When a band release a single we usually don’t give it the treatment, but when they release a single and a 20-minute mockumentary about a bloke called Alan Los Vegas, played by a lad from the Limmy Show then we are in. Declan West & The Decadent West’s 20-minute mockumentary, released alongside new single ‘How Does Your Love’, is below.
Glaswegian rockers Declan West & The Decadent West have always had a sense of humour but, this ain’t their first rodeo, in television terms that is. Singles ‘Fun’ and ‘Absurd’, a couple of guitar-led indie bangers, are accompanied by two pseudo-TV music videos, where the band act out as TV presenters and salesman from shopping channels (the kind your nan is a big fan of… think QVC and the sort). Impressively done, they set the tone for what to expect going into this decadent-but-entertaining look at the highs and lows of trying to run a night club inhabited by every type of person you meet on a night out; the idiot, the narcissist, the drunk and the comic.
The band have splashed out on this big bucks mockumentary, titled L.U.V: South Lanarkshire’s Premier Club and Event Space. It follows eccentric club owner Alan Los Vegas and his ‘premier’ dance club L.U.V. In a fitting cast for the role, the band have brought in longtime Limmy the Comedian collaborator, Paul McCole to play the macho club owner. Declan himself also scripted the whole thing, taking to it well.
Alongside Vegas stars a ragtag group of young staff, who slide into the doc with the kind of awkwardness reminiscent of The Office or The IT Crowd. The dim lighting and black spaces of the club act as a perfect backdrop to the cringe-worthy scenes of club promotion and failed chat up lines, which all combine to create a perfect portrait of a smalltown club venue.
In a slick transition from pompous prancing to promo, the short film concludes with none other than Declan and the gang taking to the dancefloor to perform their new single ‘How Does Your Love’. Fans of the band are likely to be satisfied with the recurring riffs and raucous dancing surrounding the track, both of which make for a fun and catchy ender to the film. It’s no-nonsense indie rock and, after the jargonistic blabbing of club owner, Vegas, that’s music to anyone’s ears. Good watch, decent track.
Listen to Declan West & The Decadent West on Spotify and Apple Music.
