Subba-Cultcha, MixRadio & Electric Monkey Light The Fuse At The Barfly
Published
There’s an overwhelming sense of excitement in the air, three bands are about to rock the hell out of the Camden Barfly and the anticipation from the crowd is intense. Everyone is looking forward to seeing how this kicks off!
Saturday evening in Camden and there's a buzz of electricity flowing through the streets. The crowds are preparing themselves for whatever carnage they're about to involve themselves in and the venues are getting ready to host the parties taking place. The sense of hedonism is rife, folks are walking the streets looking for a great show and by god this is what they got if they found themselves in the Barfly.
Subba-Cultcha, MixRadio and Electric Monkey from Propaganda were teaming up to host an evening of live music and DJs. Three bands on the ascendancy were ready to perform, the stage was set, the crowd were gathering and the alcohol was flowing. It was on like Donkey Kong!
Kicking off the evening were Bel Esprit, an Indie Rock 4 piece from Southampton and boy did they kick things off. Energetic, entertaining and best of all electric. The crowd responded by throwing themselves towards the stage, dancing and bouncing around, loving the fantastic guitar riffs reverberating off the walls and ceiling.
The set was the perfect opener, ensuring everyone in the room was in the right frame of mind and their live version of “Lose My Mind” was brilliant. Hats off to Bel Esprit, we’ll definitely be paying very close attention to these chaps going forward, ones to watch for 2015 without doubt.
Next up were the Glass Caves and having seen the chaps from Pontefract live before I had exceptionally high expectations. They also happen to have released what is in my opinion the best debut album of 2014. I shit you not, if you haven’t heard Alive yet, I will forgive you for pausing from reading the rest of this review while you go and search for “Go” on Youtube.
There are a number of things that impress me with Matt, Elliot, Connor and Will. First off is their ability to put on a performance; Matt’s banter with the crowd (and his vocals of course!), Will and Connor’s intense but perfect guitar skills and then there’s Elliot... who seems to become possessed by Keith Moon and goes for broke on the drums. A fantastic stage presence and some of the best tunes you’ll hear around right now.
Needless to say I was pretty happy. Opening with “Go”, they followed where Bel Esprit had left off and the crowd went nuts. The atmosphere remained at a peak throughout and tracks such as “Out Of Control” and “Drive” sent the crowd into a frenzy. A great performance and it has reassured me that the Glass Caves will be inundated with festival opportunities through 2015. Also let me just say this, if you’re given the opportunity to see them live, don’t think… just say yes!
To finish the evening The Jacques were up and the boys from Bristol had a lot to live up to. The benchmark had been set, it was all or nothing…
As soon as Fin and the guys took the stage you could tell they were in a good place. The band are young, they’re passionate and they bounce around the stage (and off one another) like they don’t have a care in the world. It’s great fun to watch and Fin really seemed to be enjoying himself with a perpetual smile on his face representing the bands joy of the live environment.
“Pretty DJ” the Jacques debut EP has some absolute corkers on it; my personal favourite “Scum In A Bottle”, “Foreign Films” and of course the title track “Pretty DJ”. As the band went through the set they became more and more confident with the crowd, the atmosphere and the response to their music. It was 2am in Camden, the room was packed and the band were loving it. A great performance!
The night had been a fantastic showcase of new music; exciting bands with superb tracks that inspired the audience to dance around, creating a buzzing atmosphere. It couldn’t have been more of a success.
And before you draw any aspersions as to my objectivity with regards to reviewing the evening, yes of course I’m heavily biased, but my response is this... why would Subba-Cultcha invite three mediocre bands down to perform? The answer is we wouldn’t and that's why we asked Bel Esprit, The Glass Caves and The Jacques to be involved. Three bands who've massively impressed us this year. Excellence was the only level acceptable… they all delivered.
Click here for Subba-Cultcha's interview with Fin from The Jacques.
A big thanks goes to all the bands involved and their management. Lauren, Justin and Jake from MixRadio and Dan, Jules and Roxi from Electric Monkey. Last but not least Zoe at Mission.
Words by Mark Jennings
Photos by Natalie Adams
