As a northerner it was refreshing to be off to a gig being headlined by a band from Leeds, my hometown. Forever Cult and props for not calling themselves something like ’43VACVLT!’ because we all know that no one likes that. However I do not feel this band will not stay forever cult, in fact, they’ll get quite popular (see what I did there).
Everything was pointing to this being a chilled yet hopefully loud night before anyone even plugged in. The lineup, three diverse guitar acts and totally free of charge; you have to hand it to both the venue and the promoter ‘Millions’.
The first band that played was called Wayde. Almost Mac Demarco dreamy yet jangly guitar licks with fuzzy grunginess over it. The singer can’t decide whether he’s from Manchester or California (turns out he’s from neither, he’s somewhere in the south of England) but if you want the American beach dreams of 4 random southerners this is your band.
Atlas Wynd was on second and they killed it to be fair. For a band that’s only been a three piece for a couple of months, they have such a defined sound. I can’t really describe it and you probably have to see them live since none of their tracks online feature their new bassist who has some Mick Jagger chicken style moves and crazy eyes. I asked the front man if the name was based on Ayn Rand’s ‘Atlas Shrugged’ and he said he’s never heard of Ayn Rand it’s just the street he lives on. I now feel bad that he might look up Ayn Rand (don’t look her up).
Forever Cult rocked and manage to have a really diverse set list whilst still sounding very unique. Scuzzy grunge tones but with interesting time signatures and algebraic formulae that made me stand there and stroke my chin a few times as well as head bang, a delight for any math rock fan. You can’t fully describe these lads as a math rock band (or guitar orchestra) but I just had to simply point out how competent FC’s guitar capability is. Deep set pop sensibilities with no fear of progressive instrumentals here and there just to compliment the grooves, and these guys are totally a groovy band. What really sets them apart is front man Kieran Clarke’s stage presence and his vocals that really make their sound what it is. He’s a mad head, which is what you need in any front man. But he’s also got a great range and uses it intelligibly, great set of lungs for those growly shouty moments and sincerely bluesy melodies. First time I’ve seen them, I’m a fan!
Most of their tracks were pretty chaotic in sound but there were also tracks like ‘Sun Trap’ that sounds like some strange cross between Modern Baseball and The Verve and for some reason reminded me of Pavement. But everything sounds like Pavement nowadays doesn’t it.