When I mention Ballboy to someone earlier they reply "oh they're Peel favourites aren't they?", almost as if there was something wrong with that particular label. The only thing wrong with it is that it's unspecific - Peel favourites could mean anything, you just have to look at the guy's playlist!
However, Ballboy are more correctly "Peel-listeners favourites", one of those bands who make a great showing in the Festive 50 but unfortunately have little critical or commercial success to back it up. Their occasionally humourous titles and tuneful indie-pop suggest that fans of Hefner, Tompaulin, the Lucksmiths and even the Wedding Present, would be suckers for Ballboy. Although they're headlining, this is technically a club night in the Monarch, so they do well to win a few people over during their set. [And a top tip for the clubbers - remember if you don't like the band upstairs you can go downstairs - you'll find it easier to talk and you'll get served quicker at the bar!]
Tonight is the first time I've seen Ballboy, and they're actually more powerful live than I would have expected. They also should be congratulated for writing about everyday Scottish life and managing not to sound like Arab Strap or Irvine Welsh. Opening song 'Donald in the Bushes with a bag of Glue' may sound like either of those fellow Scots from the title, but in reality it sounds like a typical Ballboy song.
If anything they remind me of the Lucksmiths, but since no-one has heard of the Lucksmiths in the UK I guess that's a good thing! Certainly new single 'All the Records on the Radio are Shite' (which the singer tells us was savaged by the NME!) and tunes like 'Avant Garde Music' make a case for Ballboy following in the footsteps of Hefner. Uptempo indie pop with clever lyrics, if you like that sort of thing you should check them out.
Peel favourites (sorry!) 'I've got Pictures of you in Your Underwear' and 'They'll Hang Flags from Cranes' are two of the highlights, while the moodier 'I Hate Scotland' balances lines like "I hate the way you expect to fail/ then you're bitter because you've failed" with "I'd trade it all in for a springboard and a pair of shorts and a perfect backflip". Not as bleak as its title then!
I was fairly ignorant about Ballboy before tonight, but I reckon I'll be checking out more of their material in the future.
