GUMS! ft Bratchy - Midland Street - Single Out Now

Function-suite romantics GUMS! are the project of veteran Glasgow songwriter Martin J. Smith. Over his two decades in music, Smith has built a reputation on mining the mundane and the miserable for unexpected gems of wistful pop. ‘Midland Street’ is tribute to The Arches, “Nightclub, theatre, creative hub, party place, and one of the most important venues in Scotland”, which closed its shutters in 2014.

Smith explains “My 20s revolved around the Arches, and Bratchy was a huge part of that. We’ve collaborated on various artistic projects over 20 years, but never been in the studio together. It made sense to get him involved on the Arches tune, because he’s basically the foremost historian on the place now, and I wanted to see if he could actually play anything on the guitar apart from the Terminator theme.”

“The Arches was an institution, and we’ve lost a lot more great venues in recent years. So we’re raising a bit of money for Help for Musicians to do a small bit for those affected.”

Formed in 2012, GUMS! mix moments of Tom Waits balladry with Pulp’s conversational tone and moments of punk energy recalling The Buzzcocks at their rawest, creating eclectic vignettes which chronicle everyday life and love in Western Central Scotland, their second album TEMPs was released in 2020.

“Alternative lullaby numbers, with impeccable electric guitars and a swooning, lo-fi view of alternative modern indie… this 50/50 split of energy versus light hearted but succinct quiffed-up love songs is a real treat.” Manchester Music

“Think of them as current carriers of the torch. Theyre doing Glaswegian indie as well as anyone else right now.” The Sound of Confusion

“Songs dealing with the humdrum of everyday life are smothered with swooning guitar and bittersweet vocals creating a lo-fi wonder” is this music

“The low key literacy and the plethora of good old fashioned hooks grab your attention” Blues Bunny

"Not since Jarvis led Pulp into the charts has the kitchen sink drama of daily life been so cleverly evoked….packed full of sardonic wit, and as for the music, well Im not hearing them put a foot wrong.” It’s a XXXX Thing

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