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Live Review: Scout Leader at Nambucca

Written by Jacob Thompson on . Posted in Reviews.

August 30th, 2018, and the Fuse crew descended on Nambucca, north London, for our first gig of the year. Proto-post-punk rockers Scout Leader did not disappoint, bringing together a smorgasbord of far flung fans for an unforgettable evening. The atmosphere in Nambucca calmly escalated from relaxed family get-together to a deep-dive mosh, with supports Dreamherbs and Flaccid providing a clean run up to the main event.

Dreamherbs, a Walthamstow based free jazz duo drew the first of the night’s dancers to the stage with their mix of ambient and heavy sounds, blending dreamy guitar riffs into heavy choruses and turning lilting lyrics to screamed solos at the drop of a hat. Hot off their heels, psychedelic punk four-piece Flaccid served up a short but sweet set of headbangers to get the crowd ready and riled up for a good old bit of floor-scuffing – they were, as they’ve often said of themselves, ‘a bit noisy’, and all for the better.

For from the noise emerged first-time headliners Scout Leader, smashing straight into their set with a high-energy heart attack of an opener. Charlie Butler’s thunderous voice merged perfectly with the tightly controlled chaos of Linus Munch’s distorted shredding, and bassist Tom Allan provided a well-placed weight to round out their sound. The crowd surged along to the pull of the music and every head in the room tested the strength of the neck beneath it to the beat of drummer Alfie Blundell’s skintight rhythms.

Where Scout Leader really excelled was in embracing the latent power in their enrapt audience, tapping into the raw energy present and launching themselves into the crowd at every opportunity. Shirts came off and sweat swept the floor right up to the grand finale, a bunker bomb of a banger, over as fast as it began, passing by in a hurricane of stage dives and tossed instruments.

As Scout Leader’s loving fans charged forwards to embrace the band one cautious soul managed to spare Linus’ discarded guitar from the stampede – but there’s no real worry here; even should they lose a few instruments along the way, this lot are going places.

 

See more from the bands here:

Scout Leader: https://www.facebook.com/scoutleaderband

Dreamherbs: https://www.facebook.com/dreamherbss

Flaccid: https://www.facebook.com/Flaccid-183578802502374/

 

Live Review: Bishop Nehru at Band on The Wall

Written by Mia Edwards on . Posted in Reviews.

In 2014 Bishop Nehru and MF Doom teamed up for NehruvianDoom. Nehru brought the bars, Metal Face brought the beats. Bishop Nehru was 18 years old. What were you doing at 18 years old? I’ll tell you what I was doing. I was being dragged out of dodgy Manchester indie clubs for vomiting indiscreetly on the bar. Nehru was making tracks with Doom. Now, at the ripe old age of 21, one of the world’s most hyped hip hop artists is back with his official solo debut: Elevators: Act I and II.

Doom looms large on Elevators – he produced half of it, after all. Kaytranada took the reins on the other half, giving Acts I and II pretty distinct vibes. ‘Act I: Ascension’ is identifiably Kaytranada and ‘Act II: Free Falling’ is clearly Doom’s work. Nehru’s latest live shows then, provided him with the opportunity to step out from the enormous shadows cast by one of the all-time greats and one of the biggest names, of any genre, of the last few years. Not content to stand in their shadows – ‘cuz like I’m third wheelin’, I know I don’t wanna be there’ – Nehru stepped out.

The show at Manchester’s historic Band on the Wall gets off to a fairly chilled start. The crowd – like every coffee ordered in the Northern Quarter since 2015 – is flat and white. Nehru talks about his plan for the set. Different vibes, he says. Early on, some of his classic early 90’s-style tracks. As he moves up to Elevators, some jazzier stuff. ‘Rooftops’, the song from which the above lyric is taken, is a standout. His delivery is flawless throughout and the room picks up quickly.

Forty-five minutes in and Nehru really turns it on, with something he wrote when he was 15… ‘Welcome’ is a J Dilla classic (‘DFTF’) that features an insane final verse. The music stops abruptly and the crowd falls silent. Nehru continues rapping, quickening all the time. As everyone in the room begins to realise they’re witnessing something special, the crowd stops dancing too. As he spits the final bar, it erupts. The rest of the set is a party.

To paraphrase Dilla, Bishop Nehru still has some way to go; but on this evidence, he won’t be third wheelin’ anymore.

 

– Reviewed by Billy Godfrey