Spyres were playing their home town when they supported NewDad in Glasgow on Monday 26th February. St Luke’s in the city’s east end. Neighbouring the famous Barrowland Ballroom, this old church, now converted into a vibrant music venue, hosts a new and dedicated congregation every day.
Spyres, fronted by Keira McGuire and Emily Downie both on vocals and guitar ran, through their half hour set of electric guitar pop songs which at times evoke Avril Lavigne and a rocked-up Taylor Swift. Their set included a number of their top indie-pop bangers, ‘See Through You’ and ‘Lost Without You’ and concluded all too soon with their masterpiece ‘Otherside’. With over 3 million streams on Spotify alone this young Glasgow band are a must see the next time they come around.
With their debut album ‘Madra’ released exactly one month ago NewDad’s tour of the UK and Ireland finally arrived in Glasgow. The four piece band from Galway formed in 2018 are fronted by vocalist and lyricist Julie Dawson on rhythm guitar with school friends Sean O’Dowd on lead guitar and Fiachra Parslow on drums. Cara Joshi rocked up with her bass guitar in 2022.
NewDad’s indie-rock, shoegaze sound, for those of us old enough to remember, recalls at times, the likes of This Mortal Coil, Slowdive and My Bloody Valentine. Contemporaries from Scotland would include Swim School who to me have some sonic parallels.
The band took to the stage and set the tone with an ethereal start with ‘Angel‘ which is the first song on ‘Madra’. Julie takes us straight into a melancholic diary-style essay telling us of the writer’s feelings of inadequacy and self doubt, struggling mentally to match up without wishing to burden her much stronger partner, her ‘Angel‘. The opening lines say “You’re sweet, but I’m sick / I hurt myself for kicks / I’m lost but you’re found / Both feet firmly on the ground”. The atmospheric music and a beautiful vocal delivery intertwine to colourfully illustrate the writer’s vulnerability.
Next up was ‘Slowly‘ from the band’s 2021 EP, ‘Waves‘ with its reverb-heavy vocals and driving bass. It was back to the new album for the next two songs, ‘Dream of Me’ and ‘In My Head’ which are dream-pop gems. Julie sings without raising her voice in a way that brings back memories of Mazzy Star’s Hope Sandoval circa 1993.
‘Say It’ is another crowd-pleasing song from a couple of years ago and is gloriously reminiscent of any number of songs by The Cure. Then it’s back to the new album next for ‘Nightmares‘ in which Cara plays a heavy 80’s style synth along with a very dirty bass line which is front and centre in the mix.
The set continues with ‘Let Go‘ in which the heavy bass and guitars had the audience headbanging while joining Julie on the refrain “I can’t let go”. The usually sedate shoegaze crowd were rocking out as the second half of the song goes on a psychedelic one way trip to the Moon.
Still on a high, the audience gave whoops of approval as the first familiar notes on Julie’s Mustang introduced the early hit ‘Blue‘.
Now featuring in the live set is NewDad’s cover of The Cure classic ‘Just Like Heaven‘. Julie introduced this as one of their favourite songs from their formative years growing up as musicians back in Galway. Of course this song went down just like a dream for everyone in the room.
‘Sickly Sweet‘, ‘Where I Go‘ and ‘Ladybird‘ precede ‘I Don’t Recognise You‘ which the drummer Fiachra introduced as an old one but a good one while stating their reception by the Glasgow crowd is only ever matched when back home playing to their families in Galway. ‘I Don’t Recognise You‘ has amassed over 2 million plays on Spotify. With the treble cranked up on Sean’s Stratocaster and the bass characteristically prominent, this is a shoegaze special.
By now it was time for last song in the first part of the set. ‘How‘ – released as a single in 2020 had the audience nodding along in unison to the heavy bass, the quieter verses juxtaposed with the heavy thrash guitars in the chorus which builds to the end with Fiachra’s crashing symbols. Not for the first time I’m thinking this could be what The Cranberries might have sounded like today.
The encore began with Fiachra taking a seat on the stage and playing the Bodhran to Julie’s otherwise solo electric guitar for a stripped back and emotional version of ‘White Ribbons’ which was one of the highlights of the set as the audience stood mesmerised as the duo’s sound filled every corner of the old church of St Luke’s.
Closing the set was the anthemic title track from the album, ‘Madra‘.
As the crowd dispersed and headed out into the cold, clear Glasgow night, I’m certain they were feeling all the richer for having experienced what they’d just seen and heard. ‘Madra’ is out now on Atlantic Records and on all music streaming platforms.
Words and pictures by Clive Braham @CBMusicPhotography