BOOK NOW Hadley, Norman and
Keeble Garage, Glasgow, Sat 10 Feb.
Anyone watching the recent glut of ’reflective' music TV programmes can't fail to have spotted one Gary Kemp, looking what can only be described as smug. The former Spandau Ballet guitarist and songwriter cleaned up at the courts recently, when fellow New Romantics Tony Hadley, Steve Norman and John Keeble tried to grab a share of the band’s royalties. Silly boys, they should have known better than to mess with a Kray twin (albeit in a fictional sense). Gazza's younger, browner and better looking brother Martin is wearing an even wider smile, now that he gets to kiss wife Shirley Wham goodbye and spend the day snogging Melanie off Eastenders.
The Kemp brothers are officially in the pink, but what of the other three? The voice, sax and drums of one of the 805 most popular bands are forced to perform in minor venues, painfully aware that every note they play adds another lining to Gary's pockets. They don't even have a bankable name to keep them warm — Gary has copyright over 'Spandau Ballet' leaving the others with no choice but to call themselves Hadley, Norman and Keeble (catchy, eh?).
If however, you're like me and spent many a teenage night dreaming of all the dirty things you’d like Steve Norman to do to you, then your reasons for seeing the band are still very much intact. (Kelly Apter)
ROCK The Webb Brothersl I Am Kloot
Venue, Edinburgh, Sun 14 Jan ii tit
Ambling on stage in nonchalant manner, fag in hand, IS the diminutive Mancunian songster John Bramwell, the creative force behind I Am Kloot, here to bring us his tWisted and downbeat tales of drunken sorrow and lost love.
46 THE “ST 18 Jan—l Feb 2001
'Gold'-en oldies are still ‘True' to the cause
Ticket information
Tickets for most medium/large concerts can be bought from the following:
Virgin, Buchanan Galleries. 332 4400 Credit card bookings from:
Ticket Link: 287 $511.
Way Ahead: 339 8383.
Virgin Princes Street. 220 3234. Ripping Records South Bridge. 226 7010.
Assembly Rooms George Street, 220 4349
Way Ahead ()I4l 339 8383
I Leftfield Sound System Arches. Glasgow. 2 Feb.
I Mel C Playhouse. Edinburgh. 2 Feb. I Soulwax Garage. Glasgow. l2 Feb. I Divine Comedy Liquid Room. Edinburgh. 14 Feb.
I Paul Rogers Barrowland. Glasgow. lb Feb.
I Westlife SECC. Glasgow. l()~2() Feb. SOLD OUT
I Gary Numan Barrowland. Glasgow. 18 Feb.
The Webb Brothers struggle for an identity
Which would be Just dandy if the songs were anything to shout about. Sadly, while the lyrical content is often touching and weirdly enthralling, muSically The Kloot are pretty unexceptional acoustic JOurneymen. In amidst the strumming stroll of the three piece band’s set are scattered bits of Jazz and loungecore, creating a nondescript Vibe somewhat at odds With Bramwell's barbed words. And while the man is ever the gregarious
I Texas SECC. Glasgow. 22. 23 a 25 Feb. SOLD OL'T
I Craig David SEC‘C‘. Glasgow. 24 Feb. I Ray Davies Royal Concert Hall. Glasgow. 37 Feb.
I Kylie Minogue Clyde Auditorium. Glasgow. 3—5 Mar.
I Fun Lovin' Criminals Barrowland. Glasgow. 5 Mar. SOLD Ol'T
I Fun Lovin' Criminals Corn Exchange. Edinburgh. 7 Mar. SOLD ()L'T
I Martyn Bennett Liquid Room. Edinburgh. F) Mar. CANCELLED
I Martyn Bennett Arches. Glasgow. 1 1 Mar. CANCELLED
I Feeder Liquid Room. Edinburgh. 1 l Klan
I Van Morrison L'sher Hall. Edinburgh. l5 Mar.
I Stiff Little Fingers Barrowland. Glasgow. 17 Mar.
I Uriah Heap/Nazareth Garage. Glasgow. 3| Mar.
I Deftones SECC. Glasgow, 22 Mar. I Ocean Colour Scene Barrowland. Glasgow. 3(i-—3l Mar.
I Hothouse Flowers ()ld l-‘ruiimarket. Glasgow. 31 Mar.
I Toploader Corn Exchange. Edinburgh. 1 Apr.
I Barenaked Ladies Corn Exchange. Edinburgh. 5 Apr.
I Jimmy Nail Playhouse. Edinburgh. O Apr.
I Barenaked Ladies lerrt)\\'idlid. Glasgow. 7 Apr.
I Jimmy Nail Royal Concert Hall. Glasgow. 8 Apr.
I Less Than Jake Barrowland. Glasgow. l l Apr.
I Gary Moore Barrowland. Glasgow, 24 Apr.
I Deacon Blue Playhouse. Edinburgh. 25 May.
I Deacon Blue Clyde Auditorium. Glasgow. 26 May.
I Tom Jones Edinburgh Castle. Edinburgh. 20 Jul.
I Robbie Williams Hampden Park Glasgow. 3 & 4 Aug. SOLD OUT
LOCAL LlVE
Pariah
King Tut's, Glasgow, Wed 27 Dec.
What began as an exceptional progreSSion and reaction to a staid and imagination-free music scene has been inherited by the idea-less and lyrically challenged. A band called Mogwai have spawned innumerable instrumental copyists in Glasgow and further afield, of which a grand total of zero have achieved even half their success or reputation Pariah’s discomfort in merely reproducmg ObVIOUS influences can only make them that bit more special After soothing With 'I Need A Harness’s earnest Flaming Lips pysche Sung in near-falsetto, ’An AstrOnaut Is Lost’ is quite astonishing building-tOppling stuff. The band b0unce sounds off one another, David Thomson pummels his keyboard With an €Vli grin, and ten, maybe fifteen, minutes on, the place trembles With indescnbable loudness Tell your friends something monumental is happening. (Jason Cranwelll
Catcher . The Mercat, Edinburgh, Sat 6 Jan.
Sticky carpet, tiny stage, local three band bills and dodgy clientele — the Cas Rock lives! Seriously though folks, the good people at The Mercat are among the few
giVing local bands the chance to play,
and for that they should be encouraged, espeCially if they continue to put on bands of the calibre of Catcher.
Despite a not particularly enamoured audience, the Glasgow four-piece outfit
race through a tightly diSCiplined set of
spunky and catchy new wave numbers,
i impressing With their pop nous and bittersweet attitude. Clearly advocates of
the ’less is more’, ethos, there’s nothing flashy or showy about the band as they knock out a string of three minute 805
power pop gems. Snippets of The Cars, The Stranglers and Paul Westerberg pop
2 up in a likeably retro way, and although
host, chatting and reciting anecdotes between songs, it's just a pity that he’s chosen to house his offbeat stories in such mediocre mu5ica| surroundings. The Webb Brothers have had Sunday broadsheet Journalists wetting themselves recently. There are a
handful of reasons for this: they're
both cute as hell, they’ve got a famous dad, Jimmy (who wrote ‘Witchita Lineman', whoop-de-doo), and they produce frighteningly retro prog-pop of the kind popular in the early seventies when said scribes were nippers.
All of which shouldn't blind us to the fact that, while they admittedly have a way With harmony and the odd good
tune, too much of their material is Simply
a poor iaCSlmlie of a time gone by. So there they are on stage like a pair of
Austin Powers, flapping about as if punk never happened, with their ridiculous
little bowlcuts, knocking out yet another Beach Boys or Supertramp pastiche.
It’s only towards the end of their set that they sound like they might Just
not the most original racket in the world, Catcher’s way With a tune is undeniably refreshing to the ear. (Doug Johnstonel
' Strut/Mercury Tilt
Switch King Tut’s, Glasgow, Fri 5 Jan.
Mercury Tilt SWitch took the audience by .
storm with the opener ’Betrayal’, a song which clearly defines their musrc style: anarchistic vocals, supported by heaVier guitar influences. Sure these influences
are worn for all to see; Radiohead and
Ash being the most obvious, but they
show definite promise.
By the time Strut appear, the audience
are well engrossed in the gorngs-on on stage, rather than the bar actiVities of earlier on and deservedly so. The Paisley
four piece may not have been around
for very long, but have SWiftly built up a ; conSiderable followmg as tonights crowd
is eVidence. Strut’s music brims with an astonishing degree of professronalism
and, while tracks like 'Secret’ are . reminiscent of Coldplay, they still strive to define their own sound.
have the talent to get them out of this
Situation, songs like ’lvlarooned' and
'I’m Over And I Know lt’ managing to
sound like a band With an identity, rather than a retro gimmick on four legs. (Doug lohnstonel
(Mike Findlay)
STAR RATINGS * t * 1: * Unmissable * t * it Very ood it t * Wort a shot * 1r Below average iii You’ve been warned