Reviews
A review of Sundara Karma, In Heaven and The Night Café at the Arts Club, Liverpoool. 2nd June, 2016.
A packed Arts Club Loft tonight witnessed the latest stage in the unstoppable rise and rise of Reading band, Sundara Karma.The anticipation and tension was palpable. Crowds swarmed into The Loft the minute the doors opened. The support acts experienced the knock-on benefit of the few hundred people who had arrived early to be sure of prime spots on the barrier.
First band on stage were The Night Café (@nightcafeband on Twitter) fresh from their triumphant Sound City performance over the weekend. Rather like Circa Waves their sound was surely incubated in a summer soundtrack womb. They couldn’t have chosen a more perfect song title than their fourth song of the night, Let the Summer Days Shine. If you listened to them in Winter you would have one escapist eye fixed intently on warmer climes, whilst listening to their other title, Change of Seasons. It was good to hear some banter before the latter. Up to this point the band had run through their set with the occasional “Nice one” from Sean, Here the audience were asked if they were looking forward to Sundara Karma. “This song’s called…What’s it called, lad?” The endearing nature of this Scouse chat between songs was further evidenced before final number Together. “We’ve got one more and it’s shite!” “No it’s not.” “Yes it is”. Following a plug from Dan for their headline slot at the Buyers’ Club next month they launched into a song that was anything but shite. Jangly guitars and an upbeat melody that can’t help but put a sunny smile on your face. Vocally, Sean’s intonation and pronunciation sometimes sound poignantly like Kris Leonard of Viola Beach. Similarly the guitar work on Time is so similar to VB’s Like a Fool, and Boys that Sing that you could be forgiven for thinking that you were listening to River Reeves playing. It would be a fitting tribute to Viola if The Night Café were to go on to achieve the bigger and greater things that the Warrington band were destined for, spreading their sunny melodies and guitar licks as they go.
Set list: Time, The Way of Mary (Not Hail Mary as I misheard!), Addicted, Let the Summer Days Shine, Change of Seasons, Together.
The Night Café are: Sean Martin (vocals/guitar) Josh Higgins (guitar) Arran O’Connell (bass) and Dan Fell (drums)
Next band In Heaven (@inheaven on Twitter) also played Sound City, with a set on the main Atlantic Stage on Sunday. This Arts Club gig was an altogether different proposition. Standing right next to the speaker stack in a small venue with hundreds of sweaty punters I could feel each pounding of the bass drum, whilst every note from the bass reverberated through my body. This is what makes rock n roll. The set was loud, brash, hard and driven. On Stupid Things they sounded like a young Oasis in full flight. This energy and creativity is no doubt one of the reasons why they have been championed by a certain Julian Casablancas. Chatting to the band after the show, we joked about how it is a relief that The Strokes frontman is the one talking about them. Imagine the death knell sounding with the announcement that they are Rick Astley’s new fave band. (apologies to all you thousands of Astley fans out there. He’s never gonna give you up)
Third song Baby’s Alright is fast, infectious rock with a chord structure and rhythm that takes you back to the blues/r n’ b influenced sixties band such as the Stones, the Animals, the Yardbirds and the Who. It makes you want to move and shake, on your own or in the quiet corner of a candlelit room for two. This song, great over headphones, is an epic proposition live, with a supremely catchy singalong hook that you can easily pick up on first hearing.
Their final song Regeneration is their My Generation, a passionate explosion, a psychedelic maelstrom of layered guitars and drums and emphatic reverberating vocals. It is an immense finale, a tribute to the freedom of youth. After expending all that energy they deserve that drink: “We’ve got two songs left. Does anyone know our songs?” asks singer James Taylor. “You (points as the hands go up)…you…you…You might know these two. It’s been amazing supporting Sundara Karma. We’re going to have a drink…DRINK!”
This band is really one to watch. They have so much on their side: energy, enthusiasm, photogenia (is that a word, you ask?) and the trump card: imagine every time you introduce your band and you can say, “We’re In Heaven.” Add to this songs that are in your face yet thoughtful, plus great charisma and a nice nature. Chatting to them for ten minutes after the show I found them intelligent, approachable and knowledgable. We covered everything from Black Sabbath, and Ozzy’s inability to remember his lyrics, to clothes (leather jackets, blue sparkly pants, David Bowie tee shirts, the size of tee shirt to buy from the merch stall, vintage clothes shops in London, Liverpool and Manchester) We talked of festivals, touring with and learning from Sundara Karma and the Big Moon and wanting to progress from UK festivals to the US and Japan, plus maybe a future festival slot in India!
I thoroughly recommend that you check out this band further, although their videos are not for the faint-hearted or for those with photosensitive epilepsy. You will see what I mean!
Set list: All There Is, Stupid things, Baby’s Alright, Meat Somebody, Real Love, Drift, Bitter Town, Regeneration.
In Heaven are: James Taylor (lead vocals and guitar) Chloe Little (bass and vocals) Jake Lucas (lead guitar) and Jack McGruwer on drums.
And so ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, the moment you have all been waiting for. Sundara Karma. Well nearly! The sound checks seemed to last an eternity before Haydn, Ally, Dom and Oscar finally emerged through the smoke to take up their places and launch into A Young Understanding. Within less than a second a seething mass of teenagers and young adults began to bounce in unison and scream back the lyrics. This song hurtles along the highway of your soul at breakneck speed, the lyrics reflecting the emotional rollercoaster of entrapment and ultimate escape. “Hold on tight, you’ve got a way to go, you’re terrified by the open road, in a daze you’ve lost control…Let go there is nothing more to hide.” There are references to cruising round and being on a downward slope before the ultimate exhortation to “reach for a sign, reach for an understanding.” Hundreds belted back the line at Oscar, who stood back and let them take over. All is not hunky dory but there is hope of something brighter as life drags you along at lightning speed by the scruff of the neck. Now which teenager and young adult cannot identify with that?
They are not dissimilar in fullness of sound to a modest Dublin four piece who inhabit the stadiums of the world. Or a certain boss from New Jersey who was born to run and to play three hour rock n roll shows for a living. Fifth song, Diamond Cutter, plays out like an up tempo With or Without You, with deep brooding baritone vocals that ascend into falsetto and descend once more. Add to this a thumping bass line and Edge-like guitar work, the same single note picked repeatedly and insistently. The song is a lyrical message of hope: the diamond needs to be cut and go through the fire in order to shine. No pain, no gain seems to be a recurring theme in many these songs but hope and the optimism of youth wins out in the end. It is just the same in Vivienne, the ideal woman you will give up everything for so that you can change the world together. “Live and hope for the best,” although there will be tough times: “A loving kindness that’s both brutal and bleak.”
It was at this point that all Oscar broke loose. He knows how to work the audience, with a glance askance at an adoring fan, or an angling of the mic stand over the sea of heads so that it picks up the singalong crowd. During Vivienne he launched himself full speed into the front rows and surfed, then lunged, then lounged, sending security staff scurrying into the photo pit to try unsuccessfully to drag him back onto the stage. It is this pure unadulterated gig drama and stagecraft that the audience craves. They grasp at him, like the sick trying to touch the hem of Jesus’ robe, looking at him to bring healing for all their teen angst. Maybe, judging by the smiles that greet the euphoric anthems, that is exactly what he does, just for one night at least.
The band run through all their- it sounds funny to say this- oldies and hits such as Run Away, Flame, Freshbloom, The Night and play new songs from the forthcoming album. All these are well received as they possess the same relentless energy of their previous material. The highlight of these is She Said (“Hopefully you’ll feel strongly about it”)(Hopefully I’ve got the title right. Someone please correct me if it’s wrong!) We did feel strongly about it! It was an unbridled rock n roll frenzy with a pulsatingly addictive rhythm that burrowed deep inside.
When the band went off after Vivienne, there remained a constant loud drone from the PA that mirrored the throbbing excitement in the expectant Loft before they returned once more for blistering versions of The Night (slower than on the EP but with more emphasis on the lyrics) and current single, Loveblood.
Like an oven-ready chicken (sorry vegetarians!) Sundara Karma are undoubtedly stadium-ready. When they finally graduate to playing arenas and stadiums there will be little to do. They will simply have to crank up the volume a little bit more and they are ready to go: their sound is stadium ready, their songs epic, intelligent, driven creations. There is a certain poetry in the lyrics that again draws comparisons with Bono and Springsteen, clever, creative, standout lines that you stick in your consciousness. “Push me aside, tell me I’m wonderful” for example. Listen to the songs and it becomes obvious.
These much touted indie darlings will deservedly play the main stage at Reading this year, having recently supported Nothing But Thieves, The Wombats and Circa Waves. There is every chance that their light will be shining even more brightly than these luminaries by the time the year is out. The band are tight as a nun’s…err…chastity belt. Their sounds blend perfectly like the ingredients of a cosmic curry, a sundara karmic concoction that is spicy, appetising, fulfilling and delectable for the senses. It leaves you knowing that you have tasted something special. I would not be surprised if they followed in the footsteps of Catfish and the Bottlemen with a breakthrough act nomination before long.
Sundara Karma are: Oscar Lulu (vocals/guitar) Haydn Evans (drums) Ally Baty (guitar) and Dom Cordell (bass)
Words and pictures by Si ©Cre8ivation
