The first time I came accross Trout must have been summer 1995. I was living in Edinburgh and came through to Glasgow's south-side to see them play at one of the 'Treason in the Park' events that were generally of a crappy Oi nature. Mass public cider drinking in Queens Park.. I was sitting some way up the bank with some friends and, curiously, Willies parents. Mid afternoon, mid summer. Trout played and were able to trump all comers on all counts with a set that was, truely as brilliant and entertaining a rock show as I have ever seen. They swung from an amazing reductionist, Stooge style grind into a totally inept and, well, hilarious chaos. Willie duck walking the edge of the stage till...calamity, he topples off. Kenny breaking our trance by leaping up from the drumkit to try and escape from some marauding wasps. I really needed this band. They kept everyone happy and made everyone aim higher. The skull scarf, the ability to write great songs (that still make me weep with laughter) in the middle of an up to that point dire, too drunk set. The tales of east-end escapes, the witnessing of west-end scrapes.
