Music
The Van T’s, King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut, Glasgow
Jonathan Geddes
Four stars
The Van T’s might have sold out King Tut’s, but they don’t seem to have developed any rock n roll ego yet. They admitted that they were “a bit overwhelmed” by the occasion, and there was a sense of polite astonishment running through a lot of Hannah or Chloe Van Thompson’s chat to the crowd.
There was also a query asking if it was anyone’s birthday. The response suggested that there was either a huge amount of Friday the 13th births in the room, or that the Glasgow quartet have now got a devoted following who will cheer every word, and the performance they gave suggested that faith was justified.
It might not be re-inventing the wheel, all reverb-heavy tunes on nodding terms with the Pixies, Breeders and Smashing Pumpkins, but it sounded enjoyably thumping live. The chewy likes of Growler and Laguna Babe possessed the confident swagger of a band who know exactly what they are trying to achieve, while new track Bittersweet had a propulsive bounce. There was a grungy heaviness, but not so strong that the material lost track of being good pop songs, with the only issue being both Van Thompson’s vocals were lost a little in the mix at points.
Had the vocals been a little less muddy then the foursome’s songs would have had even more forcefulness, but this was an assured display. There was also a promising supporting cast. Sahara displayed twangy guitar pop, Rascalton played gruff, barking punk with verve, and Lucia also veered towards punk, but with pop smarts. Although all had a roughness with some clunky lyrics and melodies, there were enough sharp tunes to indicate potential.
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