THE COURTESANS ++ 28th & 29th MARCH 2015
At the risk of sounding like a crazed 'groupie' I was thrilled to see that The Courtesans were returning to Scotland after a very successful first visit last November, and did seriously consider attending all three gigs that 'circled' my home town. Glasgow, most definitely as they were headlining and premiering their new video, Edinburgh certainly as it is much nearer and The Filthy Tongues headlining was another plus, but surely Huddersfield was just too much of an ask – but then again that would have given me a chance to catch the extremely promising, up and coming talented band Hands Off Gretel! In the end I decided to pass on a trip to West Yorkshire and settled to look ahead to Glasgow and Edinburgh at the end of March.
Saturday 28th March arrived and we headed west anticipating another enjoyable evening. Patrick the photographer who had accompanied me the previous time came along again with his cameras and we had a good catch up as the car made its way north up the A7 then west along the M8. We arrived and quickly located the venue, this time it was Audio, snuggly fitted under the railway next door to The Arches. We had arrived a bit early so went for a walk to look for a quiet place for coffee; we might have been early but not early enough for coffee as it seemed that all the coffee shops had closed for the night! Back in Audio I noticed that walls, ceiling and floor were all black – the first band were virtually all in black too, the only deviation being the singer's light blue jeans and a white guitar that was soon changed for a a black one – however there was nothing monotone or colourless about their performance. The band was 28MPH a four piece who got things started with a fairly intense and tight performance, for some reason the initial pacing had me reminiscing about the first Black Sabbath album but that certainly doesn't mean that they were in any way attempting to replicate that and as the set progressed I soon stopped thinking about comparisons and enjoyed a great band doing things their way. Christopher Hewat on bass had a massive stage presence right in front of me and he masterfully used his 8-string bass to the full. Mike Munro was at the far side of the stage with his guitar and throughout the set he stood focussed on delivering top quality playing. Inevitably Matt Milne's on stage movements were restricted by the fact that he had to remain in charge of his drum kit, and finally there was vocalist John Gilbert who similarly remained almost rooted to the one spot. I was particularly struck by the lack of mobility, part of this was undoubtedly due to the lack of clear floor space due to all the equipment on stage; nevertheless I feel it underscored their undistracted focus on the music without seeming to be driven to add in any OTT theatrics. The only hint that there might be more going on was when John stood gripping the microphone and shaking it in a way that indicated much pent up energy desperate to escape. As usual with my gig reviews I find that I am making little mention of the actual music; I have a feeling that may be due to the fact that the internet has made it so easy to hear what type of music bands play, what I aim to do is to describe the experience of being there. If anybody would like to hear just what 28MPH's music sounds like then a visit to SoundCloud will soon enable that – I was more than impressed by their live set and wouldn't hesitate to try to catch up with them again.
To hear 28MPH, simply click on the band's name here, it's as simple as that!
The next band to take to the stage were something completely different, it was impossible to ignore the stunning female with her big boots and punk/goth themed minimal dress, I have no doubt that she could easily double as an alternative model. She was accompanied by four others all wearing featureless white masks – when I looked up Splintered Halo later I discovered that they are billed as Eveyln on vocals with guitars, bass and drums all by Anonymous! Despite what I've just said, Evelyn was definitely not on stage simply to look amazing, she absolutely owned the stage and her vocal delivery was an expert combination of powerful rock and deep, rasping roar. I may have suggested that 28MPH didn't move about much due to a lack of floor space – Evelyn managed to find acres of space and made full use of it for her high energy performance. At one point she remarked that she liked being the singer because it meant that she didn't have to wear a mask, those masks certainly added a lot to the overall visual effect. The band's bio describes them as a Heavy Metal band with virtuoso session musicians at its core. Evelyn is the only member of the band who has an identity and writes the core songs which her metal minions turn into a Heavy Metal feast with a huge helping of neck snapping riffs, technical drums and lashings of Groove! The format works so well, even when doing a cover. I do appreciate it when bands incorporate unexpected covers into their sets and give them a major makeover, Splintered Halo did this expertly with 2 Unlimited's 'No Limits' “TECHNO, TECHNO, TECHNO!”
Listen to Splintered Halo here.
Shortly before the penultimate band the projector came to life and the packed room were treated to the premiere of The Courtesans' latest video, 'Indigo', produced with support from a very successful Kickstarter pitch. It was very impressive (but did I say that I'm biased?) and seemed to be well received all round. STG Promotions had done an excellent job of putting on a well-balanced mix of different music styles that had worked very well up 'til now – I clearly knew what to expect from the headliners, the set by Megalomatic simply confirmed the genius of the scheduling. Megalomatic are Craig McKenzie – guitar & vocals, Ben Reffin – guitar, Shaun Williamson – bass and Chris Roarty – drums. Just exactly what did a genre description of Prog Indie Acid Jazz Metal Funk Dolphincore mean – I soon found out. Right from the start they set off at top speed with frantic/manic movements by the Ben and Shaun. They seemed to be in no mood to take prisoners and stormed through their set. I've often commented that I care little about genre classifications, however they choose to wish to describe themselves is fine but I will still come to a band with an open mind and try to get into the 'feel' of what is offered up – in the case of Megalomatic I was very impressed and they are definitely another that I would gladly go to see again. With the guitars having radio links to the amplifiers rather than cables the performance moved into crowd at one point – I think one guitar even ended up being played out in the street although from my vantage point right at the front on the opposite sidefrom the door I didn't witness that!
As before click to listen to Megalomatic.
Then it was time, and the months of waiting were finally over - Saffire, Vikki, Agnes and Sinead arrived on stage and all eyes in the packed room were transfixed – and the dramatic introduction to 'Sleaze' continued to entrance everybody In addition to being extremely accomplished musicians these ladies invest a lot in their appearance too and that night in Glasgow was no exception. Whilst clothing can be minimal with liquid latex much in evidence, they infuse their whole performance with sensuality and eroticism and describe their music as coming from the half light of the bedroom. Much is written about females being expoited and forced to flaunt their bodies by men – The Courtesans are most definitely in control of their image, we discussed that when I met them previously and it is clear that every aspect of their appearance and performance is decided by themselves. Agnes' sense of humour was very obvious with 'TITS' written across her painted chest and 'ARSE' emblazoned across her rear. She has a very striking appearance, vaguely reminding me of Grace Jones. Sinead began standing centre stage with herback to the audience which allowed her beautiful mass of long blonde hair to be used to dramatic effect during the atmospheric introduction to 'Sleaze'. Often drummers can be difficult to see as they seem to be stuck away at the back of the stage, Vikki's brilliant red hair helps her to stand out as she expertly maintains the beat to support Agnes' skillful bass playing. Last, but certainly not least, the elfin Saffire worked wonders with her guitar to add a wide range of mesmerising sounds and phrases that ranged from very delicate swirling to powerful hard rocking. Former 'track of the month' 'Dirty Killer' was the second number, followed in quick succession by 'Indigo', 'Scream' and when Sinead and Saffire scream there faces need to be seen to get the full effect, 'Lullaby', 'The Power Of Love', 'Hard Man To Kill', 'Swallow', 'Nowhere', an impressively powerful song with a drivingbeat was new one for me, 'Genius', 'Liberate' and 'Venus In Furs', then all too soon the set was over. Gerry and Allan (STG Promotions) had witnessed the Aberdeen gig the previous night and when I arrived they told me that the band were even better than in November – well they were excellent then – and oh yes, they were even better second time around! It was great to catch up with them when they came off stage, sadly as they prepared to move onto the after party, we had to drive back across Scotland to the Scottish Borders.
Listen to The Courtesans.
Sunday evening arrived very quickly and I soon found myself in Cabaret Voltaire waiting for some technical issues to be rectified. Sadly the delay coupled with a strict Sunday night curfew meant that The Courtesans had to cut their set short. The compact venue was packed and the stage layout meant that the band could be seen descending from backstage down steps at the left side, absolutely for them to be seen in their full glory. I was half expecting the venue to be plunged into darkness due to the amount of power being used by the bass speakers, perhaps it was the just that the wooden floor was quite springy but the floor did seem to be resonating in time with the speakers. It came as no surprise to mean that the set seemed to be impeccably delivered, although I was later told that onstage it had been difficult to hear much apart from the bass through the monitors. Sinead had also been suffering quite badly with a case of sniffles, had it been me I imagine I would have claimed 'man flu', nevertheless all sounded and looked great to me – apart from the abbreviated set.
With Edinburgh being a home gig for The Filthy Tongues, it was always going to be a well attended night, it turned out to be a sell-out and the band came on stage to be welcomed by a capacity crowd. Martin Metcalfe is an imposing presence dressed in black suit with large-brimmed black hat, dark glasses and full beard, he was accompanied by Derek Kelly, Fin Wilson and David Scobbie. The set was very much as I had expected with every song being delivered with tremendous intensity and passion. They sound quality was crystal clear and as last time the tempo began quite slow and steadily crept up to a higher level as the set neared its climax. All too soon Martin announced that the impending curfew had led to a bit of a dilemma as to what to finish on, it seems that they too would have been able to play a longer set. There were clearly many long-time fans in the crowd with many singing along.
Listen to The Filthy Tongues.
All that remains now is to thank Allan & Gerry at STG Promotions for arranging two great nights for the final weekend in March either side of the change from GMT to BST, oh and to try to persuade them to get The Courtesans back across the border. Thanks also to Howard Toshman and all others who ensured safe ‘delivery’ of The Courtesans.
Many thanks to Patrick Rafferty for the excellent photos.