ALTHOUGH Dundee can be somewhat unpredictable at times for touring bands visiting the city’s venues, the crowd that gathered for Rascalton’s most recent visit to the ‘City of Discovery’ made it clear that they were there for a purpose. A real sense of togetherness, echoed both from the band and audience, exemplified exactly what live music in Scotland has become known for: passion, camaraderie, and copious amounts of sweat.
Opening the night were two local outfits – The Medinas and Midnight Alleys– who showcased some of the burgeoning creative talent that Dundee’s rejuvenating music scene has to offer. The latter of the two have been a staple to the city’s music scene for some time; blending danceable bass grooves alongside Dylan-esque vocals to provide a contemporary twist on rock ‘n roll in tracks such as ‘Love Has Left Town’ and ‘Oh my, Still Waiting’.
Headlining the night were Glasgow punk rockers Rascalton who have been heralded repeatedly over the past couple of years here at Tenement TV as well as by the likes of NME, who describe the band’s sound as, “if The Clash were raised on Buckfast”. A shared consensus of community spirit is seemingly evident among figureheads of Glasgow’s music scene at the moment and this spirit undoubtedly permeated through into Rascalton’s live performance at Dundee’s half-filled, yet boisterously passionate, Hunter S. Thompson.
Pace, energy and a strong cohesion among the band was prominent from the offset and events soon became more frenetic as they spiralled through crowd-favourites ‘Told You So’ and ‘Alone’. Sweat dripping, passions sailing, they proceeded to power through the riot-worthy track ‘Police’ before achieving a crowd-surfing conclusion among the jubilant crowd from lead vocalist/guitarist, Jack Wyles, in ‘This Is It’ – which proved to be quite a feat in the small, basement style venue.
Speaking to Tenement TV last year, the band mentioned that “everyone in the scene is in it for the same reasons… everyone could easily be working against each other but it’s not like that at all. It’s a beautiful thing to see and be part of”. This community focused ethos is clearly still etched into Rascalton’s musical aesthetic, which they poignantly illustrated on a rather bleak general election result day by reminding us that live music in Scotland really is a beautiful thing to see and be part of.
