Music, Rock and Chris Cope

Every Time I Die - King Tut’s, Glasgow, Wed 7 Dec 2011

Relentless stream of three-minute blitzkrieg salvos

17 Jan 2012

King Tut’s is sold out tonight, and rightly so. US noiseniks Every Time I Die are one of the most engaging bands in the broad church of metal, preaching their inimitable brand of plunging rock ‘n’ roll since way back then in 1998. Trash Talk do a good…

The Dillinger Escape Plan

The Garage, Glasgow, Fri 5 Aug 2011

24 Aug 2011

The Dillinger Escape Plan deserve every single penny they make out of tonight’s gig. Their onstage energy is so unrelenting that you ponder if they’ll collapse post-show and perish in a putrid pile of sweat. For the uninitiated, the band’s music will…

Death Cab for Cutie - Codes and Keys

Where usually notoriously dour, there’s traces of sunshine here

24 May 2011

(Atlantic) There’s a tangible buzz for Codes and Keys, Death Cab for Cutie’s 7th studio album. It seems the cult US indie-ites are teetering on the edge of true mainstream triumph, and having hit No. 1 in their homeland in 2008, the time is nigh for…

Twin Atlantic - Free

Glasgow's indie-punk-rock upstarts continue their ascent with accomplished second album

25 Apr 2011

(Red Bull) With Biffy Clyro now zapped up into mainstream consciousness in a sort of twisted alien abduction, there’s a vacuous hole now open for Scotland’s next alt-rock band to stake their claim in. Twin Atlantic however have been ploughing their…

Glasvegas: EUPHORIC /// HEARTBREAK \\\

Below par return from the Glasgow miserabilists

24 Mar 2011

(Columbia) Funny that Glasvegas used ‘Euphoric’ in the title of their sophomore album. This is euphoria’s most definite of antonyms, but did anyone expect otherwise? Euphoric///Heartbreak\\\ is a Glaswegian dirge, muddled in lucid synth and languid…

Kassidy - Hope St.

Deep production and sublime hooks perfect for the radio, TV and elsewhere

1 Mar 2011

(Vertigo Records) Kassidy are an intriguing one, so they are. The blues-folk band are one of Scotland’s brightest prospects – spring-loaded by major label, ready to be launched – but their sound is a world away from their hometown Glasgow. The title…

Queens of the Stone Age - Queens of the Stone Age

Reissued 1998 self-titled debut album is doused in swagger

1 Mar 2011

(Rekords Rekords) Josh Homme is the king of cool. He has the rockstar wife (Brody Dalle, formerly of The Distillers), he makes smoking less fatality and more finesse, and, of course, he is the ginger Elvis. This reissue of Queens of the Stone Age’s…

Ringo Deathstarr - Colour Trip

8 Feb 2011

(Club AC30) Place ‘death’ in your band name and you’ll always risk blood-stained metal connotations, but marry it with a dainty ‘ringo’ and you’ve immediately eschewed any notion of grinding guitars and guts. Ringo Deathstarr’s debut album Colour…

Emma’s Imagination - Stand Still

Dumfries singer and winner of Must Be The Music sets course for pop success

3 Jan 2011

(Polydor) Emma Gillespie has been on a journey fit for any Hollywood narrative, from busking on the Glasgow streets to TV talent show victory (she won Sky’s Must Be The Music) and subsequent major label deal. Her debut album, under the guise of…

The Damned Things - Ironiclast

Fall Out Boy’s Andy Hurley and Joe Trohman meet members of Anthrax

15 Dec 2010

(Mercury) Trapped in an emo-pop band that’s overrun with boyband looks and chirping teenage fans? Want something different? Why not join a metal band! That’s exactly what Fall Out Boy’s Andy Hurley and Joe Trohman have done. One thing – The Damned…

Exposure: Randolph's Leap

New Glasgow band are a melting pot of folk, indie, pop and traditional

18 Nov 2010

With six members and six mouths, it’s a surprise that the arrival of Randolph’s Leap on the cultural horizon hasn’t been shouted about already. A melting pot of folk, indie, pop and traditional tunes, a rollcall of the Glasgow band and their respective…

Ray Davies - See My Friends

15 Nov 2010

(Universal) Ray Davies must throw some pretty good parties, judging by the pretty esteemed list of friends he’s recruited to help out here. The latest endeavour from The Kinks mainman goes collaborative, revisiting his back catalogue with friends…

Blink 182

SECC, Glasgow, Tue 17 Aug 2010

27 Aug 2010

Tonight is the biggest family reunion Glasgow – nay, Scotland – has seen in years. The SECC is a jamboree of pop-punk fans, new and old, slanted baseball caps and alternative footwear as Blink-182 return from a five year ‘indefinite hiatus’, the crowd…

Kasper Rosa - EP2

7 Jul 2010

(Field Records) A cocktail of post-rock and prog rock is a deadly combination – not just for the ears, but for the mind too. Instrumental interludes conjoining with off-time deviances is tough stuff – but Kasper Rosa have got it right. ‘EP2’ opens…

We Are Scientists - Barbara

1 Jun 2010

(Masterswan) Scientists are often not the most exciting of people, and on this showing, We Are Scientists live up to their name. When not playing music however, they’re hugely entertaining and endearing, but ‘Barbara’ fails to find their much…

Exposure: Esperi

20 Apr 2010

Dundee is famous for three things, they say; Jute, jam and journalism. But is it about to get a fourth? Juxtaposing acoustic guitar and a whole host of odd instruments and percussion, Esperi mainman Chris Lee-Marr seems to be making all the right waves.

Gogol Bordello - Trans-Continental Hustle

14 Apr 2010

American Recordings/ Columbia What an apt album title. This latest effort from gypsy-punks Gogol Bordello, Trans-Continental Hustle, takes us on a meandering trip through Eastern Europe and back — via South America too. With lead-man and…

Kitty the Lion

29 Mar 2010

What’s with the animal theme tonight? Kittens, lions and goats? Still, at least the archetypal gruffness of the latter is absent tonight, in favour of more delicate and delectable sensibilities, as Kitty the Lion – aka Glasgow songstress Anna Meldrum…

Exposure: Cast of the Capital

22 Mar 2010

Aberdeen lies beyond the outskirts of Scottish music’s epicentre, but Cast Of The Capital don’t really care. The band, named in renowned Scottish radio DJ Vic Galloway’s top 50 Scottish acts of 2010 list, may be based in the Granite City but regular…

Cobra Starship - Hot Mess

17 Feb 2010

(Atlantic) This latest offering from New York electro boppers Cobra Starship features some pretty disposable tracks, like the lacklustre ‘Fold Your Hands Child’ (a nod to the album of the same name by Scots twee-heroes, Belle & Sebastian) but when…

Killswitch Engage

11 Jan 2010

‘This is the Taste Of Chaos tour, not the Taste Of Tampons tour’, says Killswitch Engage guitarist and general oddball Adam Dutkiewicz, before requesting that the now pungently perspired crowd pogo up and down and side to side again once…

Porcupine Tree

ABC, Glasgow, Fri 11 Dec 2009

8 Jan 2010

When a band play their new album in full without barely taking a breath, you know they’re either a tad self absorbed and wrongfully rate their album as fantastic, or, the album is actually pretty fantastic. Tonight UK prog-merchants Porcupine Tree…

Dream Theater - SECC, Glasgow, Sun 11 Oct

Prog rockers entertain

15 Oct 2009

Progressive metal godfathers Dream Theater are here tonight for their Progressive Nation tour, and they bring with them some buddies who share their insatiable love for odd-timings and guitar wankery. Sub-headliners Opeth impress with their melancholic…

Miss The Occupier - Bar Bloc, Glasgow, Wed 30 Sep

Small crowd, big entertainment

2 Oct 2009

‘We are Miss the Occupier, but most of you already know that,’ says the enchanting Roz Davies, the band’s pink haired front-woman, and unfortunately, this is probably true. It’s a sparse crowd indeed, but the music certainly isn’t lacking from this…

Alice In Chains - Black Gives Way To Blue

17 Sep 2009

AC/DC aside, prematurely losing your lead singer is often fatal for bands. Grunge icons Alice in Chains of course lost Layne Staley in 2002 to years of well-documented drug (mis)use, but Black Gives Way to Blue will give them belief that they made the…