All Photos courtesy of Dale Harvey
What should have been my third gig of 2026 turned out to be my first one, and it was a belter with four very different bands all ploughing their own furrow in their chosen genre, or indeed just by ploughing their own furrow full stop and in doing so defying pigeonholing…
The first band on the bill were a case in point, when I previously saw Vacant Pavements supporting Tanzana in McChuills I was late to the venue and only caught the last song of their set, which was more than enough to whet the appetite for more, I’m disappointed in myself that it’s taken until now to fix that. But better late than never. As mentioned, as a band they are gloriously hard to pigeonhole, a two piece (guitar and bass) bolstered by an array of electronic synth sounds and drums, Paddy from the band has stated in interviews that they take their influence from the wasteland of Chernobyl. With that in mind you don’t expect a joyous set of happy indie anthems, this pair are dark with a capital D…the first half of their set was a perfect demonstration of all encompassing darkly majestic doom laden sweeping soundscapes, a bit like Joy Divison on steroids. The sound enveloped you and when the vocals kicked in they were delivered starkly and with a suitably bleak sustained echo. I should point out that there was a trip hop cover in there too, with the duo taking on Massive Attack’s Angel, like it’s never been done before. The second half of the set was slightly more upbeat, that doesn’t mean it was all happy happy joy joy, but they did kick the 1980s alt-electronica beats up a gear or two, add to that an element of goth/industrial influences, and their brilliantly titled single Love is a Fickle Thing hinted at the sound of bands like Nitzer Ebb.
A change of pace and mood with Citizen Head who were clearly there to have a good time, coming in fancy dress in tribute to the bass players dad’s succession of crap halloween outfits…and they lived by the adage of we’re here for a good time, not a long time, by romping though their set at record pace, and having so much fun, finishing with 10 minutes to spare. They wore their influences firmly on their sleeves, with a set of 1990s alternative rock/nu metal/pop punk covers from Offspring to Le Tigre (a highly enjoyable Deceptacon) and taking in McFly along the way, the bands own songs displayed a combination of the influences of the covers. Their impromptu additional covers to fill their time of Killing in the Name and Bikini Girl’s Rebel Girl went down a storm. A lot of fun.
Next up it was a hotly anticipated set from the gloriously rambunctious Oedipus and the Mamas Boy on the eve of the release of their second single Stretched/Kitchens, the follow up to their remarkable debut Bleed which appears on the New Sound of Scotland CD currently in production. The band are an enigma of sorts in that the music they produce almost defies description, in a good way of course. Their performance on the tightly packed Tuts stage was one of finely controlled chaos with 8 musicians on stage – with 2 guitars, a bass, fiddle, synth, saxophone, trumpet and drums, add to that effects pedals galore and you had the makings of something pretty damned special. There is something about the band that has me recalling gigs of old by the likes of Fat White Family and The Blinders, such is the intensity to the bands sound, one that gives an impression that things could explode at any point, and indeed they did on several occasions, and none more so than on their epic new single, the aforementioned Stretched/KItchens, kicking off with gentle vocals from Gemima backed by Charlie against a backdrop of an empathetic minimalistic arrangement of melancholic fiddle and guitar/bass before the song explodes into a beautifully discordant melee, like the release of fervent pent up energy, while Gemima and Charlie’s vocals shone though the glorious noise. And that was the band just getting warmed up, the rest of their set was a celebration of everything that is great about seeing young bands passionate about their music ply their trade in grassroots venues, with Charlie and Co. throwing everything into their performance, including forays into the crowd and distributing glow sticks, they were hyperactive to the max as they performed riotous versions of H.O.T.S. and Cowboy Song before the perfect closing salvo of the chant-along Free My Body Up and Kill Bill. Get along to an Oedipus show at the earliest opportunity, trust me you’ll thank me later.
Headliners tonight Awful Eyes have only been around for 9 months as a band, and had released 2 singles… I was confused when I went to listen to Read the Room the other day and I couldn’t find it, but bass player Olivia cleared that up before they played the song “we released two singles but then we unreleased one…” In that short time they’ve built up quite a formidable reputation as one of the bands to watch in the Glasgow scene. Sticking to the subject of bass players for the moment, one of the things that stands out to me when I’ve seen Awful Eyes live is some pretty fierce bass lines that emanate from stage right underpinning the bands sound. A sound that includes lead vocals delivered by all band members in front of the drum kit, from Jess and Percy on guitar to Olivia on bass. Their set tonight demonstrated why the band are on the ascendency, engaging with the crowd, playing a tight highly charged set of post punk songs brimming with a side order of sardonic punk attitude, I particularly enjoyed their new new song Snakes and Ladders. Despite that fiery attitude, the band were there to spread the love, and that they did in shovelfuls with a cracking cover of B52s Love Shack, and I was proud of Jess who managed to hold it together in an impassioned tribute to her late Dad, who she lost in November, attributing her love of music to him before an appeal to “rip the fucking roof off” for him as they tore into an incendiary version of their brilliant “spot the song references” single Post Punk Revival to close their triumphant set. Definitely ones to watch.
