Gig review: Life on Standby, Glasgow

Among the last of King Tut’s New Year Revolution showcases of unsigned bands, last night featured Greenock alternative rockers Life on Standby headlining.

Life on Standby: Obvious potential as relative newcomers. Picture: Facebook

Life on Standby - King Tut’s, Glasgow

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Incorporating snatches of electronica affords them an eclectic variation on their hard-chugging, contemporary sound, with frontwoman Erin Donnachie’s spirited performance lending them a streak of punk edge. Occasionally, as on opener Green Eyes, her lusty vocal disappears behind the sonic squall of raw, jagged guitar and thrashy beats.

But over the course of their set, its emotive quality tended to rise above the dirgier relentlessness of their output. The deliberate Masquerade has an especially spacey intro and, like new song Shadows, a degree of melodramatic bombast. Instrumental 1.34 of Movement was their most intriguing track, fusing Gavin Williams’ choppy riff to some perky keyboard bells and whistles. But although they’ve obvious potential as relative newcomers, Life on Standby still feel a bit one-paced. Finally, they launched their new single Do It Again, in the process exhorting the crowd to get into it.

Arguably a bit more radio-friendly than much of their existing oeuvre, approaching the anthemic quality of an act like Biffy Clyro, the track’s catchy, eponymous refrain and the response it received ensured that the night at least ended on a triumphant note.