MOSIO preview
WITH YOUAMI 8: SHE GLASGOW QUEEN MARGBET UNION SAT 1st MARCH
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THE QUEEN MATH UION - LXSGow TUESDAY 4TH MARCH
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GLASGOW BAR‘ROWLANDS FRI 28th MARCH
OZRIC TENTACLES
GLASGOW ARAGE WED 19th MARCH
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GLASGOW GARAGE - SON 20th APRIL ABERDEEN LEMON TREE - MON 21 st APRIL
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42 'I'IIEUI‘I’ 21 Feb-6 Mar 1997
EX-OG D'AMOUR
ROCK Superstar
’I've got a very big head,’ confesses Superstar mainman Joe McAIinden a propos of who knows what. 'I had to have a hat speCially made for me about a year-and-a-half ago, and I don't like it.' With a distingUished history Since the early days of the Bellshill scene, he'd have an excuse for a swelled head even if nature hadn't prowded him With one.
Things have been quiet on the Superstar front since the release of their debut Creation platter in 1994 and a disastrous stint With a label that thought the band c0uld crack America by touring them on the college circuit while the students were on holiday. The new mini-album, 78 Carat, has more of a classic rock feel to it than past proiects by Superstar, and it's raunchier by miles than McAIinden’s preVious band, The Groovy Little Numbers. This can be at least partly explained by the fact that it was recorded live in the
studio, with only backing vocals overdubbed later. After a year domg Virtually nothing but rehearsmg, Superstar are one tight combo.
'One of the great things about recording the album live, and domg the lead vocals, is that people WI” come to see us play, and there’s a good chance
that we’ll do better performances than
on the record. The possibility is there for that to happen.‘
Rumour has it that McAlinden was asked to co-write With Brian Wilson -- and turned him down in order to work on the Superstar album. ’I was approached at one time,’ he confirms, 'to see if I would be interested in writing songs for — and this is the catch — Wilson Philips. They're all working on that record, so I would have been working With Brian Wilson, but I had to balance it out to see if it was really worth it.’
As they say, if the cap fits . . . (Alastair lvlabbott)
I 78 Carat is released on Mon 70 Mar
Superstar: tight and raunchy
ROCK
SflverSun Glasgow: King Tut’s, Sat 22 Feb
What to call a debut album? Stick With the tried and tested eponymous label or go for the outlandishly obtuse title which jUSI feels right at the time? A dilemma which James Broad and his Camden-based combo Silver Sun encountered recently. ’My friend had a PG Tips inlay card with a chimpanzee crossing a rope-bridge in the mountains and it said Dad's Weird Dream on it,’ explains Broad. 'It was as if this chimp's dream was to walk in the mountains. It was so stupid that I thought we could call it that, but now we’re going to be really boring and call it Silver Sun. It’s a bit of a cop-out, but if it’s good enough for Cheap Trick and Led Zeppelin, then it’s fine.‘
Fine is also a suitable word to describe their singles output to date, with their intricately structured and, dare I say it, Teenage Fanclub-tinged melodies.'l've always liked them but I think we're a bit more extreme or varied, I guess,’ claims Broad. ‘I wanted to be like Rush and Teenage Fanclub at the same time so we bumped it up a bit. ’Lava' was like the Happy Days theme, whereas 'Last Day' is more 22 Top, something that would be included on one of those tapes you might buy in a petrol station.’
It’s highly unlikely that Silver Sun will
be consigned to the bargain bin for some time yet. Having toured with the likes of Sleeper, Gene, and, erm, Fluffy, their reputation and excellence have grown, having been handed a tribute which lesser groups have gratefully received — NME’s single of the week.
’I can't write "oh I met this girl, I love her," insists Broad. "Last Day’ is about the little things that teenagers get pissed off about and want to kill themselves over and 'Lava' IS about lap- dancing and stuff, though I couldn’t really say that at the time.’ Silver Sun — a band for the broad-minded. (Brian Donaldson)
Silver Sun: Last day rays.