BMX Bandits Album Launch @ St Luke's, Glasgow, 27 May
As the sun shines down on Glasgow and the bars of the Gallowgate hum with football fans celebrating and commiserating after this year's Scottish Cup final, St Luke’s fills with people looking for Glasgow’s other great export: pop music.
Secret Goldfish are the first band to play this beautiful old church tonight. The band have the awkward energy of school kids in front of an assembly – fitting, as much of their set is about childhood nostalgia.
Singing in Glasgow accents and unreservedly Scottish, with lyrics referring to Nicola Sturgeon, this band is also universal. The pure happiness in the simple things that they sing of is enough to raise the hairs on the back of your neck. It’s as if they are channelling all of Phil Spector’s Wall of Sound with nothing more than the stripped back setup of one guitar and two singers.
A cover of collaborator Vic Goddard’s Holiday Hymn finishes the set and gives the evening a wonderful start.
After a taste of Glasgow pop from the 90s, it’s exciting to see one of the city’s best new bands on the bill: Spinning Coin are a five-piece so effortlessly cool, that they look half awake. There is a good 30-second delay after guitarist Jack Mellin introduces the band, before they deliver a simultanius rush of noise and melody.
There are three main vocalists in the band, and every time they switch the whole dynamic of the band changes, making for a highly interesting performance – the main difference being between the slacker angst of Mellin and the fragile heartfelt voice of Sean Armstrong, supported by the voice of Rachel Taylor behind the keys.
The band are a constantly shifting carousel, gliding between influences, from frantic fuzz and Thin Lizzy licks to punk and optimistic romantic country rock. There is a bit of hype about this band at the moment and they are an act worth getting excited about.
BMX Bandits entering the stage to The Good, The Bad and the Ugly by Ennio Morricone is pretty appropriate. Since forming 30 years ago the BMX Bandits are closer to a posse than most bands, with a lineup that, along with ringleader Douglas T Stewart, has included members from The Soup Dragons, Teenage Fanclub and many others.
Opening their set with the chilled out Cast A Shadow, the harmonies are perfect to lull us into the cool of the evening. It’s an excellent eclectic set, with upbeat songs and slow melancholy moments. “This song is about being in love – they all are, I think,” quips Stewart.
The Bandits do have an amazing back catalogue, capturing everything from the euphoria of a first kiss to the pain of heartache. It’s the fact that they can express all the heartache and loneliness of life without losing a hopeful core that's why so many people have found so much comfort in this band for so long.
Classics like I Wanna Fall In Love and Disco Girl sit nicely with tracks from the new album BMX Bandits Forever. After an encore of Getting Dirty, a glitter-covered Douglas again expresses how grateful he his for the band and everyone here tonight.
We are equally grateful for tonight – and for his whole career.