THIS Saturday, over 60 bands from Scotland and the rest of the UK, as well as some international names, will gather in Glasgow for Tenement Trail, dubbed “Scotland’s festival of music discovery’.
It features an array of sounds from indie-rock to punk to electronica, with solo artists such as Isle of Wight rising star Lauren Hibberd, Glasgow-based musician Zoe Graham and Edinburgh-based singer-songwriter Annie Booth. The event aims to give music fans the opportunity to see fresh new acts alongside more familiar city names – like grunge rockers The Van T’s, krautrocking duo Man Of Moon and talented post-punks Holy Esque, who formed at Glasgow School of Art back in 2011.
In a recent interview ahead of Holy Esque’s high-profile slot at Tenement Trail, the band’s distinctively-voiced singer Pat Hynes said audiences should expect his band’s set to be one of “raw, explosive energy and a new album coming to life”.
Hynes was referring to Holy Esque’s second full-length album, Television/Sweet, which was released in June to high acclaim. A desolate but immediate record inspired by the UK’s current political situation, Television/Sweet is brutal and cathartic, and an appropriate subject of a festival which takes its cues from DIY principles of independence and authenticity.
Grandees of that spirit are Tenement Trail’s headliners, The Cribs The trio of Jarman brothers who emerged from Wakefield in the mid-2000s to become what Q magazine described as “the biggest cult band in the UK”. A few years later, the same publication awarded them their Spirit of Independence award. Their headline set at The Garage is bound to be fun, messy, and zinging with great tunes.
The Garage is on Glasgow’s Sauchiehall Street, the locus of the majority of Tenement Trail venues such as Broadcast, Firewater, Nice N Sleazy and new jazz club The Blue Arrow. The legendary King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut on St Vincent Street will also feature performances from acts on the bill, which includes Manchester’s Big Society, Essex trio BILK, Brighton buzz band Yonaka and swaggering Glasgow blues rockers Tijuana Bibles.
Also on the bill are Blue Nile-influenced art-rockers Acrylic and the spikier, melodic Wojtek The Bear, two bands on the reputed Scottish Fiction label whose releases so far this year are recommended.
“The idea is that you have opportunities to see lots of bands in and around the same area, that you’ll take a chance on seeing someone new, someone who may only have had one or two songs out,” says Chae Houston, the director of Tenement Trail.
“We put out a schedule at the start of the day so people know who is playing where, but that’s really more for the bands and artists so they know what they’re doing. Fans of certain bands may been keen to see their favourite bands and plan their day, but really the idea is to hang out, chat, enjoy the great atmosphere and see where things take you.”
Established in 2012 as an outcrop of ever-excellent Scottish new music blog Tenement TV, Tenement Trail has grown gradually over the years to hosting gigs in bigger capacity venues such as the Glasgow School of Art and the ABC. Due to the second fire at the School of Art in June, and the loss of the ABC, the team had to rethink their plans for this year’s festival.
“We’ve had to look for replacement venues and mix things around a bit,” says Houston, after noting that this year’s festival is close to selling out. “Luckily we’ve got Firewater nearby and new venue The Blue Arrow.
“The loss of the ABC is huge, it was a great venue, and it’s really sad. It was great we were able to do what we did with them.”
The Cribs were originally booked to play the much-loved Sauchiehall Street venue which reopened in the mid-2000s after lying dormant for years.
“After The Cribs said yes to us asking them to play Tenement Trail we then had to go back to them and ask if they would be OK with a slightly smaller venue at The Garage, and they were, which was really good of them,” says Houston.
Just yards away in Bath Street is legendary DIY venue Flat 0/1, where frenzied local young punks The Dunts will play a midnight gig. It’s the location of some stunning shots taken by Cameron Brisbane and Alice Hadden, music photographers some of whose work is on show at Broadcast.
The exhibition, which ends after Tenement Trail, also features shots of the likes of Twin Atlantic, Lewis Capaldi and Fatherson taken at the Barrowlands, Saint Luke’s and the 02 Academy. The work is available for purchase directly from the photographers with all proceeds going to the Scottish Association for Mental Health.
Tenement Trail takes place on Saturday, September 29, across various venues in Glasgow from 2pm. Tickets cost £22 plus booking fee and can be purchased from bit.ly/TenementTrail18. Go to tenementtrail.com for more details.
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