Deap Valley, King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut, Glasgow

By Steven Dinnie

March 06, 2013

Returning to the city where they filmed their video for ‘End Of The World’, Deap Vally, on a chilly Monday night in Glasgow of all places, finally, convincingly and permanently proved that firstly, they’re here to stay, and secondly that rock and roll is back. Throughout a thumping set of the foot-tapping, classically catchy rhythms they seem to produce exclusively they demonstrated a passion and a love for rock and roll that will take them all the way. Though an album is in the works, singles ‘Gonna Make My Own Money’ and ‘End Of The World’ have cemented Deap Valley’s postition as the two Californian ladies most proving rock and roll is cool again.

Supported by the good-jamming but ultimately ordinary Young Aviators and the romp-Stooges-stomp of Blindfolds, Deap Vally showed just how far from trad-rock they’ve really come. The reproduction of the trademark guitar drawl and Lindsey Troy and Julie Edwards’ Sunshine State twang was flawless in the King Tut’s space, and the sweaty dancing crowd is something I haven’t experienced since Kyuss Lives! at the ABC1. With their spartan lineup and the clear fire in the belly both ladies have for the songs they sing and what they sing about, the whole show burns with an intensity that is palpable, even when they run a pace between songs that stretches patience. 

What Deap Vally sweat is cool. Pure 160% proof awesome. Any extended period of time spent with them will convince you that rock and roll is definitely the cure for what ails us, but also that Deap Vally could be the vanguard of a whole set of copycat cool bands hoping to latch onto the same things. It feels like the time is right for Deap Vally, a throwback Seventies protest group, standing up for women and making some ungodly noise on the way. As the world situation becomes more perilous, nervous and wrong, especially for women, it seems like rock and roll needs a voice with the power and the swagger of Deap Vally to say what’s what. They’re still gigging little venues with affordable tickets but I predict there is going to be some holy hellraising done by this pair before they pack it up, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they made it big, as the newspaper people say. It’s easy to get on their train now and ride it all the way to the end of wherever they chose to take us. All aboard!