Gig Review – Withered Hand w/ O’Messy Life and Mike Nesbit

On Wednesday I decided to venture out on a school night with my work pal Leanne to the Captains Rest to see Edinburgh song smith Withered Hand.  The Captains Rest is a venue that I haven’t been to in a long while and it was great to be back in one of Glasgow’s best loved venues.

Withered hand is music collective who hail from Edinburgh which I only happened to find out at the that night. I always thought of Withered Hand as being one softly spoken gent who I’m positive was born south of the border named Dan Wilson. It appears though Withered Hand is a self-described music project made up of a number of talented musicians from across the city. Withered hand are a part of King Creosote’s The Fence Collective which is collection of musicians and arts people who play gigs and work together independentl. Fence is run by the previously mentioned singer songwriter Kenny Anderson (King Creosote) Withered Hand and Dan in particular have been around for a while now on the Scottish music circuit and they’re an act I really haven’t paid that great attention to. So with great intrigue I decided to head along whilst my brother attended the SECC to see Tinie Tempah perform on his latest tour (Different sides of spectrum your thinking?)

So back to the gig, I didn’t really know much about what I was in for.  With that air of mystery I was looking forward to the night of music. We took our places downstairs in the gig room and shortly after, a bearded ginger gentlemen with a striking resemblance to my pal Fergie appeared on stage without any real introduction I might add (there’s nothing more annoying than not knowing who is performing in front of you). His name was Mike Nisbet another act who hails originally from Oban.  Mike mainly performs slow folk tinged songs with an enjoyable vocal to boot. Mike opened with a track off his first EP Coffee and Cigarettes and that was Song For Power.  Personally this was my favourite song of the set the fact Mike was able to fit the phrase “thunder thighs” into a song in this style deserved great kudos I would say. Mike played a number of tracks from his debut album as the crowd began to gather awaiting the headline act. A fine performance from Mike and I was delighted to have been made aware of him.

A short interval was had as the next act set up, looking on I didn’t have a clue what was about to happen next, the band were made up 5 completely different characters dressed in their own individual ways. The band opened with a track that went along the lines of “I wanna make love to you” slightly comedic and yet again I was impressed to with the ability of an act fit a line like that into a song.  The bands lead singer David Littlefair introduced the band as O’messy Life but I actually missed the name first time round (thankfully Dan Wilson reiterated the acts who had previously been on stage) . O’messy Life performed in an unexpected style. One minute there was an air of Belle and Sebastian vocals which was then by followed heavy guitar licks and stunning solos that wouldn’t look out of place in the Cathouse.  I enjoyed the set as the band played track Prince of The Gowffs before heading into the culmination of their set with the track from their latest Single, Escape Velocity. Another band I was glad to have found, I’m normally focused around finding  music from Scotland and to hear a band from Geordieland come up to Scotland was a refreshing change.

It was now time for the main event, Withered Hand as I mentioned is someone I have paid very little attention to and I was about to be proved how well thought of Withered Hand is amongst Scotland’s upcoming artists and really I should have been onto this a whole lot sooner. Leanne and I had decided to move nearer the front this time due to the packed out crowd and our lack of height making our viewing that much more difficult. So standing by the speakers I awaited with baited breath to see the much talked about Withered Hand. Bouncing on the stage it was evidently clear that Dan is a very humble gent who was accompanied by some of his friends on stage. Judging by the names that were announced mid-way through the set these are guys and girls who regularly accompany Dan, tonight though David Littlefair from O’Messy Life joined the band to play banjo on  some of the quieter tracks. They played tracks Cornflake, R U Courageous and For The Maudlin along with many more off the album Good News.

The penultimate track to be played though was Religious Songs where Dan mentions to the crowd that this is the kind of song audience participation works well with. As such is the way with music that isn’t well known to the masses, crowd participation usually falls flat on its face.  Not to tonight though as the song opened “La la lalala, lalala la,” the crowd instantly joined in. I was speechless I looked around to look at the crowd and true to the word they sang along. The chorus came in and the crowd sang the words “Singing religious songs, I’m getting the words wrongs….” The packed out crowd were really enjoying themselves. It was at this point I was really disappointed with myself that I hadn’t really listened to Withered Hand until now. I just wanted to join in with the singing crowd but failing to know any of the words I didn’t bother trying to join in to save myself from the embarrassment.  Dan has a quiet, slightly vulnerable voice that married with the lyrics of his songs fits perfectly. He is I said a very humble man and I don’t think he realises just how good a performer and lyricist he actually is. Finally thing I have to say on Withered Hand is how did the US embassy reject his Visa application this year for SXSW on the grounds of he wasn’t an exceptional talent? Baffling considering some of the people they do let into the country. Just aswell they changed their minds.