Dundee’s Ruvellas opened tonight's Hit The Road Gig, the last in a three date tour aimed at giving Scotland's best talent some exposure and arm them with essential touring knowledge.
The young 5-piece started with Pride and End of the Day, tracks packed with 90s anthemic-fuelled indie. Defying their age, they continue to show flashes with assured vocals and tight melodies. Ruvellas' got the crowd singing with a cover of Teddy Pickers, managing to add their own style as well as staying faithful the classic, a difficult feat. The lad on lead guitar is worth a special mention as he tore through some piercing solos complete with retro adidas gear, nice. They’ll be back in the Capital on Saturday as they take to the stage at EH6 festival.
After a quick turnaround and another red stripe, it was time for The Plastic Youth, a band already making waves with coverage across radio and social media. It does help when fronted by a charismatic lead, who immediately pulls the crowd in from the off. Yes, tartan trousers also helps.
However, one of the most striking revelations tonight was how TPY have a real knack for complex pop songs, as they meander from one melody to another, while keeping the core off each track consistent. Impressive for a group of teenagers, none-more-so than with final track and debut single Sweet Dreamer, a 6min epic drawing influences from Neon Waltz to JAWS.
Headliners at their hometown gig SPYYN unsurprisingly drew the biggest crowd of the night, as they raced through 30mins of delightful off-beat indie. They continue to impress with their ability go from thrashing guitars to deep dirty bass beats in a blink-of-an-eye, most notably on PALM. Not afraid to take the pace down a notch, they launch into latest single CITY, giving frontman Finlay a chance to show a different, more brooding side of his vocal range.
SPYYN end the night with body-mover DIRTY DISCO, here they manage to bottle the instant hooky side of Two Door Cinema Club but with said bottle launched into orbit, with it's eerie vocals and pounding chorus. A perfect way to bring the tour to a close.
A massive congratulations to the Hit The Road team and all three bands for making this tour such a success and keeping events like these going, i’m sure they prove invaluable for ambitious bands looking to take that next step.
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