“We’re not cool, we’ll never be cool” is the first thing Golden Grrrls’ guitarist Ruari tells me in his deep baritone made even harder to understand by his strong Scottish accent. I disagree––Golden Grrrls’ Glaswegian indie pop is cool in that it’s catchy and sweet but doesn’t wear you out with it’s preciousness. Listening to this year’s self-titled debut is not unlike eating Jolly Ranchers and then struggling to get the bits and pieces of sugar from your teeth; it’s the gift that keeps on giving. On the night I meet with the band, they are playing their last show in the US before heading back to Scotland. Ruari and Eilidh are both eating Chinese food, and Eilidh kindly offers me some. The band’s third member, Rachel hasn’t arrived to the recently reopened Silent Barn yet. Once she does, the band and I talk about their de facto creation.
Ruari explains, “I had an operation on my knee so I had some time off work. I had six weeks, so I was like, ‘might as well start a band, record some songs.’ There wasn’t any plan to play shows or anything necessarily. Then I got asked by some friends in Glasgow to play some shows. Eilidh and I were working together … up until I quit [laughs]. We talked about doing a band together and when somebody asked me if we could do a show, Eilidh and I decided to do the band together.”
While Ruari smokes a cigarette (inciting Eilidh to declare, “Ugh! What is that? It smells horrible.”) and Rachel sits quietly in the corner, we all talk about their recent tour all along the West and East Coasts of the United States. When I ask them if they did any exploring, Ruari says, “I guess it’s like a total cliche. We’re on tour, but we don’t get to be tourists, but we’ve not really got to be tourists at all.” With one exception, which included a visit to Staten Island and trying to find a cult’s bookshop. Eilidh recounts, “I mistakenly was inquiring where this thrift shop was and the girl said ‘that’s this one, we’re NOT a cult’.” [Laughs]
After a couple of opening bands, the band takes the stage–which is really just a space on the floor littered with solicitations of WE BUY HOUSES–to perform a set that is definitely not the worst I’ve ever seen, but not the best either. I won’t hold it against the band as they seemed to be having technical difficulties with a monitor and drum kit that was being held together by a pillow and cement block. They’ve also been using all borrowed instruments to make the trip from Scotland more frugal. “Paul Simon” and “Take Your Time” are two tunes that get the crowd moving, and with good reason. The chorus and hooks are nearly perfect, and that solo in “Paul Simon” is a fitting tribute to its namesake. The less than stellar show seems to be a combination of the band’s frustrated stops and starts and the extremely subdued crowd. During one of their pauses Eilidh mumbles an apology, and someone yells, “tell a joke!” which seems to fluster her, and thankfully the band is able to continue before she has to. The band ends its set the way they began––with a shrug and a smile.
Story by Alex Martinez