Music review: Bis, The Glad Cafe, Glasgow

Bis don’t do things by halves. To celebrate the release of their ace new album Slight Disconnects, the cult Glasgow indie-pop legends decided to play three bijou venue gigs over three consecutive nights.

Bis

Bis, The Glad Café, Glasgow ****

Their hyperactive buzz-saw bubblegum punk is best served in hot, sweaty little rooms and they don’t come hotter or sweatier than the Glad Café, the setting for the first leg of their mini-hometown tour.

What’s more, in typically charming DIY style, many of their fans arrived via a specially arranged free bus/Bis pass arranged in conjunction with First Glasgow. They came in droves to celebrate their heroes, who didn’t disappoint.

Despite being technically middle-aged these days, Manda Rin (keyboards, cowbell and vocals), Sci-Fi Steven (guitar and vocals) and John Disco (guitar, vocals and drum machine) still make a gloriously fizz-fuelled racket packed with more hooks than an angler’s pantry.

They are funny and self-deprecating but utterly in command of their resistance-is-futile assault – Bis don’t shamble shyly, they grin, pogo and party.

The fan-pleasing set consisted of zesty fresh (in an ideal world) hits such as current single Sound of Heartbreak, as well as seldom-played obscurities and B-sides, plus those signature Bis classics School Disco and Kandy Pop.

There was nothing remotely embarrassing about a band in their early forties performing songs they wrote in their teens, as Bis have never really seemed to age.

They are happily trapped in punk-pop aspic, eternally full of energy and an endless supply of fun. - Paul Whitelaw