post punk - The Ginger Quiff

Fragile Gang - A Plausible and Desirable Future

Fragile Gang – A Plausible & Desirable Future (album review)

August 23, 2019 By neilho27@sky.com

Fragile Gang is a band from El Paso, Texas, their new album A Plausible and Desirable Future takes its name from the novel Exit West by Mohsin Hamid. The songs on the album share some of the book’s topics. As you may expect from a band from their location, the socially conscious songs are influenced by a number of subjects, including migration.

Indie/Noisy Pop/Shoegaze…

The band describe themselves as “indie/sometimes noisy pop/shoegaze” a description that pretty much accurately sums up what I hear when I listen.

Good to Go opens the album opens with a vibrating electric hum, pulsating with energy, building and crackling before it bursts into a mellifluous combination of driving guitar, crashing drums and sonorous melodic vocal.… Read the rest

The Kaplans – Sesiones De Primavera – EP review

August 21, 2019 By neilho27@sky.com

Hot on the heels of reviewing their album, Urban Elephants, for Razur Cuts (street literature magazine) the latest EP from The Kaplans dropped through my letterbox recently.

A very welcome addition to my CD collection it is too. As a recent convert to the music of the band, I find myself lapping up every new tune I hear from them. The three tracks on this EP provide me with much more to love about this band.

Yes Means No

The first track is introduced with a sample from (what I assume to be) an intro on a Mexican radio station to the playing of one of their songs – I base this purely on the words Mexico and Glasgow in the sample.… Read the rest

Friday I’m in Love… The Cure live in Glasgow

August 17, 2019 By neilho27@sky.com

What follows is part social commentary, part mental health awareness and part gig review…

Life’s Rich Tapestry

Friday the 16^th of August was a stitching together of several threads of the complex tapestry that makes up life.

I’m sure I’m not alone in having a job that, for the most part you enjoy and get an element of satisfaction from what you do, however, it can be also infuriatingly frustrating and stressful. One that involves weeks where you put in hours of extra effort that involves massive inroads into your personal life. But you do it because it is who you are, you are the type of person who want to do a good job and have a dedication to doing the best you can.… Read the rest

16 Years Scottish Club Gigs in Scorland 1974-1990

Spotlight on – 16 Years: Gigs in Scotland 1974 – 1990

July 29, 2019 By neilho27@sky.com

Do you love live music?

Are you (or were you), like me, a regular gig-goer, and some of your best live experiences were in the small venues where you can see the whites of the eyes of the bands?

Did you attend club-sized gigs in the late seventies or eighties early on in a bands career?

Do you just like music and are interested in seeing pictures and other memorabilia from club gigs around Scotland?

If you answer yes to any of these questions, then there is a book for you in the off-ing. Read on to find out more, but consider as you read, the success of this venture is down to you… and you…and you…Don’t just read this, think “that sounds great”, then continue surfing the net or scrolling through facebook.… Read the rest

Sunstinger – She Stole My Sky – single review

July 27, 2019 By neilho27@sky.com

She Stole My Sky

From the penetrating opening guitar cacophony I was captured by She Stole My Sky, a sound that brought back memories of the peak of shoegaze in the 90’s.

As the track progressed Sunstinger’s intense shoegaze leanings gave way to a sound akin to indie darlings The Twilight Sad, with a hint of psychedelia and a vocal that occasionally tips its hat to a delivery consonant to several Mancunian/Liverpudlian luminaries.

An all pervading sound and a song I will definitely be revisiting time and again.

Story behind the song…

When you listen to the lyrics, it becomes apparent that the lush piercing music soundscape tells a stark story.… Read the rest

A Beautiful Night Out – Therapy? & The Levellers in Kelvingrove

July 3, 2019 By neilho27@sky.com

Another West End evening

Sunday night and I found myself Kelvingrove bound for the second time in a week.

Having experienced a couple of days that hadn’t quite gone to plan up until then, I was hoping for a positive end to the weekend. Great company was a good omen for starters, and despite the Glasgow summer being as unpredictable as the next gig announcement in a year of pleasant surprises so far, it looked like the rain would hold off.

Idlewild frontman Roddy Woomble was playing an acoustic support set as we stood shooting the breeze while waiting outside for a ticket to arrive.… Read the rest

Membranes What Nature Gives...Nature Takes Away

The Membranes – What Nature Gives… album review

June 19, 2019 By neilho27@sky.com

Four Seasons for the punk generation

It took a while for me to find the right words to put to this review. On the first couple of listens I was totally blown away, lost for words.

You see, What Nature Gives…Nature Takes Away is far more than just an album. Like nature itself, it is profound and unstoppable, a Tour De Force, an irresistible masterpiece in four parts. Vivaldi’s Four Seasons for the punk-goth generation if you like.

What The Membranes give…

It feels like the culmination of an entire life’s work, a cycle of life just like nature itself, it seems like the whole of The Membranes career has built to this overwhelming pinnacle.… Read the rest

Reaction – Keep It Weird, Keep It Wired – album launch review

June 17, 2019 By neilho27@sky.com

It seemed a long time in coming but Saturday’s launch gig for the vinyl version of one of 2018’s standout albums and the SAY listed Keep it Weird, Keep it Wired.

McChuills

There was a buzz of anticipation around the excellent McChuills venue on Glasgow’s High Street and an opportunity to catch up with friends old and new over a few drinks in the relaxed and friendly bar ahead of the evenings festivities as the inimitable dapper gentleman that is the one and only Nicky Stewart warmed up the crowd with some punk classics on the decks.

Talking of dapper gents, the equally debonair Alex “Mainy” Main was manning the merchandise and as grabbed a couple of words with him, I noticed a piece of ReAction merchandise that I didn’t own.… Read the rest

Southern Approach – Insurrection – album review

June 5, 2019 By neilho27@sky.com

Now is the time for Insurrection

The title of the new offering from Southern Approach is timely in its title. The dis-United Kingdom is at breaking point – literally, with the shambolic Brexit debacle exacerbating the divides between the people and those in power and that is before we stray outwith these shores…

Southern Approach was the first band to feature on the Ginger Quiff blog and I’m pleased to say that, despite all the shite going on, the band continues to go from strength to strength with the release of their latest rabble-rousing digital album Insurrection.

Beautiful Inside and Out

In a further act of kismet, there is also a mental health link.… Read the rest

Black Bombers – Vol 4 – mini album review

May 24, 2019 By neilho27@sky.com

Black Bombers

Black Bombers are a three piece rock’n’roll band featuring Alan Byron on Guitar/vocals, Darren Birch on bass and Dave Twist in drums. Their latest release is a sumptuous 6 track selection of prime deep down and dirty punky/bluesy garage rock ‘n’ roll. There is a nod to Black Sabbath in the monochromatic cover art and the title and its typeface.

So what of the tracks on offer? First and foremost, this a trio of accomplished musicians between them having notched up connections and appearances with several high-profile bands and artists. Lead singer Alan has an instantly likeable gruff raw vocal which is a perfect match for the matching the sound of the band, their fuzzy grungy guitar, sublime bass and thunderous drum sound perfectly.… Read the rest