All photographs courtesy of Chris Hogge (@chrishoggephotography) • Instagram photos and videos
It feels that there has always been an affinity between Scotland, particularly Glasgow, and New York. It seems that the spirit of the cities live within each other. Perhaps it’s because we look alike, with Glasgow often substituting for the Big Apple in Hollywood blockbusters and then there is New York hosting a Tartan Week, perhaps it’s because both cities have a strong musical heritage spawning some of the worlds best bands and having some of the most iconic music venues, past and present. Or maybe it’s just because each cities people know how party and have a good time.
The latter was certainly the case in the sweat box that was a sold out Room 2 with band and audience both vibing from the electrically charged energy exuded by each over. Over the years, Glasgow seems to have taken the eccentric NYC rockers to its heart, welcoming them to her bosom as one of their own. It’s not often a band from New York visits these shores which such regularity, even on mid-week nights playing to packed venues, in 2022 they even played 2 consecutive nights in Mono and have also released a live album partially recorded at the city’s Poetry Club in 2018.
Prior to the incendiary set by the headliners it was the turn of Gift, another NYC band, to wow the packed venue. Not to be mistaken for Giftshop, also from NYC and much loved by the GQ, this quintet are a “new to me” band which I have definitely marked as requiring further investigation after their gloriously hard to pigeonhole set mixing garage rock guitars with old school psych-synths and effects laden vocals. I relish the two albums worth of listening I have to catch up on.
A roar went up as the beloved headliners took to the stage, core members Ben Hozie and Nikki Belfiglio resplendent in furry bunnet and a dress emblazoned with the typography quip “Rot in Helvetica”, I’ll leave you to guess who was wearing what. The five piece, completed by Dan Ryan on guitar, and Adam Shumski on stand up percussion and Tim Race standing in for Adam See on bass were, to put it simply, tight as fuck for the entirety of their set. Utterly at one with each other as they played with an unerring unified syncopation.
Sharing vocal duties, Hozie and Belfiglio also had the audience eating out of the palms of their hands throughout, their interactions and between song repartee kept to a snappy minimum as they managed to cram a staggeringly immeasurable number of songs into their solid 90 minute set (OK, it was 26 songs to be precise fact fans) Theirs is a unique post punk sound very much rooted in the NYC alternative music scene, but if I was to keep the Scottish/NYC love-in going, at times they sound like the bastard offspring of The Velvet Underground & Josef K/The Fire Engines (or The Pop Group, Gang of Four and their ilk), with Uncle Vinne Stigma coming to play and Auntie Poly Styrene with her X Ray Spex making a wee visit from down south… However you might want to describe the band, one things is for sure, theirs is an unrelenting sonic maelstrom that shoots straight to the sweet spot creating that soul-satisfying and much needed, hit of dopamine.
Hozie’s hat unsurprisingly got ditched after a short while as temperatures reached intense levels. It wasn’t just the heat that was merciless though, the ferocity of the bands playing showed no bounds with the frenzied dual guitar assault taking no prisoners, while the rhythm section created the sublime and solid undercurrent, and Belfiglio never missed a beat with her right hand in perpetual motion keeping perfect time on her cymbal, well. apart from during the last section when she sent it flying as she paraded around the stage.
This tour is to promote the release of their latest record, which is effectively a re-recording of the Bodega Bay album, the band the two vocalists were part of prior to re-branding as Bodega. This Could Be Yr Life, is an elongated comment on consumer culture and advertising, with Belfiglio joking during the set that the only award they have ever been nominated for was for their marketing. While the tour is to promote this album, the band know their crowd… the setlist was culled from right across their back catalogue, with Boxes For the Move from Endless Scroll being specifically requested via social media prior to the gig… Talking of requests, as the band reached the climax of their triumphant set the last three songs were left up to the crowd, Ben and Nikki encouraging the heaving mass of bodies to shout out for their favourites, which included another couple of Endless Scroll songs, Truth is Not Punishment and I Am Not a Cinephile, which were lapped up with eager enthusiasm.
You would be forgiven to think that was the end of the show… but that wasn’t enough for Bodega, with the quintet returning to the stage and Nikki announcing they only had 5 minutes left, following up quickly with “that’s enough for two more songs” before rampaging through How Did This Happen? and Cultural Consumer III. A perfect end to an epic night, that’s the way to satisfy a Glasgow audience.