Remember Remember.
"You say goodbye...and I say hello, I don't know why you say goodbye, I say hello."
It's a lazy comment for any gig on the 5th of Novemeber but there were good reasons to remember remember The Royal We's set on Bonfire Night. It was taking place in Stereo, a new Glasgow gig venue brought to you by the people from Mono, and the former Stereo. It was the day that The Royal We released their debut album and it was their final gig.
Yes, on the day their debut record hit the shops the band were calling it a day to focus on other activities. With a history of other Glasgow bands behind them, there is every chance the members will wander off and end up in other bands that are as exciting as this act but its still never nice to see a band stop when you believe they have more left in them.
'Three Is A Crowd' bristled with pop goodness and you can tell the band have a grounding in the Glasgow indie-scene, with the way the bass is used to purely make kids dance, just like Gang of Four or the Fire Engines. Thankfully, the band has a few tricks up their sleeve to set them apart from their influences and from the current wave of similar type bands. The addition of a violin player adds not only strings but the building of dynamics and tension that goes with it.
Also, the work of lead singer Jihae Simmons can't be under-estimated. Coming on stage and looking like a cross between Farris Rotter and a witch isn't what most folk would consider a good look but she pulled it off with a fair degree of style and then let rip with a strong vocal performance. Perhaps not as piercing as she has been at times before, the front-gal bounced throughout the gig and her cooing and oohing grabbed all the attention.
And if it was a goodbye from the band, it was a hello to Stereo. Hidden away in a back alley near Central Station, its unclear if the venue was finished or if the look of an abandoned warehouse was the décor that was intended. If it was, then all credit to the designer and you can believe it was the intention, given that half of the art kids in Glasgow dream of working in New York art hangouts and this location could inspire many more kids to get with the program!
The Glasgow indie mafia were certainly out in force with the art-school fashionistas flocking to Stereo and it was probably the only place in Glasgow that you wouldn't see a pair of Ugg boots on show. There were a few genuine Glasgow heroes around though with members of Bricolage, Belle and Sebastian and Norman Blake all in attendance, so with a critical thumbs up like that, you have to say it was a decent night.
Previous single 'All The Rage' thundered through its intro before settling into its stop/start routine and just as you were starting to settle into the set, the band were running off stage and the DJ's were back on board.
Like their career, it was a criminally short set which barely scraped twenty minutes in length but its not as if there was going to be an opus of some sorts. Some bands can last for generations and leave a legacy, sometimes some bands consider it better to die young and leave a good looking corpse. As the banner said "RIP TRW"