IVW: Savage Mansion + Secret Motorbikes + Yakima
Entry Requirements: Over 18s only
Part of Independent Venue Week.
Savage Mansion is an indie rock collective from Glasgow led by songwriter Craig Angus, and featuring a cast of musicians including Andrew Macpherson and Jamie Dubber (Catholic Action), Lewis Orr (Martha Ffion, Space Rocket Garage Band) and Taylor Stewart (Romeo Taylor). Formed in 2016 the band quickly drew attention for a high energy live show and Angus’ melodic and eloquent slices of guitar rock. After a handful of rapturously received early shows the band were invited to open for Frightened Rabbit at Glasgow’s Barrowland Ballroom and drew the attention of Johnny Lynch (The Pictish Trail) who offered to release the ‘Do You Say Hello To Your Neighbours?’ single on his Lost Map imprint. The band’s first single was championed by the likes of Lauren Laverne, Marc Riley and Gideon Coe at BBC 6 Music, and was boosted further by an endorsement from Bob Nastanovich of Pavement/Silver Jews fame. After impressing further with festival shows at Lost Map’s Howlin’ Fling and Electric Fields, the band then decamped to record debut album Revision Ballads over the course of two rapid weekends at Chem19 Studios in Glasgow.
Released in February 2018, Revision Ballads is an album unafraid to wear it’s influences proudly for the world to see; The Velvet Underground’s no-fi swagger, Pavement’s easy, sing-speak vocals, R.E.M.’s shimmering guitar tones. Lyrically the tracks are literate and often quietly comical, flittering from Elwood’s personal musings on childhood tormentors to the more politically charged Dog O’Tears, Craig’s rambling response to the rise of xenophobia on our streets. Revision Ballads was critically acclaimed and ended the year praised as one of the ten best Scottish albums of 2019 by the writers of The Skinny.
The group decamped to London in April 2019 with producer Chris McCrory, recording another collection of songs, Angus' best and most expansive music to date - an anthemic and confident collection inspired by the musical storytelling of The Kinks and The Replacements. Whilst the band’s early releases invited favourable comparisons to Parquet Courts and Courtney Barnett, the new material is fleshed out with shimmering vintage synths, drunken bar band piano and harmonies Teenage Fanclub would be proud of. The new material is due for release in 2020. Having just completed their first headline UK tour and made their debut in Europe with a packed out slot at Monkey Week in Sevilla, Savage Mansion are just getting started.