Thinking back, Uncle John & Whitelock (UJ&W) were never really meant to last. Born in the belly of the Glasgow art scene, the combustible quintet were a torrential storm in Central Belt’s teacup, seeing through just one LP, the bleakly titled There Is Nothing Else, before fizzling out at the end of 2006. If it sounds like an ineffective defeat, that’s because in many ways it was; UJ&W’s ragged, horror-rock wailing played out like Birthday Party in a deep south cotton field, yet never found faith outside the M8. But for those of us who stood jaws agape in the wake of their rafter rattling live shows, where heart pounding zombie-blues bludgeoned against the rolling hillbilly drawl of Jacob Yates, UJ&W’s blood spilling corpse still haunts the memory. I’ve a friend who still swears they’re the most exhilarating band Scotland’s ever produced. Fankly, it’s almost impossible to disagree – there really was nothing quite like them. That UJ&W remain so unknown outside Scotland is moot; they were, and always will be, a band with more important things in mind.
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