The Exhales | Gig Review
April 13 | Written By Liam Rutherford
The local band is a special thing. It’s a beautiful ode to youthful optimism, where your biggest fan is your best pal, and if you’re lucky one of the most honest and humble musical experiences you can come across. The Exhales tick the boxes, but in their 40 minutes on stage it’s clear that they believe they can offer more.
The group have been mainstays of Glasgow’s indie circuit since 2022 with a hodgepodge of different accents in the bands line-up, including frontman Jack Hayes Barrovian twang. In a short but lucrative time the group have managed to sell out their first gig at King Tuts during the venues ‘New Years Resolutions’ festival. Their brand of indie rock has caught the attention of BBC introducing Scotland with their self-released singles making ears perk up all around the Scottish music scene.
The turnout this time round, as is the case with most local bands, is a modest affair. There are enough shoulder slaps, sharing of e-cigs, and cliquey huddles to suggest that the majority of the crowd aren’t strangers to each other. Now and again someone pipes up with a heckle, but knowing smiles from band members suggests they’re in on the joke.
The gig starts unceremoniously, once the band set up their kit with a thumbs up from the sound guy, the group rip into indie rock set laden with good grooves and catchy hooks. The choruses are simple and effective, making it easy for the first-time fan to get involved with singalongs. What makes the concert more enjoyable than most smaller concerts is the noticeable lack of pretension, these songs weren’t written with the critic in mind, they were made to be danced too.
‘Call On Karma’, one of the bands best known numbers, is a nostalgic salute to one’s hometown. This song trop can be found in the back pocket of any indie songwriter and is a tried and tested formula that works. Frontman Hayes adds another layer of depth to the song, dedicating it to a close childhood friend who took his life. This transforms the song from a feel-good indie bop into a tribute to those early life affirming connections, the bittersweet nature of nostalgia and for better or worse, the place that shaped you.
As is the case with all small bands in their infancy on the beat, you’ve got to test out the new stuff. ‘Do It Again’ is the quartets newest number, a chorus heavy, quite loud guitar rocker with a good heft of swagger. The song is a hopeful precursor to a possible EP, which would be the band’s first and it’s clear to see that the band have the talent to put together such a compilation.
Saving their best chorus for last, with “I still remember your heartbeat” on the lips of those who are brave enough to sing, the group end just as strong as they began. “One more tune” is echoed by the lads at the front, but the group quite literally have no more tunes, so The Exhales better get their thinking cap on and come up with tunes and come up with them fast. Though they didn’t pack out the room this time round, they have created more than enough buzz to fill it twice over.
