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The NME Radar Tour rocked into Manchester town on Monday night, showcasing three new up and coming bands. London punk foursome Flats, their London neighbours Chapel Club and South Wales trio The Joy Formidable.
Flats started the night like some crazy noise machine on fast forward. The rest of the set went as follows: hair flicking, frantic dancing like a deranged squid in an invisible Perspex box, songs that last for 30 seconds and yet still seemed to merge into one.
The vocalist gargled noises out of his throaty box, the bassist hurled his guitar, the crowd stood still and I felt like a lie down.
Following that obnoxious noise were Chapel Club, whose music and vocals were the perfect remedy to our aching ear cavities. Deep and sometimes dark mellow vocals (think a hint of Tom Smith and a touch of Mozza) accompanied by a beautiful textured, emotive and layered sound.
Chris Martin look-a-likey frontman Lewis Bowman likes reading and that so there’s a substance and quality in his lyrics. Their new single All the Eastern Girls which is released on 11th October is defo worth a listen, and if you fancy it, they will be playing a special gig and playing some new songs in Salford on 9th December.
Returning from a tour around the world headline act The Joy Formidable absolutely stole the show.
The gang are born performers and each one of them oozed charisma on stage. All of them played with a passion that stirred the audience and rocked the socks off the lot of us. Front woman Ritzy Bryan had the Courtney love confidence, polished grunge image and feisty nature that a perfect front woman must have.
Ritzy’s not alone in being cool as funk, drummer Matt Thomas (sitting scarily close to the front of the stage) executed some seriously impressive drum bashing whilst bassist Rhydian Dafydd produced some deliciously cool and sexy beats.
They too have a new single being released on October 11th, I don’t want to see you like this is a catchy, instantly likeable tune and I would recommend it muchly.
The Joy Formidable are also recording their debut album The Big Roar whilst on tour (that’s rock and roll for ya) and no doubt it will be a belter. Look out for it, get on it and go and catch them if you can.