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Glasgow, King Tuts   18th Jan 2003

Left Hand Element, Second Skin, Marshan, Fractal Jack

Is This Music?     [Issue 3]

Deep in the heart of the Clyde Delta, Marshan are pitching their very own brand of the blues. 'Loose is our Mantra' might represent the four-pieces approach to the no-nonsense hi-octane rhythm and blues sound which they are taking to a radical conclusion, with involved and innovative guitar work, wailing harmonica and a side order of nifty percussive breaks, but loose is that last word you'd use to describe Marshan, who are about as tight as a gigging band gets these days. This isn't nu-metal or industria. Marshan and others like them are shredding the rulebook on exactly what a rock outfit is supposed to sound like and harking back to the work of such luminaries as Alvin Lee, Jimmy Page, and doubtless even further to the John Lee Hookers and Mose Allisons and all the rest. The results are blasting out of a hundred barroom jam sessions right across the west coast. And you can dance to it. Just grab an earful of 'Funky Fork Song', a combination of relentless riffola, charging boogie and whatever it is that Marshan do, all thrown together and served as a full-on jukebox stomper, and you'll realise that Rock 'n' Roll is here to stay, as are Marshan and their growing band of contemporaries.