After a week in New Orleans and an expedition to Brighton for The Great Escape, my musical May adventures have come to an end in the UK city of Liverpool (no stranger to musical celebration with streets of Beatles related memorabilia) for the annual industry conference and festival, Liverpool Sound City. Like The Great Escape the weekend before, Liverpool Sound City takes over its city for three days and nights, with a mix of brand new, up-and-coming and established artists gracing its stages. Let’s waste no time and start looking back at these artists…
My Sound City kicked off with Liverpool band The Hummingbirds (pictured above and in header) playing at the Official Welcome Party on the Wednesday night, at the beautiful Liverpool Town Hall. The event even had the town Sherriff attending. I honestly didn’t know those still existed. I would go on to see the band play three more times over the course of the festival: for the Queen (yes, the actual Queen), on the rooftop of a Starbucks (yes, Beatles style – they even played a cover of “Day Tripper” for good measure – see the second photo above) and at their own headlining show.
Their music is decidedly Liverpudlians, with comparisons being made to the Beatles in the way they dress (all wear long black v-necks), and the music itself. It’s definitely a justified comment; I for one felt the music was late Lennon Beatles, while the lyrics were early-to-mid Lennon Beatles. In other words, a little more simplistic (songs about Liverpool and girls etc.), while musically quite layered. They’re a band who have a good shot at making it on the world stage, so definitely keep your ear out for them – and stay tuned for our interview with the group!
Keeping things local, the first artist I saw on the first official night of proceedings was Liverpool artist Luke Fenlon (pictured above), at the beautiful art deco Epstein Theatre, located in the heart of Liverpool up a massive flight of stairs. Luke produces some great Britpop – the young fro’d talent caught somewhere in a world of Arctic Monkeys, Athlete and the Kooks – with a good amount of whistling thrown in for good measure. “Demons” was my favourite track of the set.
I made my way to catch Austrian/UK group Bensh (pictured above), who you may remember we profiled at Canadian Music Week. With the phenomenal track “Doubt” and the instrumental “Juice”, alongside set closer “Bonafide”, the three piece put on a great set, sounding better than what I experienced at CMW – though I think that just came down to the PA system. I still think a live drummer would be the icing on the cake for this band, but all the same they produce a highly energetic, entertaining live show, with music that belongs on radio stations around Australia and the world.
Back at the Epstein Theatre, Electric Guest put on a phenomenal set, sounding better than they did at the SXSW Jack White showcase, while Peace had some phenomenally catchy riffs. Brisbane’s Bonfire Nights (pictured above) also got a listen in, with their music sounding much more psychedelic than I remember, and rock and roll through and through. Can’t wait to hear their new stuff! “You Are Your Own Worst Enemy” ended their high energy set.
Chew Lips (pictured above) impressed at the Red Bull stage, with the lead singer reminding me a little of Hayley from The Jezabels, though the music and her voice were different; I would even go so far as to call them a terrifically unique group. They were a tight band, her voice was phenomenal and I just wish I caught more than two songs.
Slow Club were headlining Noisey’s Liverpool Academy of Arts stage (set up in a garage), with an anticipated set that followed an earlier performance by Mystery Jets, who we caught in Brighton. They wasted no time, kicking things off with a drum beach the second they touched the stage, running into their first track. Like Chew Lips before them, they were a unique act, though I feel like someone plucked them straight out of the 60s and made them play today, with male and female dual vocals and some adorable enthusiasm. The set included “Our Most Brilliant Friend”, “Never Look Back” and more. A wonderful live band, to say the least.
Ending my night was the band that would be the highlight of my time in Liverpool, Splendour bound UK group Django Django. Performing in a recommissioned car park (specifically for this festival), the band took their album and magnified the intensity, adding more synth, percussion and cowbell… oh and some Arabian keys. “War”, “Life’s a Beach” and single “Default” were the highlights of the set, which had me dancing from start to finish. Their music feels a little like The Beta Band 2.0, and it’s no coincidence that there is a sibling relationship between the two groups. If I was you I’d be counting down the days until they arrive for Splendour – tight, energetic, entertaining and seemingly just downright good guys, this is everything you want from a band and more.
