MUSIC

REVIEW: IMOUT Weekender wins as 15 band line-up in two days may be back to share Inverness sounds

IMOUT Weekender attracted a crowd to see the two-day band line-up at An Seomar last weekend. Picture: MC

IMOUT Weekender, An Seomar, Inverness | Friday and Saturday, October 23 and 24 | 15 bands and local musicians

by Margaret Chrystall

It seemed such a crazy-brave idea – like starting a protest or making a stand for a way of life that might be disappearing – but either way, you cheered for musician/ promoter/producer and IMOUT label maestro Iain McLaughlin’s IMOUT WEEKENDER announcement across social media.

How many of us bought a ticket in June and looked forward for months to the idea of seeing 15 new/ established bands play live over two nights in October in An Seomar?

It reminded me of the days when much-missed Inverness music venue the Ironworks hosted that style of music extravaganza. Two nights of local bands and a strict timetable that crammed in tasters of all kinds of music. It was popular and allowed anyone who loved their music and wanted to see what was out there to support the bedroom heroes and heroines to think big, aim high and prepare to play a venue with a stage to encourage dreaming and working to fill it – conquer it, even.

Reading back some of the reviews you’d written then, trying to capture something about each line-up or musician, you could sense the attempt to take it all in before your brain gave in to the size of the challenge. But there was also the memory of trying really hard to nail giving a true sense of what every one of them added to the nights. All that euphoria and optimism and pure love for the music everyone was laying out in front of us like a magic carpet. And all that music to woo our ears and our imagination – and earn our love.

They were lucky days.

Covid changed plenty including the assumption that people would come out to see live music. Forced to stay home and away from live get-togethers, it stopped becoming a priority and cost of living played a part in it too. Though, as always, when a venue as important as the Ironworks shut or in the more past-past – the Hayloft or the Railway Club or the Raigmore (scaled back) other venues spring up, stepped up, did more and took on their flavour of music – dance, club nights, heavy rock, touring stars, heritage and tribute, traditional. But even so, we all came back different from Covid and that time.

One man and a guitar on stage and a few people watching started off the first night of the Weekender at An Seomar.

Alan Hercher of The Northern Waters brought an intimate feel. Picture: MC

It seemed a small way to start, but it was a perfect refresher in really watching and listening.

With the chance to get in close to the stage, it was a set that tuned you in to the subtle power of Northern Waters’ frontman Alan Hercher’s voice and guitar. The song Mistakes with its high ‘woo-oo-oo-o-oo-oo-oo’ chime contrasted with the almost American, bluesy feel of the song. Though the set seemed short, it was the kind of introduction that ticked lots of boxes to make you want more, not least stagecraft and the subtle art of communicating in a wry, winning way.

First, modest apologies from the musician for the lack of Dr Wook (sounded as if the original plan had been forced to change). Then more – Alan dissing his own musical abilities compared with his absent bandmates, including outlining guitarist Ray Leslie’s usual role in one song (Sunshine and Rain) as Alan gave us his own one-man version. “Take it away, Ray!” he laughed.

The focus you get from a solo performance, meant the opportunity here to witness a voice being playful. One minute it seemed to channel the soul of a Negro Spiritual, the next – a torch-singing CeeLo Green in the house, then back to pure rock. The single Nice To Meet Ya rounded off the night’s opening set – with a nod from the singer to the weekender and the audience that had come out for his 7.20pm start.

Favourite moment? Maybe that seamless shift into Coolio’s Gangsta’s Paradise.

Ali Dooner, frontman of Stetsonhead. Picture: MC

Stetsonhead have forever been the black-hearted musical twin and sneering antidote to prime country schmaltz, living deep in the soul of the Market Bar for as long as music has existed. Or something like that.

You’ve given up more times than you can remember trying to sum up the wonder and the awe of a live Stetsonhead set. Songs that ooze out of the dark well of life’s gothic black side, are somehow never treated that seriously. Apologies Required had demands for all the things someone should say sorry for – including the only squirmingly icky horror “dogshit on my shoe”. There’s always a humorous twist to prove the band don’t take themselves too seriously, or us. Near the end of their Friday songs, singer Ali Dooner wanted to thank his An Seomar audience for coming out.

From right – Stetsonhead bassist Robin Abbot, guitarist Willie MacAskill, drummer Derek Urquhart, singer Ali. Picture: MC

“I can’t see you but I know you’re there!” he grinned into the darkness.

Instantly, the lights went up on us and with perfect comic timing, he pulled back and gave a little yelp.

“No-o-o-o-! Turn it off!”

Cool and yet on fire, the grey-suited singer, storyteller and high priest of the Stetsonhead brotherhood rolls out epic coffin ditties like Funeral, soul-baring The Void, confessionals Self-Made Man or Bad Bad Boy with guaranteed demonic joy. And as he points his accusing fingers like a gun or shakes his mike at the crowd, you hardly notice the rest of Stetsonhead’s master musicians taking care of business all over the stage.

Stetsonhead’s Ali Dooner (left) and guitarist Willie MacAskill. Picture: MC

With Iain McLaughlin And The Outsiders headlining Friday night, an epic ending for the first part of the weekender was on the cards.

Spacey intro music that sounded almost like Vangelis’s opening future cityscape for Bladerunner welcomed us towards the stage as the lights went down with dramatic red-drenched vertical beams taking over for some of the songs with the band onstage.

The songs are all about big life stuff and they sound that way, even from the opener Rapid Eye Movement. “Each step forward seems like two steps back” – who hasn’t been there? But it’s not about wallowing and the song, powered by Iain’s rock-solid vocal, and the energy of Paul Elliot’s guitar lines and Dave Ramsay’s wild and kinetic bass-playing bouncing off Russell Montgomery’s heartbeat pulse, steps you out where the lyrics take you and into a new scary world. Even the courage to do that is not quite enough.

“… Remember what you dream of …”

The living example of that is standing right there centre stage. We’re almost through Iain McLaughlin’s own maybe crazy dream of staging 15 bands over two nights in these times. Later when it’s all done, he shares a hope that the support from the crowd and the bands and the sponsors means he would love to do it all again.

Night one, check.

Lots of people bought in, made time, came out in the blustering rain and stood there witnessing and dreaming along and going for it when the time came for applause and whoops and cheers.

Iain McLaughlin, the man behind the weekender idea, turns to lead singer and guitarist mode. Picture: MC

Iain McLauglin And The Outsiders’ first song in, as you just about manage to read in your scrawly notes later – “When u start at epic, where do you go?”

But it’s a smart Outsiders set. Anyone knows – who has seen them any time between the origins in 2009 to now – it can create its own highs and lower highs and leads its fans there with ease. On a good night.

This is one of those. It’s a pared-back selection of songs with the biggest hitters in there – Someone For Everyone tucked in at the centre, the 2014 EP’s Falling Through The Dark.

But there are newer songs too, like Beta and Chrysalis, to show that despite the sometimes glacially-slow lava flow of songs from them when you can’t wait for more, this band are always moving on. So to closer, Human Condition which is being played live for the first time, Iain tells us later.

And he brings Alexandria Kernaghan on stage to join him and add female vocals and a new dimension to the familiar sound of the band for the last three songs.

Favourite moment? All of it. But a non-musical one came when Iain urged us to use the sponsors’ products to thank them for their support – Dog Falls Brewing Co, Inverness Taxis and Inverness Coffee Roasting Co. And he told the crowd as he showed off the band: “This is all us – apart from the things I can’t afford – a keyboard, an orchestra!”

Outsiders and an orchestra? Now there’s something to dream of …

Saturday

Reliever – from left – Jamie Karnphan, Billy Goodall, new bassist Lewis Veitch. Picture: MC

Getting the chance to see new bands and rising names was one of Weekender’s attractions. First up – having missed the daytime Saturday bands – was Reliever.

On Saturday, returning in time for the start of Reliever, then three more bands, the night seemed young.

But bands had been playing since just after noon on Saturday – Origami Wolves; Dylan Tierney; Get Me Spitfires; Riff Bank South; Familiar Enemies Idiotix; Iodynes and The Chosen Lonely. You vow to look out for their live gigs over the coming months to catch up.

Reliever wear their influences on their sleeves (Foo Fighters, Catfish) and rocked up the stage at An Seomar as if they owned it with a set that came alive from their song Home.

Oozing confidence, the band’s busy start since they came together as youngsters a few years ago, has earned them gigs and song releases, a busy social media and even line-up changes – there was one on Saturday night, as Lewis Veitch was introduced on bass, a silent presence in a checked guitar strap.

Catching a lyric here and there, Home’s “I’ll see you soon, my love” seems all about leaving it. Sung in unison at one point by lead singer Billy Goodall (Fred Perry shirt, focused) and guitarist Jamie Karnphan (early sunspecs, rocker vibe), the togetherness emphasised the intriguing chalk and cheese element at the heart of the band’s DNA.

They flagged up a preview of next single, Marie. “Out on October 30!” Jamie said. “This Friday!” Billy amended.

We had already been treated to this year’s release What It Took, a fast, driving sound.

“That was alright!” Jamie grinned afterwards, but next song 18 stalled. Started again, it stopped. “We do make mistakes!” the guitarist apologised endearingly. But underway, it’s a song that sums up ambitions and hopes of “a way to a better life”. Billy introduced Higher Ground  – “I’m stuck in the middle of this war … in my head.” And for an alternative view of what’s going on on the stage, you could check out a fan of the band in the crowd hitting out all the beats and counting in the odd 1, 2, 3, 4 intro with the band.

HJEM with Daniel Gunn (centre) and bassist Conner Black. Picture: MC

Some of HJEM (‘H-yem?) seemed familiar. But it wasn’t until someone mentioned they had been The Daniel Gunn Band and some of them Purple Divide before that (Daniel Gunn/ drummer Connor Meeks) that it made sense.

HJEM with Daniel Gunn at the mic, Phillip Barton on guitar. Picture: MC

Short on chat and no mention of titles made it hard to identify songs you hadn’t heard before. But it also meant you could just let the tantalising, almost retro blues/backwoodsy/southern rock experience soak in. Loved the rumbling bass from Conner Black in a couple of songs.

Favourite moment? As a trailer to seeing HJEM again soon, it was a standout set for me.

Shutter with Matt (left) and James Roberts on bass, drummer Will Roberts just seen. Picture MC

Shutter’s instrumental alt post-rock guitar maelstrom stands like some giant standing stone as time-sensitive fashion-forward twiddle-rock fades into dusty CD collections.

Saturday’s tracks were every bit as monolithic and standout as they have always been, though decades have passed since the four-piece debuted, two and counting since album Pillars came out (2010). And one of the unexpected bonuses to no vocals or lyrics is that age has seemed to have had no negative effect on the impact of tracks like Orka. It was special being there as its crashing over you to rhythms of the drums and bass of Will and James Roberts with sublime sound that seemed perfect on the night, as the interplay between guitarists Matt Campbell and Pete MacDonald unfolds and Calum Martin’s drenching washes of colour flood the stage. There was a solid crowd of followers to see it. Shutter gigs are still too rare, but this one came perfectly placed to add gravitas and dignity to Imout Weekender’s handpicked line-up of chosen ones.

The Joshua Hotel with Josh Mackenzie on vocals, Josh Gilbert on drums and Louis Slorach on guitar. Picture: MC

A year on from The Joshua Hotel’s Rapture Party Inverness album debut gig at An Seomar, it’s deja-vu all over again as it seems their loyal the audience is back, bigger and giddier. Wisely, this time, you head for the front of stage barrier and the chance to miss nothing on the stage as the final band of the weekend are set to crown it.

Though there are only three in the line-up, it’s a busy sound with Josh Gilbert on ever-present rhythm and Louis Slorach ranging around semi-dancing with his guitar. Frontman Josh Mackenzie sings, plays guitar and feeds synth/ keyboard lines into the song machine. As they play on, it’s a crowd-pleasing set of album tracks, former singles and old favourites for a local crowd plus a smart cover for a final track.

If the indie-electronica of The Joshua Hotel always sounded like a retro 80s slant on coming-of-age neurosis and rebellion tickling away at your music memory of vintage electro-pop bands of long ago, it only takes a second of them starting to remember they sound completely contemporary and innovative too.

Once the new song, Queer Holiday opens and sets the pace, an adventure with its tongue in its cheek unfolds in the lyrics and a chance to “oo-ee-oo-ee-oo” along with the pumping tempo.

As the set opens out, for a lot of it, album tracks alternate with earlier numbers from earlier days, and  you can sense how the newer tracks have bedded into the live set for a seamless pop of joy but the signature Joshua Hotel dark edge still intact.

Since we last saw them at An Seomar, they’ve taken the album to number three in the Scottish album chart and number five in the UK official independent album breakers chart (and 14 in the UK vinyl chart), thanking their label Last Night In Glasgow.

Rapture Party has also been longlisted for this year’s Scottish Album of the Year.

Josh Mackenzie and Louis remove black jackets as the venue hots up. Somewhere Josh revealed that they haven’t played many gigs this year. But you would never guess from the slick, commanding but playful performance of a dozen or so songs we get tonight.

In Oblivion Days, Josh sings “I feel like an actor, I love the pretence” in a song that is all about the paranoia of ageing – “Hit me up soft girl, before I decay”.

But announcing that the next song is a cover of Enjoy The Silence (by Depeche Mode), he confesses it’s the encore but they’re not going to go away and come back. That pretence, done away with. Louis interprets the chiming, wiry guitar, Josh smiles to himself as he starts, trying on the shivery vocal warbles of Dave Gahan and makes it his. He looks back at Josh on drums and smiles, then adds his own synth version of the melody.

It gets the crowd swaying and “whooing” under the frantic white spotlights. It ends too soon – “Thankyou!” Josh salutes the crowd – and one final mantra said with a grin.

“Remember, smoke a cigarette, get laid!”.

It’s bad advice for a safe life, but just as satisfyingly rock and roll as Louis’ guitar left reverbing on the stage, long after they’ve gone.