Water Wolves, Milk Maid, Mazes - The Captain's Rest, Glasgow

Posted in SHOFT on Thursday 6th October 2011 at 12:10am

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Opening events tonight are local band Water Wolves. A simple enough set-up of two guitars and drums, which results in a surprising amount of jangly, surfy noise from the trio. The songs are packed with pop choruses and twangy solos which sometimes threaten to burst free of the songs completely. There's clearly a local audience for the choppy, stuttering gems which Water Wolves produce in short sometimes twee, sometimes abrasive bursts. The solid but uncomplicated drums pin it all down squarely, which given the lack of a bassist is no easy feat. There is a degree of ramshackle chaos here too, as the competing guitars sometimes stumble over each other in the melee. But this is proper, old-school indiepop delivered with a touch of Glasgow cynicism. When they cut loose and the tunes tumble over each other in an effort to be heard, it's pretty convincing stuff. Noisy, fun and unashamed of it's heritage. Well worth a listen, and certainly needs further seeking out on my part. There is talk of a tape on their MySpace page which I'd love to get a listen too.

Manchester's Milk Maid have been causing a bit of a stir lately, and their debut album "Yucca" is a noisy, low fidelity joy. So, it was good to see them on this tour with kindred spirits Mazes. Fresh from an Edinburgh show last night, it was interesting to note a Paws shirt on their guitarist, perhaps as a result of an international football style shirt swap? Given his position at stage-front it was hard not to notice their cooly disinterested bassist, who looked a little reluctantly and disdainfully out into the usual motley Captain's Rest audience. Once underway though, things became very, very loud indeed. Tougher and if possible, a little messier than on record, but the classic pop tunes buried inside Milk Maid's songs is never far from the surface. "Girl" is delivered with surprising delicacy, though still elicits a heckle of "is tha' lood enough fa ye?" from the never timid Glasgow audience. Sometimes the vocals drown in the noise - with the soundman struggling manfully to keep up with the increasing volume, but the melodies survive the onslaught intact. There is peculiar to Manchester blend of late-60s pop at the heart of Milk Maid's sound which maybe didn't sit so well here, where there is an established tradition of similar era-transcending noise pop? There's also a sense that people are here tonight because of the buzz around the bands on the bill, and aren't perhaps engaging with the music. This isn't helped by the largely stoic response from the band as they band plough into the set with a snarl. It ends with a better reception though, and I for one am happy to have seen and heard Milk Maid at last. It's certainly the loudest performance I've seen for years.

Before Mazes come on stage I overhear a snippet of conversation about a 1990s revival. The group discussing it seem to think this is, by definition a bad thing, and seem to be lumping tonight's acts firmly in that camp. I'll confess I'm a bit shocked, because despite my own observations and thoughts expressed in the Song, By Toad podcasts, I'd not really thought of this as a viable or even realistic idea. The people here were largely not around for "Slanted and Enchanted", and I can imagine from my own first reactions, their joy at discovering it. I guess I hadn't expected the backlash to start quite yet?

And perhaps the observations about the 90s revival are in some ways valid as Mazes arrive and burst into their set, sounding uncommonly like Polvo once again. Having seen them play at The Mad Ferret a month or so back, I know what to expect as they morph effortlessly into Dinosaur Jr. for "Go Betweens". The trio are a little more communicative and strike up a little stage-to-audience banter, which eases things. In between these odd conversations which don't really transcend the language barrier at times, the band throw in concentrate bursts of noisy, edgy brilliance. "Boxing Clever" is their most Pavement inspired moment - shuffling, choppy and gloriously simple. The music geek factor is upped a notch by inclusion of a Wipers cover which will feature on a forthcoming split 7" with Eagulls. Assisted on a couple of tracks by Milk Maid's Martin Cohen, the band sound tight, focused and complex. The set is a little longer than the one in Preston, and certainly louder and more self-assured. They leave the stage to a resounding reaction for former single "Most Days" having overcome the audience's earlier coolly disinterested stance by delivering infectious and irresistible noisy pop.

On the way home I find myself pondering the sense that there's nothing new under the sun, and the sense of heritage evident in all of tonight's acts. I wonder if is this really is a revival of my own musically formative years or whether it's a response to similar conditions for the arts which favour a pared-down, lo-fi approach? There's a whole other post in that and I resolve to think about it more, and thus probably won't ever manage to write it. But, if the 1990s are coming back can we please skip all that britpop nonsense?