Fresh from their most successful English tour to date as well as a trip across the pond to SXSW, it’s fair to assume that Pinact are riding on the crest of a wave.
After a couple of years of gigging relentlessly on the Glaswegian underground circuit, they’ve released their debut album Stand Still and Rot on Kanine Records and seen tracks like ‘Up or Down’ pick up national press coverage.
On the surface, decibel level is about the only thing that connects Life Model’s atmospheric dream pop with Pinact’s punk rock fury, but the basement of The Hug and Pint proves a good for both, with an appreciative crowd and temperature levels that turn the whole place into a sweatbox.
Life Model consist of two girls and two guys equipped with an army of pedalboards, who make shimmering noise pop with a touch of nineties shoegazers like Lush and Slowdive.
At first the guitar is too loud, drowning out the beautiful vocals from Sophie Evans, but once they get the levels under control the young band deliver a hugely impressive set, a couple of fluffed outros aside.
Their older tracks display the showgaze influence more overtly, channelling My Bloody Valentine’s cooing vocals and wall of noise, but the standout is a punky version of Kenicke’s ‘Classy’, a winningly unusual choice reclaimed from the morass of early 2000s British rock.
Their own tracks display a grasp of shimmering melody that Beach House would be proud of, with plenty of feedback and whammy bar abuse preventing the whole thing from ever getting too twee.
With his checkered shirt and Thrasher T, Corrie Gillies from Pinact looks like he’s fallen through a black hole from Seattle ’91 but early-20s angst never grows old.
Often compared to Dinosaur Jr and early Nirvana, Pinact play loud, fast gutter-grunge, with Gillies hunched over the mic like he’s trying to shrink from view.
Screaming like a demon on ‘Up or Down’ and barrelling through their excellent split single release ‘Everybody Says’ like he wants people on the opposite side of the road to hear exactly what he has to say, the band seem to have far too much energy for a venue the size of The Hug and Pint.
‘Limbs’ builds from a gentle strum into a thunderous final verse and the band leave the stage with feedback raining from the amps; Glaswegian punk rock at its finest.
Words: Max Sefton
Photos: Thomas Ritchie
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