PUNK ROCK BAND FROM SCOTLAND
BACK TO REVIEWS
Thatched House - Stockport - 14th July 2007
The Square Peg
Next came The Square Peg. I have their album 'Regeneration' which is very good but it was done before the changes in personnel so I expected a bit of a change in their new material. Their set was split between the older material and their newer stuff which I expected but the addition of a second guitar has definitely given their music a better sound. Larry whilst challenging Charlie Harper for the oldest punk singer ( Although he doesn't look it and Charlie does ) slotted in with the young guys backing him like there was no age difference whatsoever. It was good to see experience combined with youth working so well. I was looking forward to hearing two tracks of theirs live especially 'City Of Shit' (Watch Video) and 'Footstep On My Grave' which were both performed solidly especially when you consider the newness of the line-up. I also enjoyed their new material and there is a new album in the pipeline which I look forward to hearing soon. Quality. REVIEW BY TIM DAVIES PUNK4LIFE
STUDIO 24 -- EDINBURGH -- 29th NOVEMBER 2006
The Square Peg (supporting Uk Subs)
When Charlie Harper brings his band to town then surely the support slot needs to belong to someone of worthy justification and considerable pedigree? A local band more than capable of pulling a crowd to match the numbers Charlie and his geezers attract which would therefore ensure the gig maintained the same level of virtuosity and gratification from beginning to end? The answer is yes, or in this case, The Square Peg! When I asked fifteen people to name two Edinburgh punk bands off the top of their heads, as quickly as they could, twelve of them mentioned The Square Peg. That's a fact! I did this eight hours before the gig started, down Cockburn Street, to any passing person that looked qualified to answer it and claimed to live here. It was no surprise that The Exploited was the first name to be mentioned almost immediately, it's a deserved accolade (coincidentally Wattie was at the gig later that night and good to see him it was) but to score twelve out of fifteen is a measure of the revered position The Square Peg hold around here! Tonight they showed just why they were mentioned those twelve times, and proved how deserving it is. It was a brave Square Peg set indeed! The inclusion of some new, or rarely heard material coupled with some recent shuffles in the line-up was something that may have brought them death by misadventure had this crowd been shallow seekers of familiarity or opposers of change. But anything new was still gutsy punk rock with the old school sound that The Square Peg are so good at and have long been appreciated for. They sound great live! They have songs that sound great live! They looked comfortable tonight up there live! Larry, at his own admission, isn't the most animated front man, but he doesn't even need to be. The passion, integrity, respect, honesty and belief he has for his art and for those who have paid to watch him and his band tonight is fingerprinted over everything The Square Peg are doing here. They'll never sell you short or put in a half hearted effort. Tonight, only two songs in, there was a mosh pit with a circumference of almost thirty people! That's an early start! A cover of Black Sabbaths "Paranoid" sounded amazing done The Square Peg way. There was a couple from the album, along with those less familiar songs all woven together with each received as gratefully as the last. They were loud and they were on home turf and there was never any doubting them. They may, as always, have brought their own crowd with them, but it's a certainty that they headed home with some of Charlie's in their pockets too! Reviewed By Alan Baillie New Music Scotland.
rockers -- glasgow -- 30 march 2006
Always thought 'The Square Peg' would be a brilliant live band if they could get it together to play some gigs after a great debut album 'Regeneration' on Larrys own Ebinburgh based label Stranded Records .. but half the band that recorded it left not wanting to do gigs...elsewhere Larry found some decent replacements ... Meanwhile back at rockers;.. There was 6 bands on tonite for a few quid admission fee it was no bad . thing was The Square Peg were no longer headling it they were stuck midway and now had to reduce the set down to 25mins instead of nearly 50 mins worth with a few new songs thrown in a few left out...another kinda tingle tangle or twandle guitar sounding band leave the stage for what im now declaring as one of scotlands best punk bands around at the moment The Square Peg to come on plug in hit you with a wall off sound great guitar sound notes of metal and kinda chainsawish ramones rawk and roll at times got to say Needles from the Swellbellys is some guitarist..meanwhile Larrys vocals are spot on no screaming no nonsense and Gary cant mind what other band he is in just gives you wild stares from the stage as if he is some local nut just escaped from the asylum but gives you nice basslines all the same .. Craedo is one of edinburghs most energetic punks an import from somewhere in England and at all most every gig you find him at the front so it was nice to see him behind the drum kit,, as for the songs a lot of them where newish sounded great a few off the album 'Hiroshima' and 'F.F.F.' (F**k Franz Ferdinand) and that great version of the Damneds 'Stab Yor Back'...25 minutes later it was hard to take in that was just The Square Pegs second gig ever its just a pity it was too a lame glasgow crowd ..where have all the glasgow punks gone?? but do your self a favour and check out The Square Peg and if your after hearing some new punk bands around then grab a hold of 'Conform Or Die' 28 bands some from Scotland others from Europe and even the USA on Stranded Records..and roll on me seeing this lot again...for more info on the The Square Peg buy the latest Provoked Fanzine Reviewed by BILL provoked fanzine .. 10 outa 10