Gengahr: Brudenell Social Club, Leeds, Where Wildness Grows Tour — Review
Been bopping out to Gengahr’s new live album across the week? Alex West and Sophia Bonner had the pleasure of chatting to and watching the London cruisers at one of Leeds’ cosiest venues earlier this year.
Gengahr have always been a very chilled out band. The group’s 2014 debut single Fill My Gums With Blood, featured way back then on Huw Stephens’ BBC Radio 1 show, epitomises their bright and fluttering sound; Felix Bushe’s falsetto flowing over spacy bass-lines and jangly guitars. Despite that early success, Felix was quick to point out that the band were never certain of their success: “we understood very much where we were… the moment you decide you’ve made it, it’s done.”
The Brudenell Social Club, therefore, suited them well: a non-profit community venue with humble origins and an intimate atmosphere. The audience, packed in to the dimly-lit, homely main room, were formed of an array of revellers of all ages and styles. If you had to put a label on them though, it would be ‘type of person who looks like they listen to 6Music’, where, as Felix rightly points out, their song Carrion was played time and time again.
Live, their songs went down just as well. The vocals and guitar tone hold up to the recordings, and after years of experience (Felix talked about playing gigs at age 12) the band are tighter than ever. The proximity of the artists to the audience lent itself brilliantly to the relaxed music the band play as they grooved from one track to the next. Not the sort of tracks that’d have mosh pits forming everywhere, to say the least, but by the end parts of the crowd had worked themselves into a frenzy.
The band all of have their own image — frontman Felix looks directly into the audience, his eyes flicking to and fro, bassist Hugh gazes into the middle distance above the audience as he drives through the bass-lines, and drummer Danny focuses on his kit. Meanwhile lead guitarist John stares at the ground, his floppy hair half-hiding his expressive face as he gurns with every riff.
In response to a question about how their new album was being received on tour, Felix stated that it had varied from “city to city… depends on whether it’s getting played on radio”, whilst Huw offered that the sophomore LP was creating a better atmosphere than their first. In Leeds, both albums went down well, with individual songs standing out more than one LP being stronger than the other.
The rendition of Heroine was particularly strong, so it’s no surprise to see the recent live release getting played everywhere. My personal favourite Pull Over (Now) also went up a level in concert, and the encore of Carrion was, as expected, the highlight of the night, as the steady dancing of the mob grew into a more raucous swell.
This was a wholly enjoyable set from a band who we both love, in about as small a venue as possible given their stature. In terms of the vibe, the most similar band I’ve seen this year have been Tame Impala — of course, the Londoners aren’t at that level yet, but that juxtaposition of laidback tunes and euphoric reaction is exactly what they could achieve if they step up.
If you want to listen to Alex and Sophia’s interview in full, you can do so at the link below: https://www.mixcloud.com/URYMusic/gengahr-interview/
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