MUSIC | Previews
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ACID DRUDERY JULIAN COPE La Belle Angele, Edinburgh, Sat 18 Feb; Òran Mór, Glasgow, Sun 19 Feb INDIE POP TEGAN AND SARA O2 ABC, Glasgow, Fri 17 Feb
Shortly after Donald Trump’s election, an American friend emailed with the succinct message: ‘so much anxiety, let’s get drunk!’ Julian Cope, the archest of drudes, must have tuned in to her desperate vibrations across the information superhighway because he recently celebrated his return to alcohol consumption with the release of Drunken Songs, which he describes as ‘40 minutes of Gnostic drunkenness – a perfect respite for these Trumped-up troubled times’.
Cope is no stranger to altered states. His early career, fronting Liverpudlian
post-punk dynamos the Teardrop Explodes, was marked and ultimately marred by his insatiable acid and mushrooms intake. He cleaned up and got high on history instead, forging an alternative career as a well-respected if wigged-out academic and author. But the publishing world’s gain is not entirely music’s loss. ‘I love listening to music more than I love making it,’ he admits, ‘but then I’ll suddenly get a feeling out of nowhere, maybe from some trip abroad or interfacing with some unusual person and I’ll be back.’ In this case, the catalyst for Drunken Songs was the track ‘As the Beer Flows Over Me’, which he wrote for his own funeral, and in specific praise of the grain (he’ll have no truck with wine). Cope must be a jolly drunk, as he does offer reasons to be hopeful, if not outright cheerful, in the Trump age. ‘I’m always of the belief that we’re working towards something,’ he says. And that doesn’t necessarily have to mean oblivion. (Fiona Shepherd)
After forming in 1995, sisters Tegan and Sara spent the first 19 years of their career riding the indie pop wave to world fame. Their first six albums were loaded with distinctive semi-ballads that straddled the line between folk and rock, as they caught the world’s attention with airtight harmonies and acoustic riffs.
All that changed when they hit year 20. The duo released Heartthrob, a
properly poptastic album produced by Greg Kurstin whose credits include P!nk and Kelly Clarkson. Every song sounded tailor-made for radio, while the Tegan and Sara-isms which fans had come to expect seemed nowhere in sight. Gone was the angst of ‘19’ and the pain of ‘Call it Off’. All that remained was pure, unadulterated pop.
It was a strange move, but somehow it worked. Heartthrob was shortlisted for the 2013 Polaris Music Prize, after debuting on the Billboard chart at number three. The duo even won Pop Band of the Year at the Juno Awards. Now, their eighth studio album, Love You to Death, is set to follow that success when it’s released in June. Though still very much pop-heavy, the new album promises to ‘cast darker shadows’ and ‘linger longer in the psyche’.
Audience members shouldn’t look for the emotional acoustic songs of old,
though. The new Tegan and Sara sounds like P!nk meets, well, a talented songwriter. Love You to Death marks the death of an indie career, but in this case, pop has worked. (Rebecca Monks)
HORROR PUNK CREEPER The Garage, Glasgow, Sun 26 Mar
Creeper’s propulsive sound is drenched in Gothic romanticism. Formed in Southampton in 2014, they followed in the footsteps of Misfits, AFI, Alkaline Trio and My Chemical Romance by mixing pop punk with horror imagery and tales of doomed desire. Across three EPs and numerous support tours they’ve built a passionate, dedicated (some might even say cultish) fanbase, with lead singer Will Gould an enigmatic black-clad pied piper beckoning you into their dark mysterious domain.
Citing influences as diverse as JM Barrie’s Peter Pan, bombastic rocker Meat Loaf, 80s vampire flick The Lost Boys, Studio Ghibli animated fantasy Spirited Away, and horror classic The Exorcist, their music is invested with character and story. Each track is a mini-movie, featuring lurid stories of love and loss, pain and heartache.
2015 was a pivotal year in Creeper’s evolution as original guitarist Sina Nemati left to pursue a career in sound engineering. But they bolstered their sound, growing to a six-piece with the addition of new guitarist Oliver Burdett and keyboardist Hannah Greenwood. ‘Oliver is a really nice fit, and as we all know each other so well, it seems really natural,’ explains Gould. ‘Hannah is one of our best pals and incredibly talented. It felt long overdue and awesome to finally have her officially in the band.’
The band is now signed to metal powerhouse Roadrunner for the March release of their debut album, Eternity, in Your Arms. ‘These shows are a significant moment in the history of Creeper,’ insists Gould. ‘Not only are they the first time you'll hear the new songs from Eternity, in Your Arms live, but they’re the biggest headline shows we've ever played. They will also be the first to have a full, ambitious production to equal the ambitious character of our debut record.’ (Henry Northmore)
74 THE LIST 1 Feb–31 Mar 2017