[GIG REVIEW] Will Joseph Cook @ Barfly, Camden 23rd March 2016

Fresh from three mega-hyped and mega-packed shows at this year's SXSW in Austin Texas, including a prime time slot at Spotify's showcase, Will Joseph Cook and his band returned to London for a sold out headline show at the Barfly in Camden.

An extremely accomplished live performer, and now with an extremely tight band behind him, WJC played a handful of songs from his debut EP "Beach" as well as his new single "Girls Like Me" which received a massive cheer from the crowd and led to a huge singalong. Other highlights included as yet unreleased "Take Me Dancing" and "Water's Gone Cold", the latter an incredible solo acoustic track that silenced the crowd.


Seeing WJC live is a must in order to understand his unique talent, especially vocally, but his skills as a songwriter. As much as Jeff Buckley is an unavoidable but legitimate comparison, there are also hints of Everything Everything, Mystery Jets and Talking Heads. It's also worth checking out the video for "Girls Like Me", which WJC wrote and directed himself (see below). The scariest part is he's only 18... go figure!

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Gig Review... The Computers @ London Barfly, 18th November 2014

"Ladies and Gentlemen... Welcome to the church. Welcome to the church of rock & roll!" front man Al calmly said to a sold-out Camden Barfly, a room packed with a mixed age group of dancers and moshers. "We are The mother fucking Computers".

© Nathan McLaren-Stewart

The Computers took to the stage at the intimate Camden venue and exploded into a new song, 'Weigh Down'. It's an impressive track, not too different from the content of their most recent album 'Love Triangles Hate Squares'. It's a slightly awkward start to the set as the eager fans aren't familiar with the song, but needless to say, it got toes tapping and heads nodding.

'Weigh Down' flowed into 'Bring Me The Head Of A Hipster' which caused the crowd to get a bit more angsty. Eager youths shoved about at the front whilst the sides of the room were filled with slightly older fans, possibly being reminded of the sounds of Elvis Costello's 'Pump It Up' when The Computers jammed out 'Love Triangles Hate Squares', the title track from their 2013 release.

There was a mixture of new and old tracks. 'This Ain't Right', another new song did not fail to please. 'Rhythm Revue' was a favourite for the moshers as Screaming Al walked through the middle of the crowd to stand on the bar at the back. "I have to stand on the bar" he said. "I found out today that I am only 5ft 8 and that made me upset."

 © Nathan McLaren-Stewart

Shortly after the moshers had their moment, the dancers had theirs. The now very sweaty front man stood at the front of the stage after chucking his guitar across to the tour manager. "Now ladies and gentlemen, this is what I want to see." The keys kicked in and 'Call On You!' marked the start of swinging and a bit of ballroom dancing. Al jumped off the stage and grabbed the first partner he could, an also very sweaty and red teenager, and started prancing around the mosh pit in a ballroom dancing style manner. Everyone looked around for a partner, whether they knew the person or not as the front man was thrown about from fan to fan.

"This is the last song babies, because you know, music is dead!" Closing the 9 song set, the vocalist was back standing on the bar after calling for a wall of death during 'Music is Dead'. The powerful punk track that ended with Al crowd surfing from the back of the stage only left the hyper crowd wanting more from the Exeter five piece.

 

 © Nathan McLaren-Stewart

The band came back onstage to perform a two song encore that included the sing-a-long anthem 'Single Beds' before ending the gig. The band walked off stage whilst gig goers were still trying to grasp what had just happened. 

Wall of deaths, ballroom dancing and a vocalist singing on the bar. It goes without saying that the band absolutely destroyed London... after all, they are The mother fucking Computers! 

Keep your eyes out for a very special photo gallery of the band coming soon.

- Written by Nathan McLaren-Stewart (@nxths)

- Photos by Nathan McLaren-Stewart

Gig Review... Coasts @ Camden Barfly, London, 1st April 2014

Camden Barfly is one of those venues bands look back on and say, ‘remember when we played there’. Well, after tonight, Coasts may well have just earned themselves the right to utter those words too.

For those of you thinking ‘Coasts’ sound like another one of those average indie band names that will get lost under the pile in next to no time, I’d like to stop you there. The proud words, ‘this is our first sold out London show’, spouted by frontman Chris Caines show just how much the band have grown over the past year. Another example is the crowd they’ve gathered tonight. Whilst not the liveliest crowd any band could wish for, they certainly made up for it by belting every known lyric to the short, but sweet set the band provided. It seems that a capacity of around just 200 people has brought together fans of all ages leading me to question whose Coasts’ target fan group actually are, when I realise, it’s pretty much everyone! The 80s synth beats mean the forty-somethings in the crowd don’t have to shy away from the small, sweaty teens who are inheriting the kind of beats they listened to thirty years before them.

The boys from Bristol open emphatically with, ‘Wallow’ a clattering, anthemic experience which saw lead singer Chris twist and turn in between his band mates bellowing lyrics, ‘wallow in the middle, wallow in the mire, wallow in the fields where your feet are on fire’. It’s their biggest song and one of the biggest openings to shake Barfly’s walls. ‘Your Soul’ and ‘Stay’ also bring familiar rings to fans ears as they now begin to have a bit of a dance to the jubilant vibes. There’s a good feeling in the air alright. The band, who have been writing their debut album, also give the crowd a taste of what to expect in the months to come, with a new track, ‘Let Go’, a heavy, tropical seaside kind of synthesized tune which has the sound to become a fan favourite soon. Next up is ‘Don’t Let The Light Go Out’ which is a more gentle song, relying on the soothing twang of the guitar and shimmering symbols. ‘Golden City’ is another fans can expect to hear on the new album and it brings with it a wavering and intense build up before bursting wide open. 

The main purpose of the show is to release the band’s latest single, ‘Rush of Blood’ and they don’t shy away from it at all. There’s elements of Two Door Cinema Club adorned in tropical electronic piano beats and you can imagine Coasts filling out a packed festival tent there and then. Soon enough band members and crowd members are bouncing in unison and if this song’s anything to go by, the album will be a good’un, reinforced by the man who worked on Two Door’s debut album, Eliot James, producing the record. All night a group of lads next to me had been shouting the beginning of the lyrics to the band’s most well known song, ‘Oceans’, and forty-five minutes in their dreams come true. Sadly though it was the last song, but Coasts go out with an even bigger bang than they did when they entered, and now even the elder members of the audience are having a little jump about. 

A fifty minute setlist may not be that impressive, but with an album just around the corner and a load of festivals ready to play in the summer, it wouldn’t surprise me if we see Coasts swap the intimate shows for much bigger stages soon.

Written by Josh Shreeve (@JJShreeve)

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