From seeing him headline festivals and sold-out shows for decades as frontman of The Charlatans, to find the ever lovable Tim Burgess spinning tracks in the corner of Glasgow fashion store Cruise is a little disconcerting at first – a familiar presence in an unfamiliar setting.
But he’s here to help launch the Blauer AW14 collection, the label that began around 1935 by supplying uniforms to the army, police and college campuses across the USA. Of course, with the US authorities choosing a more formal approach to their fashion (i.e. total militarisation), the historic coolness of the brand has migrated over to the fashion world, where that history becomes an influence to look to the future towards a more casual approach.
In other words, they do damn well at providing America’s slick-lookin’ youths with jackets of the padded, leather and colourful variety; not to mention a full clothing line of denim and jersey.
That kind of influential American history is reflected in Tim’s DJ set tonight, where as we arrive and are guided down by a line of fashion beauties to the lower floor, we see him engrossed in the corner as he drops a slice of Brian Jonestown Massacre, and as those swirling chords of ‘Who?’ erupt through the PA, it feels quite joyous, a magically strange sound to hear in a venue where Pharrell’s Billionaire Boys Club label held ‘A Printed History’ party back in July.
But most aren’t here for the music, they’re there for the threads, and Tim’s largely ambivalent crowd are nonetheless treated to some of the finest American music his CD collection has to offer, including the unlikely but enjoyable slide from Neil Young’s ‘Southern Man’ to the hilariously appropriate ‘Dancing With Myself’ by Billy Idol.
With his strange and amusingly carefree blonde barnet, happily posing for photographs as the likes of ‘Cannonball’ by The Breeders follows Kurt Vile’s ‘Puppet To The Man’, Burgess proves himself both a man of impeccable taste, and one with a sense of humour, even dropping in ‘Tumblin’ Dice’ by The Rolling Stones, who while very much not American, basically stole everything from America, so it counts.
Taking the best bits of an American culture and bringing them to these shores is exactly what Blauer has done tonight, and Burgess manages to reflect the ethos of a brand with an alternative style that adds some historic musical weight to the party.
Words: Mark Millar
Photos: Jamie Vincent Gillespie
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