Heartbreakers, Southampton
Heartbreakers in Southampton is the place to be tonight with a stellar line-up of local Indie bands billed, ready to provide the entertainment for this Friday evening. The first act to take to the stage is young four-piece Bournemouth band Small Talk, who arrive on stage greeted by a fair size crowd for their 7:15pm start. With only a handful of live performances under their belt and the debut release single “Headstart”; the band show a few initial nerves, then settle in quite quickly onto the stage. With a run through of the debut single, a great unreleased song called “Teenage Fear” about growing up too quickly and a cover of the Arctic Monkey’s “When The Sun Goes Down”, the band show themselves to have plenty of potential with them all individually contributing well to their sound which shows influences a plenty from a variety of acts. Their crowning glory is their new single “Paris”, which is very different from their first. A smouldering tune, which sees frontman Ben swapping bass for electric guitar. The track has a great melodic middle eight, along with some impressive drum work from Harry. The band leave the stage with plenty of positive support from the entertained crowd.
Next up is another Bournemouth band Monster Logic who have made the short trip along the M27. I’ve seen this four-piece many times before, they have always previously impressed with their unique style and unpredictability. Frontman, vocalist and guitarist Alex is the band’s focal point and they kick off with their recent single “Golden Cages”. The band seem slightly distracted tonight and not offering the performance that I know that they are capable of. A shoddy, seemingly unrehearsed cover of The Cure’s “Just Like Heaven” really disappoints; as I know and I’m sure they can do so much better. The set is saved with two great new songs; “Sunspots” which was only written a few days ago and the band’s next single “Rumour”, released on 1st May. “Rumour” has a real infectious vein within it; featuring some great rhythms, along with a wondrous guitar part and an uplifting vocal. The band are to play a headline here on the 23rd June and one that I’m sure they will most certainly pull out all the stops and up their game for.
London quartet Coral Palms make their debut in this city tonight and after just the first song the band have the whole of the Heartbreakers crowd on their side. The band feature Ollie (Drums/ Vocals) and Will (Electric Guitar/Vocals) who impress with some amazing harmonies, with some rock-solid accompaniment from Callum (Bass) and Adriano (Guitar/Vocals). There are lots of impressive musical skills on offer here with some first-rate melodic guitar work, as well as top quality rhythms. The band have a strong air of confidence with plenty of self-belief in what they deliver. Their songs like the wonderful “Echoes” and the captivating “Drink Too Much” show off the band’s splendid creative capabilities. They are engaging and are everything you would want from your next favourite band. Sadly they only had time to play six tracks, but they took full advantage of their time on stage and gave us two barrels of the best they had to offer. They leave the audience on a high and the band would be more than welcome to return to the South Coast in the near future, based on this excellent showing tonight.
Tonight’s headliner is Ear Candy, a band that is the brainchild of former Galaxy Thief frontman Jamie Jordan. Jamie has already released a couple of singles, which have so far had over 75k views on Spotify. Jamie has only played a handful of gigs so far, tonight is a landmark as Ear Candy play their first headline show and impressively they have sold out. Following Coral Palms performance was not going to be easy, however the fans of the band have created an excitable atmosphere and things certainly kick off as soon as Jamie and his band hit the stage. The majority of the crowd seem more than familiar with the material and are bouncing around to the opening number “Jaded”; which is soon followed by the single “Takes My Dreams Away”, which starts the first sing-a-long of the evening.
This singer-songwriter knows a thing or two about music as he works as a producer at HP Music Studios in Ringwood and the HP boss Harrison Perks tonight features in the band. Jamie’s creativity features a whole plethora of influences and his unique sound comes from a bright uplifting place with a few Indie twists and turns along the way. The band features Jacob Hopkinson on keyboards, Craig Foot on electric guitars, Harrison (bass) and a live drummer Paul Miller: together they inject a rich full sound to the songs. “Obsessed” is touchingly dedicated to Jamie’s girlfriend Georgia who is in the audience tonight. There is a cover of Rex Orange County’s “Loving Is Easy”, which again sees the audience willingly joining in with the lyrics. The whole set shows a refreshing artist who is full of new ideas. I’m sure we will be seeing much more of Jamie and his brand of bright Indie/Pop in the near future. The debut headline show was clearly a great success with a well put together supporting cast of eclectic bands.
Set Lists
Ear Candy
Jaded
Take Dreams Away
Better Alone
Obsessed
Over Again
Loving is Easy (Rex Orange County)
Tomorrow
Over You
Lonely
Coral Palms
One of A Kind
Echoes
Drink Too Much
Something in The Air
Wildest Fears
Open Road
Monster Logic
Golden Cages
Second Gear
Just Like Heaven (The Cure)
Sober
Sunspots
Rumour
Small Talk
Sometimes
Headstart
Move On
Teenage Fear
When The Sun Goes Down (Artic Monkeys)
Paris
Videos
Links
https://www.facebook.com/earcandytunes
https://www.facebook.com/coralpalmsofficial
https://www.facebook.com/monsterlogicband
https://www.facebook.com/smalltalk_bnd
Words & Media by David Chinery (Chinners).
