Triple Headline: VALERAS, BLOXX & The Keep Cats
- Grace Patey
- Jul 11, 2017
- 2 min read
The Boileroom hosted a massive party for a trio of bands. They're on the slightly younger side as far as bands go but the crowd was a good mix of U18s to over 40s and everyone left a happy, sweaty mess.
It's been a couple of months since VALERAS released their debut EP so everyone was bopping along to our favourites and new songs went down just as well. The RnB influences Rose spoke about in our recent interview were oozing out in Your Nobody, as well as featuring a strong delivery of vocals from guitarist Katie. The Boileroom has a bit of an odd setup as far as the stage goes and it's small floor space and low headroom left the five of them very cramped, which is a shame because with three guitarists ideally they'd have a much bigger stage to fill and make lots of noise from. Their half hour set came to a close with Colour Me, definitely a favourite amongst many and got everyone going again despite the soul melting heat. The band's strongest feature is definetly how diverse their songs are, whilst still being cohesive which is a hard ask but as these guys have been working hard on their sound for years, they've achieved it perfectly. Their sound is on point and they're up there with technical skill, I think with just a bit more promotion and word-of-mouth they'll be taking over very soon.
After cooling down for a bit, we headed back in to catch BLOXX. They've recently played for Valeras Presents #1 and the chemistry between the bands is strong. These guys are signed to Chess Club Records alongside Sundara Karma and you can see hints of the Reading foursome as well as The Amazons dotted through their live sets. Again, this band are relatively new and without many releases there were lots of unheard songs being trialled to the delight of the crowd. I'm not sure they're quite up their yet as their sound isn't clear enough just yet, and although wonderful and interesting, the only running theme seems to be the vocals. You and Your Boyfriend are the only two releases at this point and they're both easy listening chilled out indie, the ideas are nothing groundbreaking but the compelling voice carries it through. As I said, they're not there just yet but there's a lot of potential.
And finally a slightly longer set from infamous band, The Keep Cats. I was delightfully surprised with the start of their set as unfortunately I did assume they wouldn't be anything new or exciting because of how young they are (as well as their irritating social media presence - no offence, do what you gotta do boys) but I was happily proved wrong - for the most part. About half way through their set, it started to drag but the crowd were feeding of their hints of Fratellis vibes. Again, sadly these guys were carried by the vocals and they didn't have much else going for them. However, with some guidance their fanbase could expand.
Photos by Ryan Manning
Comments