Night and Day is a good venue, and as Baby Strange are one of my favourite bands on the present scene, this was a night I’d been looking forward to for some time. We didn’t have long before Halfrican hit the stage. I hadn’t heard them before, but was instantly impressed by the sharp, full-on sound these boys produce. Interestingly citing their influences as Roy Orbison and early Police tracks on Facebook, they actually sound like a Scottish rock/punk band, which, of course is what they are. Can a band sound Scottish? I think so. I could even hear very faint echoes of Big Country at times. With Scotland’s rich musical heritage, it’s no bad thing. Half the punk-style rock bands I listen to come from the Glasgow area alone. It seems to be teeming with talent.
Photo: Press
The set carried on at a frantic pace. Hints of The Ramones surfaced every now and then. ‘Tell Me’, ‘Down to Fuck’ and ‘Cocksucker’ all went down well with the crowd, who were tepid to say the least. I’m not sure what a band would have had to do to get them moving. Halfrican pulled out all the stops. Sadly, their matching short-shorts and Nautilus Inkworks-designed T shirts were wasted on folk who didn’t bother to get up to watch them. Shame really. At least they clapped.
Baby Strange at least got the crowd to their feet. Which is good, because I might have felt the need to drag them up, if they hadn’t. From the first bars of ‘VVV’ it was obvious this was going to be another Baby Strange blinder. I love a gig where I don’t have to worry too much about note-taking. I know all the songs, and most of the words, so I can just stand back and enjoy. I love the slight hostility of the music, the strident aggressiveness of the early tracks and the sheer quality of ‘California Sun’ and ‘Pleasure City’. Johnny Madden’s deep, menacing vocals on ‘Distance Yourself’ and ‘Pure Evil’ top the starkness of the music perfectly, the rhythm section of the McCann brothers carrying the blistering pace. Finishing on ‘Friend’, the set had no low point. If I had any criticism, it was that I would have liked to hear more. The crowd didn’t deserve them, hardly rousing themselves to dance, but that couldn’t spoil the night for me. Baby Strange remain a brooding force on the current indie scene, and one of my favourite bands.