Carling Academy, Glasgow, Sunday 27 June 2004

IT’S BEEN A busy two weeks for Dionyssus. Not only did they play both Aberdeen and Inverness as part of the goNORTH showcase of fine new talent, but a third consecutive night on the road saw a win in Edinburgh at Emergenza’s Battle of the Bands and a place in the Scottish final at Carling Academy in Glasgow. Truth be told, things still aren’t moving quite fast enough for Robin.

The band’s lead guitarist is still paying the bills via a job at the West End Filling Station in Dingwall. Whilst his boss sounds like a nice chap, (you can buy the boy’s latest CD, Ram It, from Robin at the garage and he’ll even throw in a signature), you can understand why selling petrol and all that other good stuff might seem a bit dull after entertaining hundreds as part of the Highland’s ascendant rock group. Not that Robin was whingeing when I met him and the rest of the boys before their Emergenza Final in Glasgow on Sunday night.

Rather, he was scoffing bangers and mash and it was left to George (keyboards) to catch me up with all the band news. Instead, we tried to get to the bottom of why he’d thought it necessary to leave Inverness at 7 in the morning when none of the others got out of bed before 10. According to band folklore, George once got lost on a straight road, so it was just good to see him.

A couple of hours later, indigestion and road maps were put aside for the performance of the night with Dionyssus sounding like rock magic before a packed crowd at Glasgow’s premiere venue, Carling Academy. There were twelve bands battling it out to continue to the next round of the Emergenza band quest at the Astoria in London. The crowd was expectedly partisan – Glasgow bands had drawn in the locals. Nevertheless, Dionyssus caught their attention.

When one band goes off stage and another comes on, there’s a few minutes of the presenters flagging up sponsors and it’s usual for the fans to swap places in the audience. As you’d expect, a Dionyssus tribe flocked to the front and the locals went to the bar. But once the tunes kicked in, the locals came back and their feet started to move. Tentative at first, soon they were dancing. As the now familiar tunes (Freestyle, If I Could Fly, AC Marshall and Something’s Happening to Me) kicked out across the venue, the sound was awesome and the boys belonged.

They didn’t get through to London. The judges selected Man of the Hour, a heavy metal band from Edinburgh. Disappointing for Dionyssus, but for their Scottish fans, it’s some consolation to know that they’ll be playing gigs where most of us can still get to see them, whether that’s Inverness or Glasgow / Edinburgh.

From stage-diving and crowd surfing to selling unleaded. From playing your heart out, to counting the change. The day jobs may need to continue, but no one should count on it for long. To Robin – remember Tarantino in his video store. To everybody else, go visit Robin and buy the CD – the title was Rory’s fault.

Dionyssus are:
Rory Hutcheson – lead vocals
Robin Johnston – lead guitar and backing vocals
George Campbell – keyboards and backing vocals
Bruce Maclean – drums
Greg Adams – base guitar

© Catriona Paul, 2004