MATINEE PARTY/.//.//

Lung Leg were impossibly cool, almost intimidating. They were the cool kids at school that circled the wagons, the Heathers that formed their own personal mythology and expanded on their universe via absolutely killer 7”s and a singular album, Maid To Minx. During an incredibly febrile time in Glasgow’s music history they were unique, a riot in dual guitars and barked criss-cross vocals. All-female groups are slightly more in evidence now but at the time, in the mid-90s, even amongst their right-on peers they were an anomaly. Their chromosomes aside, Lung Leg were gloriously acerbic, a catchy mess informed by but apart from the likes of Sleater Kinney, Slant 6. Stylistically their documentarian lyrics recalled early solo Lou Reed over a scratched out guitar attach that’s more redolent of the likes of Scars or Joseph K. As well as being impossible, intimidatingly cool they were also a ton-load of fun.

Their songs were soaked in hedonistic tales of Glasgow nights out, living life on the central Scottish edge between the dole and the pub, the music pumped full of adrenalin and 60s Garage influences. Loosely tied with the group The Yummy Fur (not least by the fact that Lunglegger Jane Doe’s brother helmed that group), Lungleg had the air of a gang, a motorcycle clique in a climate too cold for motorcycles. By the time of their only album Maid To Minx, they’d grown from treble-crazed punks to slightly less treble-crazed punks with the songs to prove it. The guitars had grown together to present an obtuse take on the axe, with dual attacks, chiming drones, crunchy chords spiked with Nuggets-y riffs. Seriously, if you tune your mind into just the guitars you’ll be doing mental somersaults. But you’d also be missing the vocal interplay, call-and-response work, lyrics that read like surrealist, grimy narratives that could have been written and painted by the Hernandez brothers if they lived in Woodlands (funny I should mention the Hernandez brothers asJaime Hernandez painted the cover). You could point to precedents like Kleenex, Chin Chin, Television (if you played Marquee Moon at 40RPM say - not sure how you’d do this but 45RPM seems a bit too fast?) but Lung Leg were their own impossibly cool gang.

At the turn of the century Lung Leg imploded, scattering their component members to different parts of the country or to other groups. Glasgow in the mid to late 90s was, in retrospect, a goldmine of groups who all started at the same time and went on their own distinct paths to success or cult-like obscurity. Lung Leg’s place in this history is damn important and it’s great that Past Night From Glasgow have resurrected their debut album Maid To Minx for reissue. What’s even better is the group have reformed for the occasion and we’re really excited to host the group’s triumphant return for a free matinee show on December 10th at 4pm to terrorize the kids. Only kidding, this will be maximum family fun, just bring the ear defenders.