Parallels & Brenda – Live in Nice ‘n’ Sleazy

*All photographs courtesy of Christopher Hogge Photography*

Early week/Monday night gigs in the middle of the month in Glasgow are notoriously a bit of a risk, and so it may have initially seemed in Nice n Sleazy on the first weekday night of the school mid term autumn break, with a pretty sparse turn out scattered around the venue as support band Brenda’s stage time arrived.

Is that something that bothered the fierce Glasgow trio? Absolutely not. Brenda give not one fuck, they are going to enjoy themselves whatever day of the week it is and regardless of who is there to witness it. And it’s more fool those who didn’t venture out from their warm living rooms to witness the Brenda live experience. And I don’t say experience by accident, a Brenda gig is just that. Litty, Apsi and Flore are born to entertain, if it wasn’t music it would be stand up, the dry humour between songs entertains almost as much as the hypnotic synth tunes with their sublime multi layered vocal harmonies.

The combination of dry self deprecating humour was mixed with a bit of a “fuck you” message to dickhead blokes (Pigs) and Noel Gallagher, and his criticism of female guitarists (along the lines of, they’re scared of breaking a nail), “Noel Gallagher owes me an apology” insisted Litty, after breaking a mail and still killing her guitar lines. Personally I think he owes us all an apology for the abomination that was Oasis. Anyway. Brenda’s music on the night did what they always do in style, glorious melodies, addictive rhythms and sublime harmonies on the likes of Microscopic Babe, Cease and Desist, Sleepwalk and their newer song So Long (“this song is about palliative care”) reaching the parts others songs can’t reach, lodging in your psyche with the full knowledge that they will return time and again at various random points over the coming weeks. No Brenda, no party…

Talking of experiences, Parallels are like the whole of the 1980s synth pop experience wrapped up into one convenient, highly energetic and entertaining package. Holly harks originally from Toronto via LA with the rest of the band hailing from the likes of New York and Michigan (many jokes ensued…) The 80s influence extends beyond the luxurious synth pop swathed with hook laden melodies and riffs. The band have both a look and a sound that suggest they would be in with a shout to be the house band for Stranger Things. Hmmm, Stranger Things: The Musical anyone? Anyway, I’ll admit my main draw for this gig was the unique talents of Brenda, but I owe them a debt of gratitude for introducing me to the music Parallels and their unabashed immensely bombastic sound.

As some wise person was once quoted to have said, it’s not the size that matters… you know the rest. It’s a phrase that could be used to describe the select gathering at this gig. It may have been a Monday night in Glasgow, but the band played like they’d sold out Barrowland on a Saturday night, throwing everything into their performance, the small but perfectly formed gathering being swept along by the wave of bouyant energy coming from the quartet on stage. Personally, I was both mesmerised and absolutely shattered from just watching drummer Christopher Pedraza throw everything but the kitchen sink into his animated cymbal heavy percussion and vigorous drumming.

Amongst their set of original tunes nestled an enthusiastically high spirited cover of Blondie’s Dreaming, this cover alongside the band’s name perhaps giving away some of their influences? As they powered through their poptastic set I was reminded of my dim and distant youth, bringing to mind huge 80s sounds ranging from the likes of Duran Duran & New Order to Madonna and the poppier end of The Cure’s back catalogue, also with elements of The Faint and The Killers (who themselves owe a lot to the 80s) thrown into the mix. A heady mix indeed and like the extravagant nature if much of the 80s, the sound was rich and lavish without being overblown.