It must be soul destroying to have a broken train set which is, of course, a metaphorical way of saying thank you to Scotrail for the opportunity to observe firsthand the deconstruction of one of their fine trains. One door at a time, sweet Jesus…
There was, however, something to look forward to. At the Vale Bar – crumbling trains permitting – there would be music from Pablo Eskimo, Hippykiller and Lucky Jumper. First stop was Lucky Jumper. Taking a wild guess, I’d say they were acoustic night veterans or, less likely admittedly, serial killers. After all, nobody names themselves after knitwear without an ulterior motive that involves kidnapping and torture.
Then God – in Her infinite wisdom – threw some powerpop straight at me. Hippykiller had the hats to implement the fall of the Roman empire and they also had Eve (though not the one that gave Adam the Golden Delicious) to do the captivating vocal thing and, with more hooks than your average fisherman, they soon established themselves as the kind of band that would make you pull the handbrake on your Subaru at 50mph just to see what would happen. Melody is nothing without understanding.
Cascading themselves into the end in best post rock fashion were Pablo Eskimo. You’ve got to respect a band that has songs called “Bunny Boiler “ and “Dot Dot Dot” especially when they have a female bass player that also sings (that has a deeper meaning in the galactic sense…) and a guitarist who knows more chords than I know barmaids. Since Christmas is approaching, I’ll drag out a simile. Pablo Eskimo were like a tin of Quality Street, only without the street or the tin. That, if you haven’t worked it out, leaves quality which is what this band were.
Time to hum a song. 1-2-3, here we go. When I close my eyes, I think of you.