Last of the “Summer Nights” events at King Tuts. Think it must have been raining as it seemed like business as usual in there and I managed not to take offence at the prospect of Guinness in a plastic glass by not drinking it. Bumped into John and Dochan from Big Rock Candy Records inside and found Sonny Marvello’s manager Murray loitering outside. All talent spotting, of course, but even I noticed that women who are not from Glasgow dress a lot better than women who are actually from this no mean city. It’s a guy thing and you’ve no idea how tough it is to be this shallow.
Warming dear old King Tuts up tonight were The Leads. Purveyors of buoyant songs that nearly caught the attention of the crowd, The Leads acted like the cheeky chappies of the indie rock genre right down to David Brown’s fashionable faux Scottish brogue. The opinion of those in the know was that this band were actually from Denny which might – or might not – explain a thing or two.
Next to tempt the ears were The Draymin. Closer to mainstream Scottish rock than trendy indie rock, this is a band that have been about a while – I recall seeing them in Edinburgh a couple of years ago - and all that extra time in the battlefield consequently made them sound a lot slicker and more polished than the previous band with those keyboard riffs giving a warm retro feel to their set. OK, that was probably lost on most of the audience but I like that sort of thing.
They got a good response from the crowd but The Black Rats didn’t really last the distance with their very conventional and rather unimaginative take on rock being better suited to the back room of a pub on a Saturday night than a mainstream music venue. A good guitarist is pretty much a prerequisite for this kind of music and they just didn’t have one.
And so the faithful came to worship. From the near religious chants from the boys at the bar (“We’re only here for the Dead Seas…”) to something bearing a remarkable resemblance to a mosh pit front stage, the audience showed their love for the Dead Sea Souls and the band duly set about impressing that audience with notable vigour and songs just made for chanting. It’s a sign of a friendly audience when they know all the words to all the songs and don’t mind showing off that knowledge at every opportunity. As the current kings of the “West Lothian Sound”, the Dead Sea Souls launched their debut EP “Cagefighter” high into the sky tonight.
Makes you wonder doesn’t it? Glasgow is seen as the epicentre of music in Scotland yet it is bands from outside Glasgow that have the most enthusiastic supporters. Maybe they know something Glasgow doesn’t?