Dundee Variety Club: 6th May 2007

Last night saw me hobble along to the Reading Rooms in Dundee with friends and brother in tow to witness the return of Fife's cutest band.

Before they graced the stage however, 3 Dundonians and a Fin took to the stage, otherwise known as Kaput.
Having been previously exposed to 2 of the members in other bands (Bassist Mike from The A Forest and guitarist/ vocalist Burny from the Fall of the Boss Koala), it was an interesting contrast to what I might have expected! Their set was short, yet brilliantly executed. Comparisons that came into my head include the The Arcade Fire and I'm guessing they've been listening to the new Modest Mouse album as there were hints of influence from them too. Which is no bad thing.
Over all, a great debút set, although I wanted more! The Reading Room acoustic wasn't very kind to them unfortunately, particularly the vocals.
7/10

Next up were the (incredibly!) young band Something Broken from Forfar. Having battled my way into the gig hall with my crutches (I'm currently an invalid) I was to see something that I wasn't expecting! 5 musician on the stage and a female vocalist. Their first song didn't do much for me whatsoever. I just didn't feel that the vocalist did much for the fantastic (!) music going on in the background. Boy could these guys play. The 2 guitarists could have had their instruments turned up a little bit louder so as to battle with the incredibly awesome drumming that was going on. That guy was an animal! I was extremely impressed and was quite pleased to see him getting totally lost in the music sometimes, howling with delight in some cases.
The set improved a lot during the 6 or so songs they played...possibly more, I always loose count. In some cases, their sound was incredibly epic, where as other times it was taken right down to the bare minimum.
In all honesty, I think this band have a lot of promise. I need to listen to some recorded stuff to get over my current "do I like the female vocals?" problem. However, they were good. Unexpectedly good!
I believe their myspace is the following: www.myspace.com/wearesomethingbroken
Check them out...The band describe themselves as "funk/ rock/ alternative". I'd agree if I was a believer in using genres.
8/10

The third act on was quite the contrast to the previous two bands and what was coming up. Rapper Elligitimate sang along to backing tracks and strutted his stuff on the stage. I'm not much of a rap fan me, but pulled of his set with a lot of energy. A small group at the front of the audience were clearly digging it, but others did not. Still, he went about his business and performed a rather long set, perhaps too long for my liking. However, I guess I was just impatient for the final band of the night.
So, Elligitimate, rapper from Dundee, was good at what he did, but it wasn't my cup of tea. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion after all.
5/10: merely due to personal preference; 8/10: for doing what he does well.

The last band were who I had been there for. Perching myself on the stage, and watching the boys set up, I got more and more excited!
This was Otterley's first gig in a long time...(the last time I saw them was at Bar Bloc in Glasgow in Feb 2005). Ged popped the set list next to his synth stand so I got a sneaky peek at what was to be played. They opened with a revamped version of their 'hit', "In Camera" from E.P.1. It now has a much longer introduction and comes with more distortion. Not as much as a My Bloody Valentine record though. During the course of their 7 song set, they also played a non-drum loop version of "Sferics", a lovely version of "Tweeks" (involving a cute wee duet on the synth!) and new song "Hawks" which I am slowly falling love with. Also played were 2 brand spanking new tracks, the last one which was quite disco-y and upbeat. Oh and they also covered When You Were Mine by Prince, which saw vocalist Ged standing on his tip toes more than usual.
They have come on a long way since I saw them last. The boys are still as cute as ever with guitarist/ drum loop maestro Dan occasionally absent mindedly staring into space.
Excellent show, I can't wait for the next time I get to see them live...and for the long awaited new E.P.
9/10: biased yes, but you've got to hear them live to believe me! Do it. They are as good as I say...