On the radar: Casino Brag

Published on Friday 11 September 2009 15:36

Play: A Fair Escape »

Having existed for a mere 12 months, Casino Brag are relative newbies when compared to longer-toothed west-coast luminaries.

But the foursome of Paul Mclean, John Paul Dunne, Graeme Ellis and David Richards have already made a significant dent in the Glasgow scene.

Citing early 80s chromatic post punk and Britpop's glitterati sheen as influences, the quartet have set about creating one of Glasgow's most unique sounds: pounding drum and bass reel-in disco funk grooves. Richards' chanting drawl recalls The Stranglers' Hugh Cornwell at his most acrid; while a squall of FX-riddled guitar emits, as Richards puts it, "quite a spacey sound".

Sourced from scotsman.com/undertheradarblog

"When the band first started we had a different guitarist and he quite liked a flutter," says Richards of the band's punt-friendly moniker. "(We] would often go up to the casino and he even went over to Las Vegas a couple of times. On his last visit he told me about a card game called Casino Brag and the both of us said that would make a great band name."

This year the band played the Box's 'The Next Big Thing' at Glasgow's O2 Academy, their biggest gig to date, and have built on this with a haul of shows up and down the Sauchiehall Street scene, building up a feverous band of followers along the way.

Like most of the artists we've spoken to recently, Richards is impressed by the current Scottish music scene: "I love it. I'm from England originally and I love how many bands here sing with their own accent…most of what I listen to at present are local bands, " he excites. "I wrote a blog on MySpace just the other day about all the music that's interesting me in and around Glasgow just now…we're so often impressed with the bands we play alongside at shows."

Having made a name for themselves in Glasgow, the lads have set their sights on broaching a wider audience: "We believe we can build a bigger fan base outside of the Glasgow area and maybe further," Richards says. "A single release is definitely coming up in Autumn. After that, hopefully work with a label to put an album out."

And let's not forget the blueprint for every new band: "Oh yeah, and of course world domination is always good."

Catch Casino Brag at the following shows:

19 Sep @ Dirty Martini's, Kilmarnock

23 Sep @ King Tut's Wah Wah Hut, Glasgow

22 Oct @ Capitol, Glasgow