I arrived on what I think was Dave?'s second track. Looking at and listening to the trio on stage, I couldn't help but think of the guitarist and bassist as a visual contemporary answer to Bob Dylan and Paula Kantner - and vocally, they weren't that far off either. The wonderful nasally vocal over drifting guitar versus the thunderous drums and the hammer blow of bass, as heated guitar work fills the spaces. With soaring lead vocals and extra depth from the harmony vocals, it all gels to tight effect. The next track was all about power and dynamics, as a monumental bass foundation allows the drumsto roll and thunder, the song itself just lifting off. The next up was what the more ballad-like track off the recent EP, but here it sounded a lot harder. The drumming in this track is absolutely amazing, and throughout the set you're aware that this guy's got to be one of the best drummer's on the Dundee scene - he uses the whole kit and never seems to play the same sequence twice, so varied does he make it sound, and yet it's cohesive and consistent all the time, with power and feel as well. The next track lurched into life with a full-on guitar riff, throbbing bass, choppy drums and winsome vocals, all of which rise to a crescendo of hurricane force intensity. Sixth in, and starts with a trace of a rhythm before lurching beats enter, then it's fast-paced thunder in a blaze of guitars with more driving drumming aa the song erupts. The final track startde with a slower paced intro before exploding into a rollercoaster slice of Dave? genius. The whole set is stunning and this band just improve with every gig, totally unique, and with a commerciality that's essentially not been invented yet.
It was Colour Coded's first gig for ages. They opened up the set with their magnificent track "Trying", and right from the start it was superb - a clear sound, twin guitars ringing out on a song that flows effortlessly along and takes off on the choruses. Initially, the lead vocal did the chorus on its own and sounded a bit "empty", but when the second vocalist joined in, the balance was restored and the hook just lifted skywards on a heavier version of a solidly commercial song. It turns into one gigantic chorus, punctuated with chiming guitar leads and surging riffs as the song rises to a height then explodes into fireworks of gasping delight, guitars reigning down over the explosive rhythm section. "My Legend" had echoes of Rosyth's sadly departed band, The Draymin - dual guitar riffs as a gloriously harmonious wall of sound, and the vocal just flows, the song going into high-flying hooks as the chorus rises to adrenaline-rousing effect, the audience singing the elongated " on fiiiire" phrase to great presence. Third track began with furious guitar riffing lesding into a low-down, flowing vocal that's full of feeling, the bass thunderoing out,a dn then it's into another great chorus with the word "tomorrow" the prominent hook. The drums crash down and drive forward as the wall of guitars takes hold and the vocal cascades to awesome effect, that powerful and highly emotive. One of the two newer tracks, "Out of Sight, Out of Mind", begins with a fiery staccato guitar lead to which is added a huge wave of mighty rhythm guitar with deep driving bass and crunching, attacking drums, all of which subside slightly as the song moves into the impassioned vocals, the verses sung to great emotional effect and a sublime album track in anyone's books. Next up is a beat-driven thudder of a track with an intro of repeated guitar phrases into a churning hurricane of ringing guitars, the immense bass carrying it all forward. The song drops down into the verse but manages to maintain its sense of power on a short chorus that's really a hook and a short and tight song which works a treat. "Same Mistake" opened with rolling, powerful drums over an undercurrent guitar riff, pumping bass and motorised indie-dance drumming, as the powerful sound takes off and chashes into the soaring vocal which flows to powerful perfection. The song moves into a lurching, pre-chorus verse then drives into the actual chorus over the dance-beat thunder mixed with indie-guitar heat. The band finished witht he second of the two newer tracks, "The Struggle" - huge guitars, huge sound, huge vocal - hell, huge everything!! For me, it's even more commercial than "Out of Sight" as the impassioned vocal really takes off over a wall-to-wall chorus of sonorous sonic guitar intensity and chiming clarity, choppy drums and thunderous bass, the song not without its dynamic effect, rising, falling and flowing to griping, memorable effect. Thus ended a great comeback gig - few loose ends along the way, but the songs that this band has, the way they play and sing them, is just to die for, and you can't help feeling that this is one mighty mother of a band in the offing. That they're at this stage and there's so much more to come is a genuinely mouth-watering prospect for anyone into contemporary indie bands, who wants great songs, faultlessly written and performed.
General Fiasco were an Irish band playing to a large audience of adoring teenagers. Fromthe first track in, there was no alternative but to say that, for formulaic indie-pop, it was annoyingly decent. OK, so the beats are slightly one-dimensional, the bass fairly simplistic, the guitar more of a wave than a sea and the vocal solid if a bit indistinctive. All quite basic ingredients, but when this band put all that together, the damn thing cooks, on what is an addictive, powerful, punchy and catchy opener. The second track featured more of the same but faster, more aggressive with dual harmonies, an angst-ridden vocal and even room for a brief lead guitar break. The third track they announced as "the single" and it came over as "View-lite" with straight down the line drumming beats, expansive guitar riffs and solid bass, but it's one urgent arrangement and an undeniably catchy hook - powerful, but polite, lacking the sheer naked rawness of The View. Next up was a track that was more of a lurcher, more introspective, still solid, rolling along, but more verse than hook. It does eventually erupt into something resembling a chorus as it rocks and rolls to almost clinical perfection, and a bit faceless compared to what's preceded it. There's no denying that, as profoundly commercial indie songs go, the next track is absolutely a great song - keeping things basic, but adding lush, powerful harmonies to the strident verses, as the rhythms rocket, the bass throbs, and the guitar leads and riffs twist and turn all over the place. You can see why the band are so popular - very formulaic, but passionately performed and strangely appealing. TRack six started as a ballad, turned into power pop, then reverts to a solid indie ballad, then veers between the three with soaring harmonies and a wall of sound that would make Phil Spector turn in his grave. Despite all this, not exactly the best song so far, although the chiming guitar leads over strong if mid-paced drumming provide light and shade before the rolling song explodes into a blaze of chorus-laden, multi-harmony, rhythm-driven excitement. The seventh track proved to be the song that the audience all sang along with - high-flying, solid, band-driven indie-rock commerciality of the highest order and easily the best song of the set so far, by a country mile. With that, I left......