Hey Princess, Older and Far Away, Feel like Falling - 13th Note

I'm standing in a pub, stone-cold sober, and watching 3 men who appear to be pushing 30 playing like trio of gawky teenagers who just learned how to play the chords D and G. Their drummer resembles a young(ish) John Peel and the singer is trying too hard not to look like a car salesman by wearing a (homemade?) Richey Manic t-shirt, but it doesn't take away from the fact that this band are totally devoid of ideas. Lyrics addressed to someone who doesn't seem to know how great they are or what they could achieve in life, backed-up by the aforementioned major guitar chords just didn't do it for me, so I retreated upstairs to read about Norn Irn for the latter half of their set. Feel like Falling asleep, more like...sorry guys.

Older and Far Away look like a more interesting prospect from the off, they have a cello for a start, and a lap steel. Last time I saw marie on a stage she was playing guitar for riot grrl band Cheetaras, performing a rocking cover of Madonna's 'Like a Prayer'...this time she's sitting at the drumkit for what appear to be a country band. The music starts, and my suspicions are confirmed, these guys like their Americana. For the majority of the set they manage to make it pretty interesting though. So many of these laid-back country bands are content to go through the motions and play safe, but OAFA blend a bit of Pavementesque trickery with good old-fashioned blues emotion to make a very pleasant racket for the fair-sized crowd in attendance.

Despite their obvious talents as a band, they let themselves down on the togetherness front a bit. A couple of songs require a few false starts before they get going, and there appears to be some tension between band members and the soundman (who I thought coped pretty well in the circumstances). The lead singer/cellist and Marie appear particularly affected by any setbacks, which eventually made me feel a bit uncomfortable watching. As they fluff the beginning of the song 'Peter Parker', cello woman snaps at the rest of the band. Luckily their delightfully goofy-looking guitarist (who bears more than a slight resemblance to the webslinging wonderspider) keeps it all together, acting out the Mark Ibold demeanour to a tee. definitely worth watching again, if only to see if they split up on stage...

After a short break (after all, it is a school night), the band I've dragged my sober ass out to see tonight shuffle onto the stage - I can hardly hear Anji's vocals during the opening number as the continuing sound problems make their life just that little bit harder. Luckily, this band are not for throwing the towel in, and by the second song they have taken control of the stage with a quiet confidence that enables the music to shine though.

Their sound is soft and gentle but with an underlying strengh, a bit like Throwing Muses but with a hint of something else in the mix. It's quite difficult to pin down, but very engaging. Hey Princess are unusual in that they feature 2 sets of married couples in the line-up, and unsurprisingly have a lot more comaraderie emanating from the stage than the other 2 bands. The songs also offer something different, their sound is a throwback to the American college rock sound but incorporating the idiosyncracies of the British indie scene in its early 90's heyday. Think of Kim Deal meeting Talk Talk (in a Morris Minor on PCP, of course) and you're on the right track. This band make an effort to be different lyrically too, with numerous references to large cats and historical figures replacing the usual boy-meets-girl-meets-drugs sixth-form poetry we've come to expect from Scottish bands. Hats off to Supermiffy for managing to look so darned cool while playing a cabasa!

HP certainly left an imprint on my mind that night, their songs are now inked into my very soul. I know I'll get a ribbon for writing that down...

Photies:-
here

St Deluxe, The Hermit Crabs, Sisa, Hey Princess - Oran Mor

A bit of confusion about the door price this evening. It says £8 which is a bit steep, but all the bands had discount fliers pimped on their MySpace pages. £6 discount = £2 on the door, and bottles of Fosters only a punt, could be a cheap night for music fans.

Crikey, Radar's here, he does get around at these gigs.

On stage is a five piece, knowing nothing about the bands, I presume them to be Sisa, laid back female vocalling, Breeders B-side material. They seem nervous, uncomfortable in their skins. They sound like a cross country train ride on an autumn Sunday.

Nope, my mistake, this is Hey Princess. I thought the Princess would be the Diana look-alike with the salt-grinder and chunky necklace, but Tom reckons its the tall oriental gentleman on bass.

The Hermit Crabs, start off with an apology for fannying around with their gear. What is it with bands starting with apologies?

It'd be unfair to call out requests for Camera Obscura songs, but the similarities are there. And if the mighty 'Crabs are to follow in the footsteps of the mighty 'Obscura as they did with the mighty 'nd Sebastian, who's going to be the Isobel Campbell/John Henderson and leave the band?

They've kicked off their very own genre of songs about Sauchiehall Street, it won't be long until other bands follow. Take for example Adam J Smith's genre of song's about the 13th Note, with Kid Canaveral doing likewise with 'Smash Hits'. Alas the 'Crabs had a 'cha cha cha' in the middle which seemed a little jarring.

The gentleman stood to my right was nodding in time to the bassline, as opposed to the drums as normal.

My favourite song was 'Fields Folk Festival' a new song, neat guitar noodles, but they seemed unsure how to finish it.

I was talking to Steph about my fake marriage to a photographer when suddenly Sisa hit the stage. It rather caught me off guard. The mind of Clare Grogan with the body of Katy-Jane Garside stolen the wardrobe from Strawberry Switchblade. A bald Danny Wallace on guitar, playing like Electafixion era Will Sergeant, and a very funky fretless bass player who appeared to be made out of pencils. A bit too bombastic and new wave for me.

Fanzine, the promoter, who I vaguely know off of Jockrock, was rumbling about the size of the crowd. It was bigger than most of the gigs I've been to at the Oran Mor, and I was there, so hey ho.

Ooh, both me and the statuesque girl, who was in front of me in the queue for Spitfire the other night, like St Deluxe.

They're a noisy band, three guitars, a bass and drums. Tom was muttering something about Sebadoh, but I was thinking, more like vocals from Stabiliser or Urusei Yatsura. They were a lot louder than when they played at my flat last year, and they rocked so hard at points Jamie on vocals didn't need his microphone. I liked 'em, I liked 'em loads.