Photo Credit: Leah Solomons
One day before Sløtface (pronounced Slutface) released their 3rd full studio album they were in Glasgow to play an intimate gig for around one hundred fans at the Poetry Club in the West End of Glasgow, just a stone’s throw from the River Clyde. What we love most about these small venues is how close the fans get to the band and vice versa as we would find out tonight. The Tropes and Dreams tour began in Dublin before moving up to Belfast and now it was Glasgow’s turn to be entertained by this band haling from Stavanger, Norway. Irish alternative rock band CHERYM were down for tonight’s support slot but due to the bad weather conditions their flight from Ireland was cancelled earlier in the day, it was a real pity as we were looking forward to seeing them live for the first time. Local band Static stepped in at the last minute and worked the crowd well during the half hour set, we hurriedly listened to a few Static tracks on the train up to Glasgow and we liked what we were hearing. As we arrived they were just starting the set which was great timing, led by vocalist Alicia MacDonald Static’s music can be described as alternative rock, the standout tracks for us were Moscow, Drop dead Diva and Nightmare, the last mentioned was the best of the set, it seemed like a six minute epic and hats off to them for stepping in at the last minute. Salt is a brand new track and was played live for the first time tonight. We’re looking forward to hearing more from this talented band. 7/10
The aforementioned Sløtface album Film Buff was to be released the following day but the band took the bold decision to play the album in full and it was great to hear all eleven tracks from the record. The intimate venue was packed out as the band led by Haley Shea took to the stage and it’s an explosive start with I Used To Be A Real Piece Of Shit, the lead track from Film Buff. It was quickly followed by another in Leading Man, the energy levels were through the roof already as the guitarist goes off on a high-energy solo, the crowd are loving this start to the set. Before Telepathetic, Shea asks the crowd if we can give more energy, the resounding answer is YES! Here is a band that haven been influenced by 1990s riot grrrl bands such as Bikini Kill as well as The Clash and Ramones, at times you can hear these influences in their music, they have also supported Norway’s biggest music export A-Ha. Ladies Of The Fight is played early in the set and the mosh pit opens up for this one, there is a good mix of young and old in tonight’s crowd as the inhibitions are let go off in the highly charged pit. We reckon that bass player Lasse Lokøy used to enjoy climbing trees when he was younger, when he is not jumping into the crowd he is playing his bass on top of speakers, at one point he even climbs over the banister at the top of the stairs, he is providing plenty of extra entertainment tonight that’s for sure! We felt very lucky to be part of the small crowd watching Sløtface during the nineteen track set that was filled with a great blend of grungy punk and vibrant pop, the crowd fell silent whenever a new song is played, taking in every word but for those that wanted an early listen to the album they could buy Film Buff on vinyl tonight.
Another two new ones from Film Buff followed in I Confess, I Guess and Charlie Calls which are two tracks we like very much from the LP. Next up is Final Gørl another of the early album releases and played perfectly, Shea is down in amongst the crowd for this one to the delight of those around her. Nancy Drew is the biggest song to date from Sløtface and is one of the highlights of the set as Shea opens the vocals with the classic line “10,000 hours of falling asleep to singer-songwriter tunes in my ear/And I’ve filled my quota of boys with acoustic guitars”. Just when you thought the energy couldn’t get any higher Quiet On Set gets the mosh pit opening once again, this is one of the heaviest on the album. That’s what we really like about Sløtface’s music, one minute you can be listening to more mellow tracks such as Galaxies then the next is more explosive punk. Impression Of A Car Crash starts off as a nice quiet acoustic track before exploding with energy giving and the crowd are given one last chance to express their feelings towards the stage with last song of the night HAPPY. The one hour and ten minute set ended on a HAPPY note then … this band exuded great confidence and stage presence throughout the set and we are looking forward to seeing them play in bigger venues in the near future. 9/10
Written by: Alan Brown
You can check out the Sløtface album review from Bring The Noise here and our interview with Haley from 2000trees here.
