It’s long been known that Glasgow is a bubbling cauldron of stick-it-to-the-man creative endeavours, and this year a project going by the name of Declan Welsh & The Decadent West has been making an awful lot of noise in the city. Having already sold out Glasgow’s legendary venues King Tuts and Stereo, Declan Welsh has not only been drawing attention for his fiery rock sound, but also the political motivations behind it. The frontman and his band recently performed ahead of Jeremy Corbyn’s speech at the Labour For Socialism's 'Concert For Corbyn' in Glasgow, and earlier in the year they performed in Palestine with an orchestra of refugee children. It’s that kind of universal, outward-looking attitude of Declan & TDW that has set this Scottish band apart from rock’s more usual hedonism and ego-centrism. That being said, ‘Useless’ is step away from Welsh’s political punk to a swaying homage to heartbreak. Nostalgic daydreaming dominates the melodic rock verses, with Declan’s impressive vocal unravelling the story and traces over past pain. Restrained in part, the full-force of guitars and drums in the chorus reminds the listener of the wild energy of this band. - HT