Having missed several gigs in the last few weeks for a variety of reasons including a bout of headaches & migraines which aren’t really compatible with loud music in sweaty venues… so getting back into gigs seeing two of Glasgow’s current hottest properties on the DIY music scene was a perfect tonic.
In my opinion, both bands have released singles that are up there with the very best of this year’s releases to date, all four of which clearly got an airing at McChuills and all four of which went down a storm with the gathering of fervent music fans who clearly have an impeccably discerning taste. I’ve now lost count of how many times I’ve seen Alcatraz having first seen them at 2025’s House Guest Festival after several aborted attempts previously, but it must be close to double figures if not more now and definitely the band I’ve seen the most live in the last few years. When it comes to Close Control it was only my second time having broken my duck when they played a blistering set at this year’s Summer Nights run of gigs.
I don’t know if it’s possible having played a gig that had the whole of Tuts bouncing, but I felt the band had even more of an impact on the compact McChuills stage than they did then, and musically they felt tighter and even more majestic with a supremely confident and assured performance. That confident and self-assurance is entirely warranted, with every individual member of the band on top of their game, and coming together to create a relentless wall of sound with a hypnotic groove. Their sound is underlined with Rudy at the back laying down an infectious beat, with guitar, bass and synth all layering perfectly in a seamless sonic soundscape, all the way to the front with Christina belting out a powerhouse vocal performance, with a voice that belies her petite frame.
The first few songs were played with nary a chance for breathe between them, the band clearly trying to squeeze as much quality as they could into their allotted stage time, High Speed grabbed my attention much as it did the last time I saw them and misnamed the song! They certainly know how to grab an audiences attention, on their last outing they played a Tame Impala cover, this time they went hard and heavy with an incendiary cover of The Prodigy’s Smack My Bitch Up igniting an impassioned fire in the room, setting things up nicely for their closing brace of singles, first up their most recent offering, the sublime Until You’re Mine before their utterly magnificent single Proximity closed their set in style. Keep an eye on this lot…
Anyone who follows the blog will be aware of what could probably be described as my obsession for the band Alcatraz. I still remember that little emotional knot in my stomach I got on the first time I managed to see them live, that feeling that, while you can’t quite put your finger on exactly why, there is something special about a band and their potential to do great things and you are fully bought in, anticipating where they can go next. There was clearly something in that instinctive feeling as I have since revelled in seeing, and hearing, this band experimenting, honing performances, watching band members finding their individual niches, growing in confidence in their collective skin and gelling as a formidably cohesive unit creating a sonic juggernaut of sound.
Their opening song at McChuills blew me away, and saw Aaron swapping guitar for synth alongside Dec, Stuck on You was an absolute masterpiece, a brooding opener that hooked you from the off, slowly reeling you in like a siren’s song that catches you unaware and has you entranced as you realise there is no escape. Utterly epic. Which is a phrase I could pretty much use to describe the entirety of their set, alongside dark and majestic. When you’ve got a song as powerful as Seventh Heaven to follow that impressive opener, you can’t go wrong. Add to that I Hear Voices laced with an intensely ominous undercurrent which they intertwined between their three brilliant singles to date, You Make Me Bleed, their latest masterpiece Messiah and the brooding menace of Nowhere Man closing their set with a brutally muscular energy which saw Eleanor and Liv take themselves out into the middle of the crowd and had this auld bloke do some frantic moving, during which I believe my creeper clad soles even left the ground several times…
Clearly my headaches that stopped me heading out to previously gigs hadn’t quite passed, combine that with perhaps an over exuberance during the two bands sets, and I made the far too sensible decision to cut my losses and make a break for it which meant unfortunately missing headline Ellis D but still comforted by the fact I’d seen two incredible sets from some of the best of what Glasgow has to offer.
Another positive thing about the gig before I had to bail was the number of brilliant folks I met, from regular gig goers and well-kent faces, folks I knew of but had never spoken to before, members of some brilliant bands in the booming Scottish underground and a special mention to the fantastic SMC Presents (and their brilliant new t-shirt which appealed to me on so many levels including the brilliant nod to Postcard Records).
As an aside, You Make Me Bleed is on the New Sound of Scotland CD if you sill haven’t picked up your copy – just saying.