The Amazons Tour @ Sub 89 & Interview

The Amazons hit their hometown for the last date of their sold out tour, and it was certain to go out with a bang. With an exciting line-up of Lucky Punks, Estrons and The Amazons this was going to be a night to remember. With this being their largest Reading show to date there was a lot of anticipation to see how they’d perform.

Lucky Punks were the first band to take to the 600 capacity venue, a few small cheers echoed around the room as they walked onto the stage. Four young lads who definitely seemed to know what they were doing, with bags of potential. Their sound is still developing but the tracks they featured slotted in extremely well to open for the rock sound of The Amazons. We caught up with them before the show, check out the interview here.

Cardiff based band Estrons were the second support of the night. As a personal favourite for The Amazons boys it was exciting to finally have the band alongside them on their tour. Featuring songs such as Make A Man and I’m Not Your Girl off their latest EP She’s Here Now, their performance reflected their ‘heavy pop’ sound they describe themselves as.

It was time for The Amazons to grace the sold out crowd. The buzz bounced off the walls and the barrier was jammed with individuals trying to catch a glimpse of the tight set to come. The atmosphere at this show was something I haven’t quite experienced before. The Amazons are the next big thing coming out of Reading so the crowd consisted of faces of supporters of the band since day one, alongside newly converted fans. As soon as the quartet set foot on the intimate stage the room erupted with an immense energy and, for a moment, it seemed like nothing else was important. The world revolved around The Amazons. Opening with their latest single Black Magic, it seemed as though every word was being sung back to lead Matt Thompson, followed by favourites such as Junk Food Forever and Ultraviolet. With their debut album just a month away it was the perfect opportunity to feature two new song Raindrops and Burn My Eyes, which both include a signature guitar riff from Chris Alderton. A ten song set wasn’t enough for this Reading crowd, so the band returned with an encore of Something In The Water ending with a perfect moment of crowd surfing from Matt. It is clear that Matt, Chris, Elliot and Joe are destined for big things, especially with the latest announcement of an autumn tour playing venues such as O2 Forum.

Their debut album is out 26th May, you can pre order it here.

We caught up with Matt Thompson after the show to hear his thoughts on the tour.

-You’ve been touring like mad recently, how was Europe?

It was a lot of fun. Visited a lot of places we've never been before or even envisioned we would. We played a European tour of our own in February, which was a lot different to the run we did with You Me At Six. Obviously the shows were a bit bigger 2nd time round. The common thread was mainly the drives were pretty grueling. Was also good to hang out with the boys and pick their brains. They were the most accommodating and friendly band we've been on the road with. We're sharing some stages this festival season so it will be good to hang out.

-What was it like touring with a band as big as You Me At Six?

It was great! those guys can drink. Boys to men was the phrase I used when we were on stage in Paris thanking them for having us, with the guys watching on the side. They gave us the time of day and imparted a lot of wisdom which we appreciate.

-What’s been the best gig on your sold out headline tour?

A toss up between Manchester, Brighton and Reading I think. Though London was a lot of fun too. Brighton was our last show with Otherkin and it had such a good atmosphere. Manchester was wild, stage invasions and an inflatable shark knocking around. Reading was a big one for us too, its just we were shattered, I don't think we really appreciated what happened until the next day.

-You’ll always be our Reading boys, can we get you to promise you’ll still play here when you have your own world wide tour?

Reading is so important in make-up of The Amazons. We feature the place in our album artwork. We love playing hometown shows. The support from the town will be huge when we put our album too that's for sure. As for shows.. I can't guarantee a big show this year. Next year definitely.

-What are you most looking forward to about the album release?

People hearing the other sides of the record. People will have an idea of who we are judging by the singles, but we want them to enjoy delving a little deeper into what we do on this record.

-What's your favourite song on the album?

A song called Raindrops.. or the last track on the record Palace.

-What's the next step for The Amazons after the album?

Festival season! Then more touring in the autumn.. always working on new music.

-Is the festival season looking busy for you this year?

Yeah. we're playing a lot of festivals this summer. Radio 1's Big Weekend is the day after our album release so we're excited about that. There's a couple festivals we haven't announced yet that we're looking forward to. Going abroad this season will be a lot of fun too. It'll be our first time in Asia for Fuji Rocks in Japan and Valley Rocks, South Korea. Then of course Reading + Leeds is where all roads lead for us.

-You've just announced an autumn tour, how do you think this one will be different ?

It's going to be bigger. Everything is going to be bigger. The venues will be bigger, the production, the crowds. We're eating a lot of greens in a bid for a late growth spurt to keep up with it all. Our debut record will have been out for a while by then too, so it's gonna be fun to play a couple of deeper cuts off of that.

Photos:

Katie King

Matt Goff

Phoebe Fox