Schnarff Schnarff and support at The Ironworks, Inverness, 19/12/2014. A Review.
On a bleak wet ‘Mad Friday’ and for those of us wanting an escape from mixing with the grim office parties and the ‘tired and emotional’ office execs who’ve been at it since lunch time, then the Ironworks turned out to be a relatively sane oasis amongst the festive stupidity.
Tonight was an opportunity to showcase two of Inverness’ finest bands with Dunfermline’s Foreign Fox along for the ride. Not that there was ever indication of them playing second fiddle to the local acts. Playing the big anthemic tunes that have served Twin Atlantic very well, they’re instantly likeable. Support acts often get ignored but anyone deciding to come in late will have missed a fine addition to the line up.
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It’s been a while since I last saw Searching For Donkeys, in fact the last time was at one of their early gigs upstairs in the The Eagle. Since then they’ve come on in leaps and bounds. They’ve fleshed out their sound and looked very comfortable indeed on the big boy stage of the Ironworks.
Their new EP ‘Dirty Lunch’
I’d said before that they were ‘indie by numbers’ and I’ll stand by that, not as a criticism but as a mark of the band doing what they do very well; bashing out well crafted, upbeat, indie rock tunes.
Set closer and very new song ‘One Way Home’ (they’ll have to forgive me if I got the title wrong!(It was “Rich with the Alcohol” -Ed.) got a rapturous reception and should shape up to be a future favourite with Donkey fans. Big, bold, brash and oozing with self confidence, Searching For Donkeys aren’t going away any time soon.
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Fifteen minutes later and Schnarff Schnarff burst to life, their charismatic lead singer is full of boundless energy, never staying in the same spot for more than a few seconds at a time.
He has a slightly unnerving knack of picking you out in the crowd and glowering at you as he sings, even more unnerving when you’re surreptitiously trying to make notes on your mobile phone at the same time!
The Franz Ferdinand comparisons are fair enough but Schnarff have more menace and attack and than FF and, with apologies to fans of the aforementioned band, they’re nowhere near as bland.
There are hints of metal-core, a dash of punk and whole sackful of nasty, edgy Rock ‘n’ Roll. Their appeal is obvious and they delivered an impressive set with every indication pointing to a band that have a very bright future ahead of them.
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A night with office party? No ta, this was a far better and more enjoyable use of my time.
