‘Paws’ and ‘Lady North’ Split Launch at Captain’s Rest Gig Review 3/8/11

I feel it’s very safe to say that Glasgow is one of the best cities in the world when it comes to music.  It really has been gigs galore for
a while now which is particularly useful for up and coming bands and your hard working music fan; both of which we have in abundance.

I have noticed though, that unless the musical act playing is incredibly well known, the audience are pretty stagnant (an exception to
this would be Frightened Rabbit’s on stage crowd barrage at the Arches when they released their xmas single two or three years back), which I think is to
be expected because if it’s not a well known artist then understandably the music will be new to a lot of the crowd.  And I’m not saying it’s a bad thing at
all; the audience has made an effort and spent a small amount of their hard earned cash in going to the gig and in the majority that I’ve been to they
listen contently and occasionally engage in some mid-song banter with the act – good times.  So when PAWS front man, requested a human pyramid from the crowd, as  they had apparently had one from their Aberdeen audience, I assumed it was a joke, laughed accordingly, and then forgot about it.  To my surprise a few songs later he exclaimed that there’s only two songs left and still no human pyramid to which a few fans got down on all fours side by side, then a couple more leapt on top of them and hey presto – the best human pyramid you’ll ever see in Captain’s Rest.  This was followed by a couple of mosh pits and about ten crowd surfers fighting to avoid being crushed by the air con unit hanging from the ceiling.  This type of reaction is no easy feat in Glasgow, I don’t think, so I would recommend getting out to see PAWS live.

The mayhem was fitting though as PAWS set the standard with their members often coming offstage and joining the crowd to play their punk rock with a tinge of pop songs that involved some toneful (think I made that word up) screaming and guitar swinging.  The audience responded to this energetic and telepathic substitution by launching crowd surfers onto the stage.  It seems this review has been as much about the crowd as it has been about PAWS and rightly so since they both make each other.

I think I’ve blethered on quite a lot, especially considering there was two other wonderful performances from Lady North and Hairy Area prior to Paws so I’m sure Gary will oblige me in writing a review of them…

Indeed I will, the whole reason for this gig was that PAWS and Lady North were releasing a split single on Gerry Loves Records, one which I was sorely tempted to buy, but through having to borrow money off Stu for chips and not actually having my own record player it wasn’t the best idea.  Regardless, Lady North put on a performance which lived up to their ever increasing hype.  Now, coming from me this is a statement indeed, because I really don’t like instrumentals, which I realise sounds ridiculous.  How can I dislike instrumentals and be writing a blog about music?  It’s a paradox, but there you go.

This, however, was different, the sheer energy and skill which Lady North played their ‘math rock’ with was outstanding, and the complexity of the looped guitar riffs was at times jaw-dropping.  Frontman Scott Bullen even taking his trousers off mid-way through the gig in what he says is becoming kind of his ‘thing’. The drums were also excellent, with my friend commenting that it sounded like there was a group of drummers onstage rather than just the one.  All in all, Lady North were fantastic, a lot better than I was expecting as I knew beforehand they were instrumental but had never heard them before.

Lady North are supporting Brontide, who I confess I’ve never even heard of, on the 17th at Sneaky’s, get yourself tickets here.

Which brings me to openers, Hairy Area, who are, from –

We Were Promised Jetpacks – Adam Thompson (vocals, guitar), Sean Smith (bass), Darren Lackie (drums)

Endor – David McGinty (keyboard, guitar, vocals,)

Sebastian Dangerfield – Stuart McGachan (guitar, vocals), Jason Irvine (drums)

Lady North – Scott Bullen (guitar)

A veritable Scottish music super-group, or as my friend rather succinctly put it, ‘a bunch of guys from bands that I’ve never heard of.’  Harsh, but in a sense true, however, it doesn’t stop them from being very impressive as a group.  Their songs were surprisingly tight, suggesting all seven (although I only counted six at this gig) of them had somehow managed to find time to get away from their own bands and practice together.  There was also a real sense of fun about their performance, as Adam Thompson announced to the crowd before the first song, ‘Hi, we are the greatest band in Scotland’.  And, again before their second song, ‘This is our ballad, it’s like a Scottish version of Bohemian Rhapsody.’  A bold and frankly absurd statement, but one which, like everything from Hairy Area, has to be taken with a pinch of salt.

Hairy Area, really surprised me, and I think for me it was between them and Lady North for the best performance of the night, somewhat stealing the spotlight away from PAWS part in releasing the single.  Having said that, however, PAWS energetic performance certainly left an impression, and it was ultimately perhaps the most memorable part of the evening.

Hairy Area are going to be playing as part of the Edge Festival at Sneaky Pete’s on the 21st of August, it’s only a fiver so get yourself down.  Tickets here.