Smashing Mirrors

So there’s this band I know…

For years it was Oasis et al that inspired the local band majority, more recently it has been Biffy Clyro and even more recently Frightened Rabbit. Singing in a close to home drawl with dynamics a plenty has been the order of the day.

For the most part this has been fairly uninspiring. I’ve seen many bands conform to the formula, reproducing well but doing nothing to make me want to pay any attention. Tonight at King Tuts I saw the epitome of ‘onwards and upwards’. Bands that have assumed the character of their recent counterparts but taken some very different routes.

Bronto Skylift are a law unto themselves. They hold the accolade of being the first band to be kidnapped by Detour Scotland (under a bridge in Stiring) and are truly monstrous. They would not be out of place on the main stage at Reading or Download.
Their sheer ferocity and intensity make for an enthralling half hour, even despite guitarist/vocalist Neil being restricted to a chair through injury. I could happily watch Ian drum all day. His hands move faster than my eyes can see, although I’m pretty sure my ears would not be grateful for a day in the hands of such a man.

These guys deserve to be icons of straight up angry rock. I’d definitely recommend making a show as if your existence was dependent on it.

Other People are another band I first came across on a Detour Kidnap, this time at an icy Forth Rail Bridge in January. Drummer Bruce previously recorded my old band’s attempt at an E.P. describing it at the time as “epic cheese”. Probably quite apt in retrospect. Thank fuck we got rid of the violin and concentrated on the cheese!
Anyway, a move away from the onslaught of Bronto they are a far more accessible proposition. Sounding something like ‘Dogs Die In Hot Cars’ they have a punky poppy vibe that is definitely not pop-punk. Hard to define as they are, they are really pretty good. Big tunes with big choruses together with a great vocal make Other People a good band to take us to the headliners.

The Xcerts are the reason for so many tender looking faces in King Tuts tonight. They are close to being on a par with Twin Atlantic as the Scottish-teen-conwearing-girls-pinups-of the year. Largely down to their previously mentioned formulaic approach to writing what is known to be a good song coupled with the passion instilled by front man Murray’s stunning vocals.
They work their way through a set of old and new tunes culminating in an anthemic ‘Cool Ethan’ which follows a mass sing-a-long of ‘Aberdeen 1987’.

The Xcerts are not a groundbreaking band. They do not push the musical boundaries of their peers. The key though, is that they don’t claim to. They make great pop records that people can sing along to. They are not pretentious and they do not allude to something they are not. They, as is rarely the case at the minute, exist for their songs. And they do it really, really well.

The Xcerts don’t need adjectives or superlatives. They just need you to go and see them. They will love you for it. Any I’m pretty sure you will love them.

NB I had my camera with me tonight but Wickerman seems to have killed my batteries. Looks like it’s off to the shops tomorrow.