As a pink-haired, pop-punker, I tended to stay clear of anything that called itself “Metalcore” back in the day. Anything beyond the “Post Hardcore” label was too rich for my blood, and with that I’d missed out on a whole world of music. I’d always left the screams to my better half’s playlists, leaving mine saturated with whiney boys. Cue a message asking if I fancied seeing Pierce The Veil on the first of two sell out nights at the Barrowlands and I decide that now is the time to dive into it. A quick Spotify makes me realise that Pierce The Veil are just like all of the best My Chemical Ro ..read more

There’s one name in the pop punk and emo circles that just screams quality, and that name is Hopeless Records. Their roster and alumni have put them up on a pedestal with the likes of Sub Pop, Drive Thru, and Kung Fu Records in terms of groundbreaking acts in the genre. Tonight we’re checking out one of their Australian acts, Trophy Eyes, who have made the global trek to end up in the basement of Slay. First up is Out Of Love. They’re poppy and punky with a bit of shouting and sometimes fast singing that approaches a bit of the hippy hop. With their first song, I was reminded of that band who ..read more

Back in the day of MSN names that bore the responsibility of expressing your personality, a friend of mine had the name “If hell is for heroes, then hell is for Hell is for Heroes”. I always admired the way that sentence skipped back like a scratched record as you said it. It was also that line that prompted me to first check out the post hardcore group from London. Back in the very early 2000s the sound of UK post hardcore was truly distinctive with palm muted guitars that opened into huge choruses with melodic angst in the vocals. Along with Hundred Reasons, our headliners were the kings of ..read more

This was a nicely balanced triple bill promoted by Pop Mutations Glasgow, something for everyone really, on a gloomy Good Friday… Cr@m are a mainly Glasgow-based five-piece who take some influences from anarcho-punk with a strong pro-Green tinge to their lyrical subject matter. With a tight rhythmically rocking drum and bass backline, and guitar riffage channelling Killing Joke, they pounded out riffs while the vocalists yelled out the lines – very effective and enjoyable of its kind… Even more local were next up Dragged Up, a five-piece combo which has emerged out of several other previous (a ..read more

A Greenpeace benefit gig, this night gave us 4 diverse acts in a bill put together by 23 Music Management. First up was Louis Rive, known to BM by reputation but not seen live before, performed his set on solo guitar. A singular writer, some of whose output reminded BM a bit of A New International and possibly Momus, with subjects ranging from the historical (‘King Arthur’) to the personal (‘M8 Adventurer’). Singing in a Scottish accent but at times in fluent Spanish (he has recently return from a long spell there…), there were some clever and quite hilarious couplets and some great melodies ..read more

Bleachers have played Glasgow once before. It was July 2015 at the Garage. At that point in his career, Jack Antonoff was “the guy from Fun. that isn’t the singer”, or maybe even the Steel Train guy, if you were super into your noughties US indie rock bands. Despite having released a couple of pretty much perfect pop songs – ‘I Wanna Get Better’ and ‘Rollercoaster’ – Bleachers and Antonoff were still in the minor league. Of course, Jack had already begun laying the foundations of a lucrative career, and since then has, well, pretty much taken over modern pop music. If he’s not working with Ta ..read more

I’ve always seen Knuckle Puck as the chirpy little brother of the big players in the modern pop punk world. Playing to smaller crowds, no real massive hits, and no one is camping outside to see them. But they’ve always held their own in terms of how hard the songs go. Tonight, they play Glasgow’s finest scud cinema, The Classic Grand – and we’re here in our lucky overcoats to help them kick off. The support for tonight is Shoreline – German DIY punk/hardcore/emo/craziness. I’d seen their name passed about when they toured with Spanish Love Songs and Heart Attack Man on the continent, so that ..read more

If you read our preview of tonight’s gig, you’ll know I compared Don’t Panic to a lot of ’90s and early 00s pop punk bands. Upon further listening, I feel the need to throw Bayside in as one of their major and obvious influences… and I love Bayside. That makes tonight all the more exciting: Don’t Panic, Kevin from American Pie, and Who Saves The Hero? from Wales. It’s a modestly priced ticket in an awesome venue on a Friday night, so worth a punt even if you’re not familiar with the acts. The merch stall is an interesting one. I wasn’t sure if Thomas Nicholas would be banking on his American ..read more

It’s funny how a nasal Mancunian singing voice and eyebrows can seem so familiar… But it’s not until after Villanelle’s set that I find out why. The group – presumably named after the Killing Eve character – appear shy. Their heavy-indie-meets-stadium-rock-n-roll ought to look showy, but these boys barely move a muscle. If you close your eyes, you can imagine them really going for it, bolting around a massive stage with fervour … and when their careful 26 minute set comes to a blistering end, the crowd cheers as if they did. Perhaps following in the footsteps of singer Gene Gallagher’s dad ..read more

Singer/guitarist Robert Poss has ploughed a distinctive furrow since the demise of Band of Susans in the mid 1990s by continuing to explore his lifelong love of sound, particularly those that can be wrought from the electric guitar. Whilst he’s been working continually, his five solo records since 2002 have been infrequent, with the records often collecting together some of his more recent works in the one place. These records have often been more experimental than anything in the Band of Susans canon, bringing in electronics and percussion. But, with his latest release ‘Drones, Songs, and Fai ..read more