For the first time in a few months Boy Child and I boarded the 525 to Glasgow on Monday night.

As we walked along Argyle Street, the Weather Gods were gathering their rain clouds together. Would our luck hold out?

Our venue of choice for the evening was St Luke’s.

The band of choice (or is it artist in this case?), making their Scottish debut, was Reignwolf from Seattle WA.

The Weather Gods ran out of patience a few short minutes before the doors opened at 7pm. Slightly damp around the edges, we hurried inside along with a handful of others. Securing a rail spot wasn’t a challenge.

Now, I’m going to be totally honest here – I had no idea what we could expect from the evening. I had heard of Reignwolf a few years back via a relative but have never played more than the occasional song.

Sometimes you just need to take the plunge and decide to experience something new and exciting.

The first band on stage were Six Year Silence from Glasgow. My only wish in hindsight with this band is that there had been more folk there to hear them. These guys were great! Six solid songs succinctly delivered. A bit of banter from their front man. Great start to the evening. The bar had been set and set quite high I may add. Do yourself a favour and check these boys out.

Next up were King Nun. After their mercifully short set, I was left there wondering what I had just experienced…

These guys are young. They are full of energy- well their front man certainly is! They are obviously passionate about their heavily punk/Green Day-esque music but they weren’t for me. I’m partially adopting my Thumper Principle here. They’re young. They’ll learn…that sugar/Red Bull high might wear off a bit with maturity. They’ll gain experience of “reading” their audience. Oh, and they could do worse than travel a bit lighter. For a support act, they appeared to have several times more equipment than Six Year Silence and Reignwolf combined!

Moving swiftly on…

The small stage now looked very bar…almost empty. Reignwolf’s bass drum stood at the front of the stage. There was a drumkit at the back, and the usual amp and cabs, mic stand…all framed by those two stunning 19^th Century stained glass panels. (St Luke’s is a very pretty venue)

The crowd had now swelled into triple figures. (I’d guess there were around 200 folk there)

The smoke was billowing out gently as we waited with bated breath.

For those who don’t know, Reignwolf are a duo. Mr Reignwolf himself also known as Jordan Cook, stepped out on stage to an enthusiastic warm welcome. There were definitely some Scottish fans in the room.

Its here I really do have to apologise. As I said at the start, this was a whole new experience for Boy Child and I and neither of us were familiar with the song names or the order in which they ran on the set. I promise to do better next time.

What followed was 75minutes of incredible, unique, hard, heavy, blues based indie rock. The set started out heavy on the fuzz and I’ll be honest that’s my least favourite guitar effect. For those first couple of numbers, I wasn’t getting it but once he shed the leather jacket and the lighting wasn’t quite so dark blue, things were on the up.

Watching Reignwolf play was spellbinding. The music seemed to totally absorb him.

It’s also the first gig I’ve been to where I’ve seen the drummer “flit” from the back of the stage to the front mid-set.

Their approach to the set was fluid. Seeing musicians relaxed and enjoying their music as much as the audience is always a joy to behold.

Black and Red – Reignwolf at St Luke’s Glasgow 04/07/22 – YouTube

As this was their first trip to Glasgow, Reignwolf were totally at a loss as to what was being shouted out by the crowd. (Ok, we had the usual loud Glasgow drunk that none of us could understand too). Their reaction was obviously confusing Jordan and Joe (?) as at one point he checked if thing were good and if this was a rowdy crowd. The answer is that things were great and no, it wasn’t a rowdy crowd. Wait til next time.

Reignwolf @ St Luke’s Glasgow 04/07/22 – YouTube

One fan, who could be understood, shouted out a request that Reignwolf picked up on and immediately played. 

A second request for Palms To The Sky was made a few minutes later and despite admitting to not having had it on the setlist for a long while, Reignwolf obliged and played it.

And that is where the magic of the evening lay. He was building a rapport with everyone in the room with his music.

A universal language that spans all ages.

Glasgow impatiently awaits your return, sir.