Hop Along are a rock band from Philadelphia; Wikipedia describes them as “indie-folk”, but from the show they blast out in in Broadcast tonight, it’s plain that their influences spread a bit further than that.
They began life as a solo project of Frances Quinlan a decade ago, but fast-forward to 2015 and they’ve released their second full length LP as a full group, Painted Shut.
The last time they visited Glasgow they played Bloc, but tonight they move up to the (slightly) more spacious stage in Broadcast to show off the new album.
After a very quick and very loud outburst to check levels, they get going, but after the first song there seems to be a bit of commotion on stage: “her vocals are all fucked up;” “my guitar is going crazy;” “I can’t hear my bass”.
From the floor though, it just sounds powerful.
Everything seems to match up perfectly – the drums and bass smash off each other chaotically and the over-driven, effect-sprinkled guitars shake and shudder along to fairly basic power-chord structures, that have been massively spiced up by a bit of imagination.
Quinlan’s voice steals the attention however.
I honestly don’t know how a person can create a sound so vicious and so gentle from their throat without their head exploding.
At her grittiest, Quinlan assaults the audience with an astoundingly ferocious wail, but then without warning, all the gravel is gone and we’re left to enjoy a bar or two of super-high, airy bird song.
The highlights of this evening stem from the vocals.
Early on, they play ‘Waitress’, a song that shows the group have a complete command on writing catchy, emotive pop-rock songs and towards the end of the set, the rest of the band leaves the stage to give Quinlan room to perform ‘Happy To See Me’ solo.
Her vocals really are something special, and the world of rock music is a better place for the fact that she managed to rally a group of musicians who so perfectly house her shrieks and tender falsetto.
This twinned with a supremely confident stage presence (drummer in particular), makes Hop Along an absolutely stellar live band.
Words: Greg Murray
