Dead Pony QMU December 13th 2024 (Review) – The night’s are getting cold, we need a light
On one of the busiest party nights of the year, the second last Friday before Christmas, three Glasgow bands staged a celebration of their own. Dead Pony were the hosts, bringing the year of their debut album, Ignore This, to a close at the QMU. Of course, as with most good things at this time of year, little gets down without assistance from some little helpers.
And by that we mean support acts, Soapbox and Gallus. While both quite different, they capture elements that you’d expect from a TV sitcom about Glasgow bands. Perhaps Soapbox are more suited to an update of Channel 4’s The Young Person’s Guide To Being A Rockstar while Gallus would be the house band in Burnistoun. Most importantly, both bands were on fire and had the crowd responding as if they were the actual headliners.
Soapbox singer Tom Rowan immediately grabs your attention, but their fast and brash punk songs don’t just capture large elements of local life, they could have soundtracked many people’s ‘Black Friday’. ‘Private Public Transport’ encapsulated the moans many people would have upon realising taxis are scarce and night buses are rarer than a train running on time. ‘Disgrace’ was introduced with a dig at pint prices, a scene which would have played out across the city that evening and ‘The Fear’, well, that comes the morning after a work’s night out.
Shifting fast from tales of violence to deep social insight about the rise of facism and racism, before ending with ‘Yer Da’, Soapbox are aptly named, but they use it for all the right reasons. The crowd was with them for the whole of the set, not bad going considering they came on before half seven, and if you’re keen to see what they have up their sleeve, they’re headlining The Garage in April.
Next up were Gallus, another band whose name fits perfectly. The Glasgow act are further down the road than Soapbox, and there’s new material to come in 2025, with at least an EP on the way. And an Oran Mor gig, with a hint that things are getting heavier in the Gallus camp. Which is no bad thing, the new material, both on its way and recently released ‘Depressed Beyond Tablets’, carries the marks of what got the band here while looking to burrow deeper and darker.
‘It Bit Bullshit’ was ferocious, blending childhood rhymes with a savage music assault, and that’s how we like it. Next up was ‘What Do I Know’ with angular guitars that are as representative of Glasgow as the cone on yer horse-riding man’s head. (Yes, the Duke of Wellington if you insist on formal titles.) Closing with ‘Marmalade’, a joyous number with infectious guitar runs and a sense of energy that should see Idles fans lap up what’s going on, next year should be another doddle for Gallus.
Both of these acts will create great nights in their headlining shows next year but the headliners were about to show the levels you can take a show to.
Dead Pony’s set was a prime example of controlled chaos, with songs like the album’s title track, ‘MK Nothing’ and ‘Bullet Farm’ demonstrating their ability to blend high-octane rock with cinematic storytelling. Yes, the support acts had warmed the crowd up, but Dead Pony were in danger of bursting hamstrings throughout the venue with such an explosive start!
They’re a band who are all action, all power and if your idea of a great gig is smashing around in the pit and leaving yourself exhausted, this is exactly what you need. However, as a headline act in this size of venue, playing for over an hour, you need to deliver more. Mainly because most of the set is an assault on all your senses, it’s the quieter or more reflective moments that hit you harder.
Lead singer Anna Shields herself said ‘About Love’ was a favourite of hers, and while guitarist Blair Crichton seemed in an indecent rush to skip to the faster moments, bassist Liam Adams got his moment to shine with his instrument taking the lead. It’s a song where the band briefly drops its breakneck pace to reveal a more vulnerable side, making the evening all the better for it.
‘RAINBOWS’ is the other moment the band drops their guard a bit, shifting from hunting zombies and blowing things up, to informing people that they’re fine as they are. It’s a highlight on the record, and it excels here, partly because the message is uplifting, but melodically, it wraps around you and hugs tightly. Given the ferocity of the music, you might overlook Shields vocal performance as part of the bombastic delivery, but it’s the key that will unlock the band’s potential for many listeners.
Then again, it’s a big Friday night and you never want to get too simental, which the band don’t allow. Dead Pony thrive on movies, with the horror genre at its core. There are various audio clips peppering their sonic beatings, weaving from one song to the next and setting a fresh tone to go again, notably on new single ‘Everything Burns’, which wears a Batman loving heart on its sleeve.
More importantly for a band playing a hometown show on Friday the 13th, they produced some themed merch, creating a fantastic keepsake for those who hold the band close to their heart…and who love knife-wielding maniacs in hockey masks.
This new song was the start of the encore, a period of intense music and absolute chaos, with support act members joining on stage for a cover of Limp Bizkit’s ‘Break Stuff’. This behaviour shouldn’t be encouraged, we don’t want the poison of Fred Durst infiltrating the 2020s, but it was fun watching Gallus singer Barry Dolan cavort around the balcony while everyone on stage lost their shit.
‘MANA’ offered one last push, a final rush on a night when circle pits, crowd surfing and a collective cheer for the outsiders who found a place they belonged reigned supreme. Across the city you expected chaos to unfold on every major corner but here, the disorder and disarray was perfectly planned and executed by Dead Pony and their pals.
2025 is a new year, a new opportunity for all three Glasgow bands to grow and connect more, but they deserve a break and a pat on the back for their efforts here.
Keep up to date with Dead Pony here.
All image credits: Andrew Reilly
