Glasgow is a city with a proud musical tradition, producing more than its fair share of acts who have gone on to influence fellow musicians from all over the world. Dip your toe into their pool of bands old and new with this helpful introduction, all of whom happen to have local gigs booked in the not-too-distant future.
The Jesus and Mary Chain
One of the early progenitors of the feedback-and-reverb-drenched shoegaze genre (along with Irish counterparts My Bloody Valentine), The Jesus and Mary Chain are one of the most influential bands ever to hail from Glasgow. They returned to touring following a split from 1999-2007, but have yet to record any new material since 1998’s ‘Munki’. Then again, with the era-defining ‘Psychocandy’ in your back catalogue (with drums courtesy of Primal Scream’s Bobby Gillespie), there’s no rush to try on something new.
The Jesus and Mary Chain play through ‘Psychocandy’ at the Barrowlands, Fri Nov 21 & Sun Nov 23.
Prides
The youngest band on this list, synthpop trio Prides have already managed to rack up some impressive gigs, playing at the Closing Ceremony of Glasgow’s Commonwealth Games and headlining the BBC Introducing stage at this year's Reading and Leeds following their formation in 2013. They’ve been snapped up by Island Records, with a debut album planned for 2015 – in the meantime, you’d be advised to get acquainted with their ‘The Seeds You Sow’ EP and plentiful remix/cover versions back catalogue.
Prides play The Arches on Sat Dec 6.
Paws
Glasgow three-piece Paws have successfully established a noisy, punky, lo-fi slacker aesthetic over the course of two albums (2012’s ‘Cokefloat!’ and 2014’s ‘Youth Culture Forever’) and an EP (‘Misled Youth’). Following a full-on European and North American touring schedule this year (during which they managed to squeeze in a highly publicized spat with Morrissey), they’re only playing a handful of Scottish gigs to round off 2014 – one of them a freebie in diminutive local venue Bloc.
Paws play Bloc on Tue Dec 9.
The Phantom Band
A self-described ‘proto-robofolk sextet’, The Phantom Band have successfully established a place for themselves on Scotland’s music scene despite numerous early name changes and a refusal to stick to a single genre. Signed to Chemikal Underground, they’ve released three albums that flirt heavily with krautrock while winking at everything from '80s metal to pop and blues, while vocalist Anthony ‘Rick’ Redbeard does a nice line in solo folkie material too.
The Phantom Band play The Arches on Fri Dec 12.
Belle and Sebastian
Another of Glasgow’s mighty influentials, Stuart Murdoch’s merry band of jangle-pop tweemongers (pictured) have been going strong since their 1996 debut ‘Tigermilk’. More recently, Murdoch has turned his hand to filmmaking, with the Glasgow-set, music-fuelled drama ‘God Help the Girl’ (an extension of his own '60s-inspired girl group side project). Having done their bit at the Commonwealth Games Opening Ceremony, the band are now pursuing further large-scale ambitions, such as playing Scotland’s largest arena with the Scottish Festival Orchestra next May.
Belle and Sebastian play the SSE Hydro on Fri May 22 with the Scottish Festival Orchestra.
We'll have more posts about Glasgow's other best bands and artists in the near future - in the meantime, add your suggestions of the musicians we've missed in the comments.