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Quireboys

Glasgow Garage, 30th November 2011

'I write a wide range of songs,' Quireboys lead vocalist Spike declaims, his words slurring only a teeny bit. 'I write about drinking… women… drugs… and cars.'

Bless him. Spike is nothing if not honest (although I'd be surprised if he's been allowed behind the wheel of a car in a while). And it's this honesty – at times cheeky and conspiratorial, at others painfully raw – that makes his band one of the finest in the British Hall of Rock'n'Roll Infamy. When Spike says he's been to every bar in every town, or that rock'n'roll is the only thing he knows, we believe him; when he declares that his lost love is 'all I ever wanted, all I ever needed', we want to cry.

As usual, tonight's set leans heavily towards the 'Boys debut album, A Bit Of What You Fancy, peppered with later material, including 'Tramps and Thieves', 'White Trash Blues', 'Mona Lisa Smiled' (a hit in Norway, apparently – 'but then anyone can have a hit in Norway'), 'Lorraine, Lorraine', 'You Can't Park Here' and 'This Is Rock'n'Roll' – the other thing Spike writes about, of course.

Two new songs suggest that the forthcoming album, still in the process of being recorded, won't be a departure from their trademarked honky tonk British barroom blues, but hey, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

'Cockney chimneysweep' Guy Griffin remains a constant (looking tonight alarmingly like a cross between Russell Brand and Bill Oddie in The Goodies, and sporting the same pinstripe jacket as Spike – and again, when he tells it's from Primark, we believe him) but since I last saw them in April 2010 they've acquired a new bassist, Dave Boyce, and drummer, Tyla lookey-likey Matt Goom, who looks pleased as punch to be in the Quireboys. Aw!

But while the line up may change, and Spike may get ever more blurry round the edges, the Quireboys remain a true National Treasure, even if most of the country doesn't know it, rattling round the highways and byways like raddled, rum-soaked, swaggering gypsy preachers, spreading their feelgood message of down'n'dirty rock'n'roll. Hallelujah!

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