This gig did not disappoint with three bands all serving up their own brands of rock with punk and folk influences in just about equal measure. The Old Romantic Killer Band are a Leeds two-piece who appear on stage to such a lack of fanfare everyone almost thinks they’re the roadies, but once they get going, the raw sound they produce is pretty cool. While their lack of variety is a little discouraging, the songwriting sounds a bit like if Jeff Buckley was a massive White Stripes fan, which is nice. The Victorian English Gentleman’s Club are from Cardiff, have a silly name and play chanty post-punk with a singing drummer and buckets of energy. It’s love or hate stuff, and it should be seen to be believed.
Headline act Sons and Daughters are signed to Domino Records, a label with quality acts from Arctic Monkeys to Adem and Franz Ferdinand to Four Tet, so you know they must be all right. Plus being Glaswegian pretty much makes you automatically cool, which means they totally pull off the 1950s look they’ve got going on. Though many people describe them as a folk band, Sons and Daughters have a big, dirty sound – this is definitely a rock n roll band, with simple, catchy tunes, driving beats, aggressive guitars and all-round balls. Current single ‘Gilt Complex’ is dark, pounding, and lyrically witty, but the standout of their set remains the 2004 debut single ‘Johnny Cash’, which is a big, filthy, folky tune, made to stick in the memory by Scott Paterson’s strikingly low and celtic-sounding vocal. There is something distinctly Scottish about Sons and Daughters, it’s true, and something distinctly retro, and maybe it’s these things that make them distinctly likable.
‘Gilt Complex’ is available now on Domino Records
www.sonsanddaughtersloveyou.com
