This was a bit of a last minute one, I’d seen the Warmduscher gig advertised but it was only in the last week or so that I noticed San Jose were to be the support, that sealed the deal for me.
Anytime I’ve seen San Jose before, the gig descends into near riot with stage invasions, beer flying, raucous pits, athletic moves and incursions into the crowd from their rambunctious frontman Calum as well as disrobing by the band, well particularly guitarist Cean. Despite the early set time and the fact it was a Tuesday night, pretty much everything was there apart from the stage invasion for the finale, a boisterous and life affirming multi faceted anthem through one of my favourite singles of last year, Dirty Linen. Calum soon had an initially reticent crowd eating out of the palm of his hand, or should that be drinking out of his can of Tennents, with songs like I Got You and For Jim, I Loved You creating an electrically charged buzz around the room. His forays into the crowd started early on the set as he encouraged those who were sitting round the back and sides to get involved, and ultimately ended up in him crowd surfing round the venue during Dirty Linen. If you haven’t experienced a San Jose live set, I urge you to rectify that at the earliest convenience, they are one of the most exciting live acts to emerge from Scotland in recent years.
Despite them being five albums down, and having enjoyed their recorded output, I’d never seen Warmduscher live before. Boy what a mistake that has been in my life. No matter how much you love the bands recorded output, nothing can prepare you for the blisteringly incendiary performance you’ll experience, with the band taking no prisoners and leaving nothing behind. Mixing their genres in a melting pot of sheer exuberant energy, it’s hard to pin down the the band’s sound. Punked up sleazy blues ‘n’ roll, like the Blues Brothers for the 21st Century if Jello Biafra and Co. had some input into their sound, mix that with jazz, hip hop/rap and soul, with some razor sharp post-punk riffs along the way, some insane drumming and thunderous bass lines, demonstrating hints of bands like The Stooges they leave no stone unturned in their breathless set. It was hard to believe it was a Tuesday night with the crowd wildly exuberant from the first note the band played until they walked off after their encore, and there was a lot of love in that room with affable frontman Clams Baker Jr. lapping it up and provoking the euphoric reaction from the heaving crowd, while wearing a smile as wide as the Clyde for the entirety of the performance and collecting a host of hugs and handshakes from the hardcore devotees at the front. I don’t care who is supporting next time, as soon as I see their next Glasgow date advertised I’ll be first in the queue for a ticket.
