KENNY Leckie of Carnivores will be one of several artists performing tracks in tribute of Fugazi’s legendary 25-year-old album Repeater tonight at Bloc. The post-hardcore classic will receive the Glasgow treatment from a host of guest performers, and ticket sales from the gig will go towards the Rape Crisis charity.
Challenging conventional song structures, meddling with discord and more idiosyncratic musical concepts, Repeater was a revolutionary album for hardcore punk music. Though Fugazi were never a mainstream concern, the band were key in evolving the scene, selling millions of records in the process. From Paisley, with a bassist from Oban, Carnivores are one of several Scottish bands who cite the Washington band as a major influence.
“Their angular approach to music was hugely important for rock music as a whole,” says Leckie. “When I first heard them in 2001, At the Drive-In and Refused were starting to break out, and then you had bands like Reuben, Hell Is For Heroes and Hundred Reasons following suit in the UK. You can draw a line directly from Fugazi through to British post-hardcore through to where we are now.”
Post-hardcore as a genre has its roots in the American punk scene of the time, taking elements from post-punk and progressive styles rather than the Sex Pistols. The style became briefly popular in the mainstream during the early 2000s“A lot of bands got signed to major labels and were then pretty much abandoned,” recalls Leckie.
“When we started playing shows, we were usually the heaviest band on the bill. Everyone just wanted to sound like Twin Atlantic or The View. That’s changing. We’re starting to see a new influx of Scottish bands coming through that aren’t just interested in getting signed. Their motivation is the music.”
Carnivores know all about the difficulties the music industry poses. Despite having supported big-name acts and played festivals such as T in the Park, the band all have jobs and are limited when it comes to the number of shows they can play.“We’re under no illusions,” says Leckie.
“We watched the music industry collapse while were studying music at university. We know exactly how hard it is. ‘‘Last year was really busy: we released our album Let’s Get Metaphysical and we played a lot of shows, but it’s hard to keep that level of commitment going.”However, Leckie has a lot of praise for a Glasgow scene that he sees as having parallels with the Washington scene they play tribute to tonight. PAWS, Three Blind Wolves and United Front are just three of the other acts set to perform tonight, demonstrating how much Glasgow bands respect their post-hardcore heroes.“I’m unsurprised that so many great artists are coming,” says Leckie.
“This kind of night sums up what Fugazi were all about: a cultural movement where like-minded musicians come together for good fun and a good cause.“
Glasgow has a brilliant DIY spirit and I’m very proud of that. There are more venues supporting underground music here than in any other city we’ve played in the country.Leckie isn’t worried by suggestions this brand of heavy rock has disappeared from the public consciousness, “The reason that these shows are still popular is because of the industrious spirit here. If we don’t have a scene, we’ll make one. Noisy rock music with weird timings might not always be selling out arenas, but this city isn’t just trying to be cool.” Tonight’s show at Bloc starts at 7pm.
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