I don’t know how I managed to miss this one for so long, but this was my first visit to Dingwalls, and what a great music venue it is; good visibility all round, nice lighting for a few photos and a perfect atmosphere for this line-up of Gaz Brookfield, Mad Dog Mcrea and Ferocious Dog. The omens for the night were all good when we had a quick chat with Michael Mathieson of Mad Dog Mcrea on the way in to the gig and got in just in time to catch the opening set from Bristol-based Gaz Brookfield whose fast and furious acoustic songs set the tone for the evening.

The names Mad Dog Mcrea and Ferocious Dog seem to be inextricably interlinked in certain musical circles and, having been really impressed by Mad Dog Mcrea at The Half Moon earlier this year, I was curious to find out more about Ferocious Dog. I may be in a small minority here (although Plus One certainly agreed), but the running order didn’t really do Ferocious Dog any favours; Mad Dog Mcrea are a very difficult act to follow.

Ferocious Dog have built up a substantial following over the last few years with their high energy blend of folk and rock with punk attitudes and that’s exactly what they delivered on the night. They were visually striking as well (you can see the photos in a few days) but that added to my misgivings about the performance, particularly when compared to Mad Dog Mcrea. It felt a bit like things hadn’t moved on since the days of The Levellers or Chumbawamba and that some of the feeling for the music had been swamped by the attitude. It might just have worked out if they hadn’t been the last band on.

For a band supposedly promoting their “Almost Home” album (it’s very, very good and you should listen to it), Mad Dog Mcrea played a set that was much more of a greatest hits package based on requests from their many fans in the crowd. So, although “Heart of Stone” appeared near the start of the set, it was all about the crowd pleasers, from the traditional “Raggle-Taggle Gipsy” through “Johnny no Legs”, “Climb a Hill” and “Am I Drinking Enough?”, to the madness of “Little Black Fly” and “The Happy Bus”. Michael Mathieson (acoustic guitar and vocals) fronts up the party, but it’s also about the interplay between Pete Chart, Jimi Galvin, Dave Podmore, Dan Crimp and Nicki Powell, who create fascinating textures and glide effortlessly through changes of style and tempo. The band might try to make it look like it’s all just a bit of fun, but the music is everything, and that’s what connects them with the fans, who love the commitment and sheer joy of the band’s performance. Another triumph for Mad Dog Mcrea.

It must have been difficult for Ferocious Dog to follow that set. They didn’t do anything that was bad, but the bar had already been set way too high.

Ok, I know the music business is changing by the millisecond these days and artists have to be increasingly creative to make sure their talent and hard graft actually generates some proper wonga for them rather than their tracks being illegally downloaded by some pimply pre-pubescent in Manchester.  And don’t accuse me of being anti-Manc, I’m just showing an interest in current affairs.  There’s no chance of landing a six-figure advance these days to invest in the Colombian economy before getting your mate to record your magnum opus over a slow weekend in his lock-up.  So everyone’s desperately looking for new ways to actually make a living from music.

There’s a whole new industry which has appeared from nowhere while our backs were turned.  It’s so new that it can’t even spell its own name yet, so I don’t know if it’s syncing or synching but I’m sure it’ll soon sort out that little identity crisis.  When I was a lad (before digital and mobile phones and that worldwide net thing), it was the ultimate sellout to allow your creative masterworks to be used in an advert.  Neil Young got so upset about an approach from Pepsi that he wrote “This Note’s For You” about it.  So who made it ok to sell your soul to Bartle Bogle Hegarty (come on, it’s so much funnier than BBH, isn’t it)?

It was Apple and the Archangel Bono, that’s who.  When “Vertigo” was used on the iPod ad, the trickle of high-profile bands chasing the advertising money turned into a deluge.  Everyone’s at it now.  I mean, did the Stones really need the extra dosh from “Start Me Up” on the Omega ad this summer?  I don’t mind anyone trying to get their music out there and get the rewards they deserve; far from it.  The sync(h)ing industry helps get good new music into films, TV series and ads that generate a buzz (and a fee) for the artists and you would have to have a hard heart to complain about that.

I really have a problem with musicians who should know better endorsing totally inappropriate products.  Where do I start? Is that too many rhetorical questions?  Ok, Iggy Pop selling insurance, then.  Iggy (or Jimmy to his friends) has to be the risk-taker supreme of the 70s; drugs, physical self-harm and more drugs followed by even more drugs and then he appears on TV advertising insurance.  No insurance is as good as being the luckiest man alive, and you can’t buy or sell that commodity.  Chumbawamba, 80s anarcho-punks and agit-proppers (they were so anti-establishment they threw a jug of water over John Prescott) could surely be relied on to resist the temptation of selling out to the establishment.  No chance; “Tubthumping” is featured on an ad for that great anarchist enterprise of ambulance-chasing.

But the best one of the lot has to be John Lydon/Rotten for his splendid work endorsing dairy products.  From the most hated man in Britain to selling butter on TV; it’s a bit of a comedown from the brilliant “World Destruction” with Afrika Bambaataa.  A feature in one of the inkies a few weeks ago described our Johnny as a pantomime villain, but he’s such a caricature now that pantomime dame’s probably closer to the mark.