Tragic City Thieves/Filthy Little Secrets

Pivo Pivo Glasgow 5/6/10

By: El Diablo

Bon Scott famously sang that it's a long way to the top if you want to rock and roll, and he was damn right. If you have your eye on the prize then you have to pursue it with single minded determination and accept that it's going to be a long hard slog of playing for nothing while placing down payments on the dues you have to earn.

It's months, if not years, of playing support slots in front of audiences that don't really give a fuck, and travelling here, there, and everywhere to pimp yourself in the hope that you can pick up a singular fan in every shithole that you get the opportunity to do your thing in.

It ain't easy, that's for sure. Yet every once in a while I'm privileged to see a band that 'gets it'. A band that live and breathe what they are doing. Last night it was the turn of Filthy Little Secret to impress and they certainly did with their personal take on what sleazy guttural garage punk should sound like.

From the first chord being struck it's a roller-coaster ride of blues injected in your face rock. The sort of thing that the Supersuckers do so well, except in this case they give the cowpunk sound a bodyswerve and instead throw in a healthy chunk of New York Bowery inspired sleaze that really gets the blood pumping.

It's a heady mix that has a huge crossover potential. Everyone from the hardened punk rocker to the preening glam vixen is going to be able sup from the devils cup that Filthy Little Secret are offering.

It's about time that some bands stepped forward and tried to break the stranglehold that the stereotypical throwbacks of the local punk scene have on the west coast circuit.

I was mistakenly under the impression that it was only Tragic City Thieves that were up for the fight, but now we have the start of something a little bit different and it's about bloody time. ...and speaking of Tragic City Thieves they were the next band up and although this is the seventh time that I've seen them in six months the rush is still there.

With most bands the allure diminishes as you become more exposed to them, but for some reason that I can't put my finger on this isn't the case with them. Maybe it's because you never really know what you are going to get. Even with a similar set list no two gigs are ever the same.

They dance on the edge of anarchy, well the illusion of anarchy I suppose. While everything is as musically tight as you would expect from a road tested band there is still that feeling that it could all quite easily fall to pieces at any second. There's a rawness at play that hints at them being unaware themselves of what is coming next.

When I was watching them the main thing that kept pushing into my thoughts was that this must be what it was like to have seen the legendary New York Dolls when they were in their infancy. I took a photograph of the band when they were sitting waiting to take to the stage and if I printed it off in monochrome then you could easily pass it off as it being taken in Max's in '75. It's not just the look, it's the attitude, The disregard for convention, fashion genres or being labeled as this or that.

Tragic City Thieves don't fit in. They don't want to. They want it all on their own terms and are pushing hard to get it. Once I can get some cash sorted out I'm going to put my money where my mouth is and get these two bands to play in my home town. I swore that I wasn't going to ever promote anything ever again, but after this show I've decided that I should come out of retirement for one last job and join them in kicking down a door or two.

There was another band on after both Filthy Little Secret and Tragic City Thieves, but it's safe to say that they didn't come close to matching them. In hindsight I'm not sure how many bands actually could have. These guys will give any band a run for their money. Headliners beware.
http://www.myspace.com/filthylittlesecret06

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