Spying On The Garden Through A Lens
Published
Meet The Garden through a few words and some photos - they are a delight.
In a day and age where all musical genres are being explored - sometimes more than one combined at the same time - it’s less frequent that you find a band that truly stand out as something, unique. I think you may well discover, after diving headfirst into a fair few sweaty mosh-pits, hippie-arm-flailing circles and head-banging sessions, that to come across a duo like The Garden, is a breath of fresh air.
The Garden come in the shape and form of identical twins Fletcher and Wyatt Shears from Orange County, who are noticeably tall, slim, and might I add, a photographers dream to point a lens at. They experience many a lens being pointed at them both for their modelling endeavours and at their live gigs, and unsurprisingly so - they really ain't anything you've ever seen before. All you can say is it's a trip in the VadaVerse.
These two are such showmen onstage, they pour a pure confidence out in front of people and their evident comfort to mess around and be themselves as if no one were watching, is mesmorising. They been doin’ it a while now, and it’s clear they are damn good at their instruments which is actually so fucking great to experience – they are a tight duo, speeding through cleverly constructed songs.
'The Garden' are something you cannot label, and that’s the whole idea of why they created their own genre ‘VadaVada’ – a dance, their music, a way of life. Each song Fletcher and Wyatt play is no more than two minutes long. They combine wit with deeper messages in their lyrics all at once, they play a haunting and energising kind of music with punk influences evident throughout – of course apart from when they both leave their drums and bass and take a microphone each and rap over deep jungle-esque dub beats.
It’s always an entertaining memorable time when you enter the VadaVerse with these boys. I keep comin’ back for more and I can’t wait to continue to do so along their journey that I feel I know will only continue to grow and grow – kind of like a garden I guess…
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I peered at the twins through my different camera lenses when I met the guys at The Lion Café in Clapton in London for a secret electronic gig they did, and then again at their main London gig at The Boston Arms a couple of days later. Here's a selection.
Photos and words by Jo Wells
{Keep your eyes open in the new year for our exclusive interview with Fletcher & Wyatt}.
