I'd been looking back through recent reviews and had noticed that bands from Edinburgh seem to have been doing rather better than Glasgow bands. That's a bit worrying for the honour of the west coast considering Glasgow is supposed to be the UNESCO City of Music.
Tonight at Pivo Pivo, the east coast scored another victory with a solidly rocking performance from Storm in a D Cup providing the highlight of the evening. Even worse for the hard rocking men of Glasgow, this was an all girl band! There was a distinct American influence to their sound and - this is a lot harder to do than you might think - they easily managed to mix melody into their sonic onslaught.
Marshall Chipped were an altogether different proposition, although they are probably an acquired taste with their bastardised mix of punk and doom laden electronica. The dull fluorescent glow of the Apple laptop took centre stage and, just for once, it didn't break halfway through the set but keeping things human were those two men playing throbbing guitar and pumping bass with all the enthusiasm of someone half their age. Come to think of it, that was an important part of their charm. They actually looked like they were enjoying themselves. OK - I admit it - I liked them.
Nespresco were on last. I had actually seen this band recently and had not been impressed. Even in these rather more intimate surrounding, they did not prove convincing. The songs stayed firmly at the pretentious end of the indie rock spectrum and were saved only by the sheer fluidity of James Taylor's keyboard skills. Lead singer David Campbell's strained nasal whine soon irritated and I couldn't decide whether said vocal style was an affectation or whether the song was just in the wrong key for him. I think I'll be generous and choose the latter reason.
It's easier to write the words when she is there.