Live: Mad Capsule Markets + McQueen, King Tut's, Glasgow.

McQueen. Sorry, never heard of ‘em. If you asked me to hazard a guess as to what they were like, I’d have imagined either yet another bunch of snotty alt.rock or punk clones who desperately want to be Sum 41 or the Lostprophets. Well, that or a Scottish tribute band playing covers of such hits as Radio Ga-Ga and Under Pressure.

I like being wrong.

Upon arrival at the venue, I found the place already fairly well packed and the crowd already booing the support act before they even arrived on stage! “Fuck the support, we want the Mad Capsules”, one particularly open-minded individual was heard to announce.

Never have I seen a crowd change its tune so quickly. As the theme from “The Great Escape” began to whistle its way across the room, three of the four young ladies who call themselves McQueen appear onstage. Mouths are shut and eyebrows shoot skywards. Another nearby spectator observes, “It’s BIRDS!”
Yup. And the best is yet to come – when vocalist Leah Duors joins Hayley, Cat and Hattie ( drums, guitar and bass respectively ) all of the mouths that closed a moment ago are open again, as almost every jaw in the building drops to the floor.

Time for an apology here from me – I’m a cynic. I’ve heard “Rawk chick” bands before. Some have been tolerable, some have been unutterably dire. Some have even had a few good songs – I expected McQueen to fall into the last category, at best… But they proved me wrong. They have nailed it, and then some.

As they launch into an all-too-short set of tunes that I guarantee you’ll be sick of by Easter due to music-channel saturation ( if there’s any justice in the world ) the crowd goes mental.

This is a band that only formed in late 2003 – And they already blow half the bands I’ve seen this year off the stage. Admittedly, the on-stage banter is a little lacking ( And the classic rookie error of “We love this town! You rocked last time we were here!” followed later by “Thanks! This is the first time we’ve been here, and you were great!” is made...) but I can see these girls ( can I call them that without risking a beating at their next show? Actually, that could be kinda fun! ) being absolutely massive in 2005. Certainly the best support band of 2004.

Time to speed things up a little.

The lights are dimmed, and some odd noises begin to squeak and squelch from the PA. Could be feedback... could be a voice, perhaps? Maybe someone dropped their Gameboy and it’s gone a bit funny.

Either way – it sounds cool. And “odd electronic noises that sound really cool” become something of a recurring theme as the Mad Capsule Markets launch into another musical assault on the crowd that should probably result in their arrest and subsequent conviction for GBH. If you haven’t heard the Mad Capsules, I highly recommend that you purchase one of their last three albums at the earliest possible opportunity. Their back catalogue actually consists of eleven albums, but the older ones are hard to get hold of and sound quite a bit different from their current incarnation – being more pop-punk, mellower and without the techno and metal overtones.

Even when they are being mellow, these guys still make you fear for your health – because you know that before long the insane drumbeats are going to kick back in and your organs are going to attempt to leave your body through your back. And if they sound good on CD, they’re one of the few bands who actually manage to sound better live on stage.

Being a huge fan of the band, I was a bit disappointed that some of my favourite tracks went unaired tonight – But I understand that old material has to make way for new and new tracks Scary and W.O.R.L.D., from the current album Cistm Konfliqt, sound better live than I’d even hoped. A smattering of other songs from that album combined with such classics as Chaos Step, Tribe and possibly my favourite song of all – the funky, summery-sounding, cheers-you-up-no-matter-how-down-you-might-be Island – , and lead singer Kyono’s between-song banter ( As usual, read out from a sheet of paper produced from his pocket ) resulted in yet another extremely satisfying dose of very fast, very loud and very funny Japanese techno-metal-funk-punk-rock-hip-hop.

Oh, and the air-guitar-playing ginger Japanese dude joined them onstage again too. Never fails to amuse, that...

[McLeary]

McQueen's music was actually utter rubbish, bland pub-rock you'd see done better in any Student Union up and down the land, but let's not let that get in the way of the fact that they are fucking stunners.

[Rev Scapegoat]

LOL
I enjoyed it! Seriously.
Gonna track down their CD next week. I'll tell you then if I still enjoy the music without the visuals to accompany it

[McLeary]

I'm gonna track down them, and then...


Actually, best not finish that sentence, I want to get a head start before the police are after me.

[Kenny]

Never heard of McQueen? Pay attention, Steve.

Incidentally, every other live report I've seen of them says they're absolutely gash, total cynical construction - bar the guitar player, who's apparently reasonably adept - hot burdz to wow the boys with mediocre to sub-par tunes, just enough to let said boys pretend they're a decent enough band and legitimately like them.

Mind you, I've not seen them myself, so I dunno if that's just plain sexism/bitchiness*, or an unfair jaded view (or rather, multiple views).

*Delete as applicable.

[Rev Scapegoat]

Well, Forbes seemed to like them

As do I.
So there.
Nyer.

[Kenny]

Yeah, Forbes saw their photos on the press release.

[Rev Scapegoat]

Haha!

[bigjay]

A thought they were amazin!

[Beomere]

with a capital A!

[Rev Scapegoat]

Gah!
Jay, it's "I", not "A"!
You've just done the same thing on the McQueen board

[bigjay]

ooops

[Rev Scapegoat]

LOL
S'always bugged me, that'n.

[Ghostsuit]

Bollocks forgot they were playing as well

[Zooropa]

The Markets blew me away, couldn't get enough.
Highlight for me was Midi Surf.

I would extend the 'adeptness' of McQueen to the bassist and drummer btw, it's just the singer who seems to be....very deliberate?