All photographs courtesy of Dale Harvey
It’s always nice to go to a birthday party, and when that birthday party is to celebrate the vibrant Scottish DIY scene marking 5 years of the brilliant Crowded Flat, with a high calibre line up of bands to help get the party rocking, it makes it all the sweeter. The independent music scene in Scotland is so strong just now, every week there seems to be a new band on the scene, with new singles dropping every few days, what a time to be alive…
I had a stressful time on my drive to the venue, living within almost Kenny McLean shooting from the halfway line distance of the national stadium I was held up as horde of pink cowboy hat bedecked middle aged women descended on the Southside to witness a bunch of washed up millionaires topping up their pension funds. That’s a strong no from me… DIY independent underground gigs for me all the way is where it’s at…
Anyway, as I parked up and sprinted, well semi-jogged (I’m an unfit middle aged man) to 1990, I was relieved to see the published stage times had pushed back a bit and I hadn’t missed any of the first band Quality Control who I’ve been wanting to catch for a while now but live dates always clashed with something…
Quality Control
The band, who have recently been joined by Oonagh from The Froobz on guitar, who played a blinder by the way considering she’d only had two rehearsals with the band before the gig. There were plenty of highlights strewn throughout their set including their brilliantly appropriate debut single Party Lover and Masterchef, inspired by a dream (or should that be nightmare) about “that noncey cunt” Greg Wallace, lyrics spat out with a vitriolic rage. The first cover of the night, their take on IDLES Well Done came with a huge well done from the early party heads. The band finished their set with their darkly ominous new single Nightmare and certainly didn’t disappoint with their hard n heavy riot grrrl punk. Their set started to create a real buzz of celebration around the venue, an electrically charged hum of revelry that continued to build as the night went on.
Big Girl’s Blouse
Next up it was the turn of a band I’m much more familiar with, having seen them several times now over the years, most recently at the incendiary show they put on for their recent single(s) launch in McChuills for Clean/My House. Sandwiching their set with their “girl” songs as they hit the ground running and kicked off in style with Sleepy Girls before rattling through a vigorous set including the aforementioned new single Clean and I Watched a Spider with guitarist Ross taking on lead vocals. At one point Emmy congratulated Crowded Flat on their 5th birthday adding, it’s not often you have friends who are 5, before a voice from behind the drums retorted “well that would be weird” much to everyone’s amusement… Joining in the celebrations with their party piece cover version, they took on the classic Heard it Through the Grapevine, which very much leaned towards The Slits cover rather than the Marvin Gaye original, with Emmy pulling off a commendable take on Ari Up’s distinct vocal style vocal. The tight quartet closed their set with one of my personal favourites, playing a boisterously energetic Token Girl to keep the crowd suitably hyped for what was still to come.
Youth for Sale
Next up it was appearance number one of the night for David Carruthers as part of the first band of many members for the night, Youth for Sale, took to the compact 1990 stage Korg, synths and all. Another first time for me seeing this band with this performance coming hot on the heels of their latest single release, Young Hearts. The band really impressed me with their tight harmonies, soaring synth lines and shimmering jangly guitars. As well as the aforementioned Young Hearts, for me their 2023 hypnotically mesmerising single Plummet was one of their set highlights. Of course, the band also joined in the party atmosphere with a cover of the Martin Solveig/Dragonette single Hello which had everything singing along in unison creating grins all round, including Naomi who looked as if she was could burst out laughing at any moment to as they kept the vibe going.
Bandit Country
Bandit Country raised the intensity levels when they kicked off their set with a vigorous romp through their debut single Lake to River with David prowling the stage… and the floor… like a man possessed. The intensity didn’t let up for the duration of their set, apart from the banter heavy “technical issues” break where they joked about getting what you paid for… Which is a good time to give a huge shout out to George, Harvey and Caitlin of Crowded Flat for all the amazing work they do for the underground/DIY music scene in Glasgow, people like them who have a love of music and a passion for the bands they put on are one of the reasons, along with Scottish Music Collective and others, that the scene is so vibrant and effervescent. And putting on a gig like this for a fiver is extraordinary. Also a special mention for their immense White Claw tower… ha ha. Back to Bandit Country, and the rest of their set, which as I said was as intense as their opening song, a full on aural assault with their fiercely potent sound living up to the name of their recent single Colossal. Their contribution to the covers for the night? An energetic take on Billy Idol’s Dancing With Myself with an ecstatically exuberant reaction from the hyped up punters before the band went on to close their set with a raucous Loathsome Tonight maintaining the jubilant reaction from the rowdy crowd which reached a peak of uninhibited jubilance… Dale’s crowd pictures capturing the vibe perfectly!
waverley.
It was down to Edinburgh’s waverley. to close the night and they took the task in their stride, playing an exquisite set of their earnestly ardent indie rock/folk fusion. The interplay between co-vocalists Donnie & Ewan gives each song its own unique personality while maintaining a sound which has the bands name written all over it. Their songs are heavy on melody with every member of the band’s individual input seamlessly blending together to create their absorbing signature sound, a glorious sound which builds to impassioned peaks and soars into the atmosphere, How It Starts was certainly one of their set highlights, an intensely spirited microcosm of the world of waverley. Even their choice of cover for the night, the Hootie & the Blowfish standard Accidentally in Love, while it was a lot of fun, also had a beautiful tumultuous energy to it. All too soon their set was over, closing the lid on a glorious celebration of all that is great about the independent music scene is Scotland. Thanks to the Crowded Flat trio for putting on such a special night and to the exuberant Glasgow music fans who support this effervescent scene.
A quick shout out to Oedipus and the Mamas Boys frontman Charlie Gates, resplendent in his Opus Kink t-shirt, who was DJing in the bar upstairs. I hadn’t moved from the basement all night, and had to quench my thirst with a long cold drink before heading off into the night and I enjoyed him spinning New Order’s True Faith and Spike Island by Pulp setting me up for the dreich walk back to my car.
Here’s to the next 5 years of Crowded Flat!
The New Sound of Scotland CD
Mildly interesting facts (and a bit of selfless promo…)… the two bands on the bill that feature on the You Are Here – New Sound of Scotland, Big Girls Blouse and Bandit Country closed their sets with the songs they contributed, Token Girl and Loathsome Tonight. Oonagh who played guitar for Quality Control features on the CD with The Froobz Manchild and Youth For Sale’s Naomi McKay is also there with her other band Quad 90 and their song Anodyne. Charlie’s band Oedipus & the Mama’s Boys Bleed single also appears, and a tenuous link here, but as I saw various band members from PVC in the crows, and their track Sitcom is there too…
You can pick up your very own copy of this CDs directly from me. Send your £12 to paypal.me/NeilHodge9 and I’ll send you a brilliant 30 track CD featuring a cross section of bands currently part of this wonderful scene…
