Australian legends Ocean Alley swapped their warming shores for chilling ones to mark the end of our summer with a bumper UK and European tour. The six-piece are seasoned pros when it comes to taking a show on the road and this shone through last Wednesday in SWG3’s Galvanizers hall.
girls.speak.french were added to the lineup back in July and are a very welcome addition tonight. The Glasgow band have been causing quite the stir in the local scene this year and took to the Galvanizers stage with ease.
It’s all go for the band at the moment with their new single “Is there any space on the moon” released just last month. Thanking the crowd for coming down early they played some released and unreleased material and are definitely a band we’ll be hearing more from in the months and years to come.
Fellow Aussies, Hockey Dad seem to be successfully fostering their relationship with fans in Glasgow and beyond. Having already played at the iconic King Tuts on their European tour last year, they will be back next March and rewarded for their efforts with a gig at, larger, St Luke’s. Tonight the crowd sang along to their tracks with one eager fan even shouting “I love you Billy” as the drummer spoke between songs. It’s easy to see why Glasgow are getting behind these boys. Theirs is a two-person effort, they take turns on vocals and talking to the crowd all while playing their own individual instruments to the highest standard. They have a genuine and friendly manner as they egg the crowd on “You’re all in a pretty good mood…let’s start livening it up and punching each other”. Quickly clarifying they meant friendly punches before launching into the next track. A really fun pair to watch live, many of the same faces will undoubtedly be singing along in the crowd again when they return in March.
Now four albums into their career Ocean Alley are no strangers to success. Widely regarded as one of the best Australian bands of recent years they have toured far and wide and have fans in almost every corner of the world. It was Glasgow’s turn on Wednesday and as classic hit Knees from their 2018 album Chiaroscuro was sung word for word by the crowd it was clear how much it meant to us Scots.
Baden Donegal (vocals, guitar) let the singing voices shine as he stepped onto the speakers in front of the stage and pointed his mic to the crowd. He kept up this interactive persona all night as he joked and danced around the stage.
Don’t let the early reminiscing fool you, tonight wasn’t just about reliving past hits. We were soon treated to a new and unreleased track by the name of Tangerine. It’s sure to be a mega-hit once released and is an exciting next step for the band.
It’s been eleven years since the band came out with their Yellow Mellow EP and Baden drew attention to this before launching into the title track “We’ve been playing these songs for over ten years now”. The track embodies the band entirely and has grown with them remaining a stalwart of the setlist and crowd favourite to this day.
Ocean Alley have mastered their brand of psychedelic surf rock to perfection. Tonight served as a perfect taster for what’s to come in this next chapter of their impressive career.
