Monsterpop

Fame and success are two things that often go hand in hand, but neither necessarily have anything to do with talent.

Some people are famous for doing very little, while others have success dropped into their laps due to being in the right place at the right time.

Talent, hard work and a sense of self belief may well get you far in life, but there are simply no guarantees that come with having any, or all of them, as positive attributes.

So with that said I am sure that pretty much everyone can name a friend who they know are supremely talented in what they do but are not getting the recognition that they so richly deserve.

For me that person is Jimmy Devlin aka Monsterpop.

Apart from being an all round good guy who has been supportive of all the things I do and who can be relied upon to step up when help is required, he is also as mentioned outrageously talented.

Give him a guitar and there’s not a lot he can’t do with it.

Throw a genre of music at him and he will master it.

Ask him to write a song and what he will come up with could sit comfortably on a top selling album.

Yet for one reason or another that success that his talents should provide him with has never materialized.

It’s not that he hasn’t had opportunities.

He’s been a member of a few bands who are much loved and some of them have taken him right to the cusp of wider recognition and then due to factors that are not within his control fell short of reaching the finishing line.

He’s not one to complain though.

Instead he will regale you with tales of the tours and television appearances that are humorously entertaining, and not once do they come close to being the “Glory Days” stories that lend themselves to the person claiming “I could have been a contender”.

It is certainly to his credit that the years haven’t left him burnt out and jaded as it has for so many others.

The man is in short a diamond.

In recent years, far from being idle, Jimmy has been offering six string support to both The Snipes and The Red Eyes.

Both of who are considered to be - not to be missed - examples of melodic punk rock at its finest.

And as a project that stands apart from playing in these bands he has his Monsterpop alter ego that allows him to flex his power pop muscles.

.With some kitchen session recording done he time after time drops little nuggets of power pop classics to the world that could have been recorded in the most luscious of studios.

Think Cheap Trick, think Jellyfish, think of any act that that has had some success in writing a hook that digs deep and wont let go and then think Monsterpop.

Over recent months he has journeyed out and made a few sporadic appearances as Monsterpop and played the songs acoustically, but he must be sick of me telling him to get a band up to speed and get out there to do the full electric show.

Anyway, the project and Jimmy are literally that good, and best of all is that you don’t have to take my word for it.

Instead all you have to do is go and listen to him here www.noisetrade.com/monsterpop/monsterpop and after you have done that then jump over to Facebook and show the man some love. 

Oh and here he is just messing about in his kitchen.

XSLF - Pivo Pivo Glasgow - Oct 3rd

XSLF have been using the tag line 'The fire still burns' to promote their current run of live dates, and the proof that the statement is no idle boast was apparent from the first chord being struck right up until the last shook the plaster from the ceiling of Pivo Pivo in Glasgow.

It is without a shadow of a doubt that Henry Cluney, Jim Reilly and Petesy Burns could never be accused of going through the motions, as the material from the first few SLF albums were delivered with far more passion and commitment than most would have realistically expected.

It was as if they had been told that they only had one shot at this and something kicked in and took it to a level that left the audience physically and emotionally spent.

In the aftermath I lost count of the sweat drenched men who stated that the performance surpassed that of the current SLF line up, and while that will be hotly debated, those who have seen these guys firing on all cylinders will find it hard to disagree.

That's not to demean the Burns fronted line up, but to highlight just how much energy was expelled in delivering the songs.

It did no harm that the set was made up of what most would claim to be the best in the SLF back catalogue either.

It's a relentless run of classics that has the audience punching the air, pogoing wildly, crowd surfing at one point, roaring out the lyrics, and in addition helped many lose some weight with a serious aerobic workout. ;)

Fans are aware that Henry has had some health issues, very serious health issues, but it can be seen that he has left them behind as his delivery of the material is a powerful testament to his talents, Jim is a machine, behind the kit he is the engine that never flags, and Petesy dominated the bass.

It would be an act of folly to try and pinpoint one singular negative as there were none.

No one dropped the ball on this, and it is simply stating a fact when they say that ' the fire still burns'.

This was no flickering light in the darkness, but instead a fire that when burning at its brightest could be seen from space.

Outstanding.

In support 4 Past Midnight and The Red Eyes showed why they are both considered the big hitters in the Glasgow punk scene, and new to Pivo The Puzzlers opened the night with a set that would leave the majority of headline acts wondering just how they would follow it.

It could be said that the night was book ended by magnificence and filled in the middle with sterling performances.

If a famous beverage did gigs then this would have been it.

A special shout out has to go out to The Media Whores for stepping aside to allow The Puzzlers to play.

It can't be said often enough how much that meant to the band and myself.

Events for Charity / Goldblade - Ivory Blacks - 050/05/13 (Glasgow)

This was one of those rare beasts where musically everything just fell into place.

Multiple bands over a whole day and no one dropped the ball once.

In fact no one even fumbled it.

Exceptional performances from one and all from start to finish, and all for charity to.

So I think everyone should collectively tip their had to Events for Charities who had tirelessly organized an event over multiple venues and days in aid of Yorkhill Children's Hospital.

It's these sort of events that can be described as going above and beyond the call of duty.

Outstanding effort from everyone involved.

(Including the DJ who feels excluded from all the reviews and comments about the night)

(Insert smiley emoticon here, maybe even one with a wink)

Brothel Corpse Trio opened the show and I was personally very pleased to see them there.

James Edmond had seen them play a few nights earlier at a show I had organized and immediately offered them a slot based on nothing more than their performance.

Very often gigs are offered to mates, on condition of how many punters a band can pull, and a whole raft of other things that have nothing to do with the music.

This was different.

Their inclusion on the bill was rooted in just how good they are as a live band and nothing more than that.

From the first song it was very obvious that as a band they wont be on the bottom of the bill at anything for very much longer.

Each gig has seen them pick up fans and the rise to the top of the bill looks to be assured.

Hovering in the no man's land between punk and psychobilly they are all about the girls, the tattoos, the hot rods and necrophilia.

They are going to have to get a t-shirt that says 'lock up your undead as the Brothel Corpse Trio are in town'.

Next were Buzzbomb meaning Billy was on double duty as he is also in The Brothel Corpse Trio.

So with a quick swap of a double bass to just bass he was back catching his second wind to deliver with his band mates a torrent of punk rock.

It's all well executed and sits comfortably between the sounds of the UK and the US.

Hard enough when it's needs to be, but always with an eye on the melody.

There's a few bands over the years that I've seen multiple times and have yet to see them post in a performance and Buzzbomb are one.

You don't get anything less than a one hundred percent performance from these guys.

The Jackhammers portray the village idiot persona wrapped in the sounds of garage rock.

They do it so well that they blur the line leaving the audience to wonder how much of it is actually a joke.

Close your eyes to just listen to them and the sloppiness that the spectacle promotes slips into the background and leaves the music to do much of the talking, and then what you come to realize is that it is all a joke.

One that's perfectly executed.

These guys can play, but for the uninitiated, or those who have had a humour bypass op, they may not get it.

Worth persevering with until you do get the joke though.

It's been a whole year since I've seen the Skarsoles, and I guess absence does make the heart grow fonder as I found myself thinking about how much I'd missed them.

There's nothing new in what they do.

It's pop punk ska in all its glory, but damn they do it well.

It's just a shame that people weren't up dancing to them.

The early slot on the bill would be the reason for that because if you put them in a room of drunken people at 9pm on a Saturday night then it would instantly be party time.

Alkotron for me are a show stealing act.

They slip in quietly and then just go about their business without much fus,s and I really can't put my finger on it, but come the cold light of day they are the act that I always remember.

They are probably the punkiest band on a punk rock bill because they refuse to be mired down by uniformity.

From what they play to how they dress others could mistakenly ask what so punk about them.

That's akin to the wood and trees argument.

It's that they do not kowtow the perceived uniformity of punk rock that makes them more punk than others.

The Red Eyes are a band that I have run out of things to say about.

How often can you realistically point out that they are consistently fantastic.

It's all there. The song writing, the musicianship and the delivery.

Bloody faultless, again.

It feels that I am selling them short by not waxing lyrical for multiple paragraphs, but all I woud be doing is reiterating what I have already said countless times.

Goldblade lost me over recent years.

It felt like the rut had been driven deep, too deep, and even weeks prior to this I seen them opening for the Misfits and found myself wondering when the energy would return, when the passion for something differenmt rather than the by numbers performances that I had gotten used to, would be shaken off.

Then here it was.

I couldn't put my finger on what the difference was, but finally here was the fork in the road and John Robb was turning his back on the safe route and instead looking to lead the band to pastures new.

It was a subtle difference, and maybe something to do with the new studio album about to be released, but the energy had a more chaotic feel to it rather than it just being a part of the show that people have now come to expect.

If I had strayed from the fold here I was being ushered back in.

John was a dervish on stage and the band rock solid behind him.

I had harboured serious thoughts of the performance ultimately being an anticlimax to the night, but I was wrong.

Very very wrong.

With this singular show they turned it all around and the Goldblade with all the promise they showed when I seen them on their very first UK tour was back.

Kirk Brandon Acoustic Set - Pivo Pivo Glasgow - 21/10/12

After some messages flew back and forth I am now pleased to confirm that the one and only Kirk Brandon will be doing a special little acoustic set for us all in Glasgow.

This is the second bite at the cherry for me as I had previously booked him to play in my home town of Kilmarnock, but unfortunately that was when Kirk fell unwell and the tour was cancelled.

It was a massive blow at the time as Spear of Destiny were about to go out on the road in support of their album, and his health issues, while unavoidable, served to throw a spoke into the wheels of progress for the band.

Months, if not years of hard work in writing and recording an album that was universally lauded sort of went tits up.

I sometimes think that Kirks career could be described as one step forward and two steps back, always.
Undeservedly it often seems that just as everything is about to come together Lady Luck decides to bestow a wink on the less talented and leave Kirk displaying the fighting spirit that his fans, who I count myself as one, admire.

So here he is again, and I am sure that like me, you will want to welcome him with open arms.

As an aside I am looking for a little help here.
When Kirk was booked to play in Kilmarnock a young woman bought three tickets.
I think she lived in Ayr.
She was the only one who wasn't refunded and I have never been able to track her down.
She was very excited about Kirk playing.
I'm pretty sure that she nurses the wounds of thinking she was ripped off.
It would be great if she stepped forward, or someone gave her a nudge as she, and her two friends, will be guest listed for this one in may of compensation.

Looking forward to seeing everyone at this.

Mainy