LIVE REVIEW: Girl Scout, Martha May and The Mondays, Nice n’ Sleazy, Glasgow, 08/02/2025
With three EPs behind them now – the latest being Headache which was released in December – Girl Scout are ticking all the right boxes to make the breakthrough on the independent music scene in 2025. However they can’t be pigeon-holed as indie like some bands are, instead they play a good mixture of post-punk, pop, indie-rock, and hey there is even some jazz influences in there. After a lengthy tour with Canadian band Alvvays in 2024 they are now ready to break out of their Swedish homeland to bring their music to a wider audience. The Stockholm quartet are led by Emma Jansson who previously performed as a jazz musician in her home city, in fact Jansson and guitarist Victor Spasov studied jazz together at the Royal College of Music so have been playing together for a few years now.
We couldn’t have asked for a better support band than the one tonight as Glaswegians Martha May & The Mondays enthralled the crowd with a stunning half hour set filled with punk rock tunes, this talented bunch will be headlining these venues soon. They are still quite new on the scene and have released one EP to date – SPIT! – we got to hear a couple of new tracks tonight. After selling out King Tut’s recently this will go a long way to help stamp their reputation as one of the most exciting up and coming Glasgow bands. As well as the usual musical setup they also make use of a violinist; a great combination of music styles as they played nine tracks, the best of the set being Tennis, SPIT! and War Games. It will be interesting to see what this band do next. 8/10
During the break we managed to get a quick chat with some of the band at the merch stall with Victor revealing that Girl Scout are currently working on a debut album which is definitely one to look forward to. The Nice n’ Sleazy basement must have had a good one hundred and fifty folk crammed in, these smaller venues are the life and blood of music around the UK and we think it’s important to keep them open and well used. The set had twelve tracks with four from each of the EP releases; the previous two released in 2023 – Real Life Human Garbage and Granny Music. It is an intense start with Desert Island Movies, Honey and Monster, the guitar playing from Spasov during the last mentioned track was unreal, this guy is a true showman on the six-string. Let’s not forget though that Jansson is on vocals while also playing guitar, her talent shines through catching us immediately with some powerful vocals. We are so close to the stage that we could see every chord that was being played, that’s the beauty of these smaller venues.
The crowd were relatively quiet tonight but that didn’t stop the enjoyment of the music, Run Me Over is another standout track as is Bruises, it is another chance for Victor to showcase his talents on guitar. Mothers & Fathers poses a question for the crowd from Emma Jansson “Is anyone in the room going through a divorce or have parents that have?” A few hands are raised! Weirdo is another of the class tracks while I’m So Sorry starts off acoustically before thundering into a very melodic rock track. While I Just Needed You To Know gets the biggest shout from the crowd of the night and is the band’s biggest song to date. There is no better way to end the set than Do You Remember Sally Moore? taken from the Real Life Human Garbage EP. As they leave the stage, the crowd show great appreciation for the fantastic night of music they have just witnessed. Girl Scout should be well up on the list of more than a few bands to take on tour as support, they wouldn’t be disappointed. 9/10
Written by: Alan Brown
