Glasgow based four-piece band ALLIGATOR are relatively new to the Scottish music scene. However, this has not meant they have been shy of attention. With their debut single, ‘Trickle Down’, which was released in March this year already surpassing the 70k stream mark on Spotify, ALLIGATOR are poised to be one of Scotland’s newest bands whose sound will lavishly prick up the ears of audiences on a nation-wide scale in the very near future. Their debut reveals a distinctive wall of sound to the band’s work based around fuzzy, distorted guitars alongside psychedelic, reverberated vocals which blend coherently together throughout. Similar to the likes of fellow rising Glaswegian music counterparts Lucia, the music of ALLIGATOR is full of drive, attitude and real confidence - so much so that already they have earned spots at Belladrum, been featured on Vic Galloway’s BBC Radio Scotland show and had the opportunity to be interviewed with Fred Perry’s Subculture feature which has consistently shone a light on up and coming musicians from across the country.
The band’s latest single ‘Shadow By Your Side’ released on August 3rd, is a further big statement of intent from ALLIGATOR – possibly bigger than their debut – in which Scientists of Sound have already aptly noted, “who said guitars are dead? Glasgow's Alligator sure as hell missed the memo as they return swinging them from all angles”. The unique wall of sound previously mentioned from their debut is even more prevalent in their follow up which harks back to the grungy guitar sounds of the early 90’s and arguably even as far back as some of The Stooges’ fuzzed-up tracks from their self-titled debut album back in 1969. The 60’s influences don’t end there however, with a most likely accidental opening guitar riff very similar to that of George Harrison’s #1 single ‘My Sweet Lord’ featuring throughout, you may call it accident or coincidence, but what is without question is that the riff plays its role infectiously and irresistibly consistently drawing you in for the duration of the more pop inclined track than that of their debut. Following this comes the lead vocals which display a unique reverb laden characteristic to them providing depth and space in the track. Much like ALLIGATOR’s debut, the vocals featured throughout ‘Shadow By Your Side’ are psychedelic influenced and work well with the instrumentation based around them by not overcrowding the track with too many lyrics but instead accentuating specific words/sounds and drawing them out as far as they can be taken to create more concise and to the point lyrics – a technique familiar to the likes of Liam Gallagher in many Oasis tracks. Also, the band experiment with production effects skillfully in the bridge section of the track by fading out the vocals and instruments temporarily as though you are now listening from a distance which further enhances the psychedelic feeling portrayed and also provides further depth to the track lifting the chorus/outro which follows it.
With several bands such as Rascalton, Lucia, The Dunts and The Ninth Wave all currently rapidly making a name from themselves not just in Glasgow but across the country, it is evident that the city’s music scene is clearly thriving at the moment. From listening to ALLIGATOR’s two released tracks at the moment and with inevitable new material forthcoming, it is hard to envisage any reason why the four-piece will not prosper and grow faster than they can imagine themselves and provide inspiration to other up and coming bands across the country in doing so.
Links to ALLIGATOR music/social media pages below:
https://open.spotify.com/track/5souisTu8linx6zKNsTVos?si=9B392hQdTPiilAOdKzQdzg
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