It's Monday night and there's nothing on the telly. After assessing the entertainment potential of watching paint dry, I decided to forego that no doubt memorable experience and instead once more walk the streets of Glasgow. A vague recollection of a MySpace message from a band called Randolph's Leap led me into the 13th Note.
There's not an inkling upstairs that there is a gig on tonight. Never mind. There will be time for a Guinness whilst discreet enquiries are made. We're good to go so down the stairs I went.
Enquiring of the man on the door, the first band were Ciro. Featuring not one, not two but three acoustic guitars and a distinctly appealing female singer, they made a good first impression. There was certainly a touch of the theatrical in the singer Sarah Brown's approach to the songs but that was to the band's advantage. In terms of style, the band sounded like a rock band gone acoustic - which, with a bit of research, is exactly what they turned out to be - and if there ever was a woman destined to wear a red dress then it was Ms Brown.
In an unexpected left turn, next on was Mark Cairns aka Vehicle. Unexpected? Indeed, as it was just Mark Cairns and a laptop that he stared at intently whilst the laptop spewed out a set featuring synthetic dance music. No doubt said music would be better suited to a late night/early morning club when you are probably the worse for wear and, needless to say, there was no dancing tonight.
Last on were Randolph's Leap. If you are in need of music to raise your spirits then it would be this band who would fulfill that need. Four strong tonight - although they can apparently muster six on a good day - they continue to improve as they run up the stage miles. Certainly their songs, and especially the anthemic "Going Home", seemed so much bigger tonight with the power of a full band to drive them along. I reckon it won't be too long before we will all be waving our lighters in the air to this band.
Incidentally, if you've ever wondered how bands get chosen for review then here's how. We get recommendations from other bands, sound guys and, especially recently, from the bar staff at venues. After all, she serves me beer so I tend to listen to what she says. Now you know…