Short intro. Strolled casually into the basement of Nicely Queasy and Sleazy of a Sunday evening. To be found there were Izo Fitzroy & The Royal Bastards, The Dirty Keys and Dead Saint’s Bones.
Where to start? Oh yes – the concept was keyboards tonight as all bands featured them to the fore. Starting off (with a stomp of the foot and a clap of the hand) were Dead Saint’s Bones who took the primal path to the crossroads of blues rock. The Devil had clearly shaken Charlie Soothill’s hand and imparted some wisdom on how to portray a troubled man leaving you with the feeling that you should look for the solution to your worries in the bottom of a bottle. Amen to that!
Most certainly not primitive were the Dirty Keys. Come to think of it they weren’t actually grubby either even if the video of their new single “Casanova” used to kick off their set was gloriously dubious in its content. Eminently civilised melodies emanated from the keyboard of Dave Gillies providing proof that, as in so many areas of life, there is no substuitute for a musical education. Otherwise urbane almost to fault, there was nonetheless a twinkle in the collective eye of this band that suggested a murderous intent underneath that polished veneer.
Returning to Glasgow were Izo Fitzroy & The Royal Bastards. Or rather the New Royal Bastards as the original Royal Bastards were in the audience tonight. Wonder how many times I can put “bastards” in a paragraph before the profanity alarm goes off? An altogether rougher prospect than the preceding bands, the first thing noted was how Izo Fitzroy’s voice had changed since she was last enjoyed by these ears. With an unexpected splash of rawness, she blasted a way through a set of decayed cabaret of which the highlight was her anthem “Never Mind The Sex Pistols, I Am The Bollocks”. Couldn’t have put it better myself!
Short outro. Wonder if anyone has written a song called “Pitt Street Blues”? It’s a good place to park a car.