THE DAZE + THE BROGUES + THE FOXES + YETI - Dexters, Dundee 27-01-08
In the spirit of 2008, let me remind you that The Daze are a quartet who have written some of THE most consistently strong and memorable indie songs in Dundee over the past 12 months, their slight Oasis-esque approach belying a musical, compositional and inventive strength with two guitarists, bassist and drummer delivering ever more solid sets. That the 4 songs on their CD-EP have been the staple diet of indie doscos for a while, mere proof of their potential stature to come. Thus it was that, after a short break, The Daze returned to live action sounding a lot fresher and more vibrant.Robbbie's lead vocal was strong sounding with a more tuneful Gallagher bent to it, while the twin guitar work just shone, as the songs from the CD rang out to an audience mesmerised by the band's songs. They end the set with this epic track called "New Day Dawning" that follows a line from Velvet Undeground through Television to The Verve and beyond, the song diving and soaring with the rhythm section really solid at the back, the drumming particularly hot, as the verses and chorus come and go, leaving room at the end for Scott's lead guitar to fly in this wall-of-sound coda where guitars pour out of the PA in gloriously intense fashion.Still riveting, still winning.
The Brogues, also a quartet, take things from a wholly different standpoint, yet equally have come up with a set, the vast majority of which consists of songs that are comercial dynamite. To describe them as a punk band would be wrong, to liken them to The View would be wrong, to label them as a pop band would be partly true, while to bracket them as an indie band doesn't tell the whole story. To say they're unique, would be spot on, to say that their songs are memorable, even more so. With a tried and trusted rhythm section, originally part of Dundee band Rising Signs, combined with lead guitarist and harmony vocalist Ronnie and uniquely styled lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Marco, the combination works a treat as, less than a year into their existence, they've already created a stir around Dundee and beyond, with the potential to be absolutely massive if Radio has enough vision to cotton onto them. Meanwhile, the band tonight look more relaxed than for a long while, smiling and joking with themselves and the audience, while still whipping up a storm across a solid and consistent set. "Mr Valentine" with its addictive chorus, a searing, unforgettable guitar lead and rock solid rhythm work that has you leaping about uncontrollably and Marco's biting Scottish twang of a vocal, is just one stuner of a track. But if that's good, then newer and so far unrecorded track, "Money Brings You Happiness", is turning into something altogether more supercharged, as, to this wickedly driving rhythmic beat, the guitars fly as Marco's vocal is delivered not only at an amazingly fast pace but in a sort of cascading fashion that is simply riveting, the whole track full of unswerving strength, bursts of chorus and absolute genius - and this is no word of a lie, I woke up at 4am after the gig with the song surging around my head - yeh, THAT hot! But there's more - the delightful "Carry On", the anthemic "Fights, Lies and Arguments", and more, all with the taste of punk and pop, even a touch of rock 'n' roll, but in actual fact, simply The Brogues - there's nothing like them and they should be huge - is the music industry listening???
The Foxes were a band I simply didn't enjoy - mainly down to the songs and the lyrics. For a bunch of relatively young guys, they seemed to exhibit a lyrical approach more like the TV series "Grumpy Old Men" - "here's a song about the twats who use mobile phones on buses and sound rubbish", being just one example of many. I can't be constructvely critical here, so 'nuff sed.
Yeti brought things to a surprising close by being a kind of indie-folk band, playing acoustically with lush vocals and exquisite three part harmonies, a sort of nod towards something like Iain Matthews-meets-Crosby Stills & Nash but without the memorability. Initially, it all seemed pleasant enough, but as the set wore on, so did the band, and even though the majority of the songs were performed at a realtively sedate pace, it all seeemed a lot slower than that. I would imagine they probably sound pretty decent as an album, but after the excitement of The Daze and The Brogues, a particularly flat way of ending a concert - perhaps a case of right band, wrong headliner.