Placing myself next to a gentleman, ostensibly of equal age with The New Mendicant’s Norman Blake (Teenage Fanclub, BMX Bandits), I ask him what exactly it was that brought him to tonight’s gig – “Teenage Fanclub,” he replies. His answer is unsurprising and in scanning the predominance of audience members similarly just beyond middle age, I feel it likely that it is nostalgia and a love of Glasgow’s cult indie icons, which has fuelled their motives to attend tonight’s show.
Norman Blake (l), Joe Pernice (r)
A friendship newly formed in Toronto, Ontario, Blake and his fellow New Mendicant Joe Pernice (Pernice Brothers, Scud Mountain Boys), step on to the stage beneath soft red and blue lighting and the scene is set for a cosy, non-challenging evening of acoustic versions of songs old and new. The duo immediately banter about forgetting their set lists and this relaxed approach very much provides a flavour of what lay ahead.
New song ‘Follow You Down’ leads the way and it is the first of several songs this evening where Blake provides charmingly simple Glockenspiel lines to complement Pernice’s vocal and acoustic guitar. An early surprise in the set is a cover of ‘A Butcher’s Tale,’ a song from The Zombies’ hidden baroque-pop gem from 1968, ‘Odessey and Oracle.’ The first four tracks are met with polite applause before Teenage Fanclub’s ‘It’s All In The Mind’ induces the first nods of recognition and an appreciatively vocal response at the song’s close.
The duo continue to banter in an easy, unselfconscious way between songs and the mood is so laid-back that it is probably just as well that tonight’s gig is a fully seated affair. After new song ‘Sarasota,’ which bears a passing resemblance to Cat Stevens’ ‘Father & Son,’ Pernice tells the story of how Blake’s original glockenspiel had been reclaimed by Blake’s primary school aged son after it was signed by a member of children’s musical group The Wiggles. Blake then reveals the handy colour-coded keys of his new instrument to the audience and, to a chorus of laughter, he performs a light-hearted impromptu ‘Glock’ solo.
A slightly faltering finish to ‘You Was Me,’ and Pernice’s sarcastic lamentation of a song he sold to an American corporation for advertising purposes further adds to an atmosphere akin to two old pals playing for friends in a large living room; introduced sardonically as “A song about coats,” ‘There Goes The Sun’ features more Glockenspiel from Blake and, in playing incrementally quieter at the track’s coda, there is a charming live attempt at replicating the recorded version’s fade-out.
Despite Blake’s bungled attempt at the song’s solo, ‘I Don’t Want To Control You’ is warmly received and, making it back to back Teenage Fanclub tracks, ‘Did I Say’ follows. Seemingly comfortable on their respective chairs, Pernice mockingly undermines the concept of an encore by stating: “Just pretend we left the stage and you guys cheered for 2 more songs.” They remain seated and Pernice delivers the delicately beautiful ‘Cronulla Breakdown;’ written about his wife when they lived in the New South Wales town. It proved a highlight of the evening and, being plucked from a 2001 Pernice Brothers’ album no doubt unfamiliar to most of the audience, it is the most pleasant of surprises.
‘Everything Flows’ is the final song of the night and, being one of Teenage Fanclub’s most popular tracks, it serves as an audience pleaser to end proceedings. With their places firmly fixed in the history of cult indie-pop, both Blake and Pernice have nothing to prove and it is with nonchalance that they can approach these sit down shows. Perhaps a few of the old favourites would benefit from a full band set up and it’s true that the lack of challenge in such performances will never inspire anything particularly memorable. However, it with ease that one can enjoy these two new but firm cohorts entertaining their friends in this largest of living rooms.
by Scott Hammond, Pictures by Conal Dougan
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