Stereo is a cracking little venue slap bang in the centre of Glasgow so I was delighted to find out that Memory Tapes were playing there after discovering their Seek Magic album just the week before.
It was a pleasant surprise to find that Nevada Base, one of my favourite Glasgow bands, were supporting. The doors opened at the relatively early time of 7.30pm with the gig having a strict curfew of 10pm to allow for a club to go on afterwards.
The upstairs bar was a busy and it was a slow trickle that came down to catch Nevada Base as they took to the stage at 7.45pm with singer Albert delivering a mocking 'Hello Glasgow' before launching into the opening number.
Nevada Base seem to take their influences from the likes of LCD Soundsystem - nice funky bass, wah wah guitar and short sharp riffs, and lots of synths, with the added bonus of using a keytar when playing live.
Love In My Mind drew the crowd loitering at the bar at the back of the venue closer to the stage and the band seemed to warm to this. They then announced they would be playing an Abba cover that immediately stopped people at the back talking over their pints.
This was no Abba Gold, but a track called The Visitors from Abba's 8th and final studio album of the same name. It was an inspired cover that the trio admitted a friend had suggested to them. Their friend has good taste and I'm downloading the album as I type.
Nevada Base closed with If I'm Late my personal favourite track of theirs. Squelchy synth bass, playful guitars and Alberts dead pan delivery 'If I'm late, then I'm late I don't care, cause being on time doesn't enter my mind.'
Memory Tapes is an alias for Dayve Hawk and he took to the stage backed with a drummer and launched into a mesmorising 30 minute show that if I'm not mistaken was pretty much the album. There wasn't a lot of talking as one track segued seamlessly into the other thanks to the backing tracks.
Hawk clearly has a talent for layering sounds, these range from beautiful backing vocals, to guitars and synths, to pounding beats. Some of the guitar riffs seem to take inspiration from New Order.
The show closes with a 10-minute version of Bicycle that leaves the crowd wanting more but the band refusing to oblige.
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