Two great live bands from different generations of the goth scene? At one of the UK’s most iconic venues (where Alan McGee discovered Oasis)? For just twenty quid? No surprise then that the inspired pairing of current scene darlings Vision Video and returning old stagers The March Violets for a UK tour drew a capacity crowd to the dingy upstairs room at Glasgow’s King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut, momentarily uniting the enthusiastic “baby bats” and grizzled “elder goths” of the city’s still vibrant alternative scene.
Founder and sole all-time member of The March Violets during their forty-two year start-stop history, guitarist Tom Ashton resides these days in Athens, Georgia where he runs SubVon Studios at which he has recorded and produced Vision Video’s two albums to date, the critically acclaimed Inked In Red and Haunted Hours. Both LP’s featured equally in the band’s Video’s high octane goth pop (think Head on the Door era Cure mixed with early Smiths with a bit of Chameleons guitar thrown in) Glasgow set which was deservedly well-received by an audience who know singer Dusty Gannon primarily from his humour-laden “Goth Dad” videos on the band’s TikTok account which has over half a million followers. Gannon was in confessional mood on the band’s first visit to Scotland, telling the audience that his guitar had once belonged to the late Frightened Rabbit frontman Scott Hutchison, and dedicating the title track of their sophomore album Haunted Hours to him. Hutchison’s music had helped Gannon through a tough period in his life, a time covered in the song Kandahar, with the charismatic frontman confessing to those present in Glasgow that when posted there as a US Infantryman, he had a sudden realisation about the reality of war and its driving forces, and his life has changed direction as a result.
In case any of the audience were remaining in any doubt about the singer’s politics, the band’s most potent and arguably best-known song Organised Murder benefitted from a ferocious extended opening section, underpinned by the powerful rhythm section of scene veterans Dan Geller (bass) and Jason Fusco (drums), during which Gannon (a fine lyricist, incidentally) pulled no punches in describing the many ills and injustices of American contemporary society. Other highlights of an all-too-brief set included melodic opener Static Drone, their incendiary cover of Joy Division’s Transmission, debut single and crowd favourite In My Side and Comfort In the Grave, which features keyboard player Emily Freedock on main vocals, mirroring the male/female vocal assault for which The March Violets have long been renowned.
Since the Violets last played Scotland a decade ago, bassist
Jo had left the band to be replaced by American goth royalty William Faith (ex-Christian
Death, Mephisto Walz and Faith and the Muse amongst others) in time for the 2015 US tour,
shortly after which main man Si D suffered a health issue which led to the
band’s sine die suspension, until the remaining members finally decided to restart the
project, with Faith also taking over Si’s co-vocal duties. The continuation of
the band without Si has not met with universal approval from long-term fans (for some of
whom, as in the mid-1980’s, no Si = no Violets), and the band acknowledged the significant loss of their frontman from the line-up and his key contribution to the band's legacy with both a heartfelt toast to former members of the band (reciprocated by the audience) and an impassioned speech
from eloquent frontwoman and original co-vocalist Rosie Garland about the passage of time and importance
of following your dreams and not putting off projects, because like the band,
one day all the audience would be “old f---ers” like them (I think I still prefer the
term “elder goths”, personally!).
I would love to be able to say that the Violets stormed the stage with a mesmerising opening salvo, but in reality the trio sort of shambled onto stage and opener Crow Baby false-started (“It’s always finished before it’s begun” in the words of another Violets classic), with the singer wryly acknowledging the appropriateness of this “chaos”, given the band’s history, and this theme returned later in the set with Ashton breaking a string and having to play Grooving In Green on the remaining five before borrowing Dusty Gannon’s instrument for the remainder of the set.
Once it began properly, from the opening drum-machine driven
intro, Crow Baby showed that the Violets had lost none of their original
power, with Ashton’s trenchant guitar sound very much the focal point. From the
slashed gonzoid power chords of Radiant Boys, through the scratchy Gang
of Four influenced punk funk musings of Grooving In Green and 1 2 I Love You to the one string
riffs of Walk Into The Sun and modern classic Made Glorious,
Ashton’s versatility and innovation marks him out as one of the premier
guitarists of the original goth era, skilfully filling a musical space for which
The Sisters of Mercy and Red Lorry Yellow Lorry required double the manpower.
Garland herself was also on excellent form, her confident stage presence (“We’re having
fun tonight, aren’t we? ….Ooh, goths having fun! ….We’d better keep that to
ourselves hadn’t we, or else they’ll all want to join in!”) enhanced
by her intervening time performing as Rosie Lugosi, vampire queen of the
alternative cabaret scene, whilst consummate professional Faith handled Si’s
vocal and Loz's bass parts perfectly for the most part and adds an effortless cool to the
band’s visual aesthetic.
Although the pace of the set dipped a little during
renditions of 2010’s songs like Dress 4 U and Mortality, excellent
new song Heading For the Fire got things back on track, the rapturous
reception delighting the band who have been working on material for a new album
which should be released before the end of the year, before the inevitable Snake
Dance brought the evening’s proceedings to a very satisfying conclusion.
The highly recommended Vision Video are promising to return
to the UK in the autumn, and hopefully The March Violets will be following
their own carpe diem advice and will also be back out on tour before too long, because
otherwise, if they leave it another decade, we will all be seriously old
“f---ers” by the time they return!
(My apologies to Kristeen Young who opened proceedings, but whose set I had evidently completely missed despite arriving 45 minutes after doors opened, although I am reliably informed that her theatrical performance further enhanced what was already a very strong bill and a great night's entertainment)
