Touring 2008’s ‘Brian Thrust Mastery’ at Oran Mor, Keith Murray and Chris Cain provide a fun-filled evening of throwbacks and laughter.
“We are dredging up the past” reads the top of the We Are Scientists website in anticipation of their upcoming tour. This year, they’ve taken the unusual step of touring second album Brain Thrust Mastery (2008) in recognition of the record’s re-release on vinyl. The album doesn’t meet any significant milestones this year, but who are we to complain at this excuse to get them back into a live setting.
My love affair with We Are Scientists is almost twenty years old. All the way back to my University of Glasgow freshers year. Every Friday night - prior to hitting the QMU Cheesy Pop night at one of the two student unions - my flatmates and I would gather for pre-drinks and a deadly drinking game of Ring of Fire. Tunes from We Are Scientists debut album With Love And Squalor (plus some obligatory Franz Ferdinand, Bloc Party and The Strokes) were on heavy rotation from the iPod Nano Docking Station that proudly sat in the centre of our kitchen table. Energetic, garage-punk that was that hooky and immediate. A sound perfectly encapsulating the experience of being 18 and worthy of soundtracking such happy times.
With Love and Squalor was an underground hit and the band themselves were soon a regular fixture within the pages of the then influential magazine NME (they infamously opened the 2006 NME Awards tour alongside Arctic Monkeys, Maximo Park and Mystery Jets). However, it’s their 2008 second record that brings the focus of the tour’s attention this evening. Released in March that year, Brain Thrust Mastery built We Are Scientists profile further, a couple of tracks of which found airtime on MTV and Radio 1, while allowing them performances on high up festival slots at the likes of Glastonbury, T In The Park and Reading and Leeds.
So, tonight, we have arrived in Glasgow’s West End Oran Mor venue to see this band once more and fittingly only a stones throw away from the educational establishment I attended when my levels of interest in We Are Scientists where at a peak. Catching the tail end of Brooklyn singer-songwriter Sean McVerry, we find ourselves a position towards the back of the venue in anticipation of the predicted chaos to follow. A bustling crowd have gathered, mostly men in their 30s (many with significantly less hair than when they discovered this band), but also a sizeable female following in the same age range.
Now, touring album’s is perhaps not everyone’s cup of tea. However, I’ll admit I’m a fan of such gigs and tonight We Are Scientists will play the entirety of their second album in its traditional order. After arriving on stage to a hero’s welcome, the ominous sounds of ‘Ghouls’ have the audience encapsulated from the off, performed as flawlessly as if we’re listening to the record itself.
While one or two of the Brain Thrust Mastery tracks do fall a little flat with this crowd, emotive indie-pop anthem ‘After Hours’ brings the house down – the crowd raise their arms and belt back the “One final round ‘cause time means nothing / Say that you’ll say” refrain to singer Keith Murray. ‘Impatience’ similarly brings a celebratory reaction, the sweet-riffed ‘Spoken For’ provides a rare moment of delicacy, while ‘Chick Lit’ brings things back round to the explosive. Later, album closer ‘That’s What Counts’ finishes this segment by introducing sax solos and a more soulful vibe.
And there we have it - mission accomplished. Thankfully there’s still plenty more to come. While most of the songs have been well received to this point, it’s really the tracks from their debut album that then truly get the place bouncing – namely ‘The Great Escape’, The Scene Is Dead’ and ‘Nobody Move, Nobody Gets Hurt’.
We Are Scientists, unlike many bands of their era, appear keen not to just be defined by their earliest songs. The encore then gifts us several songs spread across their discography. ‘I Cut My Own Hair’ from 2021’s Huffy is up there in terms of their punchy bangers with Keith Murray and Chris Cain’s interruption prior to the song’s third chorus bringing some hilarious onstage banter.
Typically, there is a lot of this tonight which, at times, has the feel of a comedy club double act. Each mid-song interval brings about self-deprecating digs at their black and white tuxedos, as well as playful jibes at the crowd and even references to the locally loved Buckfast Tonic Wine. The pair swig their cans of beer and are seemingly having a whale of a time, a feeling that easily rubs off on the rest of the sold out 800-capacity venue.
To finish, they perform an explosive version of ‘Less From You’ from last year’s more electro-funk focused record Lobes. Again, the tune proves their enduing relevancy and knack for writing engaging indie-pop songs will never escape them. In truth, the crowd do respond better to the songs that follow the conclusion of Brian Thrust Mastery, but that’s not to say their second record wasn’t enjoyed. And we should be grateful for the excuse the album has granted the We Are Scientists presence this evening. A joyful evening from a gravely underappreciated ‘00s band.
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