Live Review

The Rudiments – Nice N Sleazy, Glasgow

• 6th Aug 2011

Glasgow’s The Rudiments played a fine set last night, introducing a new guitarist and furthering their reputation as a band who know exactly how to entertain a crowd,

The night started with an acoustic set from Rosscoe McNeill of Glasgow indie band The Gazelles. Although more used to playing as part of a band than as a solo act he performed confidently and displayed a warm, and at times haunting, vocal delivery. The highlights were Flying Horse, a new song, and Heartbreak Town from The Gazelles repertoire, which ended with a soulful chorus of In The Midnight Hour.

The Four Johns’ set started nicely. Their music is bluesy with a country feel and the lead singer has a decent voice, ably backed by some fine vocal interplay with the bass player. There was a darker sound to the atmospheric Take Me Down and things were going well until the lead singer broke a string on his acoustic guitar. His response was to walk off the stage, ending the set prematurely. The words ‘prima donna’ were heard several times from an astonished audience.

The Rudiments got the show back on track immediately they took to the stage, with the opening On Yer Own delivered strongly with a typically warm melody, a lovely Latin feel and some fine vocal harmonies.

Much of the set came from the excellent debut album Doctor Bone’s Fried Medicine, with all seven tracks given an outing. The Rudiments have a simple musical style, hence the name, based around a melodic pop core with clear sixties style melodies, but there are other influences at play too.

Stuart Smith leads the band well, his voice strong, standing at the centre of the small stage. He is aided by the second acoustic guitar of Nicky Wright and the beat is set by a solid rhythm section of Chris Godwin on bass and Dave Johnston at the drum kit.

Lead guitarist Lee Ballard has recently joined the band and he spent much of the set in the background, adding some fine solos and fills. Ballard used to play with the excellent Glasgow band The Imagineers and he added an edge to some of the Rudiments’ songs.

Highlights from a fine set were Tetley Tea (Set You Free) featuring some lovely vocal harmonies, the slow and dark sounding ballad The Last Hero Of Switzerland and the folky Cardamom, which has a subtle Celtic feel to it.

A new song, Make Fire, was premiered in the middle of the set and it went down very well. Featuring a slow intro with a prominent bass line, the track soon builds into a steady beat, before dropping once again for more of those velvety harmonies. And it ended with a fine guitar solo too.

The Rudiments play quality music with smiles on their faces and seemed to enjoy the set themselves. And the large crowd very much appreciated a quality set from a fine band with a big future.