Author: HANNAHS HANGOUTS

23/01/2015 | Fleece

If you look for the definition of ‘Peace’ under the dictionary you’ll find descriptive words such as ‘Soundlessness’ ‘Hush’ and ‘Non Violence’ – three things that were definitely not present at Peace’s gig on January 23rd at The Fleece in Bristol.

Peace are a 4 piece band from Worcester who came onto the music scene in 2012 with their ‘Delicious’ EP since then they have released 2 albums in the last few years. Following their sold at show at the Exchange in Bristol, Peace headlined another sold out show the following night at The Fleece which I had the pleasure of attending.

The Fleece is a venue which has held many metal and rock bands, admittedly I struggled to see where these early 90’s inspired indie quartet would fit in. They sure proved me wrong, the venue was full with eager fans; many sporting the similar floppy hairstyle like lead singer Harry Koisser. Harry Koisser is not just a lead singer but he is truly a front man with each song being a performance; engaging with the crowd and oozing effortless swag. Not to mention he looked the part with his baggy t-shirt and effortless David Beckham 90’s hairstyle.

Diving straight in with Higher Than The Sun the first track off their 2013 album ‘In Love’. The crowd didn’t hesitate to get involved jumping around and singing back the lyrics to the band. The bands sound reflected the high energy of the crowd who had formed some kind of electric joint dance routine as they got themselves into a mosh frenzy which lasted the entire set. Songs such as Lovesick you could hear the crowd singing the words over the symphonious sound of the bass led by Sam Koisser – the brother of lead singer Harry.

The band didn’t show any sign of tiredness nor any signs of slowing down; neither did the crowd. During the show Peace took a break from doing their own tunes and did a cover of Binary Finary’s ’1998’ which is a track found on their EP “Delicious” – great live song however would have been nice to see them cover a song the crowd weren’t expecting.

Finishing the setlist with Sugarstone which left the crowd shouting and demanding for more; they then came back onto the stage with 3 songs for their encore. The final song of the night was World Pleasure – ending it how they started it – definitely not ‘Soundlessness’, with no desire to be ‘Hush’ and with die hard fans ignoring “Non Violence” with their need to mosh. Great band with great catchy lyrics and riffs, however will their success be short lived? A 90’s trend like those baggy psychedelic shirts? That remains to be seen, I’d definitely catch them whilst you can though.

13/11/2015 | Trinity Centre

21/10/2014 | 02 Acadamy Bristol

From University Drop-out to Sold Out Musician. 

Nominated for the BBC sound of 2014, which showcases emerging artists in the last 12 months, George Ezra finished 5^th, beating the likes of rock duo Royal Blood and modern soul band Jungle. A few days later it is announced that his February UK tour sold out in less than 10 minutes – what a year it has been for the University of Bristol drop-out.

On the 21^st October 2014, bluesy artist George Ezra performed at the 02 academy in Bristol, his self-proclaimed musical hometown. The sheer magnitude of the venue was definitely a far cry from the cities’ local pub acoustic scene which Ezra was no stranger to earlier in his career. However, his folksy, acoustic sound isn’t something we haven’t heard before. With no shortage of husky, rustic voices to charm our ears – such as the likes of artists Jake Bugg, Sam Smith and Paolo Nutini – a certain doubt comes to mind… Is Ezra just another guitar-wielding one-hit wonder? Or can he really break his way into such an overcrowded genre?

The sold out arena and excited ambience of the crowd certainly points towards the latter. With the 02 packed to maximum capacity – a notably large percentage of the crowd consisting of swooning females – everyone was straining to get a good view of Ezra; their IPhone cameras at the ready, impatiently urging the English singer-songwriter to arrive on stage.

“It’s good to be back in Bristol, had my hair cut. Took a stroll up park street and got some food – you know, the things you do in Bristol”

Ezra shouts to the audience, with nostalgic affection for the city.

He arrived on stage with such enthusiasm that the whole crowd hushed.

Surprisingly, despite the dramatic anticipation from the fans prior to Ezra’s arrival, this unfortunately didn’t reflect in the crowd whilst he broke into his first song Cassy ‘O, a catchy folk tune from his second EP. The majority of the audience were both expressionless and motionless, lacking any kind of rhythmic movement like a queue of people waiting for their early morning caffeine fix – dull and anticlimactic. However as Ezra continued into his set, the audience noticeably became more receptive to the songs; singing along and actively engaging with Ezra’s attempts to interact with the crowd.

Mid-way through the set he unsurprisingly chose to slow down the tempo and, leaving his band behind, performed Benjamin Twine and Leave It Up To You (both songs are from his debut album, ‘Wanted on Voyage’, which was released in June). The acoustic songs were received extremely well by the fans, despite Ezra’s apologies for the lack of a choir on the album.  The band then returned to quicken the pace with the upbeat Stand By Your Gun – my personal favourite off the album.

Ezra engaged with the audience throughout the set confidently and with a subtle swagger – you couldn’t help but smile at his playful comments…

“This is a song I wrote in Barcelona, it’s called Barcelona”.

At one point Ezra even enthusiastically made a ‘shout-out’ to ‘Sharon’, a member of the audience who had accompanied her daughter to the show, making many a woman in the room jealous, I’m sure! Geddon Shazza!

After launching into his UK No. 1 hit Budapest, from the album ‘Wanted on Voyage’, the whole crowd sung along and danced with fervour (reassuring me they hadn’t lost their ability to move!). Unsurprisingly Ezra looked genuinely pleased to hear his lyrics screamed back to him as his set finished – every artists dream!

At the end of his performance, Ezra kicked off the inevitable encore with Cyndi Lauper’s 80’s power ballad Girls Just Want To Have Fun which was indeed a crowd pleaser – Cyndi Lauper fans eat your heart out!

An overall fantastic performance by George Ezra; his stage presence was not only entertaining but both effortless and enchanting. Ending on EP favourite Did You Hear the Rain? I can safely say that the gig definitely did wash those Tuesday blues away.

02/10/2014 | Trinity Centre

“We really like Bristol, its nice a place – I had a really poor pizza here though”

I had the privilege of heading out to hang with the lovely guys that are Amber Run whilst they were sound checking at Trinity Centre before their gig with Lewis Watson. The venue was large – not unlike a school hall – the sound reverberated off all the walls creating a really energetic vibe.

After the sound check I was introduced to the entire group who were friendly and eager to get the interview rolling, giving me the option to chat with both as a collective and on an individual basis. Opting for a chat with the whole group we went outside into the garden.

“It gets such a bad reputation of being called ‘Shottingham!” Drummer Felix revealed – wryly referring to previous high number of gun crimes that occurred in Nottingham. After forming in their hometown in January 2013, the band started collaborating; writing songs whenever they had a spare moment not spent at Nottingham University – which they all attended.

The guys are currently homeless after their tenancy ran out in July (an inconvenience I’m sure all newly ex-students can sympathize with) so have decided to live out of their bags on the road currently. “Just been doing festivals, no point getting a house straight away. “ The foreseeable future holds more living out of bags for now – Rock ‘n Roll.

This isn’t the first time Amber Run has played in Bristol either. Earlier this year they made an appearance at Dot to Dot festival, a 14 hour treat of live music involving a huge array of venues and up-and-coming bands across Bristol, Manchester and Nottingham. “We actually arrived stage time for Dot to Dot due to the traffic getting down from Manchester”. They assure me that they don’t usually cut it so fine! They also previously played at Thekla (a haven for indie and pop-punk lovers) actually holding the proud title of the first club that bassist Tom went to when he was sixteen. Drummer Felix is also a self-admitted fan of grimy venues and reveals to us all that Thekla, in his eyes, holds the number one spot for sticky floors – “No offence”.

Alas they do not have any say on where they play, claiming that if they did they would perform in large venues. Joking that despite wanting to play in large venues they probably wouldn’t have anyone to fill it – “Hello 02, yes you the guy at the very back”. I asked them if they would rather play bigger venues or smaller venues keeping it “safe”. They responded saying they would play any venue they could sell out and they appreciate anyone who takes the time to come to their show. “We always make an effort to speak to people after the show.” The intimacy between their fans is important.

Talking about the tour with Lewis Watson, the guys enlighten me that there are no barriers between them and the crowd at shows – “They were touching my pedalboards the other day!” However this doesn’t phase them as they feel they’ve seen it all, after having paddington bear join them on stage previously during a show – glory days of Amber Run.

Discussing about highlights of their time together as a band they came to a number of particular moments but one that stood out was their tour with Kodaline at Brixton 02 academy in March earlier this year. Reason being due to the sheer size of the venue and the amount of people who attended. Isle of White and Bushstock festival were amongst their highlights “We did a show in a church where people were jumping on the pews “. The band talk fondly of big shows with their eyes widening with excitement at the thought of it, however small shows are fun as people tend to “Lose their minds” during them.

Touring isn’t all fun and games, with being away from their families and the constant shows it can be tiring and mentally challenging . “On tour you can get really lethargic” however Will continues on to say that despite being tired now he knows as soon as he gets on stage he’ll be filled with adrenaline “But when you get on stage its just nuts, its so fun“. The band have been on a few big tours but with all the festivals they do it seems like more – “We do like 3/4 days in a row so its kind of like a mini tour – 12 mini tours”. Asking them what was their “moment” was when it all became real, all of the tours and the recognition they were getting their way. They responded with Reading and Leeds festival playing the BBC introducing stage. Officially only getting together a year and a half ago, they’re still a small band – many tours to come I’m sure.

Amber Run currently have three EP’s out and the latest one “Pilot” which was released in September can be found in a number of places online – Spotify, Amazon and iTunes. Talking about their latest album they collectively described it as having 3 sides to it. Pilot being upbeat, Thank You being an anthem and Right Now being moody. “This EP has challenged us the most” and it definitely paid off the EP is indeed a collection of those three elements and it sounds great – be sure to have a listen if you haven’t already!

Amber Run can’t get enough of Bristol, the band were sure to mention the Apple Cider Boat, home of the 8% cider. If a good cider isn’t a good enough reason to come back to Bristol, I don’t know what it is! Playing in the City of Bristol once again on the 4th November at the Louisanna. Tickets are still available.