#est fast

Tufnell Park-Boston Music Room, London- 2nd October 2016

Words & Photos: Chloe Zarha

I had been looking forward to this one for a while. Once DIY magazine announced their line-up of their October All-Dayer, it was evident they had intentionally handpicked a satisfying selection from the ever-developing emerging British indie artist bill. Prides have solidly featured on my monthly Spotify playlists for some time now and Will Joseph Cook made some pretty impressive appearances on summer festival circuit this year so I was excited to see him perform again; this time in a more intimate London setting.

  Eat fast, Trudy and the Romance, Will Joseph Cook, Honeyblood and Scottish duo Prides were on the original line-up for the night but Honeyblood, unfortunately, had to drop out last-minute. Although missed, the show went on and what a show it was. Genghar were also on the decks in-between sets which meant it was a super slick evening from start to finish.

  Starting off at 6PM, Eat Fast took to the stage. Despite being the first act, even the bar staff stopped polishing pint glasses to have a listen. Bursting with energy and flooding the stage and venue with their robust fuzz-rock, these guys definitely left the small but growing crowd in good spirits. Even though the quartet only started making music late last year, Eat Fast can already boast Reading and Leeds festival slots and plenty of national radio airtime.

  Next up was Will Joseph Cook and his trusty band. Just a few minutes before he jumped on stage he was sat chatting to some mates in a booth next to the stage, sincerely unfazed by his growing prominence in the new music scene. His calm confidence in between sets and on stage made you almost forget this frontman is not even twenty yet, but his vocals and lyrics reek with maturity, not to mention raw talent. He played his new single Sweet Dreamer, which coincidently was Annie Mac’s record of the week on Radio 1. He also treated the crowd with others from his strong line of EPs, including Take me Dancing and Girls Like Me. It was irrefutable that this summer has been good to Cook, great even. Although he brought the same collection of songs to the stage his on-stage persona seemed to have progressed to no end in the space of a few months. His passion for what he was doing still seeping through into his material though. Can’t wait to see what he’ll achieve in his first string of headline shows this month.

  Trudy and the Romance were the next band to literally emerge from the crowd and perform their set. This gig seemed to be all about the music, not about contrived entrances and awkward MCs; when bands weren’t doing their thing on stage Genghar were lining up killer indie tunes from past and present for the punters to sip their drinks to. Band members chilled by the bar, swigging beers and bringing those same beers onto stage with them. No backstage VIP bar, everyone was sipping from the same watering hole. It was almost like DIY were presenting their own version of Sofar Sounds, no barriers between musicians and the crowd, and everyone mucking in together between sets.

The third act, Trudy and the Romance, previously just ‘Trudy’, took to the stage under their new name and played to the largest crowd the room had seen all evening. The Liverpool-bred band did put their all into their 50s pop-sounding set, and the crowd lapped it up. I am not sure if the excitement was growing at the inevitability of Prides, or sheer appreciation of these boys-either way the trio took it all in and after their set the crowd was well and truly ‘warmed-up’ for Prides.

  This was Prides’ first appearance in the capital since their sold-out gig at London Koko last year. This show, I’m sure was the better of the two, so intimate; everyone seemed to be real fans of the music, chanting the anthemic lyrics back at the band. And it was an unusual sight that there were very few phones on show; a real rarity. From the moment the Glaswegian-based band set foot on stage you could tell each song was delivered with a wealth of performing experience, these guys were pros, and they seemed to be loving being on a smaller stage. Lead singer Stewart even shared how truly ‘comfortable’ they felt on the very stage, and in London in general.

  The band stormed through their set of infectious synth-pop songs, picking their favourites from their debut album The Way Back Up, and also playing more recent material which was written on the road this summer, Rome and Are You Ready.

  All in all, DIY curated a thoroughly enjoyable all-evening event, and without sounding cliché, this won’t be the last we see or hear from these 4 acts. All set to release more music in 2016, and for each of these artists this show was the first in a mini-tour around the UK. Great great things to come.

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