Dead Hope - The Ginger Quiff

Scorpio Leisure, Casual Worker & Spread Eagle – live in The Rum Shack

March 25, 2023 By neilho27@sky.com

Take one measure of Rum (Shack) add an intoxicating blend of three 100% proof bands and mix well with an effervescent crowd, fizzing in anticipation, and you have a veritable cocktail, enough to brighten another dreich night in Glasgow’s south side. The Rum Shack has built a reputation for itself as one of Glasgow’s best club-sized venues, and rightly so, a great atmosphere building in the bar next door, and transferring to the venue itself, a venue which has great acoustics and plenty of space to get great views of the stage and bands.

I was disappointed not to have made it though to Edinburgh for the first show by tonight’s headliners, Scorpio Leisure, when they supported Lydia Lunch.… Read the rest

Syvdoh – Gentlemen – album review

March 4, 2023 By neilho27@sky.com

Two of my favourite albums of recent years have artwork featuring images of, or in, The Laurieston. The debut album from Album Club featured a shot of the outside of the legendary institution, while the latest album from Syvdoh, Gentlemen, features an image of the door of… well I’m sure you can guess.

Syvdoh’s new album is, as I would have come to expect, a work of utter genius, both musically and lyrically. For the unacquainted, I believe when I reviewed their last album, Death 1 Syvdoh 0, I described it along the lines of “death shouldn’t be this enjoyable”, a tag which could also sit well with Gentlemen.… Read the rest

Junk Pups & Tina Sandwich live – Nice n Sleazy

February 27, 2023 By neilho27@sky.com

It was the end of a week/weekend where, for one reason or another I missed another couple of gigs that promised much… but so did Sunday night’s Sleazy Sessions in, where else but Nice n Sleazy on Sauchiehall Street, and I managed to make that one. This was a showcase for five artists/bands, but there were a couple in particular that caught my eye, two of my bright hopes for 2023, none other than the formidable Tina Sandwich, and the dynamic four piece that make up the awe-inspiring Junk Pups.

Emma Dunlop opened the night in impressive style, coming onstage just her and an acoustic guitar.… Read the rest

Brenda – Band Interview

February 26, 2023 By neilho27@sky.com

2023 is Brenda’s year for the taking. With a debut album coming later this year and before that singles in the shape of Cease and Desist and Microscopic Babe with its LA recorded video. I had a chance to shoot the breeze with Flore, Apsi and Litty, and with an attitude as refreshing as their music, there is nothing in the way that can stop this unique trio.

It was a dreich Saturday afternoon when I met the band, but the atmosphere in The Bell Jar was warm and inviting as was the welcome from the three members of Brenda, and the now famous Pat (Flore’s dog, who is also the subject of a song by her other band Water Machine).… Read the rest

Water Machine again… with The Cool Greenhouse and Former Champ

January 22, 2023 By neilho27@sky.com

Witnessing Water Machine again came at the end of a week that began with Westminster making an attempt to block the Gender Recognition Reform Bill recently passed by the Scottish Parliament, resulting in loads of Karen’s coming out of the woodwork to express their outrage, literally. I heard a debate on the radio where an atypical Daily Mail reader, called Karen, I shit you not, was having apoplexy live on air, but could not back up the reason for her anger with anything remotely resembling coherent thoughts. The week ended in a show of support for the trans community with a protest at the Concert Hall steps on Buchanan Street against using trans rights as a political football.… Read the rest

Bikini Body/Water Machine/Jock Fox/Sacred Noise – First Footing – live in The Hug and Pint

January 8, 2023 By neilho27@sky.com

This gig was brought to you by 432 presents. And COWBELLS!

In my world you can never have too many cowbells so this gig felt like cowbell utopia.

All joking aside, the abundance of cowbells that ran throughout most of the bands sets tonight was only a small contributing part of what made this the perfect gig to start my music year off with a bang.

Tonight was the perfect tonic for the January blues. Despite being known as Mr Christmas in some quarters, I didn’t really “feel” Christmas last year, so there wasn’t the usual post Christmas comedown, just a general feeling of malaise and relief that the shitshow of 2022 is now in the past.… Read the rest

Review of the Year – 2022

January 7, 2023 By neilho27@sky.com

If I don’t get my arse in gear, it’ll be February before I publish my round up of 2022. To be honest, I’ve still got a (virtual) pile of albums still to review… as a result, some of my favourite records of 2022 will be in the lists but remain unreviewed!

Singles of the Year

I already published my top 15 singles of the year (well actually I published a list of 80 songs…. but my top 15 were as follows:

15 – Dumb Poets – Magic Happens

14 – Dream Wife – Leech

13 – Syvdoh – As I Lay Dying

12 – The Bobby Lees – Monkey Mind

11 – Collars – Baby I’m Bored

10 – Keeley – Shadows on the Hill

9 – His Lordship – All Cranked Up

8 – Brontes – First Hand Arrogance

7 – Jemma Freeman and the Cosmic Something Easy Peelers

6 – Sacred Noise – Part of Me

5 – Junk Pups – Miss Behave

4 – Horsegirl – Anti Glory

3 – Pizza Crunch – Wilting Youth

2 – Water Machine – Hot Real Estate

1 – Monica Queen – What is Home?

… Read the rest

Introducing Water Machine – Band Interview

January 7, 2023 By neilho27@sky.com

On the eve of their first gig of 2023 and following a series of much talked about gigs towards the end of last year, I caught up with Water Machine to talk about the band, their music, gigs and their upcoming plans. The band were in high spirits when I met them, after a rehearsal prior to their gig with Bikini Body in the Hug and Pint, their good humour and infectious sunny disposition entirely contagious and a much needed tonic, so I was keen to find out more about the band members and how the band came together.

Introducing the Band

Jimmy: I did this solo thing for years called Passion Pusher, we done an album, I wasn’t happy with it, we did a tour and only played one song from the album, I took a long break from music and now I do this and I’ve just started a band called Goodbody with Rachel and we’re going into La Chunky at the end of the month with Paul Thomson to do tape loops and stuff.… Read the rest

The Filthy Tongues – In These Dark Places – album review

December 23, 2022 By neilho27@sky.com

It feels like forever since Back to Hell, the second instalment in The Filthy Tongues dark trilogy exploring the gloomier, murkier aspects of Auld Reekie. The final instalment, In These Dark Places is a flawless ending to the remarkable triumvirate continuing the caliginous tales of the less salubrious side of life in the capital city, but ending with perhaps a chink of light, a certain element of positivity and hope of a rebirth shrouded in desperation and regret?

We’ve been through a rough few years since the last instalment, reflected on the album in singles Gas Mask Blues and Pandemic Pete, both of which display an element of dark humour, which I’m sure we all can relate to in surviving the days of lockdown that felt like aeons, as we all found our own coping mechanisms in getting through.… Read the rest

Water Machine – S/T Demo Tape

December 21, 2022 By neilho27@sky.com

Water Machine have recently been making waves in the Glasgow music scene, currently bubbling under and fresh from what I gather was a superb support slot at Monorail’s birthday bash supporting Gerry Love, if there is any justice, 2023 will see the band reach boiling point and explode like a geyser.

Enough of the shite water puns. The band’s music deserves better than my lame attempts at humour.

I’ve recently been conversing online with Jimmy from the band, who are a bit of a Glasgow music scene supergroup, and was half joking about creating a family tree to trace all the connections.… Read the rest