The Pedestrians
Live (The Dastardlys / The Jaks)
Living in close proximity to Hampden Park has a lot of benefits. Two good flatmates, friends close by, being able to walk to five a sides, smashing commuting routes to Glasgow city centre, and when the best team in Glasgow makes it to a semi or a Cup Final, its right on the doorstep. Also, very occasionally you get the odd great gig for free and only last week, The Rolling Stones were blasting into the flat for a fee of zero pounds and zero pence. Sadly, many philosophisers believe that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction and Friday, September the 1st was the day for that.
Jocky Wilson… sorry Robbie Wilson was in town and the mainstream masses were clogging up the streets and trains with their flags and average singing. Obviously Robbie’s dirges are not for everyone… but then again, neither is good taste. Thankfully, the night was saved by the promoters at Moonshaker Promotions had provided an alternative and refuge was sought in Nice N Sleazys.
First band were The Dastardlys and although hailing from Edinburgh, their accents lay a bit further South, but no matter as the sprightly 3 piece wasted no time in kicking the night to life. With a sneer in the vocals and a yelp in the guitar, the influence of punk was all over this act and the short sharp bursts of the track were of a good standard. ‘I Get A Kick Out Of You’ featured a chant along chorus and had the patrons sat around the room clapping away.
A bright point of the set came in the between song banter from the band, embracing the Glaswegians love of Buckfast and violence in a jokey manner, which won the crowd over. Even when a guitar string snapped, briefly halting proceedings, the wisecracks kept the momentum going.
With a cover of ’99 Red Balloons’ which again snapped, crackled and popped crossed the line between 70s London punk and a more commercial Green Day esque sound with the bass holding forth, which all good 3 pieces need.
Their last track ‘I Have Never Been In Love’ went down well with its big chorus and dirty guitar, which would work well on a bigger scale.
Following on were local favourites The Jaks, who mined an end of Britpop sound and created a large sound for a local act. With everything building towards a chorus and the drums filling with countless rolls and excursions, The Jaks probably belong to a bigger, yet more mainstream audience.
With the guitar lines being reminiscent of ‘Be here Now’ era Oasis, The Jaks have a sound that is still alive and kicking in the Glasgow scene and their vocal support indicates the band will never be short of fans. ‘Give some back’ was a bit funkier than most of their set and was well received.
Another Glasgow band The Pedestrians were the headline act and obviously with a name like that they are leaving themselves open to light-hearted abuse but the-mag would never stoop so low!
The initial tracks had a jingle jangle quality to them, again a sound that has always worked well in Glasgow, but it was with the addition of a female vocalist that the material stepped on a bit. After a while, the band were locking themselves into a Faces like sound and that 1970s pomp and sleazy rock sound was working its way around the room.
The backing vocals were a strong highlight and again, the size and depth of the sound belied the local nature of the band again indicating that the band is looking towards bigger and better things.
The Pedestrians seemed to have a swagger in their sound and its clear they certainly believed in themselves. With a last track that had similarities to The Clash’s ‘White Riot’, the night was book ended by some punk sounds and as reason to get away from pop monstrosities occurring on Glasgow south side, the night was a success leaving many folk with no regrets.
Guest article from Andy R.
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