Live Review

Brown Bear and the Bandits – Stereo, Glasgow

• 29th Mar 2012

Ayrshire’s Brown Bear and the Bandits played a storming set at Stereo last night to launch their new EP. A large crowd was well entertained by a strong bill full of Scottish talent, with the excellent headliners the best of the four acts on show.

Folé from Ayr opened the night with their lively acoustic folk cum rock. Lead singer James Foley was supported by vocalist Louise, playing her first show with the band, as well as bass and percussion. It was a decent set with the two vocalists combining and harmonising nicely. Shakespeare Says, a song that started slowly and built to a fuller sound with a xylophone picking out the melody was the pick.

Singer/ songwriter Michael Cassidy from Paisley played a nice solo set that started with a flamenco inspired burst of acoustic guitar, catching the audience’s attention immediately. His voice is deep and strong and he mixed in slower songs to give variety to his performance. Dancing At The Devil’s Door, an uptempo song with a powerful guitar rhythm was particularly good.

Glasgow folk band Randolph’s Leap were next onto the small stage – all eight of them. Their quirky folk pop songs feature humorous lyrics and the delivery was well co-ordinated. With a trumpet and trombone adding power and a violin a melodic edge behind the lead vocals, keyboard, guitars and drums theirs was a big sound, but the softer numbers came across well too. Deep Blue Sea from their recent album was a highlight. A new song about answering a job ad for a psychic perhaps gives a flavour of their lyrical approach, and very good it was too.

Brown Bear & The Bandits are a rock trio from Largs in Ayrshire. They have quickly gained a reputation as a solid live act and recently supported Pete Doherty in Edinburgh. This headline show served as the launch of their Truth Or Dare EP and demonstrated that the young band has the talent to go far.

From the opening song, Destiny Dancing, it was clear that the enthusiastic crowd was to see powerful music and an exuberant performance. Matt Hickman on acoustic guitar and lead vocals, Stuart McArthur on bass and backing vocals and Kay McLaren behind the drum kit have a potent rock sound full of Celtic rhythms and potent riffs, and it was clear to see that they enjoy playing live music.

Soul Searching from the new EP was an early highlight, its dynamic sound featuring vocals that had a soul tinge to their delivery. Hickman has a deep resonant voice and uses it well to lead the band, nicely backed by McArthur, a dervish on the bass with long hair flying as he twirls across the stage.

The slightly more chilled Sail Away started with a heavy bass line before the guitar came in, backed by some solid drum fills. The song is slightly slower than most with a nice echo on the vocal. But next song The Chase, from the EP, brought the pace back up immediately with its frantic beat and twin vocals. This one is deep and dark, and the crowd got involved too, clapping along in the middle.

And the instrumental Celtic Jam took things to a new level; its mix of traditional Celtic music, rock guitar and solid rhythms had many dancing in the front rows. It was a fine musical interlude to the set and its joyful melody somehow seemed bigger than a three piece band should be capable of creating.

Two more songs followed and Hickman thanked the crowd, making to leave the stage before giving in to calls for one more song – without too much reluctance it has to be said. The night ended with the EPs title track Truth Or Dare, another raucous romp of a song with strident chords, thumping bass and pounding drums that ended the set on a real high.

Brown Bear and the Bandits delivered a fine ten song set that demonstrated within a fairly short time that this is a young group that has talent and stagecraft aplenty. Their sound is powerful and its mix of Celtic music and more mainstream rock gives them an unusual edge. This may have been the band’s debut as a headline act but they took the chance like veterans. Expect to hear a lot more from this band.