Jonathan Trew: Stranglers still hauling tunes around

The internationally renowned pianist and Fauré scholar, Roy Howat, is leading the celebration of the 19th century Frenchman. One of the highlights of the event will be the performance of Fauré’s Requiem at St John’s Kirk with Christopher Bell conducting the National Youth Choir of Scotland.

Fauré was a man who could teach today’s kids some of the finer points of leading a rock ’n’ roll lifestyle. While he will be remembered for his often radical music, he was, during his life, also admired for his winning ways with the ladies. In his early career, he worked as an organist for a parish church. The priest disapproved of his habit of nipping outside for a fag during the sermon and Fauré and his employer parted company when the musician turned up for work one morning straight from spending the night at a ball.

Looking forward to the next big thing, Glasgow’s Chvrches play The Arches tonight. The punchy electro pop threesome has been hailed as the next band most likely to achieve escape velocity from the Scottish music circuit and go international.

On a more old-school tip, The Stranglers are still hauling their punk tunes around the country. Glasgow Academy can take a bite of their Peaches this evening. Possibly because of their reputation for being tasty in a punch-up, The Stranglers avoided the slightly cartoonish image which tarnished a proportion of the first punk bands. The same could not be said of The Darkness who spent much of the previous decade channelling the more overblown motifs of Eighties metal and hair bands.

They demonstrated this knack most memorably in the hit single Get your Hands Off My Woman which frontman Justin Hawkins sung in a falsetto which could make dogs in adjacent towns howl. After many problems, it’s good to see them back and playing Glasgow’s Barrowland tomorrow.

• www.horsecross.co.uk; www.facebook.com/chvrches; www.thestranglers.net; www.theactualdarkness.com