Walt Disco – live in St. Lukes

On a driech snowy Wednesday, of course it was snowing, after all Spring had sprung a couple of days ago which obviously is the signal for winter to appear in full force.

Not to worry though, it may already have been a long week, and the weather miserable but inside St.Lukes things were altogether different.

It’s Wednesday, so it must be time to party! The word was obviously out, and the discerning Glasgow music fans were out in force, bedecked in their gladrags.

Unfortunately, I missed openers Fauna, but was fortunate to catch Priestgate’s set. This was a performance and a half. The band and their lead singer, or should I say showman, Rob throwing everything but the kitchen sink into the performance.

There was a certain intensity to the set, in no small part due to Rob’s theatrical high kicks and yelps. A sinister undertone ran through the set, not unlike The Blinders (the black eye make-up perhaps influencing my brain) channelling The Amazing Snakeheads, but with bombastic soaring guitars that emulated the great and good of huge alternative 80s power chords and riffs.

Just about time to catch a breath after the initial intensity before the main event. if you thought the crowd had appeared ready to party, they had nothing on the glamour emanating from the stage. This was a band that was here for a good time, and boy did they deliver.

Walt Disco have built themselves a dedicated fan base since their inception and tonight was like the welcoming of the homecoming heroes/heroines. James greeted the crowd with a smile as wide as the Clyde before launching into their set with a celebratory sense of gusto and proceeded to essentially have the time of their lives, bringing the ecstatic Glasgow crowd along with them.

Their sense of celebration was no more than they deserved, what with a fervent baying crowd (“where did you get your dress James” was the request from one of the gathered fans, clearly in awe of how well they were wearing it), a superb debut album hitting the shelves imminently, and a well honed and rehearsed set delighting all present.

How to describe the band to anyone who hasn’t heard them? Well, here goes. Let’s start with James extraordinary vocal. At times verging on the operatic, channelling the spirit of Bowie and Sparks, and at times the wonderful and always missed Billy MacKenzie. So how do you match this extraordinary voice? Easy. You create an extraordinary soundtrack to complement the vocals.

How do you achieve this?

Well you take your favourite bits from throughout the last 60 years of popular music and chuck them in your own unique melting pot. Take a bit of 70s glam rock riff heavy swagger, some Johnny Thunders attitude with Simon Gallups hair(!), throw in some Chic inspired funktastic baselines, some sweeping synths from the 80s, and a few banging 90s techno beats, add thunderous drums and searing guitars and you are only really part of the way there. Sprinkle some Walt Disco magic and theatrics over it all and you have a gig that can’t fail to being a smile to anyone’s face, none more so than on the faces of the band as they viewed the pleasure they were creating as it swept throughout the venue.

After an impromptu encore with a riotous ending it was all over…

But this is just the start for Walt Disco. Things are about to get a whole lot better as the launch their album on an unsuspecting public. I look forward to sitting down and properly listening to their debut album Unlearning.

For now the world belongs to Walt Disco. I’m going to find it hard to wipe the grin from my face over the next few days.