Endings... part 1

I’m way late with this valedictory post. Everyone else has posted about the demise of Arab Strap already, but I thought that it would be churlish for their departure to go unremarked on The Daily Growl. I guess my lack of urgency is something to do with the fact that I wasn’t their biggest fan. I only saw them once, playing third on the bill under Super Furry Animals and Mogwai, back in early ’98. They were pretty boring, with Aidan Moffat sitting on a stool, mumbling incoherently and inaudibly as guitars crashed around him.

But they were still a quite unique band, and there’s a little bit (even if small) in my heart for Moffat and Malcolm Middleton. They did what they did pretty well – ploughing their singular furrow of Scottish miserabilism (I’m a bit partial to some of that y’know). So here’s tae ye boays – all the best for the future. No doubt Middleton will continue with his acclaimed solo work, and maybe Aidan will do more work under his Lucky Pierre guise (see here for a previous post with a Lucky Pierre track).

So, here's a song from my only ‘Strap album, Monday at the Hug and Pint. And I can’t leave off the song which introduced the Falkirk boys to a slightly bemused indie scene, way back in 1996.

Download: Arab Strap – The Week Never Starts Round Here
Download: Arab Strap – The Last Big Weekend



The next goodbye goes out to a band who had only recently come into my consciousness, and were hardly even full fledged when they decided to quit. Whatever they were, Les Incompetents gave us at least one cracking single in the shape of How it All Went Wrong. Surely an indie disco floor-filler if there ever was one. They actually rose to national awareness in July when lead singer Billy Leeson was brutally assaulted in a street attack in North London. Thankfully now he seems to be on the mend, but apparently even before the attack the band had decided to split. There is one final gig though - at the 100 Club on 7 November. Should be a good 'un.

Download: Les Incompetents – Where it all Went Wrong