Thursday 26/04/07 The Rumble Strips, Buffalo 77 @ The Barfly, Glasgow

T-shirts, hats and, err, Rubik’s Cubes are just some of the items on offer as Gigwise arrives at the Barfly. That’s because this isn’t your average gig, it’s being put on by a mobile phone company, hence the barrage of free merchandise that greets gig-goers upon arrival. Among this bundle of delights is a handy booklet describing the bands on offer, with three unsigned supports taking to the stage.  The last of these, Buffalo 77, apparently have a guitarist and bassist. So there’s a bit of confusion when all that’s on stage are three blokes with keyboards and drums. There’s certain to be comparisons to Keane made and for once, they’re justified with Buffalo 77 sounding like a cross between the aforementioned trio and perennial dullards Snow Patrol. There’s some nice touches, particularly on ‘Avalanche’ but this is middle of the road stuff all the way, with the Rubik’s Cube offering more fun.

Any irritating, hard-to-solve puzzles are quickly forgotten when The Rumble Strips take the stage. Having become a five piece, there’s more presence about the band now that they possess both bass and saxophone, rather than having Tom Gorbutt continually switch between the two instruments. There’s still a manic glee throughout the set though, the opening ‘No Soul’ proving to have an erroneous title, for the Rumble Strips have lashings of soul running through all their songs.

The glorious ode to fantasizing of ‘Motorcycle’ is dispensed with early, still a foot stomping, dance-a-thon of a song, a track that simply ripples with life. The band’s frontman Charlie Waller may occasionally have the demented facial expressions of a street preacher frothing at the mouth but his voice is striking, being not just bruised and swoonsome but also exhilarating. He strikes at his beat up guitar with the sort of primal rage that suggests he should be off in a metal band, not a souped up soul machine like the Rumble Strips.

While the band can produce frenzied pop such as ‘Building A Boat’ they are also apt at more sensitive numbers, like ‘Oh Creole’, a track so lovely you just want to give it a cuddle. The real triumph the band have is taking the dull, depressing ordinary things in life and producing music so joyous that it even makes the dismal subject matter sound fun. When ‘Alarm Clock’ is produced mid set you’d think it was a disco circa 1981 the way people fling their inhibitions aside and hurl themselves around, drummer Matthew Wheeler standing up as he batters his kit. It’s pop of the most irresistible kind, a delicious treat that’s swiftly followed by their newest work, another gem called ‘London’.

By the time the gig concludes with a ragged cover of Thin Lizzy’s ‘The Boys Are Back In Town’ the crowd are delirious and the band utterly drenched in sweat. Constant touring seems to have emboldened the band with more confidence and their songs remain terrific pieces of hard hitting soul pop joy. A Rubik’s Cube may still be tough to solve, but after this gig figuring out Britain’s best up and coming band is easy.