Words and Images by Hope Docherty
T.W: mention of sexual harassment, drug culture.
The Snuts, a band of few words declared’: “it’s a f*cking Wednesday”, whilst playing their second sold-out show of their tour at ÔÇÿThe Globe’ in Cardiff. Not that they had to say much to get the crowd ready, the music did that for itself. After an eager wait for the band to enter the stage, the four-man Scottish band opened with arguably their best-known hit, Glasgow. It appeared on their debut album ÔÇÿW.L’, which helped push the Scottish band to enter the charts at number 1 this year, becoming the first Scottish band in 14 years to see their debut album enter the charts at such a high spot.┬á
It could be presumed that lockdown measures could have harmed the Indie scene itself without the possibility for live music, but the Indie-Rock band had the venue packed in and absolutely gripped to every lyric. The set moved between boisterous loud vocals, flowing to the band’s slower songs and the crowd moved in accordance with the setlist. Shifting from attempted mosh pits to holding each other up, arms linked singing emotionally back to leading vocalist Jack Cochrane. The set had begun with lively classics: ÔÇÿAlways’, ÔÇÿSeasons’ and ÔÇÿAll Your Friends’ keeping to the Indie-Rock sound with a prominent bassline and snappy lyrics between breaths. This then led to the tear provoking, ÔÇÿBroadwalk’ and ÔÇÿTop Deck’ where I did see a few faces dripping with tears in the crowd. Jack Cochrane had said he had written ÔÇÿTop Deck’ at the adolescent age of 15 about growing up and being surrounded in drug culture as a normality of life as we know it. I must say the slower songs stuck out to me the most, with lyrics from ÔÇÿTop Deck’:
ÔÇÿJust while you powder your noseÔǪOf all those teenage scars that show no signs of healing and I’m warning, you’re falling, babe’
I could see how members of the crowd resonated with the band’s lyrics and that the band wanted to highlight how it should not be normalized. The momentum built with these slower songs in the set encouraged with Cochrane’s emotive voice and drummer Jordan Mackay’s gradual build-up to the song’s peak. With ÔÇÿBroadwalk’ especially, Mackays’ drumming and Callum Wilsons’ bass building up to then stop completely, letting the lyrics shine through only before filling the small venue with sound again. The band had men aged 20-60 gripped whether they were bouncing about holding each other to ÔÇÿGlasgow’ or nearly in tears to the slower songs in the set. They are obviously absolutely idolized which I thought must feel strange to them as they seem like such normal, genuinely nice ÔÇÿguys’. Bass player Wilson was especially interactive with the crowd, touching the hands of his fans at many intervals.
The crowd was full of all ages and The Globe was the perfect venue for this- with choice of upstairs seating or downstairs standing: from gleaming 15-year-olds at their first gig to the couple I had got speaking to who had travelled from Plymouth leaving “the kiddos at home”. I had jumped at the chance to review a band that symbolized the 2016-2017 Indie scene for me, and the gleaming young people reminded me of such. But mostly the crowd felt like what would be found at a Liam Gallagher festival crowd with lots of Fred Perrys’, Stone Island and Adidas to accompany the football chants and a sense of toxic masculinity to play. For me, when I thought of The Snuts I didn’t think of football hooligans, it was very much unexpected. With them similarly growing to fame and out of the underground Indie scene alongside artists such as: Sundara Karma, Easy Life and The Orielles.
Though the band are not shy to make a political statement with lead singer Cochrane wearing a ÔÇÿEND TORY RULE’ jacket and I admire them for it even more so. The band spoke out in defiance against the toxic masculinity within their crowds, refusing to play their tour venue in Oxford because of the behaviour of male fans. The band took to social media, with NME even sharing their statement,
“This is a male problem, and it is only the responsibility of males to stamp it out. No one should ever feel unsafe at gigs and it’s your responsibility to call out your friends if they are acting like f*cking animals”.
The band put complete blame onto those who had ruined the gig and even went on to state that just because ÔÇÿyou’ may not be doing it does not mean your mate isn’t. The best line from the statement, for me, was ÔÇÿWe are not your fucking lad band, and you don’t get to act like that at our shows’.
I can’t say I felt the safest in the very male-dominated venue either with men trying to get as close as possible to you so that you could smell whether their breath was dark fruits or carling. I was truly sorry to hear of the incident and glad to see the band did something about it.
The band returned for an encore of a slow guitar ballad, ÔÇÿ4 Baillie Street’ and the livelier encouraging drum dominated 2017 demo, ÔÇÿWhat’s Going On’. The crowd wanted more and stayed for a good 15 minutes waiting but the band had given enough and did not return to the stage. Lead singer Cochrane wore sunglasses the entire gig and had a cup of tea mid-way through which made me think he wasn’t feeling too great to go further than an encore.
The Snuts will be attending festivals such as Neighborhood Weekender and TRNSMT and I am sure they will encourage dark fruits to fly in all directions. I hope the band continues to grow in fame as such talented guys in the Indie scene who seem to have their heads actually screwed on.
