#head-sync

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Steve Grozier @ The Hug & Pint

“What do you call a large pile of cats? 

- A Meaowtain” Copyright courtesy of Steve Grozier.

Steve Grozier’s ability to evoke a fresh Nashville sound with Scottish tendencies is really enrapturing. His groomed ginger beard, checked shirt, boot cut jeans and acoustic guitar took to the Hug and Pint’s stage where sat a solitary barstool. “I’m going to play some songs about feelings and stuff like that”.

Opening with a track that showcased bare, stripped and pure vocals. It pulled influences from blues and exuded the aurora of a weary soul. Steve’s tendency to close his eyes whilst singing really hit home to me that there was authentic meaning behind every lyric. 

“these moments do not last, I miss the friend and I miss the way he sings”.

Up next, a personal favourite of mine ‘Take My Leave’. This track features in Grozier’s latest release ‘Keep It Creative Sessions’. Hearing this track live reiterated those feelings I had when I first heard it - relatable, personable and understandable. Through Steve’s stellar performance, his beautiful lines creative vivid imagery where we can cast off our minds to ‘broken down arcades’, ‘empty streets and railway station lines’, ‘gravel paths that leads to [my] home’. There’s a gorgeous light melodic accompaniment on ‘Take My Leave’. 

A great thing about Steve was his interactions with the H&P crowd. His music was very solum but he played off that;

“I know things have been crazy upbeat so I’m going to slow things down. Here’s a sadder and slower one” - spoken drenched in sarcasm, a few chuckles echoed around the room. 

A few tracks down the line, it came to light that we were standing in the presence of a great cat joke connoisseur. These intermissions where Steve would talk to the audience were fantastic as a way to humanise him. If anything I’d say longer sets and more cat jokes!

Before closing his performance with a mesmerising ‘Ringing of the Bells’ performance, Steve delighted the audience with a Ryan Adam’s cover ‘Lucky Now’. Another exhibition of minimalist guitar accompaniment and a believing vocal performance. 

Steve can, without a doubt, hypnotise a room full of strangers with his empathetic songs. Beautiful vocal characteristics like bending notes and soft vibrato add to the authentic credible country vibes. 

Here’s Steve Grozier closing his performance with ‘Ringing of the Bells’

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TinyVinyl @ Jacked Up

Rising Glasgow indie group Tiny Vinyl shine at Jacked Up in aid of SAMH.

The Flying Duck proved a surprisingly quality venue for Jacked Up’s second outing of the year with Tiny Vinyl being joined by fellow Glaswegians Das Plastixx and Edinburgh’s The Rich.

Following a thumping opening set from increasingly popular The Rich, Tiny Vinyl took to the Duck’s stage. Their opening number highlighted some sweet ass rim shot work and closed snare beating from drummer Rooster, who was sporting a bold Cambodian aztec vest. Calum lay down deep, purposeful vocals - they were executed with real authenticity. Balanced build ups and Arctic Monkey-eque guitar hooks got the 100 odd Jacked Up goers bobbing and really fired up. Second on the setlist was a sumptuous demonstration of Calum’s tentative dancing and delicate back up harmonies from Neil - a là Magic Numbers. 

The set continued with frequent shoutouts for the Scottish Association for Mental Health (big ups).

The mesmerising dad dancing of Calum continued with groovy funkadelic number. A real patron pleaser where biblical ‘Wooh ohhh ohohohohhs’ resonated around the Duck’s bunker. Couple that with the cow bell beating and rumba rhythms that Rooster was whipping out, it really went down a belter.

TinyVinyl have a capability to mash up all sorts of genres. It’s like they’re making a big cake, with indie, pop, soul, funk and alternative rock contributors to the baking mix. I love cake, you love cake, everybody loves cake. 

The cake was topped with a thick dollop of buttercream icing when the boys bowed out for the night with a mash up incorporating Franz’s Take Me Out with one of their own tracks. Lesson 1, on how to please a Scottish crowd right there.

Image Copyright TinyVinyl Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/TinyVinyl

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Lakeway - Revelations

And we’re back to review those beautiful boys from Ukraine. Their latest release, a 5 track EP that packs a euphoric electro punch. 

1. Passion 

https://soundcloud.com/lakewayband/passion

A taste of Lakeway’s animated europop is typified in ‘Passion’. A concoction of fantasy drum and synth effects teamed with purposeful lyrics. Dima’s tangled accent of Eastern European and American is unique. The marriage of both dialects is captured in the chorus: “They say that I lack control, but do I lack passion”. Consistent pulsing bass beats serve as a great foundation when explorations of futuristic electronic sounds build up to climatic hooks.

2. Promises

https://soundcloud.com/lakewayband/promises

An extremely heavily influenced 80s electro number. This is a room filler with Dima again delivering with a solid vocal, but the inclusion of haunting backing vocals give Promises a divergent dynamic. I hear the greats like The Pet Shop Boys, The Human League and Dead or Alive in this one, can you? 

3. 3am (feat. Drastic)

https://soundcloud.com/lakewayband/3-am

Far more laid back, Lakeway adopt a hip hop beat shooting in some appropriate closed hi hat rhythms into 3am. By far my favourite track of Lakeway’s, plainly for having the balls to amalgamate their indie electro pop with smooth R&B. 

4. Everything You Wanted

I already covered this. Go check it out. 

5. Track of Time

https://soundcloud.com/lakewayband/track-of-time

Wow. That opening beat transports you to a Miami beach in the height summer where the daiquiris are in full flow. “If we lost track of our time, I’ll take what is mine”  is the focal line in a potent chorus. That opening beat continues throughout and it’s a head bobber. A nice instrumental section highlights the extent of experimentation by Alex and Dima - showcasing digital sounds I’ve never exposed to my ears. They manage to mixed the layered sounds so that nothing is overbearing - an extraordinary skill. 

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The Bellybuttons @ Nice N Sleazy’s

The Bellybuttons earned the second support slot for Catholic Action’s hometown slot at Sleazy’s last night. Being unfamiliar with their band and music filled me with some excitement - excitement which was heightened when the bassist strutted onto stage with some daring white jeans - credit where it’s due.

Their set got off to slippery start with some excruciating feedback filling the room. A combination of the sound engineer rushing to be a saviour and some whippet from the crowd being a rescuer with a spare lead, The Bellybuttons set finally got underway. It was unavoidable - I’m speaking of the brave white jeaned bassist’s dancing. It was like he was making love to his bass and the crowd simultaneously. The Bellybuttons music really held it’s own - a fusion of pop, loose blues, melancholy beats with a smooth deep voice layered on top. Some points were so reminiscent of the great Lou Reed’s voice in The Velvet Underground. A lovechild of Lou Reed and David Byrne of The Talking Heads would be my best description of the main man’s voice. 

There 7 track EP can be found ere;

https://soundcloud.com/the-bellybuttons

A stand out song for me was ‘Battling With Caring’ - a beautiful moderato song which features some funkalicious guitar licks and a stripped section where the rhythm section reverted to its bare bones. Frontman then narrated some insightful, profound words about caring, interacting with both the band and a swooping audience. “I care about not caring and I care about caring that I don’t care....” This went on for a while until my brain was firmly tangled in knots about caring or not caring or what the hell even care means. This section was wrapped up neatly with “Care as much as you care to dare”. 

I don’t quite know what’s next for The Bellybuttons but i’m praying pretty hard that’s its more memorable performances like that of last night. A band full of personality, pizazz and great musical talent, and in my eyes definitely one to look out for.