An Talla, Isle of Tiree, 16 July 2005

Cinematics

IT WAS A decidedly bleary posse who arrived on a wet and dreary Tiree, stumbling off the 7am ferry from Oban (after a 3am start out of Glasgow) to play a benefit gig for the charity War Child.

In amongst the half-asleep throng huddled damply on the pier were – if the current music press is to be believed – some of Scotland’s brightest ascendant rock’n’roll talents, cajoled by young Tiree-born promoter Ben Williams into donating their services to the cause.

Williams himself was spurred into organizing the event after watching a TV documentary on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict last year: “A clip came on where this four-year-old Palestinian girl started talking about the war, displaying a phenomenal understanding of guns and referring to the Jews as pigs.

“The sheer hate in this beautiful little girl just stunned me – she was only the age of my wee sister. The idea behind the gig was to bring people from every political background together, and actually do something for the real, forgotten victims of war: the children.”

The War Child charity operates in areas of conflict around the world, providing relief, protection and ongoing support for children and their carers. Even if Tiree continued stubbornly to defy its reputation as one of the UK’s sunniest spots (conditions at the temporary campsite, home for the night to most of the artists and visiting punters, were distinctly on the soggy side), the atmosphere in the island’s new An Talla hall come showtime was hot and getting hotter.

A sellout crowd had the tables stacked high with carry-outs, and while we might have been a long way – in every sense – from the rock’n’ roll hotspots of Glasgow or London, they were treated to a quality Saturday night by anyone’s standards.

---

Raising Kain … are currently the hottest media tip, and lived up to the hype with an exuberantly assertive set

---

At the age of just 20, Williams clearly has an old head when it comes to putting a line-up together, covering the bases from the Cinematics’ taut, muscular art-punk to RAAR’s new twists on old-school metal; the Sound Development Agency’s upfront, highly danceable funk-rock to headliner Raising Kain’s bouncy, neo-retro guitar tunes.

Despite their wet feet, all the bands performed with arresting commitment and verve. Admiringly described by Kerrang magazine as “a wilful oddity”, Black Isle trio RAAR combined (literally) bare-chested brute machismo with unexpected cross-currents of sophistication – three-part harmonies, skeins of melody weaving through the distortion – to disconcerting but exhilarating effect.

The Cinematics, paying evident homage to forebears like the Cure, the Clash and Echo and the Bunnymen, delivered a leaner, more streamlined sound, forcefully fronted by lead vocalist Scott Rinner, while the Sound Development Agency, referencing everything from the Fun Lovin’ Criminals to the Doors, cranked the feelgood factor expertly up to “high”.

Of all the assembled acts, Raising Kain – signed last year to Warner’s offshoot Rushmore Records – are currently the hottest media tip, and lived up to the hype with an exuberantly assertive set, flirting with echoes of everything from jangly pop to Black Sabbath, underpinned by spiky wit and tight musicianship.

And – this being Tiree – it’s probably the only gig where they’ll ever be followed onstage by a folk band, who closed the night with a suitably epic Strip the Willow.

© Sue Wilson, 2005