SOiL / Sons Of Texas / Liberty Lies – The Cathouse, Glasgow 22nd Nov 2016

Hello fellow Metal Heads! It’s been a while since I’ve done a gig or album review and I’ve been itching to get back into the game. Thanks to an impromptu request from Moshville’s very own Senior Editor and all star photographer Jimmy Costin, you can now read my ramblings about the craziness at The Cathouse that almost bordered on debaucherous.

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Liberty Lies

It was very much a Yin and Yang feeling arriving at the venue. As excited as I was about getting to see the always awesome Soil for what to had be my sixth or seventh time rocking out with them, there was also a lingering cloud of sadness brought on by Saliva understandably having to pull out of the tour due to guitarist Wayne Swinny’s ill health. I have high hopes that Saliva will get back on the road and perhaps do their own independent tour of the UK as I’m jumping for the chance to hear the unique sound that beefed up many of the big action movies that thrilled me in my teenage years – Fast and Furious and Resident Evil to name a couple. I’m sure all our readers and the crew of Moshville share my sentiment in wishing Wayne a speedy recovery!

First to take to the stage that evening were Liberty Lies from the West Midlands, a late addition to the tour. They’re described as “alternative rock from the Black Country” on their Twitter account and judging by the slightly frosty reception they got from the Cathouse crowd the atmosphere was at risk of turning very black indeed.

Whilst it’s fair to say I didn’t dig them in a big way musically there can be no denying that Liberty Lies are tight as a band. As any decent front man does, Shaun Richards persevered throughout their thirty minute set and won the Glasgow audience over in the end. You have to respect that.

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Sons of Texas

Next up were the straight-shootin’ Sons Of Texas, a band that’s clearly got the kick-ass attitude of the Lone Star State and whose music packs the power of a Colt-45 to boot (a snake skin boot perhaps!). Their energy is infectious and they soon get an eager crowd head banging in sync.

This is SOTX’s first time in Scotland and the Cathouse is the busiest I’ve seen it gig-wise in a while, so it’s brilliant to witness a band who’ve travelled a long way getting the hospitality they deserve. Highlights of their set have to be them paying homage to former tour mates Buckcherry with the sultry number Slammin’ With The Lights Off“, and to one of Texas’s most prominent sons, Dimebag Darrell, with a pulse-pounding cover of Pantera’s “I’m Broken”. I’m definitely now a fan and can’t wait for them to return.

Now for the band we’ve all been waiting for, Chicago alt metallers Soil. They’ve got me and the entire crowd psyched from the word go when they open with “Wide Open” from their defining 2001 album Scars.

I’ve wanted to hear that particular song live since I first got into the band, so this was quickly becoming my favourite ever Soil gig. I think you’d be hard pushed to find a single person who would have been disappointed with the thirteen song set. Whilst a big chunk of it was made up with tracks from Scars and Redefine, Ryan – much to everyone’s surprise including my own – even sang “Lesser Man” and “Give It Up”, two songs from Picture Perfect and True Self. These are the albums that Soil released while A.J. Cavalier was at the vocal helm and Ryan was fronting for Drowning Pool.

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SOiL

Whilst it may not have the been the craziest Soil gig I have been to, it was by far the funniest. There was no crowd surfing and only two short lived mosh pits the whole entire evening. Normally I’d  be feeling pretty despondent leaving a gig with a distinct lack of crowd activity but honestly, my ribs were hurting. Not from a crush crazy crowd but from all the laughing I’d done. If you could have heard the banter between Ryan and the crowd in between songs you could be fooled into thinking you were at the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh and not a metal gig in Glasgow.

I’ll give you a basic rundown: after finishing the second song of the set, Ryan boldly proclaimed “I’m ready for ya Glasgow!” Cue an unrelenting barrage of Scottish slang that even I at times had trouble deciphering. Every time the music stopped the outbursts from the crowd wouldn’t be long in starting up again. No word of a lie, the recurring theme the crowd tormented Ryan with was “Nipples” (yes, you read that correctly).

Forming something of a double act, Ryan even brought a bonafide Scot called Ross (a member of the Soil road crew) on stage with him on a couple of occasions in order to translate for him which only added to the hilarity. If there’s a promise of more of the same from Soil, then they can’t come back soon enough!

Photos by Bukavac Photography

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