[Gig Review] Hidden Charms plus support @ The Warehouse, Huddersfield for Hud Radio. Thursday 24th September 2015
I was invited down to this gig by Richard, the drummer from Bang Bang Romeo, who is involved with the Uni radio station, planning and setting up some gigs. This can only be fruitful for possible future ventures down to Hudd! Looking forward to these already but in the mean time I had a evening of talent lined up in a decent sized venue which seemed to make their stage a priority with plenty of lighting and decoration around it. Wish some more venues would pay abit of attention to their stages... but anyway, I digress!
The first act I saw was a singer/songwriter name Fran Minney. Cool little acoustic set with her partner playing some really nice tunes and Fran sounding like you should be laid in a field with sunshine and cider. She tried her best to get the crowd involved but being first to perform unfortunately for her there were only a couple of people joining in. Still got a couple of tracks that I would souncloud again.
FACEBOOK - Fran Minney
SOUNDCLOUD - Fran Minney
Second up, Larkins, who look like they could have rows of screaming female fans at every gig but sound a little bit more technical than that sort of crowd usually attracts. The lads have a few really wispful, solid indie corkers ready for your ears to enjoy. My only annoyance was the dreaded "oh oh oh"s featured in the track that they're releasing as a single. For me that just screams that they want to make it by instant, formulaic music... you lads are better than that! Really spot on guys to chat to afterwards so i'll keep my fingers crossed for you boys. If you wish to delve into Larkins world, you can do so here...
FFO: Arctic Monkeys, Marsicans, Two Door Cinema Club
FACEBOOK - LARKINS
SOUNDCLOUD - LARKINS
I feel abit like a stalker when it comes to Bang Bang Romeo now, they keep impressing me more every time I see them and having spotified (maybe not a word... yet) the hell out of them in recent weeks, I think they're providing a soundtrack to this time in my life which I am more than happy about. Again I would like to review the sheer quality of this band throughout all it's areas. Drums, extremely strong and providing the groundwork the rest to build on. Bass, add an extra layer of cool on to the sound. Lead guitar, sickeningly great in it's delivery and has me transfixed every time. Vocals... well... shook me to my core doesn't really go hard enough. An operatic assault on my senses would be a better description. This band shine bright at the minute for me and with upcoming 'Big' gigs, I can only see this ever increasing. Check these out before they creep up on you:
FFO: Yeah Yeah Yeah's, Led Zeppelin.
FACEBOOK - Bang Bang Romeo
SOUNDCLOUD - Bang Bang Romeo
Hidden Charms were exactly that for me, hidden! Hell knows why because i'm pretty sure It's All Indie has written something about them before. Maybe because I'm miles away from their base of London where they've been tickling the NME residency of Koko, i'm going to use that as my excuse for missing the boat on these guys so far. However I am now fully on board! Smashed it live and there's no wonder they have attracted some attention from legendary music producers. The guys go so hard they look like they're enjoyable in pain. Some technical difficulties on the evening still didn't stop them roaring through with great success. I think the biggest compliment I could pay them is they just had that aura that comes along with a band every now and then. Heroes to talk to afterwards aswell and i'm the lead singer was just being polite but he did tell me I could go free to any gig of theirs in the future... no matter how big! hahaha I'll hold you to that.
FFO: The Rolling Stones, The Who, The White Stripes.
FACEBOOK - Hidden Charms
All Photo Credit: Joe Brumby
Fingers crossed my next time down in Hudd will be as good, I'll certainly keep you posted.