The Burning Hell Bring Joy & Happiness To London
Published
Two words: ‘Geek’. ‘Rock’. Put them together and you’ve got the amazement that is The Burning Hell. This is a band that I’ve loved for a little while but never had the chance to see live before, given that their main hang outs are Canada and Germany. They’re over for a while, doing a series of gigs around the UK, ahead of their Glastonbury appearance.
Mathias puts me right at ease for my interview chat with him, and even compliments me on my technique afterwards, saying that he wouldn’t have known it was only my fourth ever time! The rest of the band are equally as lovely in a cute geeky style, and they’ve clearly put some effort into their outfits with some great floral shirt stuff going down. Ariel is adorable and puts me in mind of one of my best friends who also originates from Canada.
The Sebright Arms seems like the perfect setting to match with this band, quirky, original and fun, and the downstairs venue is full to the brim by the time the band take to the stage. They all look so chilled and happy to be here, even though they’ve had a long old drive down from Cardiff today. And the sound is beautiful, very easy on the ears, that lyrical almost conversational style, and loads of light, humorous touches even on songs where the subject matter is a little darker.
As their Facebook bio states, this is ‘music to dance to while laughing about death’ and the audience certainly go along with this. In all seriousness, I’ve never seen a happier sea of faces, it’s all smiles from ear to ear, and the positive energy that this band throws out infects everyone in the room.
Musically it’s non-stop smiles as well, and my absolute favourite Burning Hell moment in "Amateur Rappers" when they do the interrupting cow joke has me in pieces. But it’s not all fun and jokes, "Kings of the animal kingdom" pretty much brings a hush to the whole place, and I have tears springing up, it’s just so full of tenderness and poignancy. Shivers. Enthralment. Heart skipping beats. That feeling that nothing else matters but the music.
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That’s what seeing this band has done for me and everyone else there. Really if you don’t know this band yet, I suggest you get their entire back catalogue right now. They remind me of a cooler, quirkier, yes ok… geekier and maybe even nerdier version of The Polyphonic Spree but with less people, fewer instruments, and definitely no robes. OK they’re not very like them at all, but the feeling I get from The Burning Hell is the same.
Mathias and Ariel’s back and forth dialogue sounds just lush and when the evening comes to an end I wish I could rewind and start it all over again. I never realised that ‘geek rock’ was even a thing, let alone how much I would love it. Hopefully I’ll be seeing this band again, I’m sure they need to make a few more visits to London. Because let’s face it, Canada is too far away. Maybe they could even move here? I’d happily start a crowdfund for them to relocate.
To find out more about The Burning Hell click here.
To visit The Burning Hell Facebook page click here.
Words, pictures & interview by Mary Long
