Sh**disco
Tomorrow, 11pm, Volar
It's a well-worn route to credible indie fame: art school in Glasgow, free parties and unusual venues for gigs. It worked for Belle and Sebastian, and now 'new rave' is in on the act. Sh**disco have been on the go since 2003 but didn't release their debut album, Kingdom of Fear, until earlier this year after impressing at underground gigs and supporting the likes of the Klaxons.
It was the free parties on Glasgow's West Princes Street, held at drummer Darren Cullen's flat, that made their name - in this case literally. In a dilapidated second-floor tenement flat ill-equipped to handle the 400-plus people crammed inside, these 'sh** discos' pulsed with an energy the band have managed to carry to the big time.
Speaking to Amelia's Magazine, bassist/guitarist/vocalist (duties are shared) Joe Reeves, explains. 'We love sh** discos. We've held discos in tunnels, by roadsides and in portacabins. We play parties and DJ all over the place. It's mad. People are really into them. The last one we had was wicked, but the police came and shut it down. So, yeah, that was sh**.'
Although their roots were put down north of the border, the four members are English and don't consider themselves part of the often exclusive and snobbish 'Glasgow scene'.
Comparisons to new rave elder-statesmen Klaxons are often made, but it can be said Sh**disco's sound is edgier. There is a breathlessness to Kingdom of Fear that could be expected from an act that has seized the chance at the big time (they recently signed to Sony Japan).
Described by one reviewer as 'angry disco-punk', the two-bass-and-drums combo works well, delivering a frenetic mix of sounds that add up to something very danceable. It might not be a Victorian tenement this time around, but Sh**disco are poised to make further inroads into Asia when half of the crew fly into Hong Kong for a DJ set at Volar. If reports about their parties are true, Sh**disco are expected to be anything but, well, sh**.
39-44 D'Aguilar St, Central, free (members), HK$200. Inquiries: 2810 1276
