For one, they’re not the stereotypical black-clad, eyeliner-caked softies of modern emotional hardcore. Their drummer sports an amazing handlebar moustache, whilst bassist Jordan Smith resembles Buddy Holly reincarnated. And on this freezing December night, their super-earnest power-pop was enough to warm the heart of the most forlorn emo kid. Do You Feel Safe had guitars crashing like waves over the unsuspecting (but surprisingly sparse) crowd, while Cool Ethan fizzed with pure, uncut angst.
Their songs are ecstatic but underpinned by a deep seam of melancholy: nowhere is this more evident than on Just Go Home, their magnum opus. It is electrifyingly good: all deafening shouts and chords and an impossibly catchy “ooh ooh” hook. As a counterpoint to all the epic noise, frontman Murray Macleod ended things on his own with the haunting Aberdeen 1987, and a hushed reverence fell over King Tut’s as he bellowed the chorus: “I’m your new best friend”.
Flood Of Red are an altogether different prospect: a six-headed metal machine churning out shouty, anthemic rock with an epic streak. Sadly, they never seemed to get out of second gear. Frontman Jordan Spiers’s voice lacks the snarl of a great rock frontman, and the subtleties that made the Xcerts so thrilling were absent. A percussive freakout following I Will Not Change seemed to invigorate them, and they ended on a high in contrast to the previous dirges – but they only went a small way to redeeming their set.
Star rating: ***
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