Broken Creels at HMV, Aberdeen on Saturday 8th April 2023

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A review from 5D Music & Theatre writer Maria Robertson.

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HMV in Aberdeen has this wonderful thing where they do live gigs on a Saturday afternoon at 3pm.  After I’d posted on Facebook about the latest one, a friend messaged me asking how I got into that HMV concert and I replied that I walked through the door!  It’s as simple as that, most Saturdays at 3pm all you have to do is walk into the shop.

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For the latest offering, on Saturday, we were treated to a quite decent length of set from local band Broken Creels.  This four-piece band recently formed and are making wonderful music.  The band includes: Daz Alexander (The Dawntreaders) on drums; Colin Clyne (award-winning singer songwriter) on vocals, guitar and harmonica; Lee Heinemann (Eskimo Blonde) on bass and Tom Ward (Parker, The Carrons) on guitar and keyboard.  They play together very well and have some really great songs with thought provoking lyrics.

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This performance was to celebrate the launch of their new single Friend or Foe, which has already reached number one in the UK iTunes Rock Chart.  Energetic, melodic and anthemic; “Friend or Foe” takes its inspiration from the 1990’s indie rock scene, but its contemporary production by Aberdeenshire’s Floortom Productions keeps it current.  The song’s lyrics are about the times of turbulence, fear, and misinformation we live in; and how, when surrounded by such division, the lines blur seamlessly between friend and foe.

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The set included songs: Another Crisis, Old Habits Die So Young and Under the Granite Sky.  As Colin himself said in between songs, HMV is for strange venue in that there’s no bar!  About two minutes later two ladies came in, watched for a minute and turned to each other and made drinking pints hand signals, so he definitely had a point!  The lovely HMV staff member who was doing the Instagram Live video did however go round giving a little squishy teddy to any children that were attending the concert.

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So often in gig venues there is an age limit that stops youngsters, such as my son who plays guitar himself, attending live music events.  As well as the silver lining of being able to share the live music experience with the musicians of the future, it is a nice convenient location and obviously a very cheap way to hear some good new music!  HMV does stream the concerts on their Instagram account every week when they have a band so if you can’t make it into the centre of town you can still check out some new talent and see what’s going on.

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As for the fabulous Broken Creels they will be playing at music festival “March Into Pitlochry” in May. It’s worth following their online accounts to see what they get up to next!

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“Friend or Foe” is available for download on iTunes: https://music.apple.com/gb/album/friend-or-foe-single/1676962520

Broken Creels: www.facebook.com/thebrokencreels  www.instagram.com/thebrokencreels

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Maria Robertson is the Chief Music & Theatre Writer for the 5D Pop Culture Website and provides reviews & coverage of local Aberdeen music & theatre gigs. She’s an experienced writer for numerous sources and is a self-confessed live gig addict ever since seeing The Counting Crows at the Barrowlands in 1994.

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