SOUND CITY MUSIC
Ticket Information
The following Glasgow venues are participating in this week of gigs. which goes under the banner Melaninrpllnsis:
1 I20. Tickets available from The Garage. Just the Ticket. Virgin Union Street. 226 4679 and Tower Records. Argyle Street. 204 2500.
I King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut 272a St Vincent Street. 22] 5279. Tickets available from King Tut's and Just the Ticket. Virgin Union Street. 226 467‘).
I Nice ’n’ Sleazy 42l Sauchiehall Street. 333 9637. Pay on the door. Prices stand at £3—£4.
I The 13th Note 80 Glassford Street. 553 1638. Events are free. so just turn up!
I Bar Miro 36 Kelvingrove Street. 353 0475. Again. events are free.
SATURDAY 1
I Butch Hancock, Rosie Flores & Friends and Richard Buckner, King Tut's Wah Wah Hut. 8.30pm. £7. A rootsy display from across the Atlantic. Butch Hancock hails from Austin. Texas but makes another foray to the UK to plug his current album Junkyard In The Sun. LA country and blues artist Rosie Flores' ‘friends' include kd lang’s steel guitarist Greg Leisz.
I The Stanleys, Toast, Bis and Slimcea Girl, Nice 'n' Sleazy. 8.30pm. The Stanleys are an occasionally-sharp- dressed quartet with a clamorous poppy indie sound and a chipper arrogance to their performance. Toast blend prog rock with 90s crusty references and political lyrics. The excellently-named Slimcea Girl debuted their 60s-infiuenced Small Faces-worshipping pop at the Kazoo Club mere weeks ago and Bis produce electro- pop with guitary overlay and Paper Bullets fanzine (though probably not at the same time).
I Graham Day and Jam Planet (upstairs) at Mo‘ Jazz With Attitude. The 13th Note. 8pm. Free. The long-running laid-back Latin/jazz/funk evening plays host to the new band fronted by acid jazz luminary Graham Day. an ex-member ofThe Prisoners. the groovy Hammond-driven group whose line-up included James Taylor (of JTQuartet. not ‘Sweet Baby James‘. fame).
I Wiser Miser Demelza (downstairs)at Choosachunkaf‘unk.The l3th Note. 9pm. Free. Contributing to two floors of acid jazz sounds is local outfit Wiser Miser Demelza.
sunov 2
long Fin Killie
I Dawson and long Fin Killie, Nice ‘n‘ Sleazy. 8.30pm. Preferring not to soil their hands in some back-slapping marriage with corporate rock ideology. Dawson
release their material (three albums now) on their own label Gruff Wit and tour Britain and Europe under their own steam. following the maverick blueprint of Edinburgh‘s Dog Faced Hermans. The music’s a similarly complex splicing of punk and jazz styles with politically- orientated vocal ranting gibbering effectively over the top of the guitar melee. See photo panel for Long Fin Killie.
I S'M'A'S'H and Rub Ultra, King Tut's Wah Wah Hut. 8.30pm. £5. S*M*A*S*H were last seen in these parts playing T In The Park. They've just released a new album .S'efflxlhuset/ and celebrate with another whistle-stop circuit of the country's sweatbox venues. Support band Rub Ultra are a high-octane mix of various insidious sub-culture elements.
I Candle, Bis and Motor life Co. at Club Mouth. The l3th Note. 8pm. Free. A bill of fledgeling indie talent front Glasgow. Both Candle and Motor Life Co have their epic. driving. attention-grabbing moments in sets that point to something with equal parts melody and power but both need to work towards the day when everything they play can match the memorable standards oftheir highpoints. See Sat 1 for Bis.
MONDAY 3
I The Wedding Present, The Garage. 7.30pm. £8 plus booking fee. See panel. I Terry Hall and The lightning Seeds, King Tut's Wah Wah Hut. 8.30pm. £7.50. See panel for Terry Hall. The Lightning Seeds break their tradition as an essentially one-member studio band by taking their lightweight but sweet indie pop out on the big bad r0ck 'n' roll highway to showcase their current album. lollifit'ufinn.
I Octopus, The leopards and The Secret Goldfish, Nice 'n’ Sleazy. 8.30pm. Octopus are a stellar new band from the fringes with a few gigs under their belt and a tremolo-doused guitar sound that will have Levitation and Spiritualised fans salivating in anticipation. See photo panel for The Leopards and The Secret Goldfish.
I lungleg and Reid (upstairs) at The Horn. The 13th Note. 8pm. Free. All-girl quartet Lungleg gear up for the release of their single ‘The Negative Delinquent Autopsy‘ on Piaow Records — an occasion almost as exciting as the time they provided backing vocals for their mentors The Raincoats on their recent tour. adding the essential alleycat timbre to ‘Fairytale In The Supermarket‘. a song Lungleg cover in their own set among other spiky Slits-influenced bursts of cacophony. Reid sound intriguing. playing an experimental noise somewhere between Sonic Youth and Bark Psychosis.
I The Johnny 7, Bar Miro. 9.30pm. Free. All week in Bar Miro. the beatnik-bearded and be-wigged combo The Johnny 7 perform their inimitable live musak — cheesy Hammond covers of standards like ‘Una Paloma Blanca'. With special guests.
TUESDAY 4
I saidflorence, Nice 'n’ Sleazy. 8.30pm. The once-touted. still-admired Bellshill combo claw back the ground they've lost through their ill-fated alliance with Epic Records with a new, improved set.
I Skelf, Slimcea Girl and The Diggers at the Kazoo Club. The 13th Note. 8pm. Free. Skelf are described as ‘innovative and scary‘. while The Diggers are a terror- free experience. displaying a lot of potential in an off-kilter beat pop kind of way. See Sat 1 for Slimcea Girl.
I The Johnny 7, Bar Miro. 9.30pm. Free. See Mon 3.
WEDNESDAY 5
I Transglobal Underground, African Headcharge and Hustlers NC, The Garage.
7.30pm. £8.30 plus booking fee. An evening of dynamic ethnic crossover. Transglobal Underground are shortly to release their second album. featuring their glorious collision of Indian. Arabian. hip- hop and techno styles. Live. they're a feast. with mad masked men prowling the stage and Natacha Atlas‘s belly-dancing and Eastern incantations. Even on the excellent Glastonbury bill they stood out. ()n-U Sound collaborators African Headcharge deal out some exotic dub as a taster for their next album. In Sean-Ii ()j' .S'ltas/tamaine Land. Hustlers HC are new kids on the Nation Records block. blending hard hip-hop of the Fun-Da- Mental Asian rage school with mellower beats.
I The Cruel Sea, King Tut's Wah Wah Hut. 8.30pm. £5. ()ne of Australia‘s most successful bands whose vocalist revels in the moniker Tex Perkins (he previously sang with the ‘legendary' Beasts Of Bourbon) and whose sound encompasses a mixture of Beefheart. Booker T. The Wailers and Funkadelic. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds dig them. so that’s OK.
I Amorphus, Nice ‘n‘ Sleazy. 8.30pm. A last-minute addition. The ambient and dub club are at the helm tonight. with suitably trancey guests to be confirmed.
I Murmur, The 13th Note. 9pm. Free. Murmur dig classic. affecting pop with a hint ofjangle and were much admired by the assembled industry at their first Sound City gig back in April. They subsequently netted a deal with A&M in America.
I The Johnny 7 at Parallelogram. Bar Miro. 9.30pm. Free. See Mon 3.
THURSDAY 6
I Iona, King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut. 8.30pm. £6. Nick Beggs. ex of early 80s chart-toppers Kajagoogoo. has found his spiritual home in lona. a five-piece who emulate traditional ethereal Celtic music using uillean pipes. violin and Celtic harp. lnterested punters should note that Beggs wears his cascading locks in a more conventional style these days.
I The Telstar Ponies and limbslice, Nice ’n’ Sleazy. 8.30pm. Brendan O'Hare. late ofTeenage Fanclub. now rests his posterior on The Telstar Ponies‘ drumstool. taking the place of Superstar's Neil Grant. Are the alarm bells ringing? Yes. this is a Glasgow indie supergroup if ever we saw one. fronted by David Keenan (ex- 18 Wheeler) and flanked by John and Sushil of BMX Bandits — you'd think they could have slotted in a member of Fugenius while they were at it. If their early summer residency at The 13th Note is anything to go by. the result falls short of the sum of the parts. but time is on their side. as The Rolling Stones once said. Limbslice will provide a contrast to The Telstar Ponies one-note set. but only in that their sound is a disjointed mix of styles.
I Urusei Yatsura, Trout, Slider and The Blisters at Club 9%. The l3th Note. 8pm. ‘)‘)p. Again we're paraphrasing somewhat here but for Trout simply expect the unexpected. Slider have ‘jolly indie tunes with a Cranberries sort of vocal‘. Urusei Yatsura are responsible for all sorts ofcrooked philosophising through their Kitten Frenqv fanzine and The Blisters aptly describe themselves as ‘cocktail music in a Molotov style'.
I The Johnny 7 at Tattoo. Bar Miro. 9.30pm. Free. See Mon 3.
I Stiltskin and Sulphur, The Garage. 7pm. £6 plus booking fee. They made it to Number One sounding like a designer grunge band and looking like a younger U2; now Stiltskin have to prove they have further musical mileage and trample sceptics who assumed they were a manufactured act. In fact. as revealed (exclusively?) in the last issue of The List. they have a five-year history and sortie
significant Scottish blood in their line-up. Grunge from Tunbridge Wells? Better believe it — support band Sulphur are a power trio from the aforementioned outpost. Their first two singles ‘2CV‘ and ‘H ighchair‘ have just been released together as a mini-album.
I These Animal Men and Speedway, King Tut's Wah Wah Hut. 8.30pm. £5.
£ l .50 off if you’ve been to the Stiltskin gig and produce your ticket. as if any Adidas top. drainpipe jean-wearing. amphetamine-popping youths will want to headbang to Stiltskin as well as pogo energetically to These Animal Men’s Buzzcocky post-punk guitar pop. Apparently. happening seaside resort Brighton (from whence These Animal Men have burst forth) clones teens and twentysomethings who all have tousled feathercuts and wear tracksuit jacket tops. but we're sure TAM are individuals. Newcomers Speedway seem to be coming from the same direction.
I Cobalt Jury, Dust and Capri, Nice ‘n‘ Sleazy. 8.30pm. £3 including free admission to Helter Skelter. Three ways to use heavy guitar: Cobalt Jury (ex-Angel Heart) recall the stomping emotion of Soundgarden on their varied ‘Adult Party’ EP. Rust go for the almost industrial hardcore sound of early Therapy? though their ‘Numskull' EP is not as upfront as their gigs and Capri have been likened to Sugar with their slabs of tunecore.
I Soundclash, The 13th Note. 8pm. Free. The regular club night plans an l.S.D.N. digital link-up performance but guests have still to be confirmed.
I Basement Jazz, The l3th Note. 8pm. There will be a charge on the door. The jazz night has still to confirm its live music guests.
I The Johnny 7 at Paradiso. Bar Miro. 9.30pm. Free. See Mon 3.
I John Peel, Glasgow Film Theatre. 1pm. Free. The Radio 1 veteran and all-round alternative music guru finally makes good his connmtment to talk us through ‘A Day In The Life Of John Peel'. the address he had intended to make as a Sound City lunchtime talk in April.
SATURDAY 8
I Kitchens or Distinction and Drugstore, King Tut's Wah Wah Hut. 8.30pm. £6. The Kitchens are back hawking their traditional wares — poignant tales of love and other emotions set to a soundtrack of spiralling plangent guitars. epic but not bombastic.
I AC Acoustics, Shriek and Spacehopper, Nice ’n' Sleazy. 8.30pm. A consistent bill of off-killer Glaswegian noise-pop acts. AC Acoustics are shortly to release a new single ‘Hand Passes Plenty’ which they claim is the record The Jesus And Mary Chain have always wanted to make - and. y‘know. they could be right. Spacehopper belie their bouncy connotations to produce often-intricate layers of pell-mell noise like Sonic Youth without the awkward faffing about bits. See preview for Shriek. I Mo’ Jazz With Attitude with Eddie Pillar (upstairs), The l3th Note. 8pm. Free. Not a gig. but Eddie Pillar of the Acid Jazz label DJs tonight.
I Wiser Miser Demelza (downstairs)at Choosachunkafunk.The l3th Note. 9pm. Free. See Sat 1.
I Eugenius, The lost Soul Band and 18 Wheeler, The Garage. 7.30pm. £5.30 plus booking fee. Guest DJ at this gig is Steve Lamacq. host of Radio 1‘s Evening .S‘essimt. a programme which has supported several of this week's acts with consistent airplay. He'll be filling the gaps between Eugenius‘s winning melodic i riffola. The Lost Soul Band's roots pot- l pourri and I8 Wheeler‘s sweet Beach Boys homage numbers. but hopefully not ; with The Dodgems' ‘l.ord Lucan ls Missing‘. said to be one ofhis all-time I l
favourite records of all-time. l
The List 23 September—6 October I994 33