Photograph: R. James FeaverDeadstring Brothers, Miyagi & Culann @ King Tut’s, Glasgow 8th Feb 2008.
Three bands for the price of one certainly whetted my appetite although the quality of support acts is usually a hit or miss affair. I had no need to fret, for when young Scots band Culann took to the stage I knew that quality was not going to be an issue. They wowed the crowd with their blend of prog rock and certainly have the makings of a couple of epic songs in Bogus Conclusions and The Journey Starts. One thing though – I’m just getting my fillings back into place after the bass player rattled them out of my mouth! I’m looking forward to their debut album, whenever it gets released. Next up were Edinburgh’s Miyagi and they built on the good start provided by Culann. Miyagi are a different kettle of fish however and their funky Byrds style harmonies were the perfect foil for Culann’s heavier sounds. They showed their adaptability by swapping guitar and vocal duties amongst guitarist Euan Bruce (young Ted Danson look-alike), saxophonist Ally McNaught and bass player Alex ‘Rasta’ Ross. Drummer Andy Duncan and Claire Schiavone also chipped in with vocal harmonies and Duncan drums were the focal point of the performance.
Detroit based headliners, Deadstring Brothers, were eagerly anticipated by the knowledgeable Glasgow crowd and when they burst into life with Masha Marjieh in full voice, the crowd went wild. The set was peppered with songs from their critically acclaimed 2006 album Starving Winter Report and their latest release, Silver Mountain. Sharing the lead vocal was main man Kurt Marschke and his easy going interaction with the crowd went down well although he shouldn’t really have tempted fate by stating that he hadn’t had any whisky thrown at him yet! Fortunately, no-one took him up on that. Guitarist Spencer Cullum is, in my opinion, a star in the making and adds that touch of extra class to Marschke’s excellent alt.country songs. The rest of the band is Spencer’s brother Jeff, on bass, E. Travis Harrett on drums and keyboard wizard Pat Kenneally. If you have their albums then go out and see them live as the albums, excellent as they are, do not convey the power of their live performance. Highlights for me were Lights Go Out, Moonlight Only Knows and Meet Me Down At Heavy Load but it is unfair to pick out any songs for particular attention as there wasn’t a bad one in the whole set.
Three bands for the price of one certainly whetted my appetite although the quality of support acts is usually a hit or miss affair. I had no need to fret, for when young Scots band Culann took to the stage I knew that quality was not going to be an issue. They wowed the crowd with their blend of prog rock and certainly have the makings of a couple of epic songs in Bogus Conclusions and The Journey Starts. One thing though – I’m just getting my fillings back into place after the bass player rattled them out of my mouth! I’m looking forward to their debut album, whenever it gets released. Next up were Edinburgh’s Miyagi and they built on the good start provided by Culann. Miyagi are a different kettle of fish however and their funky Byrds style harmonies were the perfect foil for Culann’s heavier sounds. They showed their adaptability by swapping guitar and vocal duties amongst guitarist Euan Bruce (young Ted Danson look-alike), saxophonist Ally McNaught and bass player Alex ‘Rasta’ Ross. Drummer Andy Duncan and Claire Schiavone also chipped in with vocal harmonies and Duncan drums were the focal point of the performance.
Detroit based headliners, Deadstring Brothers, were eagerly anticipated by the knowledgeable Glasgow crowd and when they burst into life with Masha Marjieh in full voice, the crowd went wild. The set was peppered with songs from their critically acclaimed 2006 album Starving Winter Report and their latest release, Silver Mountain. Sharing the lead vocal was main man Kurt Marschke and his easy going interaction with the crowd went down well although he shouldn’t really have tempted fate by stating that he hadn’t had any whisky thrown at him yet! Fortunately, no-one took him up on that. Guitarist Spencer Cullum is, in my opinion, a star in the making and adds that touch of extra class to Marschke’s excellent alt.country songs. The rest of the band is Spencer’s brother Jeff, on bass, E. Travis Harrett on drums and keyboard wizard Pat Kenneally. If you have their albums then go out and see them live as the albums, excellent as they are, do not convey the power of their live performance. Highlights for me were Lights Go Out, Moonlight Only Knows and Meet Me Down At Heavy Load but it is unfair to pick out any songs for particular attention as there wasn’t a bad one in the whole set.
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