Boasting a commendable range of foreign beers - and real glasses! - Pivo Pivo ticked enough boxes to prise the Bluesbunny away from other, lesser drinking establishments. Of course, the Bluesbunny cares also for live music, and this particular evening saw three young acts hit the stage. Krusovice, if you please!
Edinburgh's White Heath are first up and it's evident from the start that this will be no ordinary performance. Or so I thought. Variety is always welcome in music, and White Heath deliver it in boxes. There was something mysterious about their blend of space-rock and tribal noise. What's in the Edinburgh water these days? Throughout their set, the band's songs seemed to become never-ending and, while this did allow them to build towards epic finales, it did at times feel like having cutlery thrown at you for seven minutes. Nonetheless, this band have all the dimensions to establish themselves as one of the best "alternative" acts in Scotland.
Tonight marked the first ever live performance by the Mean Street Four. Interesting choice of name considering they looked more like American tourists than pocket-pinching bampots. While their inexperience was obvious, there was little sign of nervousness from the quartet. There was nothing extraordinary on offer in their set of fairly nondescript indie rock besides some assured vocal harmonies. However, the band's confidence rose as the set progressed and the quality of the songs rose similarly so it will be interesting to see how this act advances from here. The songs do require polishing but that ought to come with further experience.
The final act of the evening, Steven Gladman, began his set by beat-boxing then looping his oral sound effects and doing likewise with his guitar. A strange introduction, but it worked. Backed by a drummer and bassist, Steven delivered a determined and enjoyable set of catchy pop tunes. Steven's is heavily indebted to The Zombies both in his music and his words it would seem, while songs like "Runaway" might well prompt a lawsuit from The Cure. "Only Fish in the Sea", on the other hand, is a catchy slab of casual punk and marked a real departure from the fluffiness of his slower paced songs.
By the end of the show, crowd members were - on Steven's insistence - joining in on "Getting My Way". The index of a good performance can lie in the ability to make your audience make fools of themselves and Steven has shown that he can do that.
In a deep sea of budding indie-rock artists, it will always be difficult for Steven to distinguish himself from the next young boy with floppy hair and a band. However, performances like tonight's will do no harm in growing his fan base.