Seafret, who originate from Bridlington, played an intimate show in Leeds on the 4th February. This was the last date in a series of in-store shows at independent record stores around the country, following the release of their debut album ‘Tell Me It’s Real’, which came out on the 29th January this year. The Leeds leg of the tour took place at Headrow House, and was hosted by independent record store Crash, situated just a few doors down from the venue.

The free gig attracted a decent-sized crowd for the small venue. As people started filling the room, they edged their way forward towards the front of the stage, and sat down to await the arrival of the band. Once they came on stage, everyone immediately took to their feet to welcome them, eager and ready for them to begin their set.

To kick-start the night, they played ‘Atlantis’, setting the tone for the remaining 40 minutes of the set – a tone that was laid back, and made for enjoyable easy-listening. The whole atmosphere was very chilled and relaxed, and although this may have had something to do with the size of the venue, I think that even with a larger audience they would have had the power to create a calm ambience in the air.

With meaningful lyrics and rhythmic guitar chords, Seafret are all set to climb to success. Having already had a taste of what it’s like, supporting some top names like James Bay and Hozier, I can only imagine their hunger for more – and there will be plenty of people on board to see them succeed too. They’re a breath of fresh air that would be a great addition to anyone’s chilled Sunday afternoon playlist.

If you want to know where some of their musical influences come from, you just have to look to their East Coast home roots. As you look through the track listing of their album, you notice songs with names like ‘Oceans’, ‘To The Sea’, and of course ‘Atlantis’, which we heard that night. From their lyrics to the band name itself, the sea has naturally found a way to shape the band into who they are and what they produce, and it’s really worked for them.

After playing a few pre-selected tracks from the album, they did an encore of ‘Be There’, which was requested by the audience. This one was slightly more up-tempo, especially during the chorus, and was a definite favourite. It ended the gig on a high, and looking around, I couldn’t see one dissatisfied person in the audience.

With the venue being so small, it gave the band the opportunity to interact with the crowd throughout the gig on a more personal level. Vocalist Jack Sedman mentioned that he recognised a few faces in the audience, which demonstrated their appreciation for their fans. Sedman and his bandmate, guitarist Harry Draper, were also eager to encourage the crowd – faces new and old – to stick around after the performance for a chat while they signed albums.

To finish the gig, not only did the band thank everybody for taking time out of their lives to come and watch them, but they thanked Crash Records for hosting them too. They didn’t lose sight of what the performance was all about though, ensuring that they dropped in a quick light-hearted promotion – reminding people to grab a copy of ‘Tell Me It’s Real’.

Sedman and Draper are both so likeable, and if anyone deserves success I believe they do. It was clear to see how humbled they were to have the support of those who turned up, and of those who had already bought their album. I certainly only have fantastic things to say about them.

The atmosphere of his show at Leeds’ The Library Pub was relatively sombre. It was clear that people had come just to see the infamous YouTuber in person, just to be able to brag about having seen him live at house parties for the foreseeable future. Around 200 people had splashed their cash and dedicated their whole evening just to hearing the 4 minutes and 18 seconds of a live rendition of Donny Soldier, but the excitement was hardly bursting out of the room.

Micky P Kerr, the comedy folk singer from Leeds, was the first to grace us with his presence and was given the hard job of warming up the diverse crowd. He took to the stage, guitar in hand, and instantly gripped the crowd with his slightly offensive yet overwhelmingly hilarious set. His obvious wit combined with his clear talent for folk singing provided the crowd with an ear-pleasing half an hour of singalongs and laughs.

Only a small portion of the crowd knew who Micky P Kerr was before he entered the room, but by the end all eyes were on him and he had every single person shouting his own lyrics back at him. This came as a nice surprise for the unsuspecting members of the crowd who’d assumed they’d be standing around for two hours, impatiently waiting for Devvo’s arrival.

At the end of his set, having displayed a wide range of musical talents, he said a hasty goodbye and then perched at the edge of the stage willingly chatting to his new fans and selling his albums for whatever the poor students in the room were willing to pay. Despite the fact that pursuing music seems to be merely a hobby for Kerr, he has the right attitude and artistic talent to gather fans wherever he goes.

Following Kerr on stage was Jack the Rapper, from Halifax; the final support act before our ears were to be offended by Devvo’s crude rapping. He kicked off straight away with some fast rhymes and tuneful beats, but the crowd was drifting without the humour of Kerr’s set to capture their attention.

Although Yorkshire man Jack the Rapper, with his inviting personality, was arguably the most talented of the night, he just didn’t seem to be able to build a rapport with the audience. A few people in the crowd were sober enough to appreciate the blatant talent that was being spat at us from the stage, but the rest just wanted to get their sing along with Devvo and be out of there.

Despite the lack of enthusiasm from the crowd, Jack the Rapper played on, offering crowd interaction and never faltering in his set. I’ve seen artists of lesser talent throw in the towel as soon as the audience don’t react how they’d like, but Jack was commendable in his continuation of his set, and gave his all until the end. In a different crowd who had a specific interest in rap, Jack the Rapper would have flourished – he’ll go far in his career with his genuine talent.

When Jack exited the stage to make room for Devvo, the crowd urgently bustled in closer. He came bursting onto the stage complete with trackies and his signature Burberry cap. His persona was highly comical and I could have happily watched him do a full blown stand-up comedy set.

In between Devvo’s abusing of the crowd and poor rapping of his two other vaguely well-known songs, the crowd kept chanting lyrics from ‘Donny Soldier’. It was clear to both Devvo and the crowd that no one wanted to hang around and listen to him chant abuse – we could have just watched that on YouTube. We wanted ‘Donny Soldier’, and at what should have just been the first half of his set we got the full four minutes of the song we were after.

As soon as the song ended, he said his swift goodbyes and the crowd raced outside just in time to see him speeding off back to Doncaster in a battered hatchback any boy racer would be proud of.

Despite the set being short and the musical talent being non-existent, the crowd still left the gig pleased. Everyone left the building still chanting the lyrics to ‘Donny Soldier’, a little bit happier with themselves knowing that next weekend they could use the line “I’ve met Devvo y’no” to impress their mates at a party.

A bassline reverberates around the room. Just two notes, droning over a simple beat from the drums. The lead singer, dressed in a tight tan leather jacket with a cravat over his black tshirt, speaks gently in the microphone through his moustache and overgrown fringe. Before bursting into earsplitting chords.

Soon joined by shouty lyrics, the music rumbles the brick wall and neon lights at the back of the room. Bungalows and Bears, our venue for the evening, was previously a fire station, now only recognisable by the tall shutters across the front. The band, Femur, are based locally in Sheffield and describe their music as ‘Shoegaze infused with grunge, garage and indie’. The crowd, mostly a selection of longer haired students with retro jackets and some older locals, watch enthusiastically as the lead guitarist jumps to the beat and dances around the small stage. It’s head banging stuff, but only the warm up.

The second band, of the three that are playing tonight, are called the Amazons. Formed less than two years ago, they’ve just released their first EP ‘Don’t you wanna?’, having toured Germany with the Kooks last year. I met up with them beforehand and asked how they reacted when they found out. ‘It was a massive shock for us… we were going nuts… Screaming, running around the garden with our tops off’.

It’s impressive stuff from these four twenty-somethings from Reading. They described the difficulties of being a small band touring the country. ‘You drive for hours to a show in… we’ll say Middlesbrough… and it’ll be a packed room but a club night and no one wants to watch you and no one claps and that’s definitely a downer’. Matt, the lead singer, continues: ‘but then you play at Reading Festival and release your EP and those are definitely highlights’. It’s definitely been a packed year for the band, and their enthusiasm is evident in not just their answers but their music.

As they burst into the bouncy opening of ‘Ultraviolet’, the crowd loosens up, and soon it’s impossible not to nod along with the powerful offbeat drumming in the chorus. Arguably the best song of the EP, this felt like the highlight of the set, but it was a shame that the more tender lyrics of the song were overpowered by the guitars, because they’re not to be overlooked. ‘I was waiting for my phone to call/ or just some message that you cared at all’.

I ‘d asked Matt, who wrote the lyrics for the song, if it was about anyone in particular: ‘It’s more about a situation really, when you contact a girl, put your neck out, and it’s just that kind of horrible wait for them to message back. It’s very introspective’. I imagine most of the crowd would empathise, if they could hear the lyrics.

Scattered among the EP were some other songs, notably one about badgers being caught in headlights, which caused someone next to me to question whether they’d heard correctly. By the end of the set, it was hard not to be enthusiastic about the Amazons. They have a clear, upbeat sound and are a charming bunch of guys. I’m excited to see what they have in store for us when they release a single, later this year.

The final act of the night, the Orielles, a two-thirds female trio from Halifax, followed the long haired trend set by the previous bands. Their chilled vibe contrasted effectively with the more serious other bands, though it sounded more rock and roll than their online releases. The more relaxed, almost lazy vocals felt right at home in the fashionable bar. I couldn’t help but agree with Matt from the Amazons, who described them succinctly: ‘the boy and girl vocals are sick’. They’re currently touring the UK and performing in Toronto before the release of their EP, ‘Jobin’. The trio finished the set with a long, booming song, the tempo alternating between slow and fast before bursting into a cacophony of chords to suitably end the night.

San Francisco’s The Stone Foxes are squeezing in a quick sound check before they start when singer/drummer/harmonica player Shannon Koehler asks the sound engineer to make sure the bass is set up right as, “we want it to make their asses jiggle”. It is right then that we know that it’s was worth braving the miserable February weather for this gig, as these guys mean business.

The Californian blues-rock quintet are over in the UK for the first time ever to promote their new album, ‘Twelve Spells’, which is the band’s fourth release.

Support for the tour comes from Bite the Buffalo, featuring the Goneos brothers: Dimitri (drums) and Stof (guitar/vocals). The brothers originally hail from Zambia but are now based in Bath and were a two-piece up until recently but expanded for this tour with Cassidy Jones on bass and Rhys Friery on Rhodes (otherwise known as Bass Cassidy and The Sundance Cat).

They play a mean line in raw and rowdy rock n roll, from the punky ‘Keys to Your Coffin’ to the old school 50’s style ‘Polka Dots’ to the Royal Blood-style riffing of ‘I Get Down and Around’. Special mention must go to the brilliantly noisy cover of Black Sabbath’s ‘Iron Man’ which they drop in mid-set. They set the tone perfectly for tonight and bow out after a handful of songs to make way for their tour-mates.

Appearing onstage backed by the familiar sounds of the Star Wars theme music, The Stone Foxes start as they mean to go on, tearing into a couple of tracks from ‘Twelve Spells’ with a ferocious energy. ‘It Ain’t Nothin’ starts with a vicious distorted keyboard riff from Elliott Peltzman and a thumping beat from drummer/bassist Brian Bakalian. The rest of the band then jump in with Koehler and bass/guitar player Vince Dewald sharing full throated vocals as guitarist/violinist Ben Andrews drops some heavy chords on the crowd. The verses are raucous and Dead Weather-esque whilst the song’s soaring chorus brings to mind The Black Crowes at their most upbeat. ‘She Said Riot’ follows quickly after, a full throttle indie-rock tune with Peltzman’s Hammond swells giving it a 60’s feel.

The set touches on their other earlier releases too, such as ‘Psycho’, a single from 2011 that has the strut and swagger of the early Black Keys albums, and ‘Everybody Knows’ from 2013’s Small Fires which packs a killer refrain and a driving groove over which Koehler wails on the harmonica. There are also a couple of songs from 2010’s ‘Bears & Bulls’, the clapping, hollering and…well…foot-stomping ‘Stomp’ which gets the whole crowd moving and the guitar-heavy ‘Patience’ which leads to a good old fashioned guitar duel between Dewald and Andrews as they trade licks like a young Don Felder and Joe Walsh (Hey, don’t knock The Eagles, I watched that documentary on Netflix and those boys could play).

‘Eye for Love’ is one of the highlights from the night. It features Deald on lead vocals and guitar with Koehler back behind the kit laying down a tight rhythm whilst Bakalian comes out front to handle bass duties. The sharp choppy riffs, swathes of Hammond organ and a catchy chorus make this a definite standout track.

As you can no doubt tell from the various band member’s job descriptions throughout the review, these fellas are seriously musically talented. They swap instruments throughout the set and seem comfortable with each one. The soulful, epic ‘Cold like a Killer’ gives the Foxes a chance to showcase the voice of Shannon Koehler, coming out from behind the drums and singing about the health issues he has faced since a child. He has undergone 11 open-heart surgeries since he was ten years old, a fact that seems at odds with the man bounding across the stage in front of us. This song also shines a light on the musical chops of Ben Andrews. After a searing guitar solo, Koehler kneels before Andrews and presents him with a violin on which he plays another more melancholy solo that ends with a shiver of notes before the others kick in again and take it home.

It’s a small room but despite having played for much bigger crowds in the states, The Stone Foxes give us 100%. They literally throw themselves into the performance, the trio of Koehler, Andrews and Dewald bumping into and manoeuvring around each other at the front of the stage, never looking anything less than delighted to be there. A key element to my enjoyment of the gig is how damn fun it looks being a Stone Fox. It’s not always something you get from live shows but it’s here in bucket loads with these lads. At one point Koehler walks right out into the crowd and has us all hunker down around him as he plays some righteous blues harp. It’s a brilliant moment that demonstrates the group’s confidence in their performance and in their charismatic front-man’s skill in winning over a crowd.

The ‘Bite the Buffalo’ crew are brought back on stage to join in for the last two songs, a frenzied version of their Slim Harpo cover ‘I’m A King Bee’ followed by the first single from the new album, ‘Locomotion’. ‘…King Bee’ features BTB singer Stof howling the blues alongside Koehler and Deald as the band fall into a slow dirty groove which at one point brings them all down to their knees on stage. The grinding riff slows almost to a stop before Deald leaps up and the song powers up once again. Final song ‘Locomotion’ is a joyful punk-rock noise, the group thrashing through it at full tilt and everyone joining in for the shouty chorus.

The Stone Foxes leave the stage sweaty and exhilarated and the cheering crowd are in much the same state. This was just a taste of what’s to come with this group and I predict we’ll be seeing a lot more of them in the future. If you can see them live, then get it done. You won’t regret it.

Set List
It Aint Nothin’
She Said Riot
Psycho
Everybody Knows
Eye for Love
Can’t Stop
Patience
Cold Like A Killer
Stomp
King Bee
Locomotion

Bite The Buffalo website: www.bitethebuffalo.com
Bite The Buffalo on Twitter: https://twitter.com/BiteTheBuffalo
Bite The Buffalo on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BiteTheBuffalo

The Stone Foxes website: http://thestonefoxes.com/home
The Stone Foxes on Twitter: https://twitter.com/thestonefoxes
The Stone Foxes on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thestonefoxes

All photos on this page: Rachel Cox

Leeds University’s Student Union hosted the American Pop-Punk band The Front Bottoms on their Back On Top tour on Friday 5th February. Brain, Mat, Tom and Ciaran, the New Jersey quadruple who make up the band, were supported by hundreds of dedicated fans. The band started out as two childhood friends but after releasing three studio albums, the most recent being ‘Back On Top’ in September 2015, the band have accrued an almost cult like following.

Walking into the gig you instantly feel like part of a community, everyone is there to see your favourite band and this alone creates a sense of euphoria before the sound check even begins. As the time nears 8.30pm and the suspense starts to build the energy in the crowd shifts. Those wanting to get into the full excitement of singing their hearts out and being pushed around by fans craving that unobstructed view of the band flooded to the front of the room. Remaining at the back of the crowd are those wanting to enjoy The Front Bottoms’ unique sound without being crushed to the beat of Ciaren’s spirited trumpet.

As the band took to the stage and opened with their popular hit ‘Auviour’ the crowd opened their lungs and began to chant the lyrics back; almost in time. The rhythm of the crowd may not have been perfect but the atmosphere couldn’t be faulted. From the slightest foot tap to erratic jumping, it was clear every single person in the crowd was enjoying their long awaited moment with the American foursome.

The appreciation of the bands journey across the Atlantic Ocean was evident from the crowd and it wasn’t long until they experienced a true English greeting. Between chants of ‘Yorkshire’, lead singer Brian was subject to the classic drinking chant ‘we like to drink with Brian’ and managed to empty at least four bottles of Budweiser by the 5th song.

Brian’s charisma and willingness to participate with the excitable crowd made the experience all the more personal. His awkward jokes and enthusiasm on stage was complimented by the unusual, but much loved, bubble machine. The bubbles made their appearance around the third song and after that neither the crowd nor the band on stage could get enough of them. Although an unusual addition to the bands set the bubbles brought that individual and quirky aspect of pop punk to life.

The setlist included something for everyone with a range of songs from their earlier albums mixed in with those from their most recent album. For the die hard fans every song was a treat and a chance to sing their hearts out. For those that didn’t really know The Front Bottoms, the band were engaging and their songs very catchy. The main experience most people want to take away from a band is feeling like they had the best time possible and engaged in a personal way, especially in a relatively small venue such as the students union. The Front Bottoms managed to give the crowd what they wanted even if it meant diverting from their setlist. When the crowd chanted for them to play ‘Swimming Pool’, it took Brian and Mat only a couple of seconds to rearrange their thoughts and play on straight into the crowd’s hands.

Overall the experience was thrilling, personal and entertaining but it wouldn’t be complete without an encore of everyone’s favourite song. After an hour of screaming our throats dry, jumping until our feet were numb and crowd surfing to be that inch closer to the musicians before us, a group sing along was the perfect way to round up the whole experience. The Front Bottoms made their way back onto stage and picked up their instruments one final time to serenade us with their most popular song, ‘Twin Size Mattress’.

After an exhausting hour, the crowd exited the building still singing an inaudible array of lyrics over one another whilst the buzz of the night remained in the air… and our ears.