Year Zero presents Glasvegas at the Barfly
Indie mogul Alan McGee hails the Glaswegian fourpiece as the best Scottish band he’s seen in 20 years. The NME rated their single ‘Daddy’s Gone’ as the second best track of 2007. That goes some way to explaining why the queue to see the Jesus & Mary Chain-influenced rockers is stretching down Chalk Farm Road. Superficially coming off as a wall-of-sound machine, Glasvegas actually take their lead from classic doo-wop groups. They are a sublime clash of opposites: early Nineties shoegaze meets early Sixties girl groups (replete with retro mics), with ambitions the size of epic popular anthems. And there is nobody else out there who has this sound.
Current single ‘It’s My Own Cheating Heart That Makes Me Cry’’s sparse guitar shards are the cue for singer James Allan to throw his Joe Strummer swagger at us. Belting out in the vernacular, his Spector-indebted sound is a winner tonight.
‘Geraldine’ is utterly fantastic. Back at the mixing desk at this intimate venue, we slump against the wall and let it wash over us. Like some kind of therapy. A cigarette would top it off.
McGee hasn’t touted a decent band since the mid-90s, hence his hype turns many off. But this time he might have got it right.
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