front held up large signs saying “We Exist”, much to Janine’s surprise and pleasure. She almost lost it at one point, just on the edge of bawling her eyes out with sheer emotion.
The last couple of tracks, ‘Run/Hide’ and oldie ‘La Di Da’, were more like a victory lap and a further valediction that this band have developed into something of a monster of Scottish rock, doing things their way and with a devoted fanbase – Scottish summer festival bookers should look no further on this showing!