Resound favourites The Bug Club continue to infect audiences up and down the country with their contagious blast of cheeky, lo-fi garage rock. Tonight they energise the crowd in Dundee’s Beat Generator Live, which feels like a museum-piece to the city’s colourful music scene.
The Bug Club’s bassist/vocalist Tilly Harris tells me before the gig that tonight’s support acts are “a band” followed by Bikini Body. She seems a bit coy about the first act so we turn up early to see what this mystery appearance is all about.
MR ANYWAY’S HOLEY SPIRITS
The nameless band turn out to be Mr Anyway’s Holey Spirits, and holy cow, there’s something a bit cloak-and-dagger going on here, the trio obscured by eye masks, crowns and capes. Right away it’s clear that there’s something familiar about their sound and appearance, with a certain je ne sais quoi. With no social media presence or Bandcamp page, perhaps they’re school kids who’ve won a Beano competition to perform as a Bug Club tribute act, although the chap playing the guitar sports a beard a tad thick for a member of the Dennis the Menace fan club. Then again, what happens in Dundee should stay in Dundee so let’s say no more about it and appreciate the sweet music these shifty-looking charlatans are playing.
With songs like Clapping In Time, you can hear the influence of the school music lessons and they even give us an epic slice of slam poetry punctuated with tense musical outbursts. Superb stuff indeed from these overgrown kids and I’d say they’ve definitely been dragged along to musical theatre by their pushy parents at one point. Their classmate Eddie is in for a bashing in Eddie Says… but to be honest, it sounds like he deserves it. Closing with the pleading cries of I Don’t Want To Go To Hell, they high-knee it off the stage like their disguise is about to be rumbled. Nevertheless, there’s some fantastic musical talent in there and comic-class lyrics. But I dunno, funny bunch really…
BIKINI BODY
It’s fair to say that tonight’s next support act, Bikini Body, bear no resemblance to The Bug Club, the Edinburgh post-gutter-skunk-funk five piece (their words not mine) taking us through a punchy set, led by vocalist Vicky Kavanagh who struts around the stage with a ballsy defiance and joyful energy. Her beach cover-up is an awesome shirt featuring dogs playing pool, perfectly suited to her biting musings which are delivered through a mix of singing and deadpan drawl in numbers such as Young Dad and Daily Mail as well as songs from 2020’s EP Pond Life. Reminiscent of The Rezillos, they infuse the spirit of punk with funk and a brewing disquiet which never quite reaches the boil. Oh and they’ve got some dandy t-shirts on sale at the merch stand too. Check these guys out at https://bikinibody.bandcamp.com/music
THE BUG CLUB
Welsh trio The Bug Club seem to be have been touring non-stop over the last year, from support slots and festival appearances to their own headline shows though they did reassure me earlier that they do still have homes to go to. With most of their numbers short and pretty darn sweet they plough through the tracks tonight, armed with a whole new album of tunes from the last time I caught them in June. Green Dream In F# is the follow up to 2021’s Pure Particles and allows them to expand their set and mix it up a bit, great for return visits and resulting in a generous dousing of retro-inspired lo-fi garage rock.
Tilly’s on top form with her stage chat, warning us that the pizza she downed before the show is threatening to make a reappearance. Nice. In her dry monotone she comments “bloody knackered I am. Feels like I’ve done two sets…of course, I haven’t.” Not even sure why she would suggest that, though as I said earlier she’s been acting slightly suspect this evening.
The set kicks off with the opening tracks from Pure Particles including the jive-invoking My Baby Loves Rock & Roll and explosive fan favourite The Fixer, with its rollercoaster cartoon riff, guitarist/vocalist Sam Willmett’s nimble fingers thrashing out some triumphant guitar work. Moving on to latest album, Six O’Clock News sees Sam’s views echoed back to him by Tilly in what’s now a classic Bug Club style before they delve into 2021’s EP Launching Moondream One, its nippy little title track oozing essence of The Kinks, with a rollicking outro displaying the impeccable interplay between Sam and Tilly.
Meanwhile over on drums, Dan Matthew is a joy to behold, donning a fine looking Mr Ben & The Bens t-shirt, Bingo Records label-mate Mr Ben also responsible for the wonderful artwork on The Bug Club’s record sleeves and t-shirts. But the eagle eyed amongst the audience will have noticed the same t-shirt lurking beneath the cape of Mr Anyway’s Holey Spirits’ drummer earlier on, and thinking about it now, when the trio and all their paraphernalia left the stage there was a bit of commotion to be heard from the dressing room. Possibly a scuffle as Dan spotted his outfit of choice for tonight’s gig.
But on with the music and these guys definitely like a bit of space, in both their sound and lyrics with songs such as Little Coy Space Boy, or rather ’Space Cow’ as I’m sure Tilly says they now call it, and cheeky wee number, Sitting On The Rings Of Saturn. Art’s another topic featured in the new album, with the breezy Love Is a Painting and It’s Art, first single from Green Dream In F#, and for me, one of their top tunes, its acerbic lyrics and building picture of dismay climaxing with a frenzy of fuzzy guitar. If there was ever a Bug Club song I’d love to hear Pixies play, this is the one. Superb stuff!
Alas Tilly’s still muttering on about that pizza. “Going up and going down. Going up and going down” apparently. Ever heard of tmi, Tilly? Anyway, next up, the single opening strum of If My Mother Thinks I’m Happy chimes out and I know I’m doomed as the sticky little pest wriggles into my ears and doesn’t let up for the rest of the night, no matter how may tunes I listen to afterwords. Great song likes and if there was one Bug Club song I’d like to hear Pulp play…
I’ve now decided Tilly would make an amazing bingo caller…or even wedding reception DJ as she announces they’re going to “break it up with a slow one”. Pause. “And then speed it up again.” She could’ve been calling us up for the Canadian Barn Dance but instead, and thank goodness, we get two takes on Intelectuals (with clever typo), the second an addictive, riotous blast of their pretty music.
As the set draws to a close, Some Things Sound Better in Space meanders beautifully with a reverberating slide guitar which nearly never was after Tilly drops the slide behind an amp before she can pass it to Sam. A departure from their usual sound, it’s a melancholic, stripped back slow-burner, giving us the chance to ponder while recalling Bob Dylan, who they then take a poke at on final number A Love Song. Asking how many times you can say f**k in a love song, it turns out the answer isn’t blowin’ in the wind but rather nine, which is quite a lot when you consider that the song comes in at just over one minute long, cheeky wee mites. I asked them earlier what they replaced that nasty word with when they did a child-friendly matinee gig earlier last year, my guess being “butt’ but as it turns out they used “crud”. Yep, that works too.
They’re back on before they’re really off again for a quick encore and that’s it, The Bug Club proving once again that you don’t need a congregation of orchestra musicians, session guitarists or even effects pedals to perform your pretty music and wow a crowd. The set is a raw, no-frills joy, and ever so reminiscent of those odd Holey Spirits who are now out floating about the streets of Dundee. January blues? If the fixer don’t fix you then then the The Bug Club will!
Interview with The Bug Club >>
If you fancy listening to The Bug Club’s pretty music, check them out here: https://thebugclub.bandcamp.com/
Words: Shirley Mack @musingsbymarie
Pictures: Calum Mackintosh @ayecandyphotography