The Yummy Fur
Stereo, Glasgow
15/12/2010

Tonight’s support acts Nico’s Bike (featuring members of lost Glasgow band Lungleg) and surf punk outfit Astral Planes set the retro tone for the evening in a Stereo that seems to be suffering from post Bowlie ATP-itis. The Yummy Fur are back together one last time, however, and determined to have some fun. The line up comprises lynchpin John “Jackie” McKeown, guitarist Brian McDougal, Paul of Guided Missile on bass and drummer Paul Thomson (tonight introduced as “from Correcto and Pro Forma” but perhaps best known as Franz Ferdinand’s tattooed sticksman).

Always biggest within their own social circle, tonight’s gig is for friends and fans who made up the mid-90s scene that Glasgow-dwelling musos of a certain age remember as the moment when it seemed like the indie wars were being won. Bis made it onto Top Of The Pops before their record was even released and bands like Arab Strab and Mogwai were starting to make their mark on the world. And so a selection of tunes from The Yummy Fur’s two albums ‘Canadian Flag’ and ‘Sexy World’ make up the set. ‘Kirsty Cooper’ and ‘Plastic Cowboy’ demonstrate a sauciness shared with The Vaselines, this year’s other great Scottish pop revival, and spotting familiar faces in the crowd, McKeown goes on to grin his way through the alarming number of Yummy Fur songs about women’s underwear, including ‘Theme From Ultrabra’, while Thomson pounds the drums and wastes no opportunities to add closing flourishes.

The angular punk pop of some tunes tonight reminds The Fly that perhaps Franz Ferdinand are indebted to The Yummy Fur for far more than just a flamboyant drummer. And while it’s a shock to realise that with their references to Polaroids and phone boxes, these songs are now fixed forever in a bygone era, it’s fun to revisit a whole scene’s misspent youth, even if it is just for an hour.

Lucy Brouwer