VCheka: Red Alert

There's a famous communist slogan 'Workers Unite'. Thus it's fitting for a band so well versed in the global communist movement that Vcheka's birthplace was also their workplace. As guitarist/vocalist Graham Cameron explains, “Yeah, we met each other through our jobs (referring to bassist Ryan Murray and now-departed founding drummer Malcolm Shields). At one point we all worked on the same floor, all slightly disillusioned with what we were doing – or not doing – musically. So for a year we jammed enthusiastically and aimlessly before getting Ross (Galloway, keys/synth) on board. Previously we had tried loops, samplers, effects, harmonies. Always there was a musical void. It always sounded good but directionless and in danger of sounding like just another post rock trio. Ross filled all the gaps.”

Quizzed about the vision and musical glue that binds the left-field quartet, Graham continues “Oooft! We're into anything from Jeff Mills to Boards Of Canada to the Mary Chain but if you want to sum us up then, bizarrely enough, we congregate round classic pop like Prefab Sprout.” Pausing to let that bombshell sink in, he continues “The obvious ambition is to reach as many people as possible. We feel we're doing something quite original, progressive" (NOT prog-rock, he's quick to correct) "and even informative but each player has a specific sound that doesn't really change. We're really a pop format. Verse, chorus, verse, chorus. Usually within five minutes.”

Despite that modest simplification of their sound, rarely does a band appear that is as genuinely hard to categorise and even harder to pinpoint in terms of apparent influences. It's a testament to their spirit of adventure that Vcheka seem to have embarked on a journey purely of their own devising, with only the loosest comparisons (hints of Battles, snippets of Primal Scream perhaps) coming even close to what has grown into an idiosyncratic alt-pop animal with an unstoppable live reputation.

Shifting the discussion to their lyrical content and artwork, to say Vcheka romanticise communism, like so many naïve punk and hardcore groups of recent years, would be unfair. Their imagery and references astutely reflect both sides of the red coin. Their name for example is taken from the sinister Soviet security force charged with protecting the interests of the Bolshevik ruling party in early 20th Century Russia. A task which involved the “liquidation” of opponents, the running of the notorious Gulags and the suppression of workers' uprisings in the most brutal of circumstances. Yet track titles like 1919 recount the Clydeside strike of that year in which workers across Scotland exemplified the positives of the communist cause and joined arms in solidarity over the plight of Glasgow's dock workers, only to have the protests brutally quashed by an edgy domestic police force in our very own George Square. Political indoctrination is not the objective, rather Vcheka encourage us to examine our own history and reflect on its relevance today. As Graham attests: “The imagery of the 1919 strikes in Glasgow is used because of the lyrical subject. as well as being interesting and powerful. The lyrics are more philosophical than political.”

In true leftist spirit he goes on: “Transmitting these ideas to an audience, albeit a generally underground one, definitely qualifies as success. The arts/music scene in Scotland can be great at times. We feel a lot of the best work goes unrecognised but that's not always a bad thing. There are always gigs and club nights popping up, and there's a lot of visual artists we respect. It's good to know something that other people don't. Whatever field of the scene you attach yourself to, you'll always be surprised!”

It goes without saying that, for fans of inspiring, inventive alternative music, Vcheka are one of the things on the Scottish scene you need to know about right now.