Little Matador are one of
many predominantly Scottish / irish based supergroups to surface after The Reindeer
Section came along in the early 00s. Snow Patrol's Gary Lightbody kick started
the project which spanned several bands across many Scottish cities, along
with some Irish cities too. Then there's The Burns Unit, a politically charged folk group led
by King Creosote. Both were uniquely brilliant, but also lacked a certain
supergroup edge for being more of a collective than a typical supergroup in the
way Cream were.
It's actually Lightbody's right hand man Nathan Connolly who
fronts Little Matador, which consists of Dave Magee (LaFaro),
Gavin Fox (Idlewild), Binzer Brennan (The Frames / BellX1), Troy Stewart (The
Windsor Player), and of course Connolly (Snow Patrol).
"Liar Liar" starts and... well, shock ensues. You wouldn’t expect
this level of noise from Snow Patrol, Idlewild, BellX1, LaFaro (well you would...),
The Frames, or The Windsor Player. My point being that Little Matador is their
escapism from their usual norm, to create something of value that they can all
enjoy, love, and would happily return to during stints in other bands. This is
punk rock, but in the style of The Ramones rather than say The Clash. It has
melodic elements, but it's the distorted fast paced guitars which grab "Liar
Liar" and Little Matador by the balls and really grab them hard.
They've
already supported Nine Inch Nails at one of their festival appearances in
Ireland, opening up a whole range of opportunities for Little Matador. It's a
little bit more than a side project for these five, it seems like fate,
destiny, luck, all these BS terms which mean absolutely nothing unless hard
work and talent is put in to practise. "Liar Liar" is the accumulation of skilled
musicians, and their taste for punk rock / noise rock / the heavier side of
alternative rock, and I can't wait for the debut album.
~Eddie Gibson
