I headed out out to Nice ‘n’ Sleazys on Sauchiehall Street to check out some up and coming music talent. Sleazy’s is a good venue for smaller bands, as the gig area is in the cosy and somewhat intimate feeling basement. The bands in question were The Machine Room and Dead Boy Robotics.
The Machine Room started the night off. The band is a five piece (Adie, John, Ryan, Scott and Tom) from Edinburgh. The band was founded by leader singer John Bryden and it’s fair to say they are part of a new music wave of talent which has spiralled out of Edinburgh and into pubs and clubs around Scotland.
The sound is quite unique, a mix of playful melodies interspersed with electronic pop. Think early MGMT or perhaps The Temper Trap’s hit Sweet Disposition. The sound is light, euphoric and upbeat, but the lyrics are far more soulful and thought provoking than the genre might suggest.
In amongst the fast paced songs, there are quieter, haunting pieces of work, such as I Only Wanted You To Notice Me. These softer songs give the band a more varying dynamic, which I find appealing, as there’s nothing worse than a bunch of samey songs that blend into each other.
When watching the band on stage it became clear how much this gig meant to them, which was hugely refreshing.So often bands (even the lesser well known ones, in fact usually the the lesser well known ones!) will appear uncaring to the point of pretentiousness. This is never a good stage manner to adopt.
Conversely The Machine Room held none of the latter mentioned qualities, so the audience was happy to connect with them, and feel part of their performance themselves.
They had a short, yet effective set, playing for only around half an hour, but leaving the audience wanting more. It’s nice to be left wishing there had been one more song, as opposed to sitting there, White Russian in hand, wishing the set would finish.
I feel The Machine Room represent a new stream of talent emerging from Scotland, and I’m hoping they’ll be back in the near future in Glasgow, perhaps in King Tut’s or even ABC when the Glasgow music scene becomes more and more familiar with them.
I’d recommend giving their music a listen on Myspace, as I feel they’re not a band to forget about – Good things will come to this focused, thought provoking band.
Dead Boy Robotics is also an Edinburgh based band, which consists of Mike Bryant, Gregor McMillan and Paul Bannon. Dead Boy Robotics released their début EP, Tale of the Winter Kids in May 2010, and their début album is due for release in Autumn of this year.
Their music, like The Machine Room, is also incredibly electronic based, and could be compared to Crystal Castles newer material. The band uses a mixture of vocal harmonies, guitars, and of course, the obligatory yelps and screams that electronic and synth music is so famed for. Their music is involving and very dramatic. Dead Boy Robotics command to be listened to, filling the room with intense beats and synths.
Although similar in musical genre to The Machine Room, Dead Boy Robots are heavier on the electronics, big on the beats and the use of musical distortion. Fantastic club music. I could envisage the band’s sounds blaring out from any alternative club on a Saturday night. Perfect to dance to, perfect to drink to, this band has an electric pull which forces you to move, regardless of whether your body wants to or not!
Clearly I’m not the only one who feels this band has a party atmosphere, as they were picked from over 1400 entries to play Scotland’s ever popular T in the Park festival in July 2009, on the unsigned bands stage. Their song Ever, has the same atmospheric sound as The Yeah Yeah Yeah’s, crowd pleaser Zero, and I expect to see them performing in much larger venues soon.
Both the bands brought something different to the gig, and that’s why I love going to see two bands in the one night – I thought the diversity of sound and emotion worked really well together. I hope and expect both bands to start to break bigger venues and see them at festival in the coming year.
Ellis Cameron, Young in Argyll correspondent
Nice piece, sounds a good night, two exciting bands.
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