The C86 NME cassette was released at just the right time in my life, I had just started going to gigs and so may bands featured were being played regularly on John Peel. Once I started going to gigs there was no stopping me and C86 was one of the catalysts for this. I was fortunate to see a number of the bands on the cassette round about that time, bands like The Shop Assistants, Primal Scream, The Pastels, The Bodines, The Wedding Present and The Soup Dragons. There was barely a week went by that we weren't at venues around the city such as Glasgow Tech, Rooftops, Fury Murrys, Strathclyde Uni and The Garage. It was a wonderful time to be in your mid to late teens as there was no shortage of great bands to go and see. The C86 cassette was hugely influential in my musical education and was well worth saving up those coupons from the NME and sending off for.
Fast forward almost 40 years and the spirit of C86 is very much alive in the music of The Cords, two teenage sisters from Inverkip. Eva and Grace are uniquely The Cords but it is hard not to imagine them being fans of all things C86. I have a feeling they grew up in a household with a pretty decent record collection and fully embraced the music that their Mum and Dad would have been listening to. I had the good fortune to see them play live recently at the Creeping Bent 30th Anniversary gig at Oran Mor in Glasgow. On stage their beautifully raw melodies really come into their own and their too short set was a joy to see. These are pop songs at their purest and there is an effortlessness on stage that belies their tender years. The interplay between the sisters is lovely to watch and their joy of playing live is palpable to see. Eva's vocals follow a rich lineage of female singers like Tracy Tracy, Alex Taylor and Amelia Fletcher and would melt the hardest of hearts.
The Cords are definitely a band to watch out for and if you get the chance go and see them live, you won't be disappointed. They are being championed by the likes of Monorail and it's not hard to see why.
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