In 2005 Glasgow became highlighted on the global musical map. Franz Ferdinand and Sons and Daughters were staples of all the "important" music magazines, and previously established acts such as Travis and even Hue and Cry were dusting themselves down for the ensuing media frenzy. The city became a hotbed for the new artrock movement, where fashion, imagery and music meet to produce the new musical vision, albeit via some well worn Gang of Four and Roxy Music records.
But wait a minute, this is Glasgow, the city that gave us headbutts for kisses, deep fried mars bars, original gang violence and lest you all forget, AC/DC for christ sake. This is not a city of swanky new age bars and 30something perennial art students, this is a city with a dark underbelly, drunken street brawls, high rise lifestyles; in short Glasgow is a ROCK N ROLL place. And Marshan know it.
Following on from their first critically acclaimed album "Songs From Southern and Baseline" (2004) and the take no prisoners mini-album "Kings Thursday on the Friday Street" (2001), Marshan entered Riverside Studios on the southside of Glasgow with one mission: to produce a great rock record, the way they used to be made before corporate America got their hands on things. Recorded live onto analogue tape, with no manipulation via pro-tools or any other musical "aid", the band shaped nine tracks which veer from the penniless rock fury of Fun on the Tongue to the west-coast hangover cure of Sweet Yuko's Oil, which are all combined under the title "Brought to you by the Goodtime Girls".
If anything the album marks a point in time and space. It reflects the band's position in the world as a relentless Glaswegian rock act. The autobiographical journey takes us from The Great Eastern Hotel, the infamous Glasgow homeless shelter, through to Back From the Road, an honest rock song that tells life on the road for what it is. Along the way King Street Conversion summarises life in a UK rock band in 2006 and Sedona, AZ recalls a late night drinking session somewhere in the US with an illegal Mexican immigrant and a gay heroin addict.
"Brought to you by the Goodtime Girls" is an album constructed for a Friday night, fuelled by alcohol, good drugs, hot women and unrelenting rock and roll. What else do you really need?