Ex Hex is an interestingly different sort of band, yet they seem to have wide appeal judging from those in attendance in Broadcast’s basement tonight.
The audience is pretty diverse in terms of age, sex and whatever other sort of categories you might care to define.
Describing their trademark sound is not easy; Ramones crossed with The Shangri-Las anyone? That may well be rather difficult to imagine, but hearing Ex Hex it may just start to make sense.
They play a sort of melodic trancey groove, with captivating two or three-way vocal harmonies that are mostly loose and sometimes tightly fashioned.
While it is easy to presume influences within the punkish trio they certainly have some great songs and have very much developed a sound of their own.
Following much hype and a drip feed of songs Mary Timony and her crew brought us Rips last autumn, which didn’t disappoint those who had high hopes for a band whose members have a heady pedigree.
Armed with such a pedigree, you may have to feign some sort of shock that translated to a live setting and the girls manage to rock the bones off Glasgow in the sweaty underbelly that is Broadcast.
Following some “broken bass” issues the band quickly rips through Rips within 30-something-minutes; although it is very much a case of quality over quantity for these garage rock types, who thank the crowd for choosing them over the Chili Pipers.
‘How You Got That Girl’ steps things up a notch, getting the crowd going with its arpeggios aplenty NS infectious sing-along nature, with a fair few bouncing along to “I’ve found the object of your affection, oh I know how you got that girl”.
Somewhere along the line Timony mentions how great Glasgow is, which always goes down well, but as she cranks out another flawless guitar solo on the quick-fire giddiness of ‘Beast’ there is no need for such false claims to please this audience.
Timony finds some competition in the guitar hero stakes with Betsy Wright on bass, who shines particularly brightly on ‘Radio On’, Wright and Timony side by side with guitars almost touching they both pose their own take on Mick Ronson.
Among covers slots another highlight in the predictably muzzled fuzz brilliance of ‘Don’t Wanna Lose’, a standout track of Rips.
“It’s no way to lose and no way to win,” purrs Timony, as drummer Laura Harris seems intent on trashing her kit, Ex Hex certainly know how to rock out.
In saying that, at the same time they never appear to take themselves too seriously and all Chili Piper references aside are game for a laugh, while they do seem genuinely ecstatic to be here with beaming smiles present throughout all the riffs.
I suppose, with bands such as Wild Flag and Aquarium on the CV of those partaking tonight, perhaps it should come as no surprise that Ex Hex are quite the considerable force both on record and live, but one can only hope this new venture has a longer shelf life.
Words: Andy Quigley
