They say your past catches up with you eventually. They say a lot of things like that but tonight did indeed prove something of a time loop with The Alleged and The Rulers of the Root renovating some musical moves from back in the day when angry was fashionable even if the audience consisted mostly of men who didn’t know that they weren’t outside anymore and women who convoy to the lavatory.
Talking of fashion, on to The Rulers of the Root. Fronted by a good fellow in a frock coat and an undertaker’s hat, there was clearly a statement being made regarding the role of the undead in modern society and, betwixt some distinctly energetic guitar solos from the soon to be in the next band John Palmer, he started singing about cats – presumably some sort of allegory for the very thing that make her rich and him poor – with a fervour that could only be the result of a long standing enchantment.
Also suggestive of the powers of witchcraft were The Alleged. Dragging a band back from the time when Glasgow was punk would normally require the repeated use of a defibrillator yet here was a band that still had the energy to make yesterday seem like it was truly only yesterday. Out front was Euan Wilkinson who bounced about the stage like a man who still remembered what it was to be a boy whilst wearing the kind of sweater – undoubtedly hand knitted by his Aunty Bunty – that made you wish that you could turn down your colour vision down and, given the evidence of tonight, The Alleged were the proof that punk Glasgow style is in no danger of dying any time soon.
Back outside in reality, it was raining but this is Glasgow so it would, in all probability, have been raining back in 1978 too. Some things never change.