The Towers/ Blind Pew

The Towers / Blind Pew
King Tut’s Glasgow
18/6/05
I know it was extremely difficult for us all on that fateful day when Busted decided to call it a day. I for one locked myself in my bedroom for weeks listening to 'What I Go To School For', whilst tearing my pictures of Charlie Simpson off the wall. Bastard. But tonight, The Towers have filled that empty, Busted-shaped hole we needed filling.
This 5-piece are ‘teeny-punk-rock’ in every sense of the word – they have the cheesy grins, the spiky-gelled-beyond-nice-hairdos and of course the screaming girls at the side of the stage, who act like they are making mum and dad mad by liking boys in a band.
However, before we were treated to this pre-pubescent malarkey, we were gifted to the aural delights of Blind Pew.
Blind Pew are ‘Geek Rock’. They incorporate every stereotypical geek persona into their appearance and music. Lead singer Andy McGregor is a cross between eccentric, geek music director Spike Jonze and your drunken dad dancing, the rest of the band is made up of longhaired bully targets and a fat bloke with glasses. The music, however, is garage rock with hints of The White Stripes and Rolling Stones. On ‘Exhale Me’, Blind Pew’s Stones influence’s are clearly evident – apart from the fact singer Andy reaches notes higher than a midget kicked in the balls. Stand out tracks of the night were the brilliantly named 'The Day I Ran Over My Girlfriend' and 'Pig-faced Whore' – the latter of the two being a song about one of Glasgow’s finest lady of the night.
'Blind Pew' incorporate their tongue-in-cheek humour into their dirty garage rock music, which quite frankly works well for them.
The Towers', however, are a far cry from the garage-rock tones of their fellow bands this evening. The Towers are leaning more towards the ‘pop rock’ side of the Rockometer.
I would be the first to admit I wouldn’t even wipe my arse with a McFly or Rooster record. But, I seemed to enjoy The Towers tonight – albeit ever so slightly/verging on almost minuscule size of enjoyment.
The Towers do play some good pop tunes like 'Forget The Past' – which is a great Green Day-esque bubblegum punk song. However, they also play a lot of teeny pop songs that wouldn’t even prise a teenage girl away from 'Smash Hits and The OC.
“ This is an emotional gig for me…this is the biggest crowd we have played to” blushes lead singer Jamie (cue screaming girls!) before launching into new single 'My New Fear'. The crowd – mainly friends and family soak up every minute of this Busted-drenched song.
Although most of us would find it hard to comprehend listening to a band like The Towers, just have a thought for the children who buy and love this music – if it wasn’t for bands like them, then they would all be doomed to a life of the Crazy Frog. Now no one would wish that on our children, would we? (Jamie Crossan)