Or an Irish bar in Glasgow late on a Thursday night, not somewhere anyone would expect to find this moose, drinking Magners cider too! Well, I’ve never been a fan of guinness and, being totally out of my element Irish cider seemed logical (no, you will never see me drinking the stuff anywhere else).

Yes, I adventured West to see Ol’ Times, better there than Penicuik, which it turns out is not happening (shame) instead they’re back in Binkies tonight (yay). Do I mind that I went all that way for a second look when they’ll be back in Edinburgh? Don’t be daft! Not remotely. Saw a great gig, discovered a new place and a new band.

The place, Malone’s is rather nice. Tucked down a little lane, blink and you’ll miss it, the bar’s at street level with the music venue above it. Doorstaff direct folk into the bar before the gig starts and give a shout when the door opens. Upstairs is a fair size, very long and a tad narrow, but it works. Malone’s has a good ambience to it with great barstaff up and downstairs, I felt comfy and welcome. It’s only a short walk from Buchanan Street Bus Station, very handy indeed.

The new band was The Best Bad Influence were first on-stage, boy were they fun! A three piece rockabilly band, double bass, drums and the guitarist sang. There were standard classics and their own stuff, all played with style and swing and a grin. I did spot that one of their originals started by borrowing from a great old ZZ Top tune She Loves My Automobile a real blast from the past (from Degüello an awesome album from before Eliminator). It would be great to see them over in Edinburgh in Stramash or Whistlebinkies, they’d go down really well in both.

And on to the main event, Ol’ Times were mighty fine, just a shame there were some technical problems, not that we, the audience noticed them but a brief chat afterwards revealed an unhappy bunny (hey, being fussy about quality is no bad thing), you’d never have known from his performance. If there was anything slightly down from their Binkies gig, I just assumed it from being in Glasgow rather than Edinburgh (just kidding!)

It was fun to be over West knowing the band would definitely put some Edinburgh mentions into their banter to bait the crowd. Whilst it was busy, it didn’t look to be as packed as Binkies, but the singing was louder I reckon (after a wee jibe!) The band wound up just after one but as Malone’s is open til much later plenty folk hung around, me included as the next bus wasn’t until two. No way was I leaving before the very end! Hey, I need to soak up every sweet morsel of sound to keep me going.

And on that note, I shall take myself on a wander to Waverley Bridge. Toodle pip!