Gig Review... Alice & The Rampant Trio @ The Roxy 171, Glasgow, August 2nd 2013

At exactly eight thirty, in the Roxy 171’s small but intimate basement the lights are down, I can hardly see my note pad in front of me, the crowd quickly finish their hushed conversations, and I look up to see David Devereux take to the stage. The waist coat brandishing folky stands there with his mad Bob Dylan hair cut and a... A six string bass!? I am intrigued. He introduces himself, he’s quite a modest chap I have to say, he looks down at his instrument and he begins to pluck away. From out of the silence he creates a beautiful little bouncing melody, loops it, and after a few seconds I realize that I am hearing The Who’s opening synth riff to their song ‘Baba O'Riley.’ With an arsenal of instrumental covers, ranging from Michael Jackson’s ‘Billie Jean’ to Daft Punk’s newest hit, ‘Get Lucky,’ Devereux’s set goes down like a storm. As the set closes and he is applauded off of stage I did feel, although talented, Devereux’s set felt like an all male A cappella group covering Victor Wooten. It was all very similar sounding and lacked texture, However it is evident that the lad knows how to entertain, with much of the audience applauding and cat calling it seems Devereux is doing well on the scene.

The second act, Junebug, takes to the stage. This group are well known on the Glasgow gig circuit but tonight they are a drummer down and so they launch into a very laid back acoustic set. Sadly however the lack of a drummer really begins to show and it feels like a poorly arrange open mic night set. The six song set consists mainly of original material, all very Post Brit-Pop and Byrds-esque in sound. To fill the set up a bit there are two unpolished covers thrown in, but these are lacking in practice and tightness which leeds to an uninterested audience. The set is lack luster at points and contains rookie mistakes, such as an out of tune bass which is consistent the whole way through. Needless to say their saving grace is their original song, ‘The Mill’. It contains beautiful harmonizing on the guitars, the vocals are brooding but confident, and the song felt well rehearsed. It is a shame to see a band that tours Glasgow’s venues so frequently play a set so uninteresting that at one point the audience was louder than the performance.


The third act on the bill, Alice & the Rampant Trio, take to the stage. They’re the first full band of the night and they are here to do one thing only, “To melt your faces off,” Alice announces into the mic. They aren’t far off either and the audience warms to them straight away. The first song, ‘Orange Moon’ is calming, and slowly begins the “face melting,” yet that calm energy disperses as they turn up the intensity on the rest of the set. With hearts aching, and a voice howling like a wolf, the Rampant Trio power on through acoustic-led grunge ballads that are riddled with powerful beats and emotional vocals. The set moves faster and tears everyone to shreds leaving the audience howling with adoration by the end. With a strong rhythm guitar, lead style bass, and steady drums, the Rampant Trio are typically, and terrifically grunge. They have the melody of the 60’s combined with the experimentation of 80‘s and the audience loves them.

Mark Copeland and the Wounded Pirates are the final act to take to the stage, but the wounded pirates aren’t there... Whoops. Copeland, however, handles this like a champ, cracks a joke, breaks the tension, and belts out beautifully crafted folk songs that recall Elliot Smith and Billy Bragg. Though he is flying solo, he pulls everything he’s got out of the bag, passion, poetic lyrics, melody, and roaring vocals that really get the couples in the room entwining... Oh yes and comedy, he literally introduces his absent band mates, causing mass laughter from the crowd. His jangley acoustic continues to play, pretty much solidly for the duration of the set, stopping only to allow Copeland time to crack jokes about his wounded band mates. Finally his emotional outburst ends, he thanks the audience, and finally leaves the stage to applause and respect from the crowd.

Written by - Luke Dinsdale